High-selling singles that never entered the Billboard top 40

There may be a thread for this but I had no idea what to search for. I just read that "Hide & Seek" by Imogen Heap was certified gold (four years after release) but only ever hit 91 on the Billboard pop chart. I'm curious: is this a common phenomenon and, if not, what other singles have gone gold or higher without cracking the top 40 (or possibly even the top 100) in the US?

LMFAO and Lil Jon's "Shots" is double platinum, and peaked at #68

Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" is certified platinum and never charted on the Hot 100. (It was #1 on Hot Digital Songs in 2008!)

Nothing to back this up, but maybe Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher," which stalled at #56? Searching for "hot for teacher certification" brings up a bunch of links about bikram yoga classes.

Pearl Jam has two gold singles ("Jeremy," "Last Kiss") and one platinum single ("Just Breathe"). Of those three songs, "Last Kiss" is the only one that cracked the top 40 (#2). The double-sided single "Jeremy/Yellow Ledbetter" hit #79, and "Just Breathe" went to #78.

One Direction's "Kiss You" was certified gold and topped out at #46.

Ooh, here's a good one: Christian artist TobyMac (of D.C. Talk fame) has three certified-gold singles, none of which have charted on the Hot 100.

Austin Mahone: "What About Love" hit #66, "Mmm Yeah" hit #49, both are gold.

Toby Keith: "She Never Cried in Front of Me" (#42), "Beers Ago (#52), "Should've Been a Cowboy" (#93). All certified gold.

Suspect there are probably lots of country songs that fit here.

Some early Who singles might qualify ("I Can't Explain" #93, "My Generation" #74, "Substitute" didn't chart), but I can't find accurate sales figures.

Modest Mouse, "Float On" (#68, gold)

Franz Ferdinand, "Take Me Out" (#66, gold), "Do You Want To" (#83, gold)

Peter Bjorn and John, "Young Folks" (did not chart; platinum)

Looks like that was just certified platinum two weeks ago!

The last several mentioned are more along the lines of what I expected to see. Ubiquitous songs that seeped into the public consciousness via less traditional means. But, yeah, I'm sure there are a ton of country and R&B songs I don't know that fit the bill.

Switchfoot, "Stars" (#68, gold)
Muse, "Starlight" (did not chart; gold), "Madness" (#45, platinum)

Florence + the Machine, "Shake It Out" (#72; double platinum)

The Killers, "Somebody Told Me" (#51, platinum), "All These Things I've Done" (#74, platinum)

Lana del Rey, "Video Games" (#91, gold)

(Aside: Pearl Jam apparently also had a #7 hit with "I Got Id", which I don't remember happening at all but discovered when I thought Merkin Ball might fit the thread criteria.)

Phantom Planet, "California" (did not chart; gold)

Regina Spektor, "Fidelity" (#51, gold)

Death Cab for Cutie, "Soul Meets Body" (#60, gold), "I Will Follow You into the Dark" (did not chart; gold)

Black Keys, "Tighten Up" (#87, gold), "Lonely Boy" (#64, platinum), "Gold on the Ceiling" (#94, gold)

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros (did not chart; platinum)

"Home," that is.

Kings of Leon, "Sex on Fire" (#56, platinum)

Johnny Cash, "Hurt" (did not chart; gold)

The Darkness, "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" (did not chart; gold)

Bright Eyes, "First Day of My Life" (did not chart; gold)

OK, that's enough from me.

Wait, one more:

Fitz and the Tantrums, "Out of My League" (did not chart; gold), "The Walker" (#67, gold)

No, this is great. I have no idea if a repository for this stuff exists anywhere else.

My research on the subject has mostly just revealed how many songs I had no idea had hit the top 40.

Haha, I can't stop.

