Top Ten European Artists of the 2000s that Once Were Popular in Germany but Have Since Been Forgotten

Estonian band Vanilla Ninja had more than just one hit in German speaking countries with both their singles and albums being in the top ten. Sure, there was a controversy about the producer having bought several copies of the artists' records himself, but still they were pretty successful anyhow, their music videos were all over T.V. and they had many fans. However, after their hiatus/break-up in 2006 (they never officially disbanded but they haven't released anything for a decade and several websites claimed they already have disbanded) none of their songs seems to be remembered and even the name "Vanilla Ninja" doesn't ring a bell to most people. A pity, "Blue Tattoo" is one of my absolute favorite albums.

They are famous in their home country however.

Tokio Hotel were as huge in Germany as a band can be. They started an emo trend in German speaking countries simultanously to the one in the USA, but completely independently, being more rooted in a darkened version of Japanese anime fashion. Cinema Bizarre were one of the biggest names to appear right after TH (and even though they had this style before and even formed at an anime convention, Tokio Hotel's surprise succesy sure helped them getting a major label contract), but they were older and already hit puberty voice change, so liking Cinema Bizarre was not something to be ashamed of. Their biggest hit was "Lovesongs (They Kill Me)", and it's really one of the catchiest emo songs out there. But they disbanded after two albums, and only the first one was that successful. But I recall them having had an army of fans. Maybe emo bands were better off in the US because the trend has lasted longer. The subculture unfortunately vanished in Germany.

I always wondered how you could have two number one albums (a third one in the top ten) and a number of hits that had an insane amount of airplay and then be completely erased from people's memories once the next decade started. Maybe her music was too dark for mainstream audiences but too pop-ish for rock fans to ultimately be remembered by a large amount of people.

This Canadian rapper (who raps in French) had two hits called "Femme Like U" and "Crazy" in 2004 and 2005 respectively, and also the album "La Good Life" that contains the two singles was a moderate success. He also had several other albums before and after that but none of them were successful again. Like, not even at spot 178 or something like that. It's like they weren't even released, I never saw any copy in any store, never heard any other song by him or saw any music video other than those two. Actually, if I wouldn't have looked it up for the list, I wouldn't even know that he also released other albums afterwards, which seems really weird when you already started a successful career. He appeared out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly. Also I wonder, since all of this happened before YouTube was huge: how came he even charted in German speaking countries?
He didn't even chart in his home country Canada, so how did so many Germans discover his music in the first place ...more

They were the winners of the 2004 season of "Popstars". What was interesting about them is that they did not do pop like the other winners, but dark rock that laut.de described as a mix of Evanescence and Rammstein for pop audiences. They were panned by rock fans though, and I can see why: they were manufactured by their label, didn't write a single tone or word, and did not play the instruments (all four are singers). They didn't even like the kind of music they made themselves, because they took part in the show to become "popstars", not "rockstars". That's why they disbanded after only one album that topped the German charts.
I think the critics were unfair. Sure, they did not write anything and are far from being authentic, but someone DID write and compose their music, and their album "Your Dark Side" contains some really fine music. Especially the song "Dying Words" is pretty damn amazing, and would have been acclaimed if performed by another artist that is accepted by rock ...more

Even though she only had moderate success, she was already hailed as the new face of German soul in 2005, next to artists such as Ich+Ich, Cassandra Steen or Xavier Naidoo. "Das alles ändert nichts daran" (duet with Cosmo Klein) was her biggest hit back then. And wow, what a beautiful song about the contradictory feeling after a break up told from altering perspective between the two partners.
However, she didn't release anything after 2007, until in 2012 she came back under the name Jewdyssee with nothing hinting at the fact that it's her, and released modernized versions of Jewish music, only to vanish again. You hardly find any information about her online.

Had a chart topping song with "No No Never" which they also performed at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, as well as one successful album, but then disappeared, even though they released something afterwards.
Maybe that is because there already is a very successful and acclaimed German country band called The BossHoss that is pretty huge over here.

Okay, they were a (dutch) band aiming for tweens and resembled 90s style bubblegum dance like Aqua or Toy-Box but with cleaner lyrics, and as such it was clear they wouldn't get much airplay after their career ended, but still, they had number one hits.