Songs that have far exceeded their popularity when first released

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

That's a UK list. Power of Love was the first no. 1 hit for Huey Lewis & The News in the States and Run To You got to at least no. 6.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

That's a UK list. Power of Love was the first no. 1 hit for Huey Lewis & The News in the States and Run To You got to at least no. 6.

Superstition hit number one. Rocket Man was top ten.

 

[dixiehack]

Hound Dog was Big Mama Thornyon's song before Elvis sent it into orbit.

 

[Webster]

"On the Dark Side". Decent bar band song by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band from Eddie and the Cruisers which barely charted. A year later and after Born in the USA went multi platinum, the label realized it was a great Springsteen knockoff and it became a top 10 hit.

 

[Twirling Time]

Never cracked the top 10 in the States.

Every song that peaked at Number 11 over the last 50 years

Almost 500 songs have just nudged the Top 10 but gone no further than the dreaded Number 11 over the last 50 years. We highlighted a selection of classics, but the rest of them deserve their time to shine, too. Here's the lot of them, in chronological order:

www.officialcharts.com

Superstition - Stevie Wonder
Rocket Man - Elton John
Run to You - Bryan Adams
Lonely Boy - Andrew Gold
Power of Love - Huey Lewis and the News

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is from the UK Charts.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

"On the Dark Side". Decent bar band song by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band from Eddie and the Cruisers which barely charted. A year later and after Born in the USA went multi platinum, the label realized it was a great Springsteen knockoff and it became a top 10 hit.

And in between (I believe) Eddie & The Cruisers became a massive hit on HBO. Cafferty ended up milking four top 40 hits out of it (Tender Years and two more from the follow up album). Not bad for a band that was one note shy of being a real-time tribute act.

 

[BTExpress]

Tiny Dancer peaked at No. 41 on Billboard, but I hear that more often today than any of his far-better-charting songs.

It also currently has about 55 mentions on this board in various threads, according to Search Function.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Gonna nominate most of the Jimmy Buffett oeuvre.

 

[DanOregon]

Well, the Brits have horrible taste then.

 

[Bubbler]

Well, the Brits have horrible taste then.

Or we do. Some good songs on that list that never charted here.

 

[I Should Coco]

Fun fact: Although many view 1980s band Europe as a one-hit wonder for "The Final Countdown," that wasn't even their biggest hit, at least not in the U.S.

"Final Countdown" peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1986. One year later, the power ballad "Carrie" hit No. 3 to become Europe's biggest hit here. But you never hear that song anymore.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Fun fact: Although many view 1980s band Europe as a one-hit wonder for "The Final Countdown," that wasn't even their biggest hit, at least not in the U.S.

"Final Countdown" peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1986. One year later, the power ballad "Carrie" hit No. 3 to become Europe's biggest hit here. But you never hear that song anymore.

You do if you drive in my car!!! That was as good a power ballad as anyone released in the '80s. But for my money, the best Europe song was "Superstitious" (no, not a cover of Stevie Wonder #IntraCrossThreading) off "Out of this World," the follow-up to "The Final Countdown." Damn near perfect song...alas, their moment had passed so it only got into the 30s and the rest of the album was meh and that was that.