top 50 "lost" US hits of the late '90s

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after posting a deranged rant about the current state of radio in the US last night i just remembered that another one of these came out a long while back that i didn't post a poll on

this era of the billboard charts was very weird in that many major hit songs at radio were missing from the charts due to being withheld from retail, so many songs that were much stronger at retail than at mainstream stations performed better than they perhaps would have otherwise. (the retail availability requirement was not banished until the 1999 chart year.) what's shown here is thus not 100% comparable to the lists from other eras imo, but still interesting. of course the #1 is the event single that sold a bajillion copies and then was never heard from again

Poll Results

OptionVotes
23. Wyclef Jean - Gone Till November 9
21. Madonna - Frozen 8
32. Busta Rhymes - Turn It Up (Remix)/Fire It Up 7
42. Jordan Knight - Give It To You 4
5. Martin Page - In The House Of Stone And Light 3
25. B-Rock & The Bizz - MyBabyDaddy 3
11. Madonna - You'll See 2
37. Melissa Etheridge - I Want To Come Over 2
35. Bruce Springsteen - Secret Garden 2
33. 702 - Get It Together 2
30. Merril Bainbridge - Mouth 2
36. Tatyana Ali - Daydreamin' 1
22. Master P ft. Sons Of Funk - I Got The Hook-Up! 1
20. Coolio ft. 40 Thevz - C U When U Get There 1
1. Elton John - Candle In The Wind 1997 1
8. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Look Into My Eyes 1
6. 3T - Anything 1
46. Mariah Carey - I Still Believe 1
26. Puff Daddy & The Family ft. The Notorious B.I.G. & Busta Rhymes - Victory 1
50. Uncle Sam - I Don't Ever Want To See You Again 0
49. Aaliyah - The One I Gave My Heart To 0
34. Public Announcement - Body Bumpin' (Yippie-Yi-Yo) 0
48. Bon Jovi - This Ain't A Love Song 0
43. Montell Jordan ft. Master P & Silkk The Shocker - Let's Ride 0
47. Warren G - I Shot The Sheriff 0
45. 4PM - Sukiyaki 0
44. Billie Myers - Kiss The Rain 0
38. Immature - Constantly 0
39. Toni Braxton - I Don't Want To 0
40. Five - When The Lights Go Out 0
41. New Edition - I'm Still In Love With You 0
31. ESPN Presents The Jock Jam 0
3. Az Yet ft. Peter Cetera - Hard To Say I'm Sorry 0
4. Divine - Lately 0
9. Puff Daddy ft. Jimmy Page - Come With Me 0
10. Hanson - I Will Come To You 0
12. Jamie Walters - Hold On 0
13. Xscape - The Arms Of The One Who Loves You 0
14. Color Me Badd - The Earth, The Sun, The Rain 0
15. Journey - When You Love A Woman 0
16. LeAnn Rimes - Looking Through Your Eyes 0
17. R. Kelly - I Can't Sleep Baby (If I) 0
18. Boyz II Men - 4 Seasons Of Loneliness 0
19. Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen - Theme From Mission: Impossible 0
24. R. Kelly ft. Ronald & Ernie Isley - Down Low (Nobody Has To Know) 0
7. 98 Degrees - Invisible Man 0
27. 98 Degrees - Because Of You 0
28. R. Kelly - I Believe I Can Fly 0
29. R. Kelly - Gotham City 0
2. R. Kelly & Céline Dion - I'm Your Angel 0


dyl, Monday, 24 January 2022 16:48 (three years ago)

below the top 50:

51. Elton John - Believe
52. Madonna - Don't Cry For Me Argentina
53. Ma$e ft. Puff Daddy - Lookin' At Me
54. Mo Thugs Family ft. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Ghetto Cowboy
55. Total ft. Missy Elliott - Trippin'
56. Sylk-E. Fyne ft. Chill - Romeo And Juliet
57. Scarface ft. 2Pac & Johnny P - Smile
58. Montell Jordan - What's On Tonight
59. Barbra Streisand & Bryan Adams - I Finally Found Someone
60. Michael Bolton - Go The Distance

dyl, Monday, 24 January 2022 16:48 (three years ago)

