Daniel Woolls; The Associated Press

NOW that the "Macarena" has become a distant memory, along comes "The Ketchup Song" - and dance.

The Spanish pop tune with gobbledygook lyrics is topping charts around the world, and it's accompanied by arm-waving, knee-knocking gyrations.

The three sisters who do the song teamed up only a year ago and named themselves Las Ketchup as an homage to their flamenco guitarist-father, nicknamed El Tomate.

The single has sold 2.5 million copies from Austria to Australia. In Europe, it's No. 1 in sales in 15 countries, says London-based Music and Media magazine. The album that features the song has sold 900,000 copies around the world, reaching gold status in much of Latin America.

Teenagers in Kosovo love it. One Danish Internet portal offers the melody for downloading as a cell phone beep. And a version in Mandarin Chinese is planned.

Sony Music thought the sisters had potential when it signed them, but no one expected all this, marketing director Jose Mateos said.

"The music business is not an exact science," Mateos said.

Indeed, the limelight is all over the Munoz sisters - Pilar, 29; Lola, 26; and Lucia, 19 - and their song about a fashion-conscious Gypsy named Diego who makes up his own brand of rap.

Since the song has cut the mustard with listeners in Europe and Latin America, the sisters hope the United States will relish it, too. It's already rising on the singles chart. Last week, they visited Miami and New York to promote the single and the album, called "Hijas del Tomate," or "Daughters of Tomato."

Their song, known in Spanish as "Asereje," bases its lyrics on snippets from the 1979 classic "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang, but alters them with a staccato twist from Las Ketchup's native Andalusia region.

The refrain goes like this: "Asereje ja de je de jebe tude jebere sebiunouba majabi an de bugui an de buididipi."

That's not Spanish, it's gibberish.

The ditty ruled dance floors and radio waves so thoroughly this summer in Spain, it became the song of the vacation season.

Now, any self-respecting Spanish adolescent can rattle off Las Ketchup's goofy riff.

The version released in the United States and most other non-Spanish speaking countries is called "The Ketchup Song (Hey Hah)." The refrain's the same but the intelligible part of the song - it actually has one - switches to Spanglish.

The song's wildfire spread is reminiscent of the "Macarena," the 1996 song and dance by the Spanish duo Los del Rio.

"Indeed, the similarities are there," said Music and Media's charts editor Raul Cairo.

Mateos said the seed of Las Ketchup's popularity may lie in summer vacation, when millions of tourists flock to Spain's beaches and nightclubs and load up on whatever music is hot.

On the Web

• To hear "The Ketchup Song," visit www.theketchupsong.com.