Scatman's World (song)

In his weekly UK chart commentary for Dotmusic, James Masterton said, "Now he is back with the followup in pretty much the same vein. Without the novelty value of the first hit it will be interesting to see if this manages to top the Number 3 peak of its predecessor."^[2]

James Hyman from Music Week's RM Dance Update wrote, "Currently number one in Germany and hitting hard across the rest of Europe, more novelty Euro from a 53-year-old former jazz singer and pianist. Semi-social scat-raps reside over a backing track not too dissimilar from his previous 'Scatman' single as well as Village People's 'Go West'."^[1]

Helen Lamont from Smash Hits commented, "It's a happy tune, catchy too. If you listen to the words, however, you'll notice he's trying to teach us something. There's a groovy bit of chorus and then each verse contains a "helpful" lecture, on subjects from the state of humanity to world pollution."^[3]

"Scatman's World" was successful on the singles charts in Europe, peaking at number one in Belgium (in both Flanders and Wallonia) (6 and 9 weeks), Finland, France (1 week), Germany (3 weeks), Hungary and Spain.^[4][5][6][7] On the Eurochart Hot 100, it became John's second number-one hit in August 1995, after 8 weeks on the chart and with 3 weeks as number one in total.^[8]

The single was a top-10 hit in Austria (4), Denmark (3), Iceland (9), Ireland (7), Italy (2), the Netherlands (3), Norway (4), Sweden (10), Switzerland (3), and the UK. In the latter, it peaked at number 10 in its second week at the UK Singles Chart, on September 3, 1995.^[9] It stayed for seven weeks within the chart. Outside Europe, "Scatman's World" charted on the RPM Dance/Urban chart in Canada and on the ARIA singles chart in Australia, peaking at numbers 21 and 84.^[10][11]

The single earned a gold record in Belgium (25,000), France (250,000) and Switzerland (25,000). In Germany, it was awarded with a platinum record after 500,000 units were sold.^{[citation needed]}

The music video for "Scatman's World" was directed by Zowie Broach and produced by Weisz & Friends.^[12][13] "Scatman's World" was A-listed on German music television channel VIVA in July 1995.^[14] In August, the video was A-listed on Dutch TMF and received active rotation on MTV Europe.^[15][16] And in September, it was a Box Top on British The Box for 13 weeks.^[17]