Aqua started releasing music in 1995 as Joyspeed, they reappeared as Aqua in 1996 with the album ‘Aquarium’, their first single ‘Roses Are Red’ got some attention in Europe but it was ‘My Oh My’ that started getting attention around the world before ‘Barbie Girl’ came along and made them superstars.

They stopped after their second album ‘Aquarius’ in 2001 before the release of their Greatest Hits compilation album reawakened interest and they released more music including an album in 2011 called Megalomania and seven singles.

Barbie Girls

Eight countries jumped in with Ken and Barbie when ‘Barbie Girl’ drove all the way up to No. 1 in seven countries and No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The music video for ‘Barbie Girl’ has 1.6 billion views, the next best Aqua song ‘Dr. Jones’ has 68 million, that’s a very big difference and it has to be one of the most watched music videos on the planet.

1997’s ‘Barbie Girl’ and 2023’s ‘Barbie World’ both peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, the album Aquarium also peaked at No. 7.

Cartoon Heroes

‘Cartoon Heroes’ was the lead single from the album Aquarius and was a Top 10 track in five countries, this one is perhaps my favourite Aqua song of them all and you got to love the music video, the 1950s Sci-Fi like ships and adventures.

I think this song was a great start to the 2000’s and is worth a regular play especially if you got a great imagination and want to be a cartoon hero.

Around the World

‘Around the World’ was the second single from Aquarium and it didn’t do too badly in Australia, it peaked at No. 35 and would only have three more charting songs, two before their 2001 split.

The song was originally titled ‘Larger than Life’ but the Backstreet Boys beat them to that title and so ‘Around the World’ was chosen.

Their music videos were certainly well detailed; it was a great time for music video creativity back in those days.

Turn Back Time

‘Turn Back Time’ was used in the film ‘Sliding Doors’ that starred Gwyneth Paltrow, and you can see clips from the movie mixed into the music video.

The song was their third and final No. 1 single in the UK while in Denmark it was their first charting song to not reach No. 1 or No. 2 though they would get two No. 1 hits there in 2000 and another in 2009 with ‘Back to the 80s’.

The music video is quite serious compared to their other music videos and the song is highly regarded by music fans of the 90s.

Lollipop (Candyman)

I don’t remember hearing Lollipop (Candyman) when it was released in 1997 but plenty of my fellow Australians did hear it as it peaked at No. 3, it charted in four markets and even peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100, their second charter in the United States.

I still remember a friend showing me a gamer made video made up of clips from a video game it was either Counter Strike or one of the Battlefield series likely Battlefield 2 and they used the song, and it was quite bizarre watching the game to the song.