Okay I’m looking for non-English language hits, that is songs that reached the Top 40 in either the UK or the USA or both. I can think of a few in recent years.
O-Zone - Dragostea din tei (Romanian)
Los Del Río - Macarena (Spanish)
Las Ketchup - Aserejé aka The Ketchup Song (Spanish)
Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg - Je t’aime… moi non plus (French)
Billboard’s wikipedia has these as number 1s.
“Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)” by Domenico Modugno (Italian - September 1, 1958 for five weeks)
“Sukiyaki” by Kyu Sakamoto (Japanese - June 15, 1963 for three weeks)
“Dominique” by The Singing Nun (French - December 7, 1963 for four weeks)
“Rock Me Amadeus” by Falco (German - March 29, 1986 for three weeks)
“La Bamba” by Los Lobos (Spanish - August 29, 1987 for three weeks)
Although the original Macarena was in Spanish only, the version best-known in the United States was a remix by the Bayside Boys featuring English-language lyrics and the now-familiar Spanish chorus.
Augie Rios charted with Donde Esta Santa Claus? in 1958. There were a couple of cover versions. The song was mostly English except for the chorus, though.
The Beatles Michelle has a chorus in French. They also did Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand and Sie Liebt Dich, but not as singles.
Je t’aime . . . moi non plus by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin reached #1 in the UK and was an international hit but only reached #58 on the US charts due to censorship issues.
I’m looking for songs that are all or nearly all in another language and also songs that were chart hits. To the best of my knowledge Michelle wasn’t a hit for The Beatles. I could be wrong though.
Too bad; except for the “Eins, zvei, drei” intro and the line “Alles klar, der Kommissar?”, “Der Kommissar” by **After the Fire **was entirely in English, although it sounded a lot more foreign than it was because the English lyrics were variously incomprehensible and nonsensical.
