Albums and singles you can't believe didn't make Top Ten

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So. The Cars' debut. Almost non-stop back-to-back-to-back-to-etc. massive huge classic new wave anthems; one of about 5 or 6 out of 9 tracks can be heard if you turn on a somewhat '80s-minded classic hits station and wait for about 20 minutes. But according to allmusic, the album peaked at #18, and the highest-peaking single was "Just What I Needed" at #27. ("My Best Friend's Girl" was #35; "Good Times Roll" wasn't even Top 40.)

Cripes. Next thing you'll tell me is that Cheap Trick's "Surrender" didn't make Top 40, either.

― alfalfa romeo (natepatrin), Thursday, 21 October 2004 01:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, 'The Cars' was kind of a slow build, but it *was* on the chart *forever*.

I'll see your "Surrender" and raise you "Southern Girls."

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 21 October 2004 05:09 (twenty-one years ago)

i thought everyone knew cheap trick couldn't get arrested til budokan.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Thursday, 21 October 2004 05:25 (twenty-one years ago)

top ten single = really HUGE mammoth hit single, so basically think 'what is this act's biggest hit or two?' for fairly successful acts or 'five or six biggest hits' for long term superstar acts and you probably got all the top ten singles there are, esp. with rock acts. i am really glad that allmusic added that chart feature (limited though it is), always some surprises (just glanced at alice cooper - i'm guessing "i'm eightteen" wasn't a proper single, just huge FM hit cuz it ain't listed, i was surprised to see that "only women bleed" charted a good bit higher than "no more mr. nice guy" which i'd assumed was his second biggest pop hit, and that he more top twenty singles from 1977-1978 than he had total before that. i knew "school's out" would be his biggest hit though i probably could've guessed what other hit it would be tied with for peak chart position).

― cinniblount (James Blount), Thursday, 21 October 2004 05:38 (twenty-one years ago)

for instance with madonna, peak chart positions

"holiday" - 16
"borderline" - 10 (at the time this seemed like such a huger hit, but judging from this it just set up "like a virgin" - which did go number one - to send her to superduperhuge star with mj, prince, and bruce in 84)
"ray of light" - 5
"beautiful stranger" - 19 (!)

and then, topping them all

"causing a commotion" - 2

― cinniblount (James Blount), Thursday, 21 October 2004 05:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Madonna's biggest US hit - "Take A Bow", too.

― edward o (edwardo), Thursday, 21 October 2004 05:59 (twenty-one years ago)

can we talk about an album that DID make the top ten but we can't believe?

Sally Can't Dance.

Seriously, WTF? Was that the Ghost Is Born of its day or WHAT?

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 21 October 2004 06:10 (twenty-one years ago)

that old Dave Marsh The Book of Rock Lists had some mind-blowing lists on this; some things I never would have guessed. Like .. ok, lemme get it ..

ok, 12 Artists Who Never Had a Number One single:

James Brown
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Fats Domino
Bob Dylan
Peter Frampton
The Hollies
Martha and the Vandellas
The Stylistics
War
Dionne Warwick and The Spinners (um, ok, Marsh is doing some kind of stupid trick here -- their duet, "Then Came You" did reach #1, but individually, neither entity had a number 1)
The Who
Jackie Wilson

Artists who never had a Top Ten Single:

The Band
Bobby "Blue" Bland
Solomon Burke
Jimi Hendrix
B.B. King
Little Willie John
Parliament/Funkadelic

(he's obviously going by Pop Singles -- or "Hot 100" or whatever they call it these days; but still JB and Parliament blows my mind)(oh, and I'm using the original version of the book, circa like '82 I guess -- I don't think any of these guys have hit since then)(wait, unless JB did with "Living in America"! I better check ... ok, "livign in America" only got to #4)

― Roy Williams Highlight (diamond), Thursday, 21 October 2004 06:19 (twenty-one years ago)

"Brown Eyed Girl" never even made the UK top 40.

Also, "Last Christmas" is the only single to go gold without reaching number one.

― Chairman ROFLMAO (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 21 October 2004 06:29 (twenty-one years ago)

lou reed got a lot of fm airplay, tons of press (obv.)

