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Brian W. MusicFan
Joined: 13 October 2004 Location: United States
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Posted: 19 August 2017 at 3:42pm | IP Logged
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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?
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Hykker MusicFan
Joined: 30 October 2007 Location: United States
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Posted: 19 August 2017 at 5:48pm | IP Logged
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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?
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Yah Shure MusicFan
Joined: 11 December 2007 Location: United States
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Posted: 19 August 2017 at 6:04pm | IP Logged
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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. ;)
Edited by Yah Shure on 19 August 2017 at 6:13pm
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Santi Paradoa MusicFan
Joined: 17 February 2009 Location: United States
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Posted: 19 August 2017 at 6:32pm | IP Logged
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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
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eric_a MusicFan
Joined: 29 June 2005 Location: United States
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Posted: 19 August 2017 at 6:59pm | IP Logged
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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. |
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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 Admin Group
Joined: 16 January 2005 Location: United States
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Posted: 19 August 2017 at 10:13pm | IP Logged
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Rock Me Amadeus - but that would likely be on the online lists of #1
hits.
__________________ Aaron Kannowski
Uptown Sound
91.9 The Peak - Classic Hip Hop
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eric_a MusicFan
Joined: 29 June 2005 Location: United States
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Posted: 16 October 2017 at 10:30am | IP Logged
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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!
Billboard story
Edited by eric_a on 16 October 2017 at 10:31am
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Brian W. MusicFan
Joined: 13 October 2004 Location: United States
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Posted: 16 October 2017 at 1:18pm | IP Logged
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Aha! Thanks.
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Paul Haney MusicFan
Joined: 01 April 2005
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Posted: 16 October 2017 at 2:42pm | IP Logged
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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.
Edited by Paul Haney on 16 October 2017 at 2:43pm
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