Top Ten Hits That Are 100% Non-English
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Topic: Top Ten Hits That Are 100% Non-English
Posted By: Brian W.
Subject: Top Ten Hits That Are 100% Non-English
Date Posted: 19 August 2017 at 3:42pm
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A friend of mine asked me this question when listening to
"Despacito." Have any 100% foreign language songs made the Billboard top ten? The only ones I could think of were "La Bamba" and "Eres Tu." I find lots of lists online of #1 foreign language hits (like "Dominique" and "Volare"), but can't find a complete listing of Top Ten foreign language hits. Anyone care to chime in with some trivia? |
Replies:
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 19 August 2017 at 5:48pm
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Well, there's "99 Luftbalons". A lot of stations played
the English version, but the German one is what's listed in Whitburn. What about "Israelites"? Isn't that in some Jamaican dialect? |
Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 19 August 2017 at 6:04pm
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"Sukiyaki" - Kyu Sakamoto
The majority of those that were big hits went all the way to the top. Things like "Oye Como Va" fell a little short of the top ten. How about Dylan? Even Minnesotans don't speak his language. ;) |
Posted By: Santi Paradoa
Date Posted: 19 August 2017 at 6:32pm
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Does the annoying "Macarena" qualify? "Guantanamera" would have qualified but one of the Sandpipers does an English translation towards the end of the song. ------------- Santi Paradoa Miami, Florida |
Posted By: eric_a
Date Posted: 19 August 2017 at 6:59pm
The same goes for "Macarena" and "Despacito." I think both have Spanish-only versions but the U.S. hit versions have some English lyrics. Did "Gangnam Style" go top 10? What about Enigma's "Sadeness" - what was that, Latin? |
Santi Paradoa wrote:Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 19 August 2017 at 10:13pm
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Rock Me Amadeus - but that would likely be on the online lists of #1
hits. ------------- Aaron Kannowski http://www.uptownsound.com" rel="nofollow - Uptown Sound http://www.919thepeak.com" rel="nofollow - 91.9 The Peak - Classic Hip Hop |
Posted By: eric_a
Date Posted: 16 October 2017 at 10:30am
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With "Mi Gente" climbing the charts, Billboard published
a list -- courtesy of our own Paul Haney -- of all the foreign-language top 10 singles on the Hot 100. Fewer than I'd expected. Also, learned the "Sadeness" was in both Latin and French! http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7997571/mi-gente-despacito-foreign-language-songs-hot-100-top-10 - Billboard story |
Posted By: Brian W.
Date Posted: 16 October 2017 at 1:18pm
| Aha! Thanks. |
Posted By: Paul Haney
Date Posted: 16 October 2017 at 2:42pm
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Don't know how I missed this thread the first time around.
Gary Trust of the Billboard chart department asked me if there had ever been 2 foreign language hits in the Top 10 of the Hot 100 at the same time. So, I got ambitious and sent them a list of every Top 10 foreign language hit and they ran with it. Like most trivia of this nature, there is a little grey area on some of the titles. For instance, there were differing versions of the Nena and Falco songs that got airplay at the time, but I think most would consider the "hit" versions to be in a foreign language. |