Fly on the Wings of Love

"Fly on the Wings of Love" is a song by Danish pop-rock duo Olsen Brothers, which was the winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2000, performed for Denmark, singing in English.

"Fly on the Wings of Love"
Single by Olsen Brothers
from the album Wings of Love
Released2000
Format
GenrePop
Length3:05
Songwriter(s)
  • Jørgen Olsen
Eurovision Song Contest 2000 entry
Country
Artist(s)
Jørgen Olsen, Niels Olsen
As
Language
Composer(s)
Jørgen Olsen
Lyricist(s)
Jørgen Olsen
Finals performance
Final result
1st
Final points
195
Appearance chronology
◄ "This Time I Mean It" (1999)   
"Never Ever Let You Go" (2001) ►

The song was performed fourteenth on the night, following Spain's Serafín Zubiri with "Colgado de un sueño" and preceding Germany's Stefan Raab with "Wadde hadde dudde da?". At the close of voting, it had received 195 points, placing first in a field of 24.

Background

"Fly on the Wings of Love" is a love ballad, with the singers describing the beauty of a woman. Unusual for any pop song (let alone one in the Contest), its lyrics strongly imply that this is a beauty which has improved with age - a theme made more explicit in the Danish original "Smuk som et stjerneskud" ("Beautiful as a shooting star").

The song was not expected to score highly, as it was an old-fashioned ballad and performed by two of the oldest performers to enter the Contest. In spite of this, it led the voting from start to finish (a feat not achieved since ABBA won in 1974) and became a great favourite among fans of the Contest, being named one of the best entries at the Congratulations special in late 2005. The brothers in fact performed part of the song onstage and were greeted with rapturous applause (perhaps due to the special's location in Copenhagen). Renārs Kaupers, hosting the show, made several references to "being beaten by a pair of Danish brothers" (which his band Brainstorm was).

The song is also memorable for the vocoding effects given to the voice during the final chorus, which allow it to sound something like a robot. These effects were the subject of a protest by the Russian delegation, however they were not found to be against the rules and the result stood.

The song was succeeded in 2001 as winner by Tanel Padar and Dave Benton representing Estonia with "Everybody".

It was succeeded as Danish representative at the 2001 contest by Rollo & King with "Never Ever Let You Go". The Olsen Brothers have additionally performed "Fly On The Wings Of Love" at the Romanian national Final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, on 6 March.

The song was one of the unofficial songs of the 2004 AFC Asian Cup held in China.

Chart performance

The Olsen Brothers were afforded an international hit with "Fly on the Wings of Love", most notably in Sweden, the Eurovision 2000 host nation, where "Fly on the Wings of Love" reached number one. In the Olsen Brothers' native Denmark, their native language rendering "Smuk som et stjerneskud" afforded them a number-one hit, spending three months in the Top Ten.

XTM and DJ Chucky version
"Fly on the Wings of Love"
Single by XTM and DJ Chucky presents Annia
Released
  • 2000 (Spain)
  • 2003 (Europe)
Format12", CD single
Recorded2000
GenreTrance music
Length2:59
LabelSerious
XTM singles chronology
"Fly on the Wings of Love"
(2000)		 "Give Me Your Love"
(2005)

In 2000, Spanish dance act XTM recorded and released a trance version of the song, featuring DJ Chucky and vocals from Annia. It became a hit between 2000 and 2003, peaking at number two in Spain, number one in Ireland and number eight in the United Kingdom.

Chart performance

Upon release in Spain, the song reached number two on the PROMUSICAE chart on 20 January, behind "Love Don't Cost a Thing" by Jennifer Lopez.[11] It stayed in the top 20 for nine weeks.[12]

Two years after its original release, in May 2003, the cover began to gain popularity in the British Isles. It debuted at number nine on the UK Singles Chart on the week beginning 1 June, then reached its peak of number eight the next week.[13] Over the next ten weeks, the song fluctuated around the top 20, eventually spending two more weeks at number eight before dropping out of the top 20 on 24 August and the top 100 on 12 October.[13] Due to its longevity on the UK chart, "Fly on the Wings of Love" finished 2003 as the country's 32nd best-selling single, outselling every song that peaked at numbers four to seven.[14] It eventually received a Silver certification from the British Phonographic Industry in 2016 for sales and streams of over 200,000.[15]

The song was even more popular in Ireland, where it reached number one for two weeks in August 2003,[16] spent 24 weeks in the top 50, and ended 2003 as Ireland's 11th highest-selling single.[17] The cover also found moderate success in the Netherlands, climbing to number 31 in February 2004 and logging 19 weeks on the Dutch Singles Chart.[18]

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart (2001–2004) Peak
position
Ireland (IRMA)[16] 1
Ireland Dance (IRMA)[19] 1
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[18] 31
Scotland (Official Charts Company)[20] 3
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[12] 2
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[13] 8
UK Dance (Official Charts Company)[21] 6

Year-end charts
Chart (2003) Position
Ireland (IRMA)[17] 11
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[14] 32

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[15] Silver 200,000

sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

Other cover versions
  • In 2000 Danish producer Holger Lagerfeldt released a cover version under the name DJ Cookie with vocals by Linda Andrews.[22]
  • In 2002 German trance group Topmodelz consisting of Pulsedriver and SveN-R-G vs. Bass-T released a cover version on Aqualoop Records.[23]

References
  1. "Austriancharts.at – Olsen Brothers – Fly On The Wings Of Love" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  2. "Ultratop.be – Olsen Brothers – Fly On The Wings Of Love" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  3. "Offiziellecharts.de – Olsen Brothers – Fly On The Wings Of Love". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
  4. "Dutchcharts.nl – Olsen Brothers – Fly On The Wings Of Love" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  5. "Norwegiancharts.com – Olsen Brothers – Fly On The Wings Of Love". VG-lista.
  6. "Swedishcharts.com – Olsen Brothers – Fly On The Wings Of Love". Singles Top 100.
  7. "Swisscharts.com – Olsen Brothers – Fly On The Wings Of Love". Swiss Singles Chart.
  8. "Chart Log UK". Chart Log UK - 1994–2010. Retrieved 2013-06-09.
  9. "Top 100 Single-Jahrescharts". GfK Entertainment (in German). offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  10. "Årslista Singlar – År 2000" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  11. "Single Top 100 20/01/2001". Spanishcharts.com. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  12. "Spanishcharts.com – XTM & DJ Chucky presents Annie – Fly on the Wings of Love" Canciones Top 50. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  13. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  14. "The Official UK Singles Chart 2003" (PDF). UKChartsPlus. p. 1. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  15. "British single certifications – XTM & DJ Chucky pts Annia – Fly on the Wings of Love". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 23 July 2018. Select singles in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Fly on the Wings of Love in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  16. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Fly on the Wings of Love". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  17. "Best of singles 2003". IRMA. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  18. "Dutchcharts.nl – XTM & DJ Chucky presents Annie – Fly on the Wings of Love" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  19. "Top 10 Dance Singles, Week Ending 12 June 2003". GfK Chart-Track. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  20. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  21. "Official Dance Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  22. "DJ Cookie - Fly On The Wings Of Love (CD, Maxi) at Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  23. "DJ Bass-T* Presents Topmodelz - Fly On The Wings Of Love at Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
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