Fred Bronson writes Chart Beat Chat and Chart Beat Bonus each week for Billboard.com, the online version of the leading music industry magazine in the United States. He is also a huge supporter of the Eurovision Song Contest. Once again his annual Top 10 singles list features a number of songs from the year�s Contest.
Despite the Contest remaining largely unknown in the US, Fred Bronson has covered the Contest on behalf of Billboard Magazine for a number of years. Each December he publishes a list of his Top 10 songs for the year, his personal favourites. For 2006 no less than 4 songs from Athens made the list!
Here is Fred’s top 10:
1. Smile, Lily Allen (Capitol)
2. Tornero,Mihai Trăistariu( Warner Sweden) (country of origin: Romania).
3. I Wish I was a punk rocker Sandi Thom (Columbia)
4. Je t'adore, Kate Ryan (EMI Belgium)
5. Loca, Arsenium featuring Natalia Gordienko and Connect-R (CMC) (country of origin: Moldova)
6. LDN, Lily Allen (Regal Recordings U.K.)
6. Bore me (Yawn), Fantasia (J)
7. And I am telling you I'm not going, Jennifer Hudson (Music World/Columbia)
8. No no never, Texas Lightning (X-Cell Germany)
9. Suddenly I see, KT Tunstall (Virgin)
10. SOS, Rihanna (SRP/Def Jam)
(As you might have noticed, it is actually a top 11, since he had two tracks tied for #6)
Of the 4 songs from Athens, only Tornero did well, finishing 4th behind Hard rock hallelujah, Lejla and Never let you go. No no never finished in 14th (further back than many anticipated) while Loca was a distant 22nd. And Je t’adore didn’t even make it out of the semi-final. However, bear in mind Fred’s choices are based on recordings rather than the performance during the live Contest.
To read Fred Bronson’s weekly Chart Beat Chat and Chart Beat Bonus (where he answers readers’ emails), click here.
Billboard Magazine is “the Bible” of the American music industry: for many artists – from the US and not – charting on either Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles or Top 200 Albums is a measure of success. Over the years a number of Contest songs have charted on the Hot 100, including Volare by Domenico Modugno (#1, 1958), Eres Tu by Mocedades ((#9, 1974), Waterloo by ABBA (#7, 1974), and Ooh Aah … Just a little bit by Gina G (#12, 1996).
