Crazy Frog leaps to top of charts

Be-ding ding ding de-ding ding ding. Irritated yet? The chafing sound of the Crazy Frog is floating all over Britain in public transport, on the high streets and on TV.

First it was a joke on the internet. Then it was a ring tone for mobile phones. Now, the sound is the refrain of what is set to be the biggest-selling record of the year.

Axel F by the Crazy Frog is set to become the No 1 in the British singles charts today outselling Coldplay's new song Speed of Sound by nearly four to one.

It is also the first mobile phone ring tone to cross into mainstream music, said Gennaro Castaldo, a spokesman for music retailer HMV. Crazy Frog is said to have generated more than £10 million (about Dh68 million) so far.

It is available for download and as a compact disc single in retail stores.

Guy Holmes of Gusto Records, which is producing the single, is unapologetic about giving a platform to the noise. "If you haven't got a sense of fun, you won't like it," he said.

The result is a re-working of the theme from the film Beverly Hills Cop with interjections from the frog, which was spawned seven years ago in a Swedish teenager's bedroom.

Daniel Malmedahl, a motorbike enthusiast, wanted to impersonate the sound of a two-stroke engine revving up to amuse his friends.

He e-mailed the sound to them. In 2001, a website picked it up and added a picture of a F1 racing car to the sound and called in the Insanity Test.

Later, Erik Wernquist, a Swedish graphic artist, invented a blue amphibian with a helmet mouthing the sound.

"I am interested in all kinds of mechanical sounds. I can do an outboard engine quite well," Malmedahl said.