In July 1997, the hit song "Şımarık" was released in Turkey from the album Ölürüm Sana (I'd Die For You). This album took a total of three years to complete. Tarkan collaborated once more with Aksu and music engineer Ozan Çolakoğlu for the album. He thanked them for this during his speech, which he delivered after winning his first music industry award for his song "Şımarık". In Turkey, Ölürüm Sana sold 4.5 million copies alone.[5] It was an indication of things to come.
Signed up by the French branch of recording label PolyGram (now Universal Music), when the album's single "Şımarık" was released in 1999 in Europe, it reached number three in places like Switzerland,[12] the Netherlands,[13] France, and Germany, and it reached number one in Belgium. He was awarded with his gold disc at the Cannes Midem Awards. Becoming the first artist of Turkish origin to sell 500,000 albums in France, in an interview for CNN he said:
“ "It feels wild, you know, because in the beginning I never thought it was going to really happen. It's all in Turkish, you know, and nobody understands a word. But I think it's a groove. It's the kisses that are universal."[10] ”
Following that he released a compilation album for Europe entitled Tarkan. He won a World Music Award in Monaco in the same year for the sales of that album. Tarkan released two more singles in Europe under the Universal ticket, "Şıkıdım" and "Bu Gece" ("Tonight").[5]
Tarkan traveled to Europe and Latin America to promote his music. Including Ukraine, Morocco, Tunisia and Russia, in Europe he gave a total of eighteen concerts in seventeen cities. In Latin America this album provided Tarkan with a strong fan base, especially in Mexico where Universal Music requested a promotional tour to the region at the end of 1999.[14] However, this visit had to be postponed until the second week of March 2000, because Tarkan was called up for military service, which he had suspended for a certain length of time while his studies continued in New York. In 2000, the self-titled album was released in the USA with a Universal Latino ticket. Sales went platinum in Latin America.
