Artist · chart history

Nena

Solo artist Hagen Germany the person, performing solo since 1987

Nena is an artist from Hagen. Nena has 28 chart appearances on 28 radio countdowns from 13 stations on RockLists, spanning 1983–2024. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “99 Luftballoons”, which appears on 25 lists with a best position of #15. The station that charted Nena most often is CD101 (Columbus, OH), with 7 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1983.

28appearances

28countdowns

3songs charted

13stations

0#1 finishes

1983–2024years

Nena is the stage name of Gabriele Kerner, born in Hagen, Germany, in 1960, and also the name of the band she fronted in the days of the Neue Deutsche Welle, the new German wave. In 1983 that band cut "99 Luftballons", a bright, bouncing synth-pop rocket with a nervy new wave edge, and that same year they recorded it again in English as "99 Red Balloons". Either way, it was her voice that sold it: clear, girlish and utterly sure of itself.

For much of the world that was the whole story, but at home it was only the start. In 2002 she rebooted her solo career by re-recording the band's old hits, produced by her former bandmate and keyboard player Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, who had co-written most of them. The comeback worked, bringing in a fresh stack of German prizes including an Echo award in 2003.

Counting the band years and the solo run together, she has sold more than 25 million records, a haul no other German pop singer has ever matched on the charts.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

Songs by Nena on radio countdowns

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s	Peak year
1	99 Luftballoons	1,434	25	#15	–	1983
2	99 Red Balloons	137	2	#143	–	–
3	99 Luftballons (aka '99 Red Balloons')	87	1	#122	–	–

Every countdown appearance

Year	#	Song	Countdown
2024	653	99 Luftballoons	WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years
2023	113	99 Luftballoons	The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s
2021	122	99 Luftballons (aka '99 Red Balloons')	90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s
2005	855	99 Luftballoons	CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)
2004	855	99 Luftballoons	CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)
2003	855	99 Luftballoons	CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003)
2003	834	99 Luftballoons	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)
2002	857	99 Luftballoons	CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002)
2002	1336	99 Luftballoons	Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)
2001	857	99 Luftballoons	CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)
2001	264	99 Luftballoons	WBRU Modern Rock Top 500 (2001)
2000	855	99 Luftballoons	CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000)
1999	143	99 Red Balloons	Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)
1999	149	99 Red Balloons	WLIR Top 300 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)
1999	354	99 Luftballoons	WFNX Top 500 Songs of All-Time (June 1999)
1999	804	99 Luftballoons	CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)
1999	634	99 Luftballoons	CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999)
1998	15	99 Luftballoons	KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998)
1996	71	99 Luftballoons	KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1996)
1996	74	99 Luftballoons	Q101 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (1996)
1995	70	99 Luftballoons	KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1995)
1994	64	99 Luftballoons	KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1994)
1992	309	99 Luftballoons	KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1992)
1991	255	99 Luftballoons	Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1991)
1990	173	99 Luftballoons	Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1990)
1988	343	99 Luftballoons	Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988)
1983	20	99 Luftballoons	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1983
1983	50	99 Luftballoons	91X Top 91 Songs of 1983

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