# Foreign language hits **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 10, 2019, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960 "2019-09-10T02:13:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2019, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/1 "2019-09-10T02:13:41Z")
I tuned into a classic rock station last week, and heard Santana’s _Oye Como Va_. As a child, I remember _Eres Tu_. Then there was _Mas Que Nada_. More into my era, there was _Rock Me Amadeus_ and _99 Luftbalons_. Relatively recently there was _Gangnam Style_. But it seems to me that there were more foreign language hits in the U.S. when I was a kid than there have been recently. True, or am I just out of touch? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2019, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/2 "2019-09-10T02:51:43Z")
How dare you forget “La Bamba?” ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2019, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/3 "2019-09-10T02:57:29Z")
How dare you also forget “Sukiyaki.” Sent from my hand-held telephonic communication device using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![ralfy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ralfy/32/600_2.png) [@ralfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralfy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2019, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/4 "2019-09-10T03:01:14Z")
[“The 7 Foreign-Language Songs That Have Topped The US Charts”](https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/hit-foreign-language-songs/) ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2019, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/5 "2019-09-10T08:05:05Z")
[Pata Pata](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq5S5sH1Ikk) by Miriam Makeba is mostly in Xhosa. [Mas Que Nada](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05w5ch9l6zI) by Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66 is in Portugese. [The Girl from Ipanema](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8VPmtyLqSY) by Stan Getz, João Gilberto, and Astrud Gilberto is partly in Portugese. [Águas De Março](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnB1G63XvCQ) by Elis Regina and Antonio Carlos Jobim, and [Desafinado](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So718wk426c) by Stan Getz and João Gilberto are in Portugese, but I don’t know if they count as hits. They’re very well-known in the jazz world, but not so much as pop songs in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2019, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/6 "2019-09-10T08:20:16Z")
[Last year there was a thread about this](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=862701), though not really focusing on recent changes. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2019, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/7 "2019-09-10T10:58:40Z")
[Guantanamera](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm1anurhbeg)- the Sandpipers ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2019, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/8 "2019-09-10T11:07:35Z")
Not sure if it counts as a ‘hit’, but “Du Hast” by \*\*Rammstein \*\*got a fair amount of radio airplay in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2019, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/9 "2019-09-10T11:41:22Z")
How do you measure hits these days? Gangnam Style was pretty popular a few years back but I don’t ever remember hearing it on the radio. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2019, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/10 "2019-09-10T11:43:27Z")
“Hocus Pocus” by Focus. Yodeling is a foreign language, right? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2019, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/11 "2019-09-10T11:49:36Z")
Rosalía just brought down the ceiling at the Grammys and I’m reasonably sure “Malamente” ain’t in _inglés_. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2019, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/12 "2019-09-10T12:21:36Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > How do you measure hits these days? Gangnam Style was pretty popular a few years back but I don’t ever remember hearing it on the radio. The Hot 100 these days is ranked these days with a mix of sales (including digital sales), airplay, and streaming (apparently, US views for a song on Youtube is included.) [Info here](https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/ask-billboard/5740625/ask-billboard-how-does-the-hot-100-work) > [@](#): > > “Generally speaking, our Hot 100 formula targets a ratio of sales (35-45%), airplay (30-40%) and streaming (20-30%).” > > […] > > Of course, that’s an overall target for 100 songs each week. That mark can change week-to-week. > > […] > And, week-to-week, some songs show largely along those percentages, while others skew noticeably toward any of the chart’s three metrics. > > Let’s look at a few, starting with “Wrecking Ball.” > > This week, points for the Hot 100’s leader stem 50% from streaming, 43% from sales and just 7% from radio airplay. “Gangnam Style” reached #2 on the Hot 100. I do remember it being somewhat played on radio, but I mostly remember it from weddings/parties, news stories, and just general pop culture. I think I may have watched the video two or three times as well (so that would have counted in the data, as US impressions on Youtube do seem to count – not specifically mentioned in that article, but it’s mentioned in the Wikipedia article on the Hot 100.) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/13 "2019-09-11T06:03:43Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I tuned into a classic rock station last week, and heard Santana’s _Oye Como Va_. […] Then there was _Mas Que Nada_. […]But it seems to me that there were more foreign language hits in the U.S. when I was a kid than there have been recently. Spanish is \*not \*a “foreign language” [in the USA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language_in_the_United_States). If you mean “hits not in English”, why not say that? And regaeton is HUGE at the moment. You may have heard of a little\* song called [Despacito](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJQP7kiw5Fk)? - \*only \*the most watched youtube video of all time… ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/14 "2019-09-11T07:29:58Z")
People, please read what the OP actually said. The key question is this: > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > **But it seems to me that there were more foreign language hits in the U.S. when I was a kid than there have been recently.** > > True, or am I just out of touch? He is asking about RECENT foreign language hits. Listing hits from the 50’s to the 90’s misses the entire point. ---
**Author:** ![chancetx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@chancetx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chancetx)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/15 "2019-09-11T08:28:52Z")
South Korean boy band BTS has hit the Billboard Top Ten twice with songs at least partly in Korean. Not sure how long they stayed in the charts or if they’re considered true hits - I’ve never heard them but I’m not the band’s target demographic. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/16 "2019-09-11T10:29:54Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Spanish is \*not \*a “foreign language” [in the USA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language_in_the_United_States). If you mean “hits not in English”, why not say that? > > And regaeton is HUGE at the moment. You may have heard of a little\* song called [Despacito](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJQP7kiw5Fk)? > > - \*only \*the most watched youtube video of all time… Neither are Korean, or Chinese, or German, or French… but it’s the convention used by among others the Oscars. Shorthand names are inaccurate pretty much by definition: the accurate version is the one that’s being shortened. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/17 "2019-09-11T14:26:10Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Neither are Korean, or Chinese, or German, or French… I’d argue that Spanish (and to a much lesser extent French) are \*not \*like Korean, German or Chinese, in terms of their “foreign-ness”, in that they are mother tongues of groups of people who are \*not \*immigrants to the US, but existed in-place \*before \*the US took them over. And what the Oscars class as foreign isn’t really relevant, they’re a hidebound and old-fashioned institution. And in any case, US films \*can’t \*be entered for the International Feature award category, so whether Spanish is or isn’t a foreign language to the US isn’t addressed by the contemporary Oscars anyway. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/18 "2019-09-11T14:27:21Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > People, please read what the OP actually said. […] > He is asking about RECENT foreign language hits. Listing hits from the 50’s to the 90’s misses the entire point. The reggaeton trend is happening _right now_. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-hits/839960/19 "2019-09-11T14:45:24Z")
Pink Martini, an American band from Portland, has had a couple of minor foreign-lanuage hits, like “Sympathique” and “Donde Estas, Yolanda?” I think they only charted in other countries, though. A \*lot \*of their music is in other languages.