What foreign language songs have hit number one in the UK?
Since the UK Charts emerged, everything from classic rock songs to novelty pop tunes have nabbed the top spot, demonstrating the country’s eclectic and evolving tastes. While accessible pop numbers usually form most of the top ten and have done so for decades, there has been a significant decline in indie and rock artists scoring chart-topping hits in the past few years.
While bands like Arctic Monkeys, My Chemical Romance, Razorlight, and Kings of Leon earned number-one hits in the mid-2000s, the charts are now mainly dominated by solo pop artists like Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, and Lewis Capaldi. The songs that hit number one are also predominantly in the English language, coming mainly from British or American musicians.
Yet, every so often, a foreign-language song slips into British consciousness and earns steadfast popularity. This hasn’t happened in a while unless you count the Justin Beiber remix of Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s ‘Despacito’ back in 2017. In the history of the UK’s Official Charts Company, only eight entirely foreign-language tracks have taken the crown at the top of the charts, with most being pop tunes, often with a novel quality to them. The first occurred in 1969 with the iconic ‘Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus’ by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin (who, ironically, was English). The sexy French song, which features lots of breathy moans, was banned for a time due to its sonic explicitness, yet it still managed to hit number one, staying there for a week.
The next foreign number one came in 1977 when Manhattan Transfer released ‘Chanson D’Amour’. The band were American, but the song predominantly featured French lyrics, with the odd English line thrown in. Four years later, Julio Iglesias covered the popular track ‘Begin The Beguine’, singing all of the lyrics in Spanish. It hit number one in 1981, remaining in that position for one week. It didn’t take long for another foreign work to hit the jackpot, though. In 1986, Falco’s ‘Rock Me Amadeus’ smashed the charts, which contains a few English lines among German. It remains the only German-language song to have ever topped the British charts.
It wasn’t another four years until another non-English song graced the number one spot; this time, it was a more unusual pick. Enigma’s ‘Sadeness Part 1’ remained in the top ten for seven weeks and stayed at the top for one. The bizarre track features Gregorian chants taken from the Kapelle Antiqua Choir, with the lyrics sung in Latin and French. The haunting chants play over a smooth beat – it’s fairly minimal – but British listeners seemed to be fans of the unconventional piece.
We’re skipping ahead to 2002 now, where the next UK number one sung in a foreign language emerged in the form of Las Ketchup’s ‘The Ketchup Song’. The piece, which became a popular party hit, is formed of Spanish verses, but many people don’t realise that the chorus is actually Spanish gibberish. The song revolves around a man trying to get a DJ to play ‘Rapper’s Delight’ by The Sugarhill Gang, but because he doesn’t speak English, when he sings the iconic song’s chorus, it sounds like the nonsensical words that Las Ketchup use, vaguely resembling the melody.
The popularity of ‘The Ketchup Song’ seemed to sustain the UK for a while. The next foreign number one didn’t come until 2010 when Yolanda Be Cool had a one-hit wonder with the annoying ‘We No Speak Americano’, which is actually sung in Neapolitan. It samples ‘Tu Vuò Fà L’Americano’ from 1956, adding an electronic beat as accompaniment. British people might best remember it as the track Neil dances to in an empty nightclub in The Inbetweeners Movie while attempting to win over some unsuspecting women.
Then we get to 2012, the last time a non-English-language single reached the top spot. It was, of course, ‘Gangnam Style’ by Psy, which is also the first and only Korean track to take this place. The song was inescapable during this period—it even came with its own dance routine. It dominated radio stations, earning itself a firm place in music history as one of the most overplayed songs of the 2010s.
Foreign language songs that hit number one in the UK:
- ‘Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus’ – Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin
- ‘Chanson D’Amour’ – Manhattan Transfer
- ‘Begin The Beguine’ – Julio Iglesias
- ‘Rock Me Amadeus’ – Falco
- ‘Sadeness Part 1’ – Enigma
- ‘The Ketchup Song’ – Las Ketchup
- ‘We No Speak Americano’ – Yolanda Be Cool
- ‘Gangnam Style’ – Psy
