Remember the 80s, when European acts stood just as much of a chance at charting in the US as native-born acts? That’s not quite where things are at right now, with 8 out of 10 acts in the Top 10 fronted by Americans, and a ninth (Drake) hailing from Canada. The sole European at the top of the Hot 100 this week is Jay Sean, who had to get signed to an American label to chart, features American rapper Lil Wayne, and hasn’t even hit the UK charts yet with his hit “Down”. In fact, you have to go all the way down to #57 to find an all-European act (Cascada). That’s pretty pitiful, but these things go in waves if you look back at the history of the American charts. So do the Europeans have any shots at making it big in the US any time soon? Well, maybe…
– Cascada is the obvious choice, because “Evacuate the Dancefloor” is quickly flying up the pop charts. While Lady GaGa moves on to single #4 with the darker “Paparazzi”, Cascada takes the RedOne formula and throws in enough of a twist (along with a killer chorus) to stand up on their own. Even H1N1 can’t stop this jam from reaching the Top 40, and I predict that it will follow “Everytime We Touch” into the Top 10. Here’s the Wideboys remix of the track.
– Sweden has a history of exporting pop stars for U.S. consumption, and Agnes Carlsson seems to have as good a chance as any others. “Release Me” is already getting some club play here, and the single was officially released in mid-August on Geffen Records. It’s not hard to see this single taking a similar climb to the top of the charts like Leona Lewis did close to two years ago.
– A month or so ago, I would have predicted that David Guetta would be on that list with “When Love Takes Over”, but after barely scratching the surface of pop airplay lists, the life of that single is all but over. In it’s place is “Sexy Bitch”, featuring Akon. “Bitch”, or “Chick” in a radio-friendly form, is starting to make a move, but is it the novelty of the song or the track itself that is pushing the popularity? The single has re-entered the Hot 100 at #92 this week, and the full-length is looking at a Top 50 debut, so we can only sit and wait to see what happens.
– Isn’t it about time for the Sugababes to attempt another run at the American music scene? On paper, they seem to have a formula for success, but “Get Sexy” will not be the single to do the job. Now, if the lead single is “About A Girl”, then there’s a chance that they might out-do the barely-Top 40 performance of “Hole In the Head”, which remains one of the great injustices of the past 10 years on the Hot 100. I posted “Girl” a couple of weeks ago, so I’m gonna post “Hole” instead. Ah, memories.
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I’m waiting semi-patiently to hear the studio version of “About A Girl”–it seems like it’ll have more shelf life (on my iPod, at least) than “Get Sexy.”
Agnes getting any degree of success here would be phenomenal.
“Get Sexy” has been a slow-burner for me, which is a good sign, but “About A Girl” has much more of an immediate impact. But yeah…final judgment should be reserved until the studio version surfaces.
This will be run at American #3 for the ‘babes, right? I’m pretty sure I remember “Freak Like Me” and “Round Round” getting very limited exposure during their first attempt. “Hole in the Head” amazingly made it to #23 at top 40 radio in the summer of 2004. Great song as always.
You are absolutely correct, although I think we’re both thinking of airplay. “Hole In the Head” only got to #96 on the Hot 100.
You think Agnes has that big a chance over here? Don’t get me wrong, I love her stuff. I recall, though, tons of $$ spent to break her in the UK. And Top 5 is not bad t’all… but I don’t believe she’s had a follow-up released there yet.
I really think she’s got a chance. The song is perfectly timed for where pop music is at the moment, and I will go one further and say that she may follow Leona Lewis to the upper reaches of the chart. She won’t hit #1 unless Oprah has her on the show, though.
Well, good luck to Sugababes and even though Agnes makes my blood run cold, I have to say “Release Me” has grown on me immensely. However, Australia is actually quite a similar market to the US (check out our charts) and Agnes has stalled outside the top 50. It’s been hanging around for months but it just seems a bit too pop for an increasingly urban/dance market place. I wonder if it will face the same situation in America.
Ya know, I thought the same thing about Leona, and look what happened with that. Then again, Simon Cowell and Oprah appear to have some type of deal to promote his artists, so I am sure it didn’t hurt that she got her first exposure on Oprah’s show. I really don’t see the Sugababes thing happening, especially with LaToya getting a head start and taking a run at the charts.
I still don’t see what the deal is with this Cascada song. It amazes me that it’s even doing as well as it is right now in the Top 50. Europe has so many more amazingly talented artists with singles that should be big in the U.S.
I’m shocked that “When Love Takes Over” fared so poorly; I know for a fact that it got tons of airplay here in Canada. Agnes is starting to get airplay over here too. Will be keeping a tab on that.
Cascada won me over with this one, Will. It’s infectious, to use the cheesy imagery from the song. Here’s hoping the Agnes catches some momentum.
Release Me is one of my favourite songs of the year, I do prefer the remixes of get Sexy than the single,
I have always loved the American charts but less so over the past few years, there are too many similar songs in the top ten or the same songs are there for weeks or months,
David, no argument whatsoever. We have gotten extremely repetitive, but this isn’t the first time that has happened, and it won’t be the last, either.
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