21-12: Soccer Hits

Last week the story of the week was soccer related. This time it is also a soccer story. And it is indeed the number 1 story. On 15th May Fortuna Düsseldorf made the qualification for the Bundesliga. It is the first time since 15 years that the club is able to make the first league. Of course the win was celebrated for hours. The anthem of that night was Tage wie diese recorded by Düsseldorf band Die Toten Hosen. Lead singer Campino always admits being a big fan of the club. As an effect the song rises three places reaching Number 1.

It took Die Toten Hosen 15 and a half year for being back at Germany’s top spot. In 1996 it was their song Zehn kleine Jägermeister (10 Little Jägermeister) that occupied the Nr.1 for four weeks in October. Now it is Tage wie diese (Days Like These). The past ten years we had such late rebounds to Number 1 twice. Most recently it was Take That by having a big come back with Patience in December 2006 after more than 11 years abstinence from Number 1. Much more impressive of course was the rebound of Nena who shot to the Top with Liebe ist after almost 22 years in March 2005.

Die Toten Hosen are the first German act reaching the Top since a whole year. Back in 2011 it was Pietro Lombardi who stormed the number 1. He was the only German who topped the charts in 2011. According to the strong presence of German acts inside the list this year we should see at least a few more striking the Top.

Besides Tage wie diese and last weeks shooting single Borussia, schenk uns die Schale (which tumbles unstoppable out of the Top 50) there is a third German song penetrating the list thanks to a strong relation to soccer. It is the anthem for upcoming soccer EM in Poland and Ukraine. Having a German singer presenting Endless Summer comes due to the strong popularity Hamburg based OCEANA has in Eastern Europe. Her hit Cry Cry reached number one in Poland, Hungary, Romania and even Greece. In Russia and Spain the song went Top 10 in 2009. The same year she won the biggest Polish music competition in Sopot and in 2010 she took part on the Polish version of Dancing With The Stars/Let’s Dance. In Germany her music is consumed in a more lukewarm way. With support of the EM that will change for sure. So far Endless Summer is her biggest hit in Germany reaching the Top 40 as the very first song of her. In Poland the single immediatly shot to number 5. And I find the track less bothersome than the Shakira Waka Waka theme two years ago.



The national cup also generates a hit. The team of FC Bayern München really hoped for the cup after being only the second at the Bundesliga. On 15th of May also the dreams of gaining the cup were totally destroyed. Once again the Bayern underlied the Bundesliga champion Borussia Dortmund. Fans of the team tried to support their club by loading the Bayern anthem Stern des Südens. It enters the list once again but did not help for the match.

The next big hope for a win of the Bayern team came a few days later when it had the final match of the UEFA Champions League against FC Chelsea. For that event the band project Room77 recorded the song Finale dahoam (The Final At Home) which also enters the German list. It is the first song ever that can made it to the official list without any professional label or promotion. It is available only via download platforms offered by the band itself. So that can be seen as the beginning of an new aera in music business.




There are not only soccer related stories this current week. Another one is the rise of Canadian Carly Rae Jepsen. Call Me Maybe already is a hit in almost whole Europe. With a few weeks delay it now arrives at the top in Germany too by taking a 8–3 leap. Certainly the video is one of the reasons why the song gains that much attention. In most countries the popularity is pushed by several versions of stars or fans. In Germany most of that versions are blocked. So probably the main reason for its popularity is the song itself.

With Back In Time climbing to number seven Pitbull again has two hits inside the Top 10. There She Goes alongside Taio Cruz still hangs at number 6. A year ago Pitbull had simultanous Top 10 hits with On The Floor and Give Me Everything On both that records he was presented as featured artist.

daniele negroni performs kind of an yo-yo in the charts. Right after the final of the DSDS casting his version on Don’t Think Abput Me entered the list at number 4. Last week it tumbled as deep as number 39 just for jumping back this current issue to number 15. Now the song is available as a full CD single – so the label got afraid of loosing too much money by not releasing the version of the vice superstar. By the way the winner Luca Hänni sees his version still selling as the eighth best single.

