Nena's original German-language song 99 Luftballons was massive in Europe, and even reached #2 in the USA, but didn't make it in the UK. Instead, an English translation (99 Red Balloons) made it to #1 in the UK, Ireland, and Canada (another country where the German version was not a hit).

 

Modern Talking had a few hits that were massive in Europe e.g. You're My Heart, You're My Soul, but their only big UK hit was Brother Louie.

 

Going back a bit further, Crimson & Clover by Tommy James & The Shondells was a top 3 hit in almost every country where it charted (including the USA where it reached #1) but did not chart in the UK.

 

Thanks to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_singles.

Edited August 8, 20195 yr by paulgilb

It’s a cruel shame Duke Dumont’s Ocean Drive couldn’t scrape the Top 40 when it did so well in AUS and Europe!

I didn't see Milky Chance - Stolen Dance mentioned here, unless I missed it. #1 or top 3 all over Europe, Australia, NZ, #7 in Canada...only #24 in the UK!

Just listening to Colbie Caillat's gorgeous Coco album for the first time in a little while and have been reminded that Bubbly somehow tanked at No.58 in the UK despite getting decent promo on music channels at the time and presumably some airplay, though I can't remember how much. The song was top 5 in the US, No.1 in Australia and top 10 in at least 15 other territories according to Wikipedia.

 

Our beloved Delta Goodrem's 'Believe Again' - when I first heard I was sure it would be a monster #1 in the UK, but it never even charted at all! :cry:

 

This thread has just made me sad that 'Lost On You' was never a proper hit in the UK when everyone else got it full force.

 

I mean most of this thread is incredible song after incredible song but that one hits hard.

It was a weird moment at a house party I was at about five years ago, when a generic "party" Spotify playlist was put on, all songs being received well...until Ai Se Eu Te Pego started playing, everyone stopped dancing and looked really confused, and the person holding the party quickly changed the song. That would be utterly baffling in basically every country except here.

Love this, the Canon sample is so overused in pop music (C U When U Get There, Go West, All Together Now, that N-Dubz song - We Dance On?), but I'm sure this would have been a big top 10 in the UK. As far as I'm aware it had no release or any sort of push here. I thought I'd read somewhere that the songwriters of Atomic Kitten's Whole Again loved this song and tapped into its general vibe/tempo when writing that.

The Germanic speaking countries have had a lot of one-off hits by artists from elsewhere - Jungle Drum (Emiliana Torrini is from Iceland), I Will Love You Monday (365) (Aura Dione is Danish), I Follow Rivers (Lykke Li is Swedish), and another is If A Song Could Get Me You by Norwegian Marit Larsen which was No.1 in Germany/Austria/Switzerland and Norway and not a hit anywhere else. Funny how these countries tend to pick up on these songs/artists out of nowhere.

 

Not to mention Melanie C´s First Day Of My Life. I remember that song being huge in german speaking countries, even tough her career was already dead at the time in the UK.