Europe's Dance Superstar Stromae has this week's highest gainer with "Racine Carre" at no.6 in the World's best-selling Albums chart! "Racine Carree" is Stromae’s second studio Album, and it’s still No1 in France after 26 weeks on the chart, and has already sold nearly 2 Million copies to date. He is the best-selling European solo Act of the past year having outsold top selling recording-acts like Robbie Willians and Avicii. 

Stromae just won best male artist at the French music awards 'Les victories de la Musique' and is not only the most successful musician in the French-speaking world, he's also the epitome of modern Belgium.

Paul Van Haver was born in Brussels to a Rwandan father and a Belgian mother by the name of Miranda Marie. His father, Dylan Steven, was mostly absent during his childhood, and was killed during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. His mother was a Dutch speaker, but she raised him in a French community in the suburbs of Brussels. At the age of eleven Paul Van Haver already showed an interest in music and attended 'l'Académie Musicale de Jette', where he studied music history and learned to play the drums. This was his first experience with music theory.

In 2000 he appeared as a rapper called Opmaestro, though he later changed his stage name to Stromae (a syllablic inversion of "Maestro", a practice called verlan). It was with this name that Van Haver became successful.

Stromae is ceaselessly compared to his great Belgian predecessor Jacques Brel. Stromae, like Brel, pours emotion into his words. "I let Brel into my world," Stromae told DW. "What I like about him is the simplicity of his language. It's not so simple to be simple."

When Stromae was getting into music he filled his world with American and French rap and a kind of Belgian electronic music called "New Beat." In the video of his song "Formidable," watched by 60 million people online so far, Stromae had hidden cameras filming him on a grey morning in Brussels, apparently drunk after a long night out, bothering people on their way to work before being moved on by some gentle police. The rain drizzles, the trams roll by: It's all very Belgian.

Thierry Coljean, music editor of Belgium's biggest French-language newspaper, "Le Soir", says Stromae is particularly Belgian because, like Brel, he echoes the country around him. "Jacques Brel was talking about Belgium, about Brussels," Coljean says. The landscape - or lack of it - and the people with their dreams and their pretentions, their weaknesses and their miseries. "Most of Brel's songs are really realistic. For Stromae it's the same thing," Coljean adds. "He's talking about cancer, about drunks, about depression. 'Alors on dans', Stromae's first song, is perhaps the most depressed song with a dance beat!"

Stromae is a product of a boom in Belgian nationalism.
Veteran Belgian sociologist and author Claude Javeau gives another take on Belgium's new star. At his age, Javeau says, he really can't be bothered with Stromae's music. But as a phenomenon, he's fascinating. "Stromae came up during the wave of Belgian chauvinism last year," says Javeau. "With the new King, a new, glamorous Queen and especially the Belgian national soccer team, the so-called Red Devils." It was surprising, he says, because it was looking as if Belgium was going to disappear altogether, vanishing down the rift between its French and Dutch-speaking halves. "But then something happened and now we have Stromae," he says. "He looks like a new Belgian, like Obama is a new American and the story's about the same: a white mother, a black father. It's a new Belgium, it's multi-ethnic," Javeau continues. "We have to get used to that and surely Stromae helped us to accept it." 

Stromae is an interesting case of integration through music. And in his music he is a master of unlikely combinations.
Like in the song "Papaoutai," which translates to 'Where are you, Dad?' and contains the memorable line: "Everyone knows how to make babies, nobody knows how to make fathers."

In the video he plays a sort of blow-up doll or tailor's dummy of a dad that his little kid is trying to play with. The music is an extraordinary combination of electro and the Congolese rumba his parents used to dance to. These mixes are very Belgian, Stromae says. "The way we always want to compromise between everything, I think that's really Belgian," the 28-year-old says. "I think I'm really Belgian for that, because I never make choices. That's my problem actually. I have crazy, different influences in my songs. I want rap music, I want Congolese rumba, I want salsa, I want dance music, I want hip-hop music, all mixed into one! If it sounds really bad, it sounds really bad but that's my way of creating. We just take things that cannot match in theory and do our best to make it work."

