Aquarius (Aqua album)

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

Aquarius
Studio album by Aqua
Released	28 February 2000
Recorded	January–November 1999;
Studio	RastedNorreen Mobile Studio (Mölle, Sweden and Somerset, England) Studio 2 at Swedish National Radio and Polar Studios (Stockholm, Sweden)
Genre	Eurodance Europop
Length	46:44
Label	Universal
Producer	Søren Rasted Claus Norreen
Aqua chronology
Aquarium (1997) Aquarius (2000) Cartoon Heroes: The Best of Aqua (2002)
Singles from Aquarius
"Cartoon Heroes" Released: 1 February 2000 "Around the World" Released: 30 May 2000 "Bumble Bees" Released: 9 August 2000 "We Belong to the Sea" Released: 9 January 2001 "Freaky Friday" Released: 11 August 2017[1]

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.[2][3]

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.[4] The album became the second best-selling album of 2000, selling 174,523 copies.[5] As of August 2001, Aquarius had sold 265,000 copies in Denmark.[6] It became the third best-selling album of the 2000s in Denmark.[7]

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.[8][9]

Track listing

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

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Cartoon Heroes"	3:38
2.	"Around the World"	3:28
3.	"Freaky Friday"	3:45
4.	"We Belong to the Sea"	4:18
5.	"An Apple a Day"	3:37
6.	"Halloween" (writers: Rasted, Norreen, René Dif)	3:49
7.	"Good Guys"	3:58
8.	"Back from Mars"	4:03
9.	"Aquarius"	4:21
10.	"Cuba Libre" (writers: Rasted, Norreen, Dif)	3:36
11.	"Bumble Bees"	3:52
12.	"Goodbye to the Circus"	3:59

Japanese edition bonus track

No.	Title	Length
13.	"Cartoon Heroes" (Metro's That's All Folks Remix)	6:23

Danish special edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
13.	"Cartoon Heroes" (Metro 7-inch Edit)	4:06
14.	"Cartoon Heroes" (Love to Infinity Classic Radio Mix)	3:08

Personnel

Credits adapted from album liner notes.[10]

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 Chart (2000) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[11] 15 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[12] 11 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[13] 18 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[14] 9 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[15] 3 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[16] 1 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[17] 42 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[18] 7 French Albums (SNEP)[19] 37 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[20] 16 Irish Albums (IRMA)[21] 36 Italian Albums (FIMI)[22] 2 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[23] 8 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[24] 1 Scottish Albums (OCC)[25] 33 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[26] 3 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[27] 2 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[28] 8 UK Albums (OCC)[29] 24 US Billboard 200[30] 82

Year-end charts Chart (2000) Position Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[31] 1 European Albums (Music & Media)[32] 31 Finnish Foreign Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[33] 5 Italian Albums (FIMI)[34] 36 Norwegian Winter Period Albums (VG-lista)[35] 9 Norwegian Spring Period Albums (VG-lista)[36] 4 South Korean International Albums (MIAK)[37] 11 Spanish Albums (AFYVE)[38] 29 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[39] 32 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[40] 82 Decade-end charts Chart (2000–2009) Position Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[7] 3

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[41]	Gold	35,000^^
Canada (Music Canada)[42]	2× Platinum	200,000^^
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[43]	4× Platinum	200,000^
Japan (RIAJ)[44]	Platinum	200,000^^
Norway (IFPI Norway)[45]	2× Platinum	100,000^*
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[46]	5× Platinum	500,000^^
Sweden (GLF)[47]	Platinum	80,000^^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[48]	Gold	25,000^^
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)[49]	Platinum	1,000,000^*
^* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label
Worldwide[50]	February 28, 2000	CD / Cassette	Universal Music
United States[51]	March 28, 2000		MCA Records

References

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2. "Aqua - Freaky Friday (2017) Master release!". Bubblegum Dancer. Retrieved 2017-11-24.
3. "Freaky Friday - EP by Aqua on Apple Music". Apple Inc. Retrieved 2017-11-24.
4. Ardahl, Rasmus (1 December 2006). "Kim Larsen og Take That". Gaffa (in Danish). Retrieved 23 July 2011.
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7. "Ud med 'love' - ind med 'kærlighed'". Urban (in Danish): 21. 14 December 2009.
8. "Fakta og Aqua - Kultur | www.b.dk". Berlingske Tidende (in Danish). 13 November 2005. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
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34. "The best-selling albums of 2000". Hit Parade Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 20 December 2020.
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36. "Topp 40 Album Vår 2000". VG-Lista (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
37. "자료제공:(사)한국음반산업협회/이 자료는당협회와 상의없이 가공,편집을금합니다". MIAK (in Korean). Retrieved 26 January 2021.
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43. Drejer, Dennis (26 February 2000). "Aqua er de største - Nyheder - BT.dk". B.T. (in Danish). Retrieved 9 July 2011.
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45. "IFPI Norsk platebransje Trofeer 1993–2011" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway.
46. Salaverrie, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (PDF) (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Madrid: Fundación Autor/SGAE. p. 947. ISBN 84-8048-639-2. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
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48. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Aqua; 'Aquarius')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
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50. Ferro, Charles (18 December 1999). "Music Pulse". Billboard. 111 (51): 71. ISSN 0006-2510.
51. Garrity, Brian (12 February 2000). "Artists & Music: Bubble-Gum Popsters". Billboard. 112 (7): 14. ISSN 0006-2510.