― cinniblount (James Blount), Thursday, 21 October 2004 06:43 (twenty-one years ago)

"last christmas"... only in the uk obv.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Thursday, 21 October 2004 06:49 (twenty-one years ago)

with the american charts alot of these surprising chart stats, esp. with black acts, can be explained by radio airplay being tabulated into chart position (which i'm sort've of two minds about). i can remember john leland (who has a new book out that's incredible) writing in spin at the time that salt n pepa's "push it" was the top selling single in the country for a few weeks in a row but never charted higher than #19 cuz so many pop (and to be honest r&b) stations refused to play hip-hop. tone-loc's "wild thing" was the top selling single that year, one of the biggest selling singles of all time and it stalled at number two for the same reason.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Thursday, 21 October 2004 07:04 (twenty-one years ago)

roughly when did fm surpass am as the top 40 band? was it disco that did it?

― cinniblount (James Blount), Thursday, 21 October 2004 07:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Whereas in the UK, where the charts are (or at least at the time were) wholly based on sales, "Push It" pushed its way up to #2.

IIRC "Planet Rock" sold two million plus in 1982 but never got beyond
the lower 40s in the Hot 100.

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 21 October 2004 07:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Sandinista!

Especially as I knew three people who bought it, me included. That was a pretty good take-up round my way...

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 21 October 2004 07:21 (twenty-one years ago)

peaked at 48

kurtis blow's "christmas rappin" sold a ton and didn't even crack the top 100, "the breaks" famously the first gold rap single and it peaked at 87.

atlanta didn't get a top 40 station that would play rap until seven years ago (or actually it had a top 40 station that played rap in the 80s but it turned into an alt-rock station in 92). predictably it became the top rated top 40 station in atlanta but i was surprised/amused last year riding to a family function with my dad and listening to the old top 40 station that they still don't play rap and furthermore still play rap-free versions of big top 40 hits, which didn't sound so odd when this was common practice fifteen years ago and raps were somewhat shoehorned into songs like jody watley's "friends" or janet jackson's "alright" anyway, but nowadays when 15% of the 35% of pop hits that aren't rap at least feature rap as a very integral element it made for odd listening, esp. with "crazy in love".

― cinniblount (James Blount), Thursday, 21 October 2004 07:30 (twenty-one years ago)

i was amazed how unsuccessful pulp's greatest hits comp was. have they really faded from memory, or was it a cae of everyone who liked them already had all the albums?

― Robin Goad (rgoad), Thursday, 21 October 2004 09:47 (twenty-one years ago)

the latter

― Freelance Hiveminder (blueski), Thursday, 21 October 2004 09:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell only made it to #19 with their greatest duet, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," a fact which still astounds me every time I think about it.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Thursday, 21 October 2004 13:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Bat Out Of Hell is one of the biggest-selling records ever, but as with The Cars, never charted higher than #14 or thereabouts according to Billboard. And Van Halen's multimillion-selling debut peaked at #19. 'Course, it's worth remembering that this was long before Soundscan, so Billboard chart listings often didn't accurate represent actual sales.

Conversely, I've always been amazed that both Kick Out The Jams and The Last Poets (their debut) hit the Top 30 in 1969 and '70 respectively. Obviously not an accurate representation of the amount of airplay they got.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Thursday, 21 October 2004 13:33 (twenty-one years ago)

...i.e., none!

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Thursday, 21 October 2004 13:34 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

...plus both Trout Mask Replica and Lick My Decals off, Baby hit #21 in the UK! (Thanks mostly to John Peel.)

― myONga vON bONtee (Myonga Von Bontee), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 07:27 (nineteen years ago)

That strange albums/singles chart dichotomy through '68/'69 wherein Beefheart, Zappa, Doors, Zeppelin, Love etc. were in the album charts, whereas the singles chart was full of Engelbert, Donald Peers, Tony Blackburn and so forth.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 07:38 (nineteen years ago)

"Rebound" - Sebadoh

Always sounds like one massive hit when I hear/play it.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 08:06 (nineteen years ago)

Considering its annoying omnipresence in commercials, movies, etc., it's a mild surprise Buster Poindexter's "Hot Hot Hot" never cracked the Top 40.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 08:30 (nineteen years ago)

The Carpenters' "Sing" was a flop in a run of hits. But you still coudn't get away from it. Thanks, muppets.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 08:32 (nineteen years ago)

I love Radio 2's constant rewriting of history in that they now regularly play CLASSIC ROCK TRACKS e.g. Brown Eyed Girl, People Are Strange, Take It Easy etc. without pausing to mention that NONE OF THESE WERE ACTUALLY HITS because the charts were stuffed full of Val Doonican/Ken Dodd/Vince Hill/everyone else whose records Radio 2 were ACTUALLY PLAYING AT THE TIME.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 09:09 (nineteen years ago)

Was "Light my fire" by the Doors a top twenty fantabulous hit or not, chums?