Stromae is about to embark on an 80-date European tour!

Pharrell Williams' “ Happy" is the World’s best-selling Single for the 4th week.

Katy Perry's ‘ "Dark Horse” replaces “Timber” at No.2. and Pitbull’s ‘'Timber” featuring Ke$ha slips to No.3. The Highest new-entry of the week is Arashi's ‘ “Bittersweet” at no.4. It's the 43rd single release of the Japanese boy band.

Jason Derulo’s “Talk Dirty” slips from 4 to 5, OneRepublic’s Counting Stars slips from 5 to 6, "Say Something by A Great Big World ft Christina Aguilera slips from from 6 to 7 and Avicii stays in 8th position after 18 reeks in the To 20.

Together with John Legend's "All Of Me' and Shakira feat. Rihanna's "Can't Remember To Forget You" there are three new songs for the first time on this week's Top 10. "All Of Me' by John Legend rises from no.18 to no.9. It's the first Top 10 smash for the American R&B star. 'Can't Remember To Forget You’” storms up the charts from no.15 to no.10. It's the first big tune for Shakira since 'Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)' nearly four years ago and her ninth global Top 10 success. For Rihanna's it's the 21st entry on the global Top 10.

Eric Church's fourth studio album "The Outsiders" is the Worlds top selling Album this week with sales of 287.700 copies in the US alone. It ends the two week reign of “ Frozen" which slips to no.2 despite a 6% sales increase to 160.000. After 12 weeks on the chart, the Album has sold a total of 1,38 million copies. This weeks Biggest winner is Stromae's "Racine Carrée' which jumps from no.18 to no.6 after a massive 52% sales boost to 67.000 copies. The album benefits from the French Music Awards "Victoires De La Musique" which took place on February 14). Stromae took home 3 Gongs (best male artist, best album for 'Racine Carrée', and best video for "Formidable"). After 26 weeks on the chart, the album sold 1.798.000 copies globally, 1.411.000 of it in France alone. After the success of "All Of Me’, the related album "Love In The Future” by John Legend is at no.21 with 29.000 sales. The Best of compilation

“1" by the Beatles goes to no.39 with 20.000 sales. ‘“1” is still the best selling album of the 21st century with a total of 32 million copies. New entries this week include Tsuyoshi Domoto from Kinki Kids’ 10th solo album "Shamanippon, Roinochinoi, Futsuyoshi Ban" at no.12 with 51.000 copies. Los Angeles based synth-pop / industrial band Glitch Mob enters at no.23 with their second album "Love Death Immortality' and 27.000 sales. SM The Ballad, an all-star band from Sony Music South Korea, debuts at no.28 with "Volume 2: Breath’” selling 25.000 copies of the combined Korean and chinese version in its first week.

British singer / songwriter Katy B debuts at no.30 with her second set "Little Red” and 24.000 sales and finally the German rock band 'Broilers' moves to no.34 with “ our and 22.000 sales.

Some additional sales stats: "The Truth About Love” by Pink has sold 5,45 million in total, 'The 20/20 Experience, Part 2' by Justin Timberlake has sold 1,25 million. “ Bangerz" by Miley Cyrus sold 1,59 million so far, "Yours Truly" by Ariana Grande 478.000, "Bad Blood’” by Bastille 1,22 million, "Love In The Future” by John Legend 445.000, "High Hopes” by Bruce Springsteen 629.000, “ arbenspiel" by Helene Fischer 849.000, “Artpop" by Lady GaGa 1,68 million and "Tsugi No Ashiato” by AKB 48 1,01 million.

Pharrell Williams saw out 2013 with his third UK number one single of the year, Happy.
 

The 40-year-old previously topped the charts on Daft Punk's Get Lucky and Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines, with writing credits on both.

Happy, a feel-good pop song featured in the hit animation film Despicable Me 2, and comes with a 24 hour-long video.

The chart placing rounds off a successful comeback for Williams, as Blurred Lines and Get Lucky were named the two best-selling singles of 2013 at the beginning of this month.

He is expected to release a second solo album early next year - a follow-up to his 2006 debut In My Mind.