Jovanotti

Singer, rapper, and activist Jovanotti has consistently topped the charts in his native Italy, where he netted a string of 10 consecutive No. 1 albums in the ’90s and 2000s. • Born Lorenzo Cherubini, Jovanotti got his start as a DJ in Rome and then Milan before meeting an Italian record scout in 1987 and releasing his first single, “Walking”, a Top 30 Italian hit. • Jovanotti’s first LP, 1988’s Jovanotti for President, was a party record that showed the influence of the Beastie Boys with up-tempo beats and lyrics in English. The album peaked at No. 3 and yielded four Top 5 singles, including the chart-toppers “Gimme Five” and “Gimme Five 2 (Rasta Five)”. • He began his streak of No. 1 albums with his sixth LP, 1994’s Lorenzo 1994, which also yielded four Top 20 singles. One of them, “Serenata rap”, reached No. 1. Another, “Piove”, peaked at No. 12 and appeared in the end credits of an episode of The Sopranos in 2000. • In 2011, following the release of his 12th studio album, Ora, Jovanotti performed at the Bonnaroo music festival in Tennessee, a follow-up of sorts to a string of New York gigs he played in 2009 and 2010. • The 2012 retrospective Italia 1988–2012 was Jovanotti’s first album of studio recording to come out in the US. The compilation cracked the Top 20 of Billboard’s World Albums chart. • Jovanotti’s 2019 album Jovanotti sulla luna was his first in 17 years not to top the Italian albums chart. It peaked at No. 8.