“Comet”
Udo and Apache with the biggest German-language number one hit
German rapper Apache 207 (l) and panic rocker Udo Lindenberg celebrate great success together. photo
© Tine Acke/Warner Music/dpa
More often at the top than “Layla” anyway and now more than Matthias Reim’s “Damn, I love you””: “Komet” by Udo Lindenberg and Apache 207 is now the German-language title with the most number one weeks.
With 17 weeks at the top of the charts is “Komet” by Udo Lindenberg and Apache 207 now Germany’s longest-lasting German-language number one hit. This was announced by GfK Entertainment as investigator of the Official German Charts on Friday in Baden-Baden. “Komet” overtook “Damn, I love you” by Matthias Reim on Friday. The song stayed at number one for 16 weeks in 1990 – the year of reunification. Unlike Lindenberg and Apache, the rhyme was uninterrupted back then.
The unlikely duo on a par with “Despacito”
With their 17 number one weeks, old rocker Lindenberg (77) and rapper Apache (25) are now on the same level in chart history as two English-language productions: namely with “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, the summer hit of 2017, as well as with “Rivers of Babylon” by the disco group Boney M. in 1978.
If Lindenberg and Apache make it to number one in the singles charts again, then they alone will be at the top and can call Germany’s most successful number one title their own.
According to GfK Entertainment, there have been weekly single charts since the beginning of 1971. Previously, they were collected every two weeks or monthly. In the 1970s and 1980s, sales of sound recordings were crucial, i.e. the pressed single record from the store. In the meantime, data from download portals and streaming platforms has also been included.
Beaten “Layla” and “A Star”.
For comparison in terms of German-language number one hits: Big German top titles were, for example, last year’s summer hit “Layla” by DJ Robin & Schürze, which was number one for nine weeks. In 2007, DJ Ötzi and Nik P.’s “Ein Stern (… der yer name)” stayed in first place for eleven weeks.
If you go back longer in the history of the charts, you will come across long-lived German-language number one hits such as “Polonäse Blankenese” by Gottlieb Wendehals (nine weeks in 1981/82), “Jenseits von Eden” by Nino de Angelo ( eight weeks 1984) or “A little peace” by Nicole (five weeks 1982).
Interesting: “Atemlos (through the night)” by Helene Fischer was never a number one hit in Germany. In 2014, the statistics list five times third place as the highest position. Even “Da Da Da” by Trio never made it to number one, in 1982 it remained a number two hit, so to speak.
99 balloons in first place for just one week
In 1983 Nena’s “99 Luftballons” was number one in the single charts for just one week. Other titles from the Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW) were major number one hits: “Major Tom (completely detached)” by Peter Schilling was number one for eight weeks in 1983, as was “Scandal im Sperrgebiet” by the Spider Murphy Gang in 1982.
Tauch Prokopetz’s song “Codo (…düse im Sausestufen)” (from the LP “DÖF”, produced by Annette Humpe) made it to number one five weeks ago 40 years ago four weeks.
It took the Lindenberg-Apache song a bit to equal the record and surpass Matthias Reim’s “Damn, I love you”. Although the “Komet” quickly flew to number one at the beginning of February, it only stayed there for nine weeks at a time. At the beginning of April he flew to second place for a week because of “All Night” by RAF Camora & Luciano, then at the end of April because of “Icecream” by influencer Twenty4tim. At the beginning of June it was again Twenty4tim who dethroned Udo and Apache (with “Hot Or Not” together with Kitty Cat).
Lindenberg: “Absolutely flashed”
In June it seemed as if the record was a long way off. For four weeks (from June 9th to July 6th) Ski Aggu, Joost and Otto Waalkes conquered the top position with the song “Friesenjung”. Lindenberg and Apache remained in second place the whole time – in wait, so to speak.
On July 7, Lindenberg then managed to contest first place again with his former flatmate Otto Waalkes (74). This week, the rocker-rapper team was able to hold the top position. Lindenberg allowed himself to be quoted about the success of GfK Entertainment in his typical way: “Yeahhh. Wow. Who would have thought it… absolutely flashed.” Apache 207 said: “It’s nice to see that “Komet” unites different generations and can therefore achieve this success. We are overwhelmed and happy that our music can make such a difference.”