Songs that have far exceeded their popularity when first released

My favorite Hendrix song by far.

 

No surprise that neither Rush nor Steely Dan had a No. 1 hit.

But Bruce? ELO? Sting? Journey (make jokes ... I'll help you ... but they were cranking them out in the '80s)?

 

I checked out the Billboard Top 100. Honestly, I never thought I'd reach a point where the artists would be so foreign to me.

Just in the top 20, I know Swift, Drake, Olivia Rodrigo and, sadly, Miley Cyrus. I'm aware of Tate McRae because of her commercials. That's it. Morgan Wallen, I know he's big, but I have no clue of his style.

 

“Pop country” … basically pop music with a vaguely Southern accent.

 

Also, appeals to racists.

 

"I'm Still Standing" by Elton John. It peaked at No. 12 on the Hot 100.

Yet, even though Sir Elton has a bunch of No. 1 hits, he'll play "I'm Still Standing" when the situation calls for one of his timeless classics. At least he did when "This Train Don't Stop Here Anymore" and "I Want Love" were his current singles.

 

Taylor's current No. 1 hit is from three studio albums ago (not counting her re-releases) ...

 

I know 3 of the 4 you mentioned. But I only know about 5-6 Swift songs and none from the others. I only know of Dua Lipa because I kept getting fooled when I'd hear part of Elton John's "Sacrifice" and it would morph into that silly duet.

Occasionally one of those Billboard Top 100 from the 70s things will show up in my Facebook feed, showing the list from a selected week. I'm batting about .975 in recognizing the artist and about .950 in recognizing the song from those lists.

And WTF is a Bad Bunny? Whatever it is is all over the charts.

 

Glass Animals' "Heat Waves" becomes the longest-charting Billboard Hot 100 song of all time | The Line of Best Fit

I couldn't Name This Tune if you gave me ALL the notes.

 

I knew there was a mother of a song for this thread and on the way home from an errand? It came to me.

Never made the top 40. The Romantics were smart enough to make a video though, and I do remember it being on MTV a lot around the time "Talking In My Sleep" was out.

I think I was one among many who were like, "Whoa, fuck this 'Talking In My Sleep' shit, gimme some more of that!" Eventually, it became far better known than "Talking In My Sleep", which is a decent song, but nowhere near as great as this bit of power pop brilliance.

The Romantics' first album is chock full o' songs like it. Recommend it. This song, very similar to "What I Like About You", is a personal fave. They are to Detroit as the Raspberries are to Cleveland.

 

I was always intrigued by the drummer/lead singer. He strikes me as the kid in your high school chemistry class who just might set himself on fire for kicks.

 

Can't believe I didn't notice this thread until now! He hasn't been mentioned yet, but Tom Breihan on Stereogum has an awesome weekly column about every #1 ever. It is based on a similar one by a British writer about the UK charts. Breihan started with 1958, when the Hot 100 started - Ricky Nelson, blargh - and he's now up to July 16, 2011 - LMFAO, which is blargh but kind of stupid fun in some ways at least.

The Number Ones - Stereogum

Its amazing how cyclical pop and popular music can be. This year, we've had some weirdo culture war bullshit with some of the country songs that have reached the top, which feels new, except that it was happening in the 60s and 70s too with pro-war / soldier anthems backed by normies. Fluke comedy or party songs hit #1 throughout all the decades. Pretty much every decade has a couple of ballads that hit #1, completely independent of what the hell else is charting.

Beyond that, there are some era-specific chart fuckery that goes on. For a ton of rock radio stuff, big songs from all-time artists never charted or peaked short of potential because there was a much larger emphasis on selling albums vs. singles by record executives. This peaked in the 1990s across multiple genres, as pretty much zero grunge songs topped the charts - nothing from Nirvana, Green Day, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam (they got to #2 with the weepy last kiss), etc. MC Hammer, of all people, also never had a #1 because of this strategy, even though he had an album go diamond (10x plat) and 3x platinum. "Can't Touch This" peaked at #8 and only went gold as a single because it was pulled from the market so quickly. Gangsta rap and early hip hop also struggled to hit #1, because pop stations wouldn't play rap.