Passion Pit, "Take a Walk" (#84, gold)
Vampire Weekend, "A-Punk" (did not chart; gold)
Arctic Monkeys, "Do I Wanna Know" (#70, platinum)
M83, "Midnight City" (#72, platinum)
Phoenix, "1901" (#84, platinum), "Lisztomania" (did not chart; gold)

Possibly a dumb question: do RIAA certifications only take US sales into account? I'm assuming so (judging by "Stairway To Heaven"'s lack of RIAA certification, if nothing else).

xp Oh, and of course: MGMT, "Kids" (#91, platinum), "Electric Feel" (did not chart; gold), "Time to Pretend" (did not chart; gold)

Yes, RIAA is U.S.-only, afaik.

Lily Allen, "Smile" (#49, gold)

Also, I'm pretty sure labels have to ask (or allow) the RIAA to certify their sales. For a long time, I think up until the late 70s, Motown didn't use RIAA certification. So, while there were undoubtedly many 500,000-1,000,000-selling Motown records in the 60s and early 70s, none of them were officially "gold" (or "platinum," but I don't think platinum became a thing until the late 70s anyway).

Yup.

OK, guys, JACK JOHNSON has 6 gold singles: "Upside Down" hit #38, "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing" hit #66, and the rest ("The News," "Good People," "Banana Pancakes," and "Better Together") did not chart on the Hot 100.

i'm also pretty sure labels can't request certification of songs that weren't released or promoted as singles in the us. at least that's what i assume from the fact that there are many songs that have sold over a million digital downloads (single-track purchases, separate from the full albums on which they appear) that haven't even been certified gold despite more recent releases from the same artist having been certified.

there are indeed tons of singles from the past few years, when digital singles sales were quite healthy, that have scanned gold despite not charting in the top 40... in country especially. the cases i find more interesting are the ones where they didn't chart at all, or barely charted. for example kacey musgraves's "follow your arrow" is gold-certified despite only charting for one week (#60, following her grammys performance which gave a significant sales spike). ("merry go 'round" is platinum and peaked at #63, but it actually had a healthy 15-week chart run driven by airplay.)

now that singles sales are going to shit again due to the meteoric rise of streaming services, i doubt we'll be seeing so many low-peaking gold singles now. (although actually streaming is now factored into riaa certification of singles, so who knows.)

one particularly extreme example i noticed recently is israel kamakawiwo'ole's "over the rainbow/what a wonderful world," which has sold 4.2 million according to billboard (it hasn't been re-certified since 2010, when it was certified platinum). it never charted but has been featured in a million commercials and movies and such.

Paramore have several gold singles, 2 of them ("Crushcrushcrush" and "That's What You Get") missed the top 40.

I feel like there has to be more songs from commercials that fit this criteria.

i'm sure there are but when i try to think of them i end up thinking of songs from commercials that actually ended up charting highly due to their ad syncs. amusingly there are songs that don't seem to have gone gold despite having charted in the top 10 due to apple commercials (feist's "1234," yael naim's "new soul").

oh here's a song that qualifies whose minor success was partly spurred by an ad: calabria 2007 (gold, #46)

israel kamakawiwo'ole's "over the rainbow/what a wonderful world"

Great example.

I was looking through lists of songs performed on American Idol to see if there were others like "Hallelujah."

(...but I gave up after looking through two seasons.)

Yeah, Yael Naim was one of the first I thought of. I saw she'd charted (way higher than I ever would've imagined) but I didn't notice that the song didn't go gold.

Grouplove, "Tongue Tied" (#42, platinum)

i kind of can't believe 'i'm in miami bitch' didn't go gold, but maybe the franchising hurt sales of the original

'sorry for party rocking' is gold and peaked at no. 49

foo fighters "everlong" (did not chart [#42 hot 100 airplay]*, gold); "times like these" (#65, gold); "doa" (#68, gold)
the offspring "you're gonna go far, kid" (#63, gold)
red hot chili peppers "californication" (#69, gold); "tell me baby" (#50, gold)
coldplay "yellow" (#48, certified gold but has sold over 2 million [as of this week!]); "the scientist" (did not chart, gold), "fix you" (#59, gold)