A buddy and I often shout TO FINND MY SOOULLLL YAH

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 January 2022 16:49 (three years ago)

lotta major late 90s jams here, also a lotta stuff i don't know by name. good expansion of/companion to this Reverend thread from back in the day: best song that reached #1 on airplay but was never allowed to chart on the billboard hot 100 1995-1998

this is an interesting list cause it mixes gigantic, era-defining hits with things that got a lot of MTV/VH1/BET and radio airplay, but faded pretty quick soon after. wonder when the last time was i heard "Don't Cry For Me Argentina." some of which is now at the level of 50 Memorable Songs Of The Late 1990s That Apparently Only You Remember, Even Though They Were Totally On The Radio And Stuff

i kinda wanna see one of those "zoomer listens to X for the first time" YouTube channels do a series with this list. really curious whether artists like Wyclef and LeAnn Rimes still play today or whether they just connected at a certain moment.

I Am Fribbulus (Xax) (Doctor Casino), Monday, 24 January 2022 16:57 (three years ago)

Not surprised to see a lot of soundtrack stuff here.

Les hommes de bonbons (cryptosicko), Monday, 24 January 2022 16:58 (three years ago)

god I hated "Kiss the Rain"

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 January 2022 17:00 (three years ago)

"I Still Believe" is a nice tune, though I'll always go to Brenda K. Starr's version first

Josefa, Monday, 24 January 2022 17:10 (three years ago)

I guess its placement here is down to the revelations of the past few years, but "I Believe I Can Fly" was pretty inescapable up until the mid 2010s.

Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 24 January 2022 17:15 (three years ago)

lol at the R. Kelly songs, I wonder why people stopped playing those, it is a mystery

castanuts (DJP), Monday, 24 January 2022 17:17 (three years ago)

Jams:

Jordan Knight - Give It To You
Martin Page - In The House Of Stone And Light
Aaliyah - The One I Gave My Heart To
Madonna - Frozen
Busta Rhymes - Turn It Up (Remix)/Fire It Up

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 January 2022 17:19 (three years ago)

Fire It Up rules so hard. I'm sure at least 80% of that is the Knight Rider sample but... so what? I'd love to see how that one plays on a dancefloor someday.

I Am Fribbulus (Xax) (Doctor Casino), Monday, 24 January 2022 19:40 (three years ago)

I only remember 7 of these by title. This could have been my first and last vote for Jordan Knight, but "You'll See" is better.

Halfway there but for you, Monday, 24 January 2022 20:07 (three years ago)

wow, aside from "Candle In The Wind" the only two I can remember hearing are Wyclef and Aaliyah

this was peak "go see Less Than Jake four times a year" ska-punk era for me though

papal hotwife (milo z), Monday, 24 January 2022 20:12 (three years ago)

"You'll See" is a solid (if forgotten) example of what Madonna does as co-producer. I saw David Foster's name on the credits at the time and gagged; the result is too lachrymose for my taste, but she sings it with feeling and great care and the strings don't get in the way.

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 January 2022 20:14 (three years ago)

can't vote for it at 56 but "romeo and juliet" rules.

andrew m., Monday, 24 January 2022 20:15 (three years ago)

jordan knight "give it to you" is prob one of the most underrated pop singles ever to me. jam & lewis flipping squeaky clean boy band pop R&B verses into a windswept like hip house chorus w/ nods to timbaland beatbox percussion throughout. also has this unnecessary but great bridge/refrain kinda thing that happens 4 mins into the song. the whole thing still sounds very futuristic to me. i also have always thought jam & lewis used it as the blueprint for "someone to call my lover." the janet song is better, but you can see the germ of the whole musical concept on "give it to you" & i always loved that weird connection between those two songs

J0rdan S., Monday, 24 January 2022 20:25 (three years ago)

Merril Bainbridge, now there's a name I hadn't heard in forever. A friend of mine had that CD and there was a song on it that got stuck in my head all the time. Had no clue what it was for the longest time, though!!!

Wonder what she's up to now. There seemed to be a trend in the 90s with all these folky women singer/songwriters who were uh...maybe forced to dress a little provocatively to get airplay. iirc Donna Lewis gave a few interviews about that. As someone who grew up in that era I feel like it stunted my growth a little bit!!!

frogbs, Monday, 24 January 2022 20:26 (three years ago)

702 - "get it together" is a wonderful song, just a perfect lil slice of 90s R&B. glacial, misty, forlorn.

and of course total "trippin" is a complete classic, tim & missy best of material

J0rdan S., Monday, 24 January 2022 20:44 (three years ago)

yeah I thought "Give it to You" augured a change that Jam-Lewis never developed, but I forgot about "Someone to Call My Lover."

