The most popular singles ever in Norway according to lista.vg.no

Let me add that most of these are horrible. Way more horrible that the ones in a similar UK or US list would have been.

Manhattan Transfer? Ouch.

It's the thread that had to be made.

something that is not often said: I entirely agree with Geir's post there. It comes to something when I have to choose between Billy Swann and Boney M for a poll!

Billy Swann, for never taking his hands off the keyboard for the whole song, apart from the intro.

"Bags of people get lonely, aint nothin new"

Where are these bags? Left behind on a railway station? and how could each person be lonely, being in a bag with loads of other people?

well, how?

I am sure Paddington felt lonely.

Alice? Who the fuck is Alice? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA funny.

Alice? Who the fuck is Alice? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA funny.
Aaaaaaaaargh, a jr. high friend of mine thought this was the most awesome thing ever. So much hatred. Dude also had an American flag on his wall and really fucking loved "American Ninja" movies, so in retrospect it's kinda fascinating that we were friends.

It must be added that it wasn't the "Who The Fuck" version that stayed atop the Norwegian charts for ages back in 1977 though.

<i>ABBA: Dancing Queen (1992)</i>

What's up with the year here?

Also (disregarding the above): incredible that "One" is the first thing in <i>twenty-four years</i> to make the list.

Anyways, Boney M got my vote. Certainly their best song, and just a great laugh. Best twirling disco-strings ever, too.
She is crazy about her Daddy
Ohhhhh she believes in him

Kilevold's song is quite alright as well. Shockingly many unbearable songs on that list, however. I somehow managed to completely miss that U2/Blige song being such a big hit here, despite working at an office where the radio was pumping along all day long.

What's up with the year here?

I wondered too. "Dancing Queen" was a minor hit after its re-release in 1992, so it must have something to do with that. It first and foremost scored in 1976, but I guess the 1992 re-entry is what made it popular enough to get in here.

incredible that "One" is the first thing in twenty-four years to make the list.

To explain this you have to know the Norwegian media. Prior to the 80s, we had only one TV-channel and one radio channel. They were usually reluctant towards playing all kinds of pop music, which meant that those few songs that Norwegian audiences got to know at all ended up staying in the lists for ages.

In the 80s there were a larger number of radio channels, plus people would also get access to cable channels such as Sky Channel. That way, Norwegians got to hear more music and this opening up meant that popular songs stayed in the charts for a shorter time than they used to before 1980.

Also, the one who decided Norwegian taste before 1980 was a radio DJ named Vidar Lønn Arnesen. He has a frighteningly bad taste in music, and made sure that only the worst rubbish was being noticed by Norwegian audiences.

Affectionately know as Darth Vidar.

There is a current Norwegian dance DJ who calls himself Darth Vidar and I don't know if he would be too happy about being confused with Vidar Lønn Barnesen :)

The poll has Baccara in it, people - therefore Baccara wins.

Although just to be sure I am giving each record its due consdieration, could Geir please hum 'Wenche Myhre: Jeg og du og vi' to and 'Lars Kilevold: Livet er for kjipt' - thank you.

'Jeg og du og vi to' is going to walk this.

It's like a bunch of Unix commands

"Melody Uber Alles" by Hongroe

Although just to be sure I am giving each record its due consdieration, could Geir please hum 'Wenche Myhre: Jeg og du og vi' to and 'Lars Kilevold: Livet er for kjipt' - thank you.

I'm sorry I cannot help you with that, but the Lars Kilevold one is included in this Youtube school project: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYQtP9wKVfM :)

Your broadcast monopoly argument seems reasonable enough Geir (I am Norwegian btw), but another idea as well:

Is the VG chart sales-only? I guess singles sales may have dropped off even worse in Norway than let's say in the UK between the early 80s and now, making it harder to make the all-time charts?

How does the "Candle in the Wind 1997" fit in here? I could swear that it was claimed to be the best ever selling single in Norway at the time. Perhaps there was some difference in wording ala "fastest-selling", or relative to overall sales or something along those lines...

I've never heard "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)," but I'm voting for it because it cracks me up that a David Bowie song I've never heard of that has that title is apparently his biggest hit in Norway.

How does the "Candle in the Wind 1997" fit in here?

Probably didn't spread its sales enough. This list ranks chart performance, not sales. It stayed in the charts for a total of 21 weeks, which is even shorter than "Yes Sir I Can Boogie"'s stay at number one.

So selling a zillion copies in October and November didn't help much as long as the single was out of the list by February.

So, to Anatol: A drop in sales is not the reason. The big drop in singles sales in Norway I think was already by the mid 70s. Norway has been an albums dominated market for a long time.

I thought there would be something by this guy.

Are these in order? Like, that Nazareth song is the single most popular single of all time in Norway?

What did the radio play before the monopoly ended?

Are these in order?

Yes. "Love Hurts" was in the charts for a couple years or something. Including a quarter of a year or thereabouts at number 1.

What did the radio play before the monopoly ended?

I wasn't very old at the time so I don't quite remember much of it. A lot of it was Norwegian language non-rock popular music songs from the 50s and 60s. And quite a huge bit of classical music, jazz and Norwegian traditional (ethnic) music. Plus there has always been a fondness for a particular generation of mostly rather politically leftfield early 70s singer/songwriters who in Norway have become a genre called "viser" that has still survived very well with the 68 generation.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

So, in this case the general quality is so lousy that the Baccara fans managed to win.

"Baccara fans"