Prince has set several chart records in France following his untimely death last month.
The late Minneapolis singer’s tracks flooded the French singles chart last Firday (April 29) in a way rarely seen.
As happened in all major record markets around the globe, 19 Prince tracks made their way into France’s top 100 positions.
‘Purple Rain’ was the week’s best-seller with 8k downloads – but set the record for the biggest-selling number one of the year.
What’s more, ‘Kiss’, standing at No.2, made Prince the only lead artist of the decade to hold the first two positions on the singles chart.
“Prince is the only main artist this decade to hold the top two positions on the french singles chart.”
(Pharrell Williams appeared both on a No.1 and a No.2 singles on the same week, in May 2013, but as a featured artist – when Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’ held the top spot from Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’).
Various other Prince tracks also appeared in the top 50.
Some of them also feature on the charts in the UK, the US, Germany or Australia.
Others are specific to French audience, such as ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’, ‘Money Don’t Matter 2 Night’ and, most of all, ‘Sometimes It Snows In April’ – made popular in France in the 90s by a cover version from French duet Native.
This article was created for MBW by Elia Habib. Follow Elia on Twitter here (@EliaHabib1) and check out his blog all about the French music market through here (www.muzhit.com).Music Business Worldwide