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 January 2022 20:45 (three years ago)

I think that Jamie Walters track soundtracked the scene where his character Ray throws Donna down the stairs in 90210.

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 January 2022 20:46 (three years ago)

I never stopped loving "Give It To You."

Max Hamburgers (Eric H.), Monday, 24 January 2022 20:51 (three years ago)

pretty much like all of these

8. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Look Into My Eyes
14. Color Me Badd - The Earth, The Sun, The Rain
18. Boyz II Men - 4 Seasons Of Loneliness
20. Coolio ft. 40 Thevz - C U When U Get There
22. Master P ft. Sons Of Funk - I Got The Hook-Up!
23. Wyclef Jean - Gone Till November
24. R. Kelly ft. Ronald & Ernie Isley - Down Low (Nobody Has To Know)
25. B-Rock & The Bizz - MyBabyDaddy
26. Puff Daddy & The Family ft. The Notorious B.I.G. & Busta Rhymes - Victory
32. Busta Rhymes - Turn It Up (Remix)/Fire It Up
33. 702 - Get It Together
38. Immature - Constantly
39. Toni Braxton - I Don't Want To
41. New Edition - I'm Still In Love With You
42. Jordan Knight - Give It To You
45. 4PM - Sukiyaki
46. Mariah Carey - I Still Believe
47. Warren G - I Shot The Sheriff
49. Aaliyah - The One I Gave My Heart To
50. Uncle Sam - I Don't Ever Want To See You Again

down low is one of my favorite songs ever but uhhh yeah.

my top three here would be 4 seasons of loneliness, give it to you and gone til november.

Spottie, Monday, 24 January 2022 21:07 (three years ago)

Voting for ‘Coolio - C U When You Get There’, mainly for the ominous caveat ‘…if you ever get there’

Agnes, Agatha, Germaine and Jack (Willl), Monday, 24 January 2022 21:18 (three years ago)

Although ‘Gone Til November’ is a jam tbf

Agnes, Agatha, Germaine and Jack (Willl), Monday, 24 January 2022 21:20 (three years ago)

‘Give It To You’ is a classic of the ‘amazing beat but horrible rapey lyrics’ genre unfortunately.

I mean:

“It's creepin' around in my head (in my head)
Holding you down in my bed
You don't have to say a word (uh)
Just relax, I'll do the work
I can't wait to give you some
I'm convinced you need one,”

Er yeah no thanks Jordan you’re alright

Agnes, Agatha, Germaine and Jack (Willl), Monday, 24 January 2022 21:32 (three years ago)

"We Want Some Pussy" -- Holiday song? Rapey?

Max Hamburgers (Eric H.), Monday, 24 January 2022 21:40 (three years ago)

Candle in the Wind 1997 was so ear-excruciatingly bad, and worst of all, my choir teacher in high school made us sing that crap (but she kept calling it "English Rose" because it begins "Goodbye English Rose"). if yr gonna write new lyrics, maybe make sure they fit the meter.

Az Yet's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" was a pretty shitty remake, even though I usually like R&B remakes of pop tunes. just kinda lifeless.

"In The House Of Stone And Light" makes Sting sound like Cryptic Slaughter

I still dig:

Boyz II Men - 4 Seasons Of Loneliness
the R Kelly songs (except I won't listen to them anymore)
Puff Daddy & The Family ft. The Notorious B.I.G. & Busta Rhymes - Victory
New Edition - I'm Still In Love With You
4PM - Sukiyaki

they were written with a ouija board and a rhyming dictionary (Neanderthal), Monday, 24 January 2022 22:04 (three years ago)

i didn't know about that sukiyaki cover

Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Monday, 24 January 2022 22:47 (three years ago)

Aside from Candle and I Believe... the only one I know is Wyclef and I probably still like that one so

Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Monday, 24 January 2022 22:50 (three years ago)

lol that Sukiyaki cover got paid on the local teen/pop music station when I was like 13, my brother had the cassingle. weirdly had it on my spotify playlist recently

they were written with a ouija board and a rhyming dictionary (Neanderthal), Monday, 24 January 2022 22:56 (three years ago)

"Frozen" puzzles me, has it really been lost? I feel like I hear it out in the world.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 24 January 2022 23:52 (three years ago)

same with "In the House of Stone and Light."