After three years of producing Austrian trio Darius & Finlay starts to remix itself. In 2009 it gained first commercial success with Do It All Night which became a medium hit in its home country. In Germany at least a few dance addicts noticed the track.The past two years the trio released six further single–most successive the track Rock The Boat in spring 2009 which became a club and chart hit in both Austria and Germany. Right now Darius & Finlay put hands on the first hit single again. Do It All Night 2k12 is a rework that differs due to the stronger beat anda new rap part contributed by German Carlprit. The original exotic and Café del Mar inspired atmosphere is replaced completely by a heavy focus on the 90s revival sound. The 2012 version is available as download single and immediatly starts its chart life at number 34–a whole 50 places higher than its peak in 2009. Plus it is the highest charting Austrian act since Andreas Gabalier hit number 30 in late October past autumn. So probably some might call Do It All Night now a classic tune.


Version 2k12 and the original from 2009

Germany’s a capella band number is the quintet wise guys. The guys make music since they met in school somewhen in the 80s. The first album was released in 1994. Between 2001 and 2005 the guys launched three minor single hits, the albums of 2006, 2008 and 2010 went to number 2 or 3 on the sales charts. Nonetheless something were in trouble the last months and they moved to the major UNIVERSAL. The first single released under new circumstances marks something like a new beginning. Lauter (Louder) goes straight Top 50 bringing the guys the second biggest hit to date. I guess the upcoming album will easily made top 5 in a few weeks.




Back to the 80s–that’s the slogan at position 77. The big female star from that decade is back with a new single. Sandra have had eight Top 10 hits during her heydays between 1985 and 1990. Later on she released singles and albums as well–the real big success enjoyed in her first years as a solo artist never came back. The revival of the 80s sound in the 2000s inspired the major label EMI to re-release the most successful hits again on CD. Since 2009 the label offers the best of Kajagoogoo, Billy Idol or Heaven 17 under the label So80s. Also Sandra had a Best of compilation within that series a few weeks ago. All that compilations were presented and mixed by DJ team Blank & Jones. The meeting of both Sandra and Blank & Jones led to a new collaboration and a new single recorded by Sandra. Maybe Tonight is the first single of Sandra within 3 years. It sounds if it were produced in the 80s–let’s call it a forgotten recording of 1987. The new single can reach the list at number 77 which is the lowest peak Sandra achieved since 10 years. Probably the 80s are dead. Let’s move on to the 90s.


Unfortunatly there is no video available nor the original version–so I can only present a fan extended mix of the song. I guess you got an impression by that.


In 2010 Danish MEDINA served the crowd with the summer hit You And I. It made number 10 in Germany staying 25 weeks inside the charts. After that success four further chart hits were offered by her achieving less attraction to the audience. Now a new single is released and can enter the list a week before it is officially released. Maybe Forever will become the proper succeeder of You And I. In a few weeks we all might know more.

04th of June 2010: First summer time charts

The official german chart compiling company speaks about a football and summer time ruled hit list. Indeed the very top of the charts looks like we had holiday time right now. Nr. 1 is still the FIFA championship anthem Wavin’ Flag by K’NAAN heavily promoted by a soft drink company. Straight to nr. 2 a superstar duo shoots. Recent winner of Germany’s Idol Mehrzad Marashi is accompanied by the winner of 2007 Mark Medlock for turning the biggest hit of Jamaican band Inner Circle Sweat (a la la la la long) into a smooth 2010 tropical island pop song. The original was a huge succes in 1992 climbing to nr. 1 in Germany, Switzerland , The Netherlands and New Zealand. Although it holded 12 weeks at the top spot I never was a friend of that track. Maybe I'm a little too old fashioned for really enjoying lyrics like "Girl I want to make you sweat / Sweat till you can't sweat no more / And if you cry out / I'm gonna push it some, mo-o-ore …" (Thanks to Lyricfreaks for typing these words properly) – you could be assured I really love sexy tunes with explicit lyrics as well. In the case of Inner Circle / Marashi+Medlock I think it misses the mutual lust and desire. It's all about what the horny one man wants to do … maybe he should use a puppet for calming down.

Well my opinion won't avoid getting Sweat (a la la la la long) a hit again. With strong support of TV the superstar duo is almost unstopable. The CD single was released on 21st of May – at 23rd they both had the chance of presenting it in Germany's very popular saturday night show Wetten dass…? which gave the single the final boost. Next week we will see the version for sure as high as this time cause the TV promotion did not end. On 29th both performed the song before the fight of Vitali Klitschko and Albert Sosnowski a huge media event in Germany as Wetten dass…? or the ESC are too. – By the way Lena actually ranking at nr.7 could show up at the very top of the german chart again after winning the contest and becoming a national hero immediately.

