No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic!
Norwegian production team StarGate continues its rampage. This week the successful producers shot to No. 1 both in the US and in UK with Ne-Yo’s infectious So Sick.
Last year saw Norwegian production team StarGate, which is made up of Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel S. Eriksen, relocating to New York after a lengthy and very successful career as producers and studio owners based in Trondheim, Norway. StarGate has produced, written or remixed hits by such artists as Blue, Mario, Mis-Teeq, Christina Milian, Atomic Kitten, Beenie Man, Sisqo, Cher, Hear’Say, Lil’Kim and Nelly. The production team has been particularly successful on the British market with several Top 10 hits in the UK.
So Sick
Since relocating to New York, the StarGate team has quickly established themselves as associates of several of the currently hottest hip hop/Rn’B/urban acts on the US market. StarGate produced Def Jam debutant Ne-Yo’s So Sick shot to the top ten on both Billboard in the US as well as the UK sales charts this week. The track is historical in the fact that it is the first Norwegian-written (and produced) tune to make it to No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic simultaneously. Not even 80s pop giants a-ha managed to pull off this feat – they made it to No. 1 on Billboard but had to settle with No. 2 in the UK 20 years ago.
Says StarGate’s Tor Erik Hermansen to Norwegian daily VG: “This is huge – these are the world’s two most difficult markets to break into. We were really surprised that the track went in at No. 1 in the UK. Some tracks work for the US market only and don’t necessarily make the transition to the UK market well. It’s nice to see that the success is not only an American phenomenon.
Ne-Yo’s So Sick is currently one of the biggest hits on the US market as witnessed by these facts:
#1 at the Billboard Hot 100 for the third week in a row
#1 at the Digital tracks & songs list
#1 at Pop Airplay
#2 at Hot 100 Airplay
Ne-Yo’s debut album kicked off at #1 in its first week with record sales of more than 300 000 units shifted in its first week.
In the past, StarGate has produced three hits that have made it to No. 1 in the UK, the last being Blue and Elton John’s ‘Sorry Seems To Be The hardest Word” in 2002.
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