Yesterday, the Norwegian daily paper Dagbladet reported the happy news about Lene's single "Here We Are" being the most airplayed Norwegian song of 2009. We also learn that "Twist The Truth" has sold 15.000 copies.

This year's radio hits

(Published by Dagbladet, December 29, 2009)

Lene Marlin (29) created this year's Norwegian radio hit.

The Tromsø girl's "Here We Are" made it just outside the winner's podium at Hit40, which shows the most popular songs on Norwegian radio stations.

"This was a very nice message at the end of a good year! There is a great competition for the air time on radio, so I'm very happy and humbled about this. Nice that the radio is airing the song and that people are liking it! I'm getting an incredible lot of pleasant feedback and then you get to be so happy", Lene Marlin writes in a text message that Dagbladet has received from the record company EMI.

She could not deal with the international hits on top of the list: Beyoncé's «Halo», Eric Hutchinson's «Rock & Roll» and Katy Perry's «Hot N Cold».

However, Lene Marlin beat this year's Norwegian sales success, DonkeyBoy, who placed themselves in the fifth position at Hit40. 

It's well worth noting that her album, "Twist The Truth", has sold a moderate 15.000 copies since it was released this spring. DonkeyBoy's album "Caught In A Life" came this autumn, and is soon to have sold 90.000 copies.

Critical to the stations

The music responsible at Dagbladet, Svein Ove Bakke, thinks it's remarkable that the band doesn't place themselves higher on the radio chart with "Ambitions".

- Had commercial Norwegian radio been occupied with playing new Norwegian music, DonkeyBoy would have been in the top three. This list shows that radio is creating hit songs, but that it's not quite in time with the commercial trends in other respects, Bakke says.

Down through the list we find Norwegian songs like Maria Mena's "All This Time (Pick-Me-Up-Song)", and a-ha's "Foot Of The Mountain". Alexander Rybak's Grand Prix-winner "Fairytale" is in the 13th place.

In total there are 16 out of 40 songs which are written by Norwegian artists. The programme editor of P4, Jørn Johansen, believes this is a fully OK number.

- 40 percent Norwegian is thus about the same as the album sales, and probably pretty equal to what P4 is concluding as well. The percent share, especially for the top charts, will be dependent on which Norwegian artists who have released new songs that year, so there will be a natural variation from year to year, Johansen says to Dagbladet.

Beyoncé scoring well

He does not think there is something remarkable in DonkeyBoy being surpassed by Lene Marlin:

- Lene Marlin was the earlier one out in 2009, so this would explain the list position. From the summer of 2009 to the summer of 2010 it might very well be DonkeyBoy who advances to the front, Johansen says.

- Why is Beyoncé on top of the radio chart you think?

- If I had known why a song becomes a hit I would have been rolling in money! Besides, there are other songs which have been more played on P4. At the same time "Halo" has been scoring well in our listener's polls, so this is hardly undeserved, says P4's Jørn Johansen.