The 1978 album featured the hit songs "Rasputin" and "Rivers of Babylon". The group included three singers from the Caribbean and dancer Bobby Farrell from Aruba. Farrell was also credited as a vocalist, but didn't actually sing on the records. The foursome went on to international stardom, however, and were one of the first groups from the West who were allowed to perform in the Soviet Union.

Clemens Rehbein and Philipp Dausch had just finished high school in Kassel when they recorded their debut album in 2013. They uploaded the song "Stolen Dance" on YouTube and launched a record label with some friends. Their album "Sadnecessary" took off, hitting the Top 20 charts in countries around the world – and transforming the folk-pop duo into an overnight sensation.

In 1999, the pop world was in the grips of mambo fever, and Lou Bega was a big part of that. The singer from Munich combined Latin rhythms from the 1940s and 50s with modern sounds. It's said he wrote the lyrics for "Mambo No. 5" in just five minutes. It was a worldwide smash, and Lou Bega's debut album "A Little Bit of Mambo" followed in its wake, going platinum in more than ten countries.

In 1985, Durron Maurice Butler was an American soldier stationed in central Germany. He started rapping under the name Turbo B and was soon discovered by producers Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti. They added some house sound to his rap, and topped it all off with the singing talents of Penny Ford. Their first album featured the hits "Ooops Up", "Mary Had a Little Boy" and of course "The Power".

Trailblazing producer Giorgio Moroder was instrumental to Donna Summer's success. Summer met the Italian producer in the early 1970s in Munich. Back then, he was experimenting with Moog synthesizers. The combination of electronic dance tunes and Summer's one-of-a-kind voice and charisma took disco by storm. Their biggest hit from that era was "I Feel Love."

Crazy Frog was definitely a matter of taste. Teens loved the adorable cartoon frog with its unique sound. But most adults despised the animated character, who starred in series of cell phone ads. In 2005, Mülheim-based producer team Bass Bumpers landed a worldwide megahit with Crazy Frog. In Britain, the single "Axel F." even nudged Coldplay off the top spot.

The Berlin band staged a scandal to promote their sixth and most successful album. The uncensored version of the video for "Pussy" was so raunchy it could only be broadcast on an adult porn site. The song "Ich tu Dir weh" dealt with S&M and was placed on Germany's youth censorship index – a designation the band fought and won. "Liebe ist für alle da" sold over 400,000 copies in Germany alone.

After a four-year hiatus, the Scorpions' tenth studio album was released in 1988. The delay came about because the hard rock band were involved in a dispute with their longtime producer Dieter Dierks – although the album itself showed no evidence of that. The combination of rock riffs and ballads struck a chord, and "Savage Amusement" sold five million copies worldwide.

A road trip down the oldest German autobahn, the A 555, inspired the title track to Kraftwerk's fourth album. It was also the first time the Dusseldorf-based band sang on an album – and their lyrics were in German. "Autobahn" would prove to be the breakthrough record for Kraftwerk, and a pioneering milestone in the evolution of synth-pop.

The most successful German album artist is Enigma mastermind Michael Cretu. His combination of new age sounds with dance beats regularly took the project to the top of the international charts. Four Enigma albums could rightly be ranked in this Top 10, but we're including only the most successful for each artist: "MCMXC a.D.", released in 1990, it sold more than 30 million copies in all.