The unstoppable Gotye juggernaut continues to defy the odds by clocking a third week atop the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts in the United States for single ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’, his duet with fellow Melbourne-based musician Kimbra.
The last time an Aussie managed the conquer the US charts was in 1999 with Savage Garden’s ‘I Knew I Loved You’. The track, which almost didn’t happen after the original duet partner pulled out, has now sold over 6 million copies worldwide and gone #1 in 16 countries.
In the last week alone in the US, Gotye sold 414,000 downloads of the single, down 11% from the previous week. In the week prior 463,000 digital copies of the song were sold, and 542,000 were sold the week prior.
According to Billboard, the impressive sales figures set a new record in US chart history, no artist has sold more than 400,000 digital copies of a single for three consecutive weeks.
Don’t think that’s impressive? It is when you take a look at the artists who could only manage two weeks above 400,000 – Lady Gaga and her single Born This Way, Flo Rida and his single ‘Right Round’, and Bruno Mars for his single ‘Grenade’.
The track’s success has been helped by huge radio airplay across the United States – it’s estimated that over 106 million Americans heard the song on radio in the last week alone – and Gotye’s live shows including a performance at Coachella.
Gotye and Kimbra’s numerous television appearances have no doubt also helped, as has covers performed on primetime television programs American Idol and Glee.
But despite his success Gotye remains grounded and is already looking to the future and his fourth album. “I can’t put a timeline on it. But I do know that I’d like to do a more traditional record, focusing more on chords and harmonies and things like that,” he revealed in an interview with NME. “I’d like to collaborate more with people and make more use of my band, rather than just me working on my own.”
“I work in stages, I usually need to withdraw for a while and experiment with things before my better ideas start floating to the top. I have a lot of unfinished things and demos from the last record, but I usually like to start afresh when I make a new record, so going by my previous track record, a couple of years wouldn’t be out of the question.”
“The success of this album means I might allow myself a bigger budget, but I don’t think more money would be a big benefit to my music.”