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 January 2022 23:58 (three years ago)

This list really highlights how “I Believe I Can Fly” is really the only R. Kelly megabit that’s worth a damn

castanuts (DJP), Tuesday, 25 January 2022 00:13 (three years ago)

XP List concerns terrestrial radio, not CVS airplay charts.

Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 25 January 2022 01:15 (three years ago)

Pretty sure I went from (approx) 1998-2012 without once hearing "In The House Of Stone and Light."

billstevejim, Tuesday, 25 January 2022 22:23 (three years ago)

"GET IT TOGETHER"!!!!!!

lotta fine choices to be made here, but whooooo!!! "get it together" just can't be beat.

honorable mention to "gone till november", aaliyah, and "c u when you get there" (which i played for my music appreciation teacher in high school because he said he didn't understand how sampling made a "new" song. he liked it!). also really liked "sukiyaki" at the time, but less so after i heard the renditions that preceded it.

also lol b-rock and the bizz. that schitt was so trash.

get shrunk by this funk. (Austin), Tuesday, 25 January 2022 22:35 (three years ago)

“Uncle Sam”

Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 25 January 2022 22:39 (three years ago)

would quibble with some of these being "lost," including the wyclef jean song which i'm gonna vote for

roflrofl fight (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 26 January 2022 00:28 (three years ago)

Nearly all of these have indeed sunk into obscurity pretty quickly (probably because most of these artists have a number of way bigger hits), but I’m sure I’ve encountered Come With Me, Frozen and I Believe I Can Fly a lot throughout the past two decades?

Siegbran, Wednesday, 26 January 2022 00:47 (three years ago)

There's gotta be some good trivia factoid about "Sukiyaki," since it was a #1 single (US) w/ Japanese lyrics, and then a top 10 single twice more w/ English lyrics. In three different decades. Don't know how best to phrase it though.

Josefa, Wednesday, 26 January 2022 01:02 (three years ago)

also it appeared in Snoop's cover of "Lodi Dodi" only see in that song it was "you took your DOPE away from me"

they were written with a ouija board and a rhyming dictionary (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 26 January 2022 01:26 (three years ago)

There is A LOT shitty R&B on this list. Voting “You’ll See”.

Mr. Snrub, Wednesday, 26 January 2022 02:26 (three years ago)

lol I remember when "I Believe I Can Fly" was ubiquitous and I heard it played at like every inspirational school or youth-oriented event I covered as a reporter for a couple of years (often sung by the school choir). I bet they don't play R. Kelly in elementary schools anymore.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 26 January 2022 02:44 (three years ago)

Nearly all of these have indeed sunk into obscurity pretty quickly (probably because most of these artists have a number of way bigger hits), but I’m sure I’ve encountered Come With Me, Frozen and I Believe I Can Fly a lot throughout the past two decades?

the methodology for this list was just looking at a week-long period of radio play (doesn't say exactly when but the article was from early 2021), not any extended period, so it's almost certainly just that radio understandably won't touch r. kelly these days and it would probably look very different even a few years earlier for "i believe i can fly". no idea about "frozen" though, that's definitely the other one i've heard the most in the wild.

ufo, Wednesday, 26 January 2022 02:57 (three years ago)

frozen is, no lie, one of my only madonna touchstones bcz i saw the video debut on mtv when i was 16 or so and was kind of blown away.

Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Wednesday, 26 January 2022 03:32 (three years ago)

I bet they don't play R. Kelly in elementary schools anymore.

Actually, they still do. I've got 2 kids in elementary school, and they learned a dance routine to that song at afterschool.

Voted Wyclef, FWIW.

enochroot, Wednesday, 26 January 2022 03:50 (three years ago)

"The World's Grossest"?

they were written with a ouija board and a rhyming dictionary (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 26 January 2022 03:54 (three years ago)

Btw I’m guessing the Mariah Carey one is “lost” because it’s really just an homage to Brenda K. Starr’s version of that song which had already been a big hit 10 yrs earlier. And the video is boring.