Do you like some statistics? Ok here are. Mehrzad Marashi becomes now the most successful newcomer in 2010 by hitting straight to nr.1 and 2 in a row. Lena "only" does a nr.1 and nr. 3 strike. Additionally Mehrzad is the most successfull DSDS act since Mark Medlock won in 2007. Latter one collects with Sweat his eighth top 5 hit in row – a serie last time shown by Tokio Hotel between 2005 and now. Mark Medlock is by now the most succesfull german casting star of all times.


The next ultimate holiday (and football) song is entering the top 10 at position 6 with Shakira Featuring Freshlyground climbing 7 places after full CD release of Waka Waka (This Time For Africa). It's quiet amazing how huge the influence of physical sales actually is. As media control informed a few days ago 85% of all track sales are digital. Anyhow one can always recognise in the list when the physical equivalent enters the market. The german media control launched a very sophisticated point system which refers to the price paid for a track not the amount. That's why the german charts are slightly old fashioned rating the physical sale higher than the digital.

Shakira doesn't mind for sure. Waka Waka (This Time For Africa) is her 9th top 10 success in the german list.


Finally entering the top 10 and fitting very well the holiday topic MEDINA from Denmark pushing her hit You And a single place to number 10. The track is an amazing and hypnotic dance track even more fascinating the more you listen to it. Actually You And I was the background for Pro7 station ID spot in May – repeated use guaranteed.


Just to complete the top 3: Sido feat. Adel Tawil sliding down one place with Der Himmel soll warten. These collaboration maybe one of the not holiday or football related tracks at the top.

Dänische Pop-Invasion: Aura Dione + MEDINA

Nachdem es in der letzten Woche ziemlich statisch zuging, haben die Musikfirmen in dieser Woche doch wieder etwas mehr an gefälligem Material aufgelegt. Zum Beispiel den Nachfolgehit von Aura Dione. Mit I Will Love You Monday (365) war sie zum Jahreswechsel die große Überraschung und schaffte es sogar für zwei Wochen bis an die Spitze der Charts. Immer noch (in der 25. Woche nach der Erstnotierung) verkauft sich dieser Titel recht gut – aktuell meldet media control Platz 44, von der 42 leicht fallend – da steht nun Song For Sophie I Hope She Flies in den Verkaufsregalen. Der Titel entspricht insgesamt dem Schema Popmusik der 2000er von jungen Künstlerinnen: mitsingbar, soft, geschichtenerzählend. Mir ist das Ganze ein wenig zu sanft, aber gut, als Radiohit hat der Titel allemal Potenzial. In ihrem Heimatland Dänemark war Song For Sophie bereits for I Will Love You Monday ein Erfolg, bis Platz 16 ging es dort. Mit dem Neueinstieg auf der 14 ist die Dänin in Deutschland nun also ein zweites Mal erfolgreicher als zu Hause.

Auch Platz 15 wird neu von einer dänischen Künstlerin belegt. MEDINAs Erfolg You And I kommt allerdings nicht von ungefähr, seit ein paar Wochen wird der Titel zur TV-Promotion bei Pro7 eingesetzt. Und das bringt natürlich potenzielle Kontakte. Das Chartportal oljo jubelte auch sofort überschwenglich (ganz so wie dort immer alles ein wenig zu emotional aufgeladen daherkommt) als sich MEDINA vor zwei Wochen in den iTunes-Charts zeigte. Gleichzeitig wurde auch die CD veröffentlicht, und in der Gesamtschau reicht es dann also für einen beeindruckenden Start.

Vergleicht man die beiden Titel, so kann MEDINA vor allem in Sachen Produktion punkten. Und natürlich ist sie wesentlich mehr auf das jüngere Pop-Publikum ausgerichtet. Aura Dione schafft es dagegen vermutlich auf allen Service- und vermutlich auch Regional- bzw. Kulturwellen. Für MEDINA wiederum zählen dann die bereits vorhandenen Remixe von Deadmau5 etc. – und ich schätze da kommen noch einige weitere nicht ganz legale hinzu.

Und einmal mehr hat sich Dänemark als eine ernstzunehmende Pop-Nation präsentiert. Es scheint so, als wäre die skandinavische Fundgrube noch lange nicht leer.