Commercial Success
The song was a commercial success throughout Europe. By 1986, it had sold four million copies. In the UK, it was released on the Fontana label, but, after reaching number 2, it was withdrawn for sale. Gainsbourg arranged a deal with Major Minor Records and on re-release it reached number one, the first banned number one single in the UK and the first single in a foreign language to top the charts. It stayed on the UK chart for 31 weeks. It reached 69 on the Billboard chart in the US; the New York Times called this a "poetic fluke", and Gainsbourg's reaction was "Superbe, superbe!" Mercury Records, the US distributor, faced criticism that the song was "obscene" and there was limited airplay, limiting US sales to around 150,000. It was re-released in the UK in late1974 on the Atlantic Records subsidiary Antic Records and charted again peaking at #31 and charting for 9 weeks.
| Chart (1969) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Ö3 Austria Top 40 | 1 |
| German Musikmarkt/Media Control Charts | 3 |
| Dutch Top 40 | 2 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 2 |
| Norwegian VG-lista Chart | 1 |
| Swiss Top 100 Singles Chart | 1 |
| UK Singles Chart | 1 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 58 |
Read more about this topic: Je T'aime... Moi Non Plus
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