* this was from the time when songs that weren't released to retail weren't eligible for the hot 100; it was a promo-only single in the us

never heard the temper trap and two door cinema club songs before today and now am kind of fascinated by that genre of Hip Electronic-Infused Indie Pop-Rock that isn't critically acclaimed. feel like i have a soft spot for lots of stuff in that vein. like i found several of the songs i posted above from a last.fm "RIYL Passion Pit" page.

like phoenix would the respectable version of this stuff. but someone make me a mix of temper trap, two door cinema club, foster the people, grouplove, etc.

like it's Hip™ for basics

the more mainstream end of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indietronica

i've never heard the two door cinema club song but the temper trap one was in a ton of commercials and movies (it plays in 500 days of summer like AT LEAST three times). hip for basics is an apt description lol.

Hip Electronic-Infused Indie Pop-Rock that isn't critically acclaimed.

this is definitely a huge thing rn, really big on the festival scene afaict. kinda feel like that should be a thread tbh

like all the bands that ripped off MGMT that that bands' fans moved to when MGMT suddenly decided they only wanted to make wibbly tuneless psychedelia

Hip™ for basics

otm / big lol

and yeah, this stuff is huge, selling out sizable venues everywhere. detestable.

Capitol Cities "Safe and Sound" is another example of it breaking the top 10 other than Foster the People although I secretly fux with that song (and it rips off M83 instead of MGMT)

Totally.

The Romantics "What I Like About You" stalled at #49. That must be gold by now if not platinum.

the weirdest thing about "What I Like About You" peaking so low is that it's so much more famous than their #3 hit "Talking In Your Sleep"

Not unlike the fact that "Pray" is MC Hammer's biggest hit.

and a long-haired dude named Michael Morales took a cover into the top thirty in late '89.

Not unlike the fact that "Pray" is MC Hammer's biggest hit.

Ha. Stranger still is that he has three other songs with higher peaks than "U Can't Touch This."

These sorts of anomalies seem to crop up quite a bit when a band's breakthrough hit is followed by a bigger hit now that the band is known and radio jumps in on it at the same time, whereas the first hit had to slowly build up momentum and thus didn't chart as high. For example, Romeo Void's biggest hit was - no, not "Never Say Never", but rather "A Girl in Trouble (Is a Temporary Thing)". But which song does everyone remember?

both!

I prefer "A Girl" too.

actually "A Girl in Trouble" was their only top 40 hit.

I like them both too, but I'd venture "Never" is better known today

Neither!

Here's a case in point in the opposite way:

Pigbag's best known hit is "Papa's got a brand new Pigbag", which sold steadily over about a year without making the chart. Subsequent singles made the charts, but lower down.

So, the company withdrew the single from shops for about two months, rereleased it, and it made number three.

So, their best known song is, again, their biggest hit.

Washed Out "Feel It All Around" must have gone gold?

xp Oh come on, "Never" is def known better. I assumed they were a one-hit.

Not unlike the fact that "Pray" is MC Hammer's biggest hit.

Ha. Stranger still is that he has three other songs with higher peaks than "U Can't Touch This."

― jaymc, Thursday, October 30, 2014 7:50 AM Bookmark

This one has not just the factor that Lee626 mentions, but also the fact that the only single format "U Can't Touch This" was released on is 12" (it likely would have gone to #1 otherwise), whereas later Hammer singles were released on more conventional formats.

You can pretty much add every 'Indie' popular songs in this category. I don't know if they don't chart since most of the labels they have are not affiliated to the RIAA.

Back in the day, they were just sold in non-chart shops.