Josefa, Wednesday, 26 January 2022 04:01 (three years ago)

Merril Bainbridge, now there's a name I hadn't heard in forever. A friend of mine had that CD and there was a song on it that got stuck in my head all the time. Had no clue what it was for the longest time, though!!!

Voted "Mouth" without hesitation. It still pops into my head a couple times a year and I'm never mad about it.

J. Sam, Wednesday, 26 January 2022 04:23 (three years ago)

"I'll Remember" feels a lot more "lost" than "Frozen" these days. Which is too bad because it's her best ballad.

Max Hamburgers (Eric H.), Wednesday, 26 January 2022 12:17 (three years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Monday, 31 January 2022 00:01 (three years ago)

Divine - Lately

i've come back to this song every so often specifically because i'm not sure if i heard it back when it was actually popular. at that point in my childhood i still heard whatever i happened to hear and seldom cared to know who or what whatever i was hearing was, but it definitely sounds like a song i could have heard at that time. of course it sounds like a lot of the ballads that would customarily be released in the fall and winter months in those days, cooled down and contemplative, so it's hard to say. it's not especially distinguished but i've come to sort of like it. after poking around on discogs i see it was released in the uk in a somewhat bizarre remix by stargate. more importantly there seems to have been a bass/freestyle mix by cibola and of course it's perfect :D

by the way it is obviously that bass/freestyle sound that was the precedent for "give it to you" and "someone to call my lover" and "don't think i'm not" and so forth, the lineage basically spawned by "my boo"

anyway my faves are:

Boyz II Men - 4 Seasons Of Loneliness
Madonna - Frozen
B-Rock & The Bizz - MyBabyDaddy
R. Kelly - I Believe I Can Fly
New Edition - I'm Still In Love With You
Jordan Knight - Give It To You

i would call "frozen" not only a great song, but perhaps the first that i can recall really captivating me upon hearing it on the radio as a child. it seemed mysterious and a little frightening. i didn't know who sang it and honestly i'm not sure if i knew who madonna was at the time, but i found it again in my cousin's cd single collection the next year lol. supposedly there's a new remix of it breaking out on streaming a little bit recently? but i haven't heard it. anyhow that's my vote i think

dyl, Monday, 31 January 2022 06:17 (three years ago)

Chris Cunningham video is the shit -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS088Opj9o0

assert (MatthewK), Monday, 31 January 2022 12:43 (three years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Tuesday, 1 February 2022 00:01 (three years ago)

Whoa. Wyclef!

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 1 February 2022 00:28 (three years ago)

I voted Frozen, which has aged much better than the other Ray of Light songs. Had forgotten how good the CC video was.

stirmonster, Tuesday, 1 February 2022 01:28 (three years ago)

This sounds lovely imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHydngA5C4E

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 1 February 2022 01:28 (three years ago)

You are right, it does.

stirmonster, Tuesday, 1 February 2022 01:47 (three years ago)

and *cough* her post-Evita lessons work here

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 1 February 2022 01:52 (three years ago)

I never want to hear a Madonna song without its accompanying video, and "Frozen" is an amazing video, so it's one of my favorite Madonna products. Like, top five, easy.

but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 1 February 2022 01:53 (three years ago)

It's weird that "Frozen" would be a 'lost' hit. That song was enormous - I heard it and saw the video everywhere all the time when it came out.

birdistheword, Tuesday, 1 February 2022 03:58 (three years ago)

Well, the #1 on the list is the 2nd biggest selling single of all-time...

Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 1 February 2022 04:25 (three years ago)

Didn't get mentioned here, but (if I remember correctly) the radio version of "Secret Garden" included an interlude with soundbites from Jerry McGuire.

deep luminous trombone (Eazy), Tuesday, 1 February 2022 04:27 (three years ago)

the radio version of "Secret Garden" included an interlude with soundbites from Jerry McGuire

I don't think Springsteen ever agreed to that, it was some DJ's horrible idea.

birdistheword, Tuesday, 1 February 2022 04:40 (three years ago)

djs loved doing that around that time, i remember it was very common to hear an edit of "my heart will go on" with rose/jack titanic dialog mixed in

dyl, Wednesday, 2 February 2022 04:00 (three years ago)


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