In February 1968, the top song in the United States was an unlikely hit by French orchestra leader Paul Mauriat. The song, “Love is A Blue,” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on Feb. 10, 1968, and remained there for five weeks.
Mauriat, the conductor of Le Grand Orchestre de Paul Mauriat, made history as the first French artist to top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and he held that title for nearly 50 years, per Stereogum.
In February 2026, Billboard named “Love is Blue” one of the top 50 love songs of all time, ranking it at No. 16 in a list topped by Diana RossandLionel Richie’s “Endless Love.”
“Love is Blue” was so popular that at the height of its chart-topping success, Mauriat performed the song on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 18, 1968.
‘Love is Blue’ was a cover of a song contest entry
Mauriat’s “Love is Blue” was an instrumental cover of “L’Amor est Bleu,” which was Luxembourg’s entry in the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest. But the musician’s cover was a pure instrumental. Gone were the lyrics describing love through colors, written by Pierre Cour and originally performed by Vicky Leandros, making its chart success even more of a surprise.
Mauriat spoke about the true origins of the song in a 1970 interview. “First of all, I didn’t compose 'Love is Blue,’” he clarified. “’Love is Blue’ was written by a French composer, Andre Popp. And this song… you know, in Europe, you have each year contests, contest songs, and each country of Europe presents one song. And this song was for Luxembourg, and it got little success. But I loved this song very much, and I took it for my LP. And the LP came into the States.”
“I was very lucky because I got a very big success with ‘Love is Blue,’” he added.
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In a 1974 interview with Ya magazine, Mauriat admitted he was stunned when he was told that “Love is Blue” was a hit in the United States.
“The truth is that at first, when they told me, I thought it was a joke,” he shared. “What filled me with intimate joy was to verify that the primary success was due to my own instrumentation, to the impeccable interpretation of my [orchestra], which, excited, shared the bliss, creating the tightest musical ensemble ever desired.”
Mauriat’s hot streak continued later that year with an orchestral recording of the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang theme song, which went to No. 76 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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