BMG is technically the biggest record company in Germany this week.
The reason for the achievement is the release of the Jung Brutal Gutaussehend 3 (JBG3) collaboration from rappers Kollegah and Farid Bang (pictured), which has just scored the biggest debut sales week of any album in Germany this year.
According to Gfk stats, the independent label which co-released the record, Banger Music, took a 37.4% label market share in the week ending last Friday (December 7).
Universal, meanwhile, across all of its owned and partner labels, took a total distribution share of 31.5% in the same period.
Banger and partner label Alpha Music Empire – which are owned by Farid Bang and Kollegah respectively – exclusively license the LP via BMG.
JBG3 not only beat U2’s comeback album Songs Of Experience to the No.1 spot in Germany last week – it outsold it by 6-1.
Meanwhile, all 17 tracks of the album charted in the Official GfK Top 50 Singles Chart.
“This is an exceptional record. It is the kind of success which demonstrates the importance of having faith in artists and their vision.”
Dominique Kulling, BMG
The reason for this extraordinary performance from JBG3 is simple: cash.
The German chart is based on revenue, and JBG3 has been raking it in. In its debut week, it sold 70,000 box-set editions at €50 each – a total luxury physical sales haul of €3.5m.
That’s not even counting the 38m streams generated by the album in the same seven days, nor sales of other formats.
Kollegah and Farid Bang are two of Germany’s foremost exponents of battle-rap. Each has more than 1.5 million YouTube followers.
BMG GSA Director A&R Frontline Maximilian Kolb said, “Kollegah and Farid Bang are at the forefront of a new generation of artists who have built an intimate relationship with their fans outside the mainstream using social media.
“We are proud to work with Alpha Music Empire and Banger Music on this extraordinary release.”
BMG Germany Managing Director Dominique Kulling said, “Kollegah and Farid Bang have an astounding connection with their fanbase. This is an exceptional record. It is the kind of success which demonstrates the importance of having faith in artists and their vision.”
Farid Bang and Kollegah said, “We are proud of our fans and supporters who helped us make this incredible success happen. Furthermore we are thankful to BMG, who always believed in the album and worked together with us not only professionally but also with a lot of passion. All of us together, we have written an outstanding part of German rap history.”
Ralph Jacobs and Mohamed Elbouhlali of Banger Music said, “We are proud of being part of German rap history.”
Kulling paid tribute to the industry partners who helped deliver this week’ success from Kollegah and Farid Bang’s own labels (Alpha Music Empire and Banger Music respectively) to distributor Groove Attack.Music Business Worldwide