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 09:42 (nineteen years ago)

Yes.

In 1991.

Artist: Doors
Title: Light My Fire (re-issue)
Notes: Originally released in Aug 1967 but only managed to reach no. 49 on that occasion.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 09:44 (nineteen years ago)

Boomer Stalinism is nothing new.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 09:49 (nineteen years ago)

The Cure's "Just Like Heaven" only got to number 29 in the UK, and 41 in the US.

Didin't the first Velvets album fail to get in the top 100?

― flowersdie (flowersdie), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 09:51 (nineteen years ago)

I thought it made no 99 in the states.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 09:53 (nineteen years ago)

But "Just Like Heaven" was the third or fourth single from its parent album, so its modest chart performance was hardly unexpected.

About "Light My Fire": original made #49 in '67, did not make the top ten until 1990 on the back of the Oliver Stone film, but Jose Feliciano's cover was top five in '68.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 10:00 (nineteen years ago)

Which Will did the cover of.

Oh, did you see the last TOTP Reloaded, ol "Sam and Mark" being taunted about "With a little help from my friends" and one of the other presenters was all "The Wetwetwet original though..."

(At least S&M got the words right)

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 10:03 (nineteen years ago)

though they missed out the Joe Cocker ad lib of "all I need is my money."

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 10:05 (nineteen years ago)

TVU&N made it to 177, which is actually mildy amazing even given the nimbus of Warhol hype surrounding it.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 10:06 (nineteen years ago)

They were the top indie/underground band of their day, and they only got up to 177? That's weird. That would never happen nowadays.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 16:44 (nineteen years ago)

None of the singles from Rumours made the top 20 in the UK.

― MitchellStirling (MitchellStirling), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 16:46 (nineteen years ago)

Even though it was hyped like crazy, Slanted and Enchanted never made the charts.

OK Computer only reached up to 21.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 16:48 (nineteen years ago)

Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell only made it to #19 with their greatest duet, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," a fact which still astounds me every time I think about it

Or the fact that Diana Ross's version went to #1? Insane.

What about two of my favorite Cream songs, "Badge" and "Crossroads"? According to AMG they peaked at #60 and #28, respectively.

"Me Against The Music" only made it to #15. Admit it: you loved that song.

And just to throw in another Clapton reference, "Layla" went to #51 the first time it was released, and only #10 when re-released the next year.

"Are 'Friends' Electric?" didn't even chart in the US.

I can't find the exact numbers for Waterloo Sunset" but I am pretty sure it did not crack the top 10, at least not in the US. "Sunny Afternoon" only went to #14. Their albums reached #153 and #135, btw.

― musically (musically), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 17:17 (nineteen years ago)

Love's Forever Changes and Dusty Springfield's Dusty in Memphis performed horribly on the album charts: #154 (1968) and #99 (1969) respectively. Criminal.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 22:29 (nineteen years ago)

Forever Changes went Top 30 in the UK (#24, Feb '68).

As long as I live I will never forget the incredulity, laced with glee, which spread over Lindsey Buckingham's face when I told him that Fleetwood Mac's biggest UK single of the '70s was the title track from "Tusk."

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 30 March 2006 06:47 (nineteen years ago)

10 Fleetwood Mac The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown) May 1970
2 Fleetwood Mac Albatross (re-issue) May 1973
5 Fleetwood Mac Little Lies Sep 1987
4 Fleetwood Mac Everywhere Apr 1988

Oooh you taunted him!

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 30 March 2006 07:00 (nineteen years ago)

I'd forgotten "Albatross" was reissued in that exciting year of 1973. One has to remember that in America, the Peter Green edition of Fleetwood Mac "doesn't count," though that one was actually the most successful singles act - one number one and two number twos in 1969, and possibly the most depressing run of hits in that rather depressing year.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 30 March 2006 07:08 (nineteen years ago)

In Britain, that is.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 30 March 2006 07:09 (nineteen years ago)

you hear the peter green mac on classic rock stations (stateside) a little but not nearly as much as you used to and obv not as much as buckingham/nicks edition. those albums are pretty much guaranteed to be found in any record store though.

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 30 March 2006 07:12 (nineteen years ago)

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