Aquarius (Aqua album)

''Aquarius'' is the second studio album by Danish–Norwegian band Aqua. The album was released on 28 February 2000 by Universal.

Singles

The lead single, "Cartoon Heroes", peaked at number one in Denmark and Norway, reached number 7 in the UK in February 2000 and later received top 10 positions globally except for the US where it failed to chart on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The second single, " Around the World", also peaked at number one in Denmark, but only made number 26 in UK and did not sell highly in most regions. It was the last release in most territories before the band split in 2001.

Scandinavia and other European countries saw further releases of "Bumble Bees" and "We Belong to the Sea" during late 2000, both achieving only moderate success.

"Freaky Friday" was meant to be released as a single back when the band was still promoting the album, but it ended up being cancelled. The song was then released 16 years later, in 2017, through an EP of remixes.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number one in Denmark and Norway while peaking inside the top ten in seven countries. It sold 39,000 copies in its first week in Denmark, becoming the fastest-selling album of the decade. The album became the second best-selling album of 2000, selling 174,523 copies. As of August 2001, ''Aquarius'' had sold 265,000 copies in Denmark. It became the third best-selling album of the 2000s in Denmark.

In the United States, the album debuted at number 82 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and spent six weeks on the chart. This is a significant drop from their previous album ''Aquarium'' (1997), which peaked at number seven and spent 50 weeks on the chart. ''Aquarius'' has been certified platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) for shipments of one million copies inside Europe. Worldwide, the album has sold four million copies.

Track listing

All tracks written and produced by Søren Rasted and Claus Norreen, except where noted.

Personnel

Credits adapted from album liner notes.

*Aqua – mixing
*Stefan Boman – vocal engineering
*Christian Møller Nielsen – additional programming
*René Dif – lyricist, composition, lead vocals
*Björn Engelmann – mastering
*Nana Hedin – backing vocals
*Michael Henderson – mixing
*Henrik Janson – strings arrangement
*Ulf Janson – strings arrangement
*Ole Kibsgaard – guitar

*Stig Kreutzfeldt – vocal engineering
*Jörgen Larsen – scratching
*Peter Ljung – piano
*Bernard Löhr – mixing
*Claus Norreen – composition, production, arrangement
*Lene Nystrøm – lead and backing vocals
*Stockholm Session Orchestra – strings
*Jean-Paul Wall – backing vocals
*Søren Rasted – composition, production, arrangement, backing vocals
* Anders Øland – additional programming

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

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2000 albums
Aqua (band) albums
MCA Records albums
Albums recorded at Polar Studios
Universal Records albums