New York, NY (Top40 Charts) BMG and Chimperator Productions (Chimperator) honored German rapper and producer CRO with multiple awards during his sold-out Coming Home concert in his hometown of Stuttgart for record sales of his first four albums released by Chimperator and whose recorded rights were acquired by BMG.
The acquisition included his debut album Raop (2012), as well as the subsequently released hit albums Melodie (2014), MTV Unplugged: Cro (2015) and Tru. (2017). All four of the artist's albums reached Number One positions in the Official German Albums Chart. A decade after the release of his debut album, the fascination for CRO's first released songs is still unbroken. To date, Raop has already spent more than 158 weeks in the charts, making it the longest-placed hip-hop album in Germany. In 2022, the album again reached a top position, with a number two placement in the Official German Albums Chart. In addition, Raop reached number four in the Official Hip-hop Annual Albums Chart 2022.
As part of his Coming Home concert in Stuttgart, BMG and Chimperator jointly honored the artist for the success he has achieved to date and the outstanding sales of his first four albums that have come with it, including a diamond-award for his smash hit single 'Traum', which sold more than one million copies in Germany, a double-platinum-award for 'Bye Bye', which sold more than 800 thousand copies, and a triple platinum-award for Raop.
Maximilian Kolb, EVP Repertoire & Marketing Continental
Europe at BMG, said: "CRO's ongoing success as an artist speaks for itself and especially for his one-of-a-kind instinct you need to build such a consistent career - certainly almost unique in Germany. We are honored as a label to represent his earliest highly successful albums and to work closely with him and his team at truworks. A special thanks for the trust placed in us goes to the team at Chimperator, who recognized his talent early on and wrote music history with him."
Benno Waibel, CEO truworks/ Management CRO, said: "Since the beginning, CRO has been an artist who seeks the new and has proven through Raop that rap can also be melodic. He was a signpost for a whole rap generation - who wants more than just to rap. The fact that the catalogue is still so present ten years later shows me how relevant CRO has remained all these years and has established himself as a real artist. We are proud to walk this path with him and look forward to the next ten years with joy. BMG expands the team as a strong partner and continues what Chimperator started so successfully just over ten years ago."
Sebastian Schweizer, Managing Owner at Chimperator Productions, said: "When we heard CRO's first demos over ten years ago by now, we freaked out. Of course, it feels incredibly good to still be freaking out after ten years. Such great talent, coupled with ambition and a vision of his own is unique and we congratulate Carlo from the bottom of our hearts for this unprecedented success. For us as a label it has always been important to discover artists very early and build them up for the long term. We want to continue in the same way. Thank you Carlo for the music, the ideas and the time together. Here's to the next ten years."
Federica Atis-Malafronte, Head of
Music Business truworks/ Co-Management CRO, said: "CRO has established itself as a major player in the German music scene over the last ten years and has always grown artistically. Breaking new ground and being driven by curiosity rather than fear is what makes CRO one of the most relevant artists of his time in the German music scene. We are very pleased to be able to continue the catalogue so successfully with BMG."
His singles 'Whatever', 'Traum' and 'Bye Bye' each reached the number one position in the Official German Singles Chart after release. With further chart hits such as 'Meine Gang (Bang Bang)', 'Einmal Um Die Welt', 'Meine Zeit', and many other titles, CRO manages to continuously place himself in the German charts even a decade after the release of the singles.
The rapper received a total of 16 awards from BMG at the awards ceremony in Stuttgart, including one diamond-award, six gold and three triple-gold-awards, two platinum and two double-platinum-awards, as well as an award specially made by BMG for one billion streams on his catalogue.