I think "Where's Captain Kirk" was one years' top indie seller, and would have come pretty high up a year-sales chart if such a thing could have been compiled.

it's nielsen that compiles data for charts, not the riaa. the data they collect isn't obtained from labels, but from retailers and radio research. most popular 'indie' songs are not really selling that much.

don omar "danza kuduro" (#82, 5x platinum)

should be noted that it got all its 2-5x platinum certifications at the same time as soon as riaa decided to incorporate streaming numbers into certification for singles (may 9, 2013). a glance at its youtube numbers will make it pretty clear that it's an absolute monster in that regard, so it probably hasn't sold 5 million. but before that point it had already been certified gold and platinum, so evidently it has sold at least a million, which is pretty major for a song that only reached #82. (also it was certified under the standard 'digital' category, not the 'latin' category which has lower thresholds for certification.)

birdy's version of "skinny love" also didn't chart but went gold lol

Old Crow Medicine Show's "Wagon Wheel" was certified platinum in 2012, before Darius Rucker covered it. The OCMS version didn't chart on the Hot 100 or country airplay chart, but Rucker's version hit #1 at country radio, #15 on the Hot 100, and won a Grammy.

Possibly a dumb question: do RIAA certifications only take US sales into account? I'm assuming so (judging by "Stairway To Heaven"'s lack of RIAA certification, if nothing else).

The song was never released as a single.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros (did not chart; platinum)

That's intriguing. It can't be because of Community. Was this used in a prominent commercial or movie?

As for all the modern rock songs upthread, is it just a matter of steady modern rock airplay?

"Home" was in a couple ads too, iirc.

maybe Community viewers buy music on iTunes en masse? Childish Gambino has never had a top 40 hit but two of his songs have gone gold. xp

britt nicole "gold" (#83, gold)

aaron carter "saturday night" (did not chart, gold)
janet jackson "i want you" (#57, platinum)
seether "fake it" (#56, platinum)
goo goo dolls "stay with you" (#51, gold)
green day "american idiot" (#61, gold)
blink-182 "feeling this" (did not chart, gold); "i miss you" (#42, gold)
eminem "space bound" (did not chart, gold)
lifehouse "broken" (#83, platinum)
nickelback "figured you out" (#65, gold)
3 doors down "citizen/soldier" (#96, gold)
o-zone "dragostea din tei" (did not chart, gold)
ashley tisdale "he said, she said" (#58, gold)
john legend "tonight (best you ever had)" (#79, platinum)
ludacris "blueberry yum yum" (did not chart, gold)
kanye west "diamonds from sierra leone" (#43, gold); "touch the sky" (#42, gold); "can't tell me nothing" (#41, platinum); "gotta have it" (#69, gold); "no church in the wild" (#72, gold)
jay-z "dead presidents" (#50, gold); "gotta have it" and "no church in the wild" (see kanye)
big & rich "save a horse (ride a cowboy)" (#56, gold)
system of a down "chop suey" (#76, gold); "hypnotize" (#57, gold)
fall out boy "alone together" (#71, gold)
rihanna "cockiness (love it)" (did not chart, gold)

taylor swift

"i'm only me when i'm with you" (did not chart, gold)
"hey stephen" (#94, gold)
"breathe" (#87, gold)
"enchanted" (#75, gold)

Capitol Cities "Safe and Sound" is another example of it breaking the top 10 other than Foster the People although I secretly fux with that song (and it rips off M83 instead of MGMT)

― I Love Makonnen: New Answers (The Reverend), Thursday, October 30, 2014 4:23 AM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Q: Does "Sweater Weather" by the Neighbourhood count?

(Not top 10, but top 20.)

ugh, safe and sound is the worst

xp not really. right audience, wrong style imo

ugh, safe and sound is the worst

Seriously. It makes me stabby.

drowning pool "bodies" (did not chart, gold)

Just discovered this:

"Tempted" was the second single released from Squeeze's fourth album, East Side Story. Over the years it has become one of Squeeze's best-known songs, despite failing to crack the Top 40 in any country in which it was released (UK No. 41, Canada No. 45, US No. 49, Australia No. 90)

That completely blows my mind.

Paula Abdul - 'Knocked Out'. It peaked at 41!

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - 'Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble'. It peaked at 57!!