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This is a list of number-one hits by non-British European artists in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. It excludes number-one hits by British artists that can be found in the list of songs by British artists which reached number-one in the United States. The only non-British, European artist to have a pre-Hot 100 number-one was Anton Karas, with " The Third Man Theme" holding the top spot for 11 weeks, starting from April 29, 1950.

Date Nationality Song title Artist Wks at #1
August 18, 1958 Italy " Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)" Domenico Modugno 5
January 9, 1961 West Germany " Wonderland by Night" Bert Kaempfert 3
December 7, 1963 Belgium " Dominique" The Singing Nun 4
February 10, 1968 France " Love Is Blue" Paul Mauriat 5
February 7, 1970 Netherlands " Venus" Shocking Blue 1
July 29, 1972 Ireland " Alone Again (Naturally)" Gilbert O'Sullivan 6 (2 runs)
April 6, 1974 Sweden " Hooked on a Feeling" Blue Swede 1
November 29, 1975 West Germany " Fly, Robin, Fly" Silver Convention 3
April 9, 1977 Sweden " Dancing Queen" ABBA 1
June 20, 1981 Netherlands " Stars on 45 Medley" Stars on 45 1
May 8, 1982 Greece " Chariots of Fire" Vangelis 1
October 19, 1985 Norway " Take On Me" a-ha 1
November 9, 1985 Czechoslovakia " Miami Vice Theme" Jan Hammer 1
March 29, 1986 Austria " Rock Me Amadeus" Falco 3
May 16, 1987 Ireland " With or Without You" U2 3
August 8, 1987 " I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" 2
April 8, 1989 Sweden " The Look" Roxette 1
July 1, 1989 West Germany " Baby Don't Forget My Number" Milli Vanilli 1 [1]
September 23, 1989 " Girl I'm Gonna Miss You" 2
November 4, 1989 Sweden " Listen to Your Heart" Roxette 1
November 25, 1989 West Germany " Blame It on the Rain" Milli Vanilli 2
April 21, 1990 Ireland " Nothing Compares 2 U" Sinéad O'Connor 4
June 16, 1990 Sweden " It Must Have Been Love" Roxette 2
May 11, 1991 " Joyride" 1
March 12, 1994 " The Sign" Ace of Base 6
August 3, 1996 Spain " Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)" Los del Rio 14
September 4, 1999 " Bailamos" Enrique Iglesias 2
June 24, 2000 " Be with You" 3
May 5, 2007 Canada/France " Girlfriend" Avril Lavigne 1 [2]
July 9, 2011 Netherlands " Give Me Everything" ( Pitbull feat. Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer) Afrojack 1 [3]
April 28, 2012 Belgium / Australia " Somebody That I Used to Know" ( Gotye feat. Kimbra) Gotye 8 [4]
October 12, 2013 Croatia / New Zealand " Royals" Lorde 9
January 7, 2017 France " Starboy" ( The Weeknd feat. Daft Punk) Daft Punk 1 [5]
October 29, 2022 Germany " Unholy" ( Sam Smith and Kim Petras) Kim Petras 1 [6]
April 27, 2024 Ireland " Too Sweet" Hozier 1

Trivia

  • The non-British, European country with the highest number of US number-ones is Sweden with 7, followed by France & Germany/ West Germany with 6 each.
  • The non-British, European country whose artists have appeared in the top spot on the Hot 100 for the most weeks is Spain (19 weeks), followed by Ireland (16).
  • Apart from the UK, the European countries with the largest number of acts to reach number-one in the US are France, Germany (all except Kim Petras as West Germany), Ireland and Sweden with 4 each. The Netherlands has 3, and Belgium and Spain have 2 each. Austria had one act reach number one in the pre-Hot 100 era and one in the Hot 100 era.
  • The only non-UK European acts with multiple US number one hits are:
    • Roxette (4)
    • Milli Vanilli (3)
    • Enrique Iglesias (2)
    • U2 (2)

Most number ones by country

Country Number one hits
Sweden 7
Germany / West Germany 6
Ireland 5
France 3
Netherlands 3
Spain 3
Belgium 2
Austria 1
Croatia 1
Czechoslovakia 1
Greece 1
Italy 1
Norway 1

Most number ones by artist

Artist Country Number one hits
Roxette Sweden 4
Milli Vanilli West Germany 3
Enrique Iglesias Spain 2
U2 Ireland 2

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Fab Morvan is French, Rob Pilatus was West German (later German). But generally it was a project originated in Munich, West Germany
  2. ^ Avril Lavigne is a Canadian born to a French father, making her a Canadian-French dual citizen.
  3. ^ Afrojack is Dutch and a featured artist, Pitbull, Ne-Yo and Nayer are American.
  4. ^ Gotye is a Belgian-Australian dual citizen, Kimbra is a New Zealander.
  5. ^ Daft Punk were French and a featured artist, The Weeknd is Canadian.
  6. ^ Kim Petras is German, Sam Smith is British.