Ultratop

Ultratop is the name of the official Belgian record charts. Due to the two different regions (Flanders and Wallonia) there are two different record charts. In Flanders the most important charts are the "Ultratop 50 singles" and the "Ultratop 50 albums". In Wallonia the most important charts are the "Ultratop 40 singles" and the "Ultratop 50 albums". The rankings in these charts are based on record sales. The charts are being broadcast on different Belgian radio stations and on TMF in Flanders. There are separate charts for the Flemish and Walloon regions, an unusual division that is justified by the cultural differences in Belgium.

Ultratop is also the name of the organization that manages the charts. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created on the initiative of IFPI Belgium.

Records

These records are noted from the Ultratop records made from their starting date in April 1995 until April 2005, as has been written in the databook Ultratop 1995-2005 by Sam Jaspers. Some have been updated, but not all.

In Flanders:

* Most Top 50 singles: Celine Dion and K3 both have 21 top 50 entries; Helmut Lotti has 20 entries, Get Ready! 19 entries and Britney Spears 18. Most recently K3 has broken that record.
*Kvraagetaan by Fixkes held on the longest at the first place - 16 weeks. Las Ketchup with "The Ketchup Song" and Crazy Frog with "Axel F" both held out 12 weeks. "This Is the Life" of Amy Macdonald held the first spot for 11 weeks. "Barbie Girl" from Aqua, "Wild Dances" of Ruslana, "Con te Partiro" of Andrea Bocelli and "Last Thing On My Mind" of Steps each held out 10 weeks on first spot.
* Longest noted single is Marco Borsato with "Rood". It was present in the Ultratop 50 for 46 weeks. "Love Generation" by Bob Sinclar stayed in the chart for 39 weeks and "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt for 38 weeks.
* Shortest noted Number 1 hit was for the Belgian Big Brother 1 candidates, together with Walter Grootaerts, which sang "Een brief voor Kerstmis". It left the Ultratop 50 after 11 weeks.
* Biggest leap to the number 1 position was for Elton John with "Candle in the wind 1997" / "Something about the way you look tonight". It jumped from the 46th position, directly to the number 1 spot in September 1997.
* From nowhere to number 1 is not all that rare in Flanders, apparently. At least 4 singles have already achieved that: Peter Evrard with "For you", Xandee with "1 Life", Joeri Fransen with "Ya bout to find out" and Artiesten voor Tsunami 12-12 with "Geef een teken" achieved it in the last 10 years.
* Milk Inc. have the record of most top 10 hits by an artist ever (20 of the 25 singles became top 10 hits), followed by Britney Spears.
*Natalia stood in the Ultratop 100 with 10 different songs at once.

In Wallonia:

*Las Ketchup with "The Ketchup Song" held on 5 weeks longer on first spot than in Flanders, namely 17 weeks. "Pour que tu m'aimes encore" of Céline Dion held on for 15 weeks at that first spot.
*"Con te partirò" of Andrea Bocelli held on 52 weeks in the chart and thus holds the Belgian Record of longest noted number. "Obsesión" from Aventura stayed in the charts for 48 weeks.
*"Ensemble" of "Solidarité Asie Tsunami 12-12" was the number 1-hit, which was kicked out of the chart the fastest, after 8 weeks. The hit held on for 2 weeks on the first place.
* From nowhere to number 1 entered: Elton John with "Something about the way you look tonight" / "Candle in the wind 1997", Star Academy (France) with "La musique (Angelica)" and Mario Barravecchia with "On se ressemble".
*The strongest riser in the chart to the number one position were Phil Barney and Marlène Duval with "Un enfant de toi". They rose from the 20th place to the first.

External links

* [http://www.ultratop.be/fr/ Official website for Walloon hit chart]
* [http://www.ultratop.be/nl/ Official website for Flemish hit chart]