Theodora, Daft Punk… and Charles Trenet: these French songs that are a hit abroad

French artists shine abroad. In its “2025 export certifications” report, the National Music Center (CNM) reveals the French artists who performed best outside France. The “certifications” in question take into account the sales of a song, both physical and digital listening, and are classified into three categories: diamond, gold and silver, depending on the “performance of the projects transmitted by the labels”.

All French titles certified by the CNM have generated 50 billion streams abroad. Among the French artists who have had the biggest success abroad are Theodora and Disiz, whose title Melodrama has been listened to 271 million times worldwide. The song also remained at the top of the charts in France for 28 weeks, surpassing the record held by the title Happy Pharrell Williams

The piecesI have de Gims, Money Pull Up of Blaiz Fayah, Maureen and Dj Glad, and Midnight de Kobzx2z and Red Luna also obtained “diamond” certification from the CNM.

A form of nostalgia

Zaho de Sagazan, already known to the French public but whom the world was able to discover during the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, is also one of the artists who are enjoying some success abroad, for two singles as well as her album The Symphony of Lightning. She also tours “across Europe, North America and Brazil”, recalls the CNM.

If new French releases are making their way on the international market, the CNM also notes a certain nostalgia in the French pieces which work best abroad, with a renewed interest in “the decades of 2000 and 2010”. The 90s are still a great success, with a shower of plays for the title Around The World des Daft Punk.

Even more surprising, the piece The sea by Charles Trenet, released in 1946, is one of the most listened to French songs abroad, since it obtained “diamond” export certification from the CNM. The National Music Center also identifies a certain tendency towards nostalgia, noting “a constant public enthusiasm for timeless titles and artists, in a context where the industry is banking more on the resurgence of old catalogs: tours, reissues or even documentaries”.