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Subject Topic: Top Ten Hits That Are 100% Non-English Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Brian W.
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Posted: 19 August 2017 at 3:42pm | IP Logged Quote Brian W.
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?
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Hykker
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Posted: 19 August 2017 at 5:48pm | IP Logged Quote Hykker
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?
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Yah Shure
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Posted: 19 August 2017 at 6:04pm | IP Logged Quote Yah Shure
"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. ;)

Edited by Yah Shure on 19 August 2017 at 6:13pm
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Santi Paradoa
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Posted: 19 August 2017 at 6:32pm | IP Logged Quote Santi Paradoa
Does the annoying "Macarena" qualify? "Guantanamera" would have qualified but one of the Sandpipers does an English translation towards the end of the song.

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eric_a
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Posted: 19 August 2017 at 6:59pm | IP Logged Quote eric_a
Santi Paradoa wrote:
Does the annoying "Macarena"
qualify? "Guantanamera" would have qualified but one of
the Sandpipers does an English translation towards the end
of the song.


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?
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aaronk
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Posted: 19 August 2017 at 10:13pm | IP Logged Quote aaronk
Rock Me Amadeus - but that would likely be on the online lists of #1
hits.

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eric_a
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Posted: 16 October 2017 at 10:30am | IP Logged Quote eric_a
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!

Billboard story

Edited by eric_a on 16 October 2017 at 10:31am
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Brian W.
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Posted: 16 October 2017 at 1:18pm | IP Logged Quote Brian W.
Aha! Thanks.
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Paul Haney
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Posted: 16 October 2017 at 2:42pm | IP Logged Quote Paul Haney
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.

Edited by Paul Haney on 16 October 2017 at 2:43pm
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