Enlarge image
Before the success, 26-year-old Nathan Evans from Scotland worked as a postman on the social media platform Tiktok
Photo: Jo Hanley / dpa
The biggest music hit of the year in Germany so far is a real surprise success: The Scot Nathan Evans made it to number 1 in the 2021 semi-annual evaluation of the official German charts with his sailor's song "Wellerman". GfK Entertainment announced this on Thursday in Baden-Baden. With his viral hit in January, the 26-year-old made it from postman to pop star in just a few weeks - and was able to maintain his success for months.
The 26-year-old still worked as a mail carrier until the end of 2020 and also posted cover songs on the TikTok platform. Shortly after Christmas he published the New Zealand shanty song
"
Wellerman" there, which has received millions of hits within a short time. The viral success quickly continued on other platforms. Celebrities like Andrew Lloyd Webber, Gary Barlow and Brian May then played it. The German shanty rockers Santiano also sang the song.
Evans is currently building a career out of chance success. Life as a Tiktok celebrity is demanding, says Evans. “You just have to keep delivering good content that people like and respond to. Pay attention to which music they want in the comments and which clips are clicked the most. You have to get a feel for what people want to hear. ”People watched less TV and streamed more, says Evans. »And social media will also become more and more important in the future. That's why it made more sense for me to upload my music to the Internet. ”Evans now also has a conventional record deal.
The first version of
»
Wellerman« has now been streamed over 93 million times
on Spotify alone
, and one remix has almost 200 million views.
Evans wants to fulfill a dream with the money earned from the hit.
He's saving for a house.
“I would like to stay in my hometown, or at least nearby.
Glasgow is 20 minutes away, so maybe I'll move there too. "
tmk / dpa
