Fourth single off the LP is the biggest hit

It happened in the UK with Human League's Dare.

It sort of happened with Blondie's Parallel Lines because if you put the UK & US singles together there were three distinct ones before "Heart of Glass" hit. Speaking of which, it dumbfounds me to think that a US record exec - or a committee of them - listened to Parallel Lines and out of all that brilliant material decided that "I'm Gonna Love You Too" was the single.

An earlier, related thread:
S/D: Great Fourth-Choice Singles Off Albums

Fergie's Big Girls Don't Cry ended up being her biggest single.

was Shania Twain's "You're Still The One" the fourth single?

Biggest hit off Hysteria (the album's only pop-chart #1 in U.S.) was "Love Bites" -- the fifth single; second biggest (#2) was the fourth, "Pour Some Sugar On Me"; third biggest (#3) was the sixth, "Armageddon It."

I'm not really surprised that Hysteria had seven singles, but I'd never have guessed that Pyromania did too.

was Shania Twain's "You're Still The One" the fourth single?

i'm pretty sure in every market and in every country there was a different single order....definitely not the typical coordinated effort.

Lightning Crashes: Live

Apparently it wasn't officially released as a single, but it was the 4th single from the record to hit radio, the third one, "shit towne" flopped.

Was always a shame. "Shit Towne" was the anthem for some high school friends and I during our angsty stuck in a tiny shit town in Central Illinois years.

'lenny' and 'alright' were the fourth and fifth singles from supergrass' i should coco lp, and the two biggest hits (#10 and #2 respectively)

the re-recorded version of 'babies' was in effect the fourth single from pulp's "his 'n' hers"

in the last two cases the album came out around the time of the third single

Everybody Hurts was the 4th single released from Automatic From The People.

nancy boy was the fourth single from the self titled placebo album (though technically the 'come home' single wasn't taken from the album as it was an earlier version)

i had to check wikipedia, and a bryan adams expert will have to confirm whether it was the biggest hit off the album, but "summer of '69" was the fourth single off of "reckless".

and wikipedia says "ironic" was jagged little pill's 3rd single but almost all other sources say it was the 4th.

"Cowboy" was the fourth single off Devil Without A Cause (after "Welcome 2 the Party," "I Am the Bullgod," "Bawitdaba") and the first one to hit the Hot 100, at #82; fifth single "Only God Knows Why" was the album's biggest hit, peaking at #19.

"Picture" was the fourth single off Cocky and was far and away that album's biggest hit, at #4.

"All Summer Long" in comparison, was only the third single off Rock N Roll Jesus. So maybe Atlantic Records' A&R is improving a little.

in the last two cases the album came out around the time of the third single

This is something to be careful about - I feel we should try to ignore the cases when a couple of singles recorded earlier are stuck onto the next LP. Thus, "Good Vibrations" is not really a single off of Smiley Smile though it was. Try to think of "LP" as one continuous recording project.

will have to confirm whether it was the biggest hit off the album, but "summer of '69" was the fourth single off of "reckless".

Not quite -- third single "Heaven" went #1, "Summer of '69" only #5.

you know what...silly canada's column was where the US's should be, please disregard that one.

DeLaSoul's "Buddy/The Magic Number" was.

'crucify' was the 4th (or even 5th, depending on which source you go by) single off tori amos' little earthquakes.

'say my name' was the 4th single in most territories (not the US) off destiny's child's the writing's on the wall (and globally the biggest single off the album).

I believe "Somewhere In My Heart" was the fourth single off Aztec Camera's "Love" album.

"Four Letter Word" was the fourth single from Kim Wilde's "Close" album. It may be that "You Came" was a bigger hit, but I would say they were roughly equals.

Garbage-"Stupid Girl" single #4 from the debut and their peak on the Hot 100 (#24, their only Top 40 entry)

I don't know the order of singles for Born In The USA, but I could see this happening with an album like that..

Chronologically "Ironic" was definitely Jagged Little Pill's 3rd video..

order of singles for Born In The USA

1. Dancing In The Dark (went to #2)
2. Cover Me (#7)
3. Born In the USA (#9)
4. Glory Days (#5)
5. I'm On Fire (#9)
6. My Hometown (#6)

Just learned that "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" was the fourth single from its parent album. None of the previous singles even reached the top 40.

ZZ Top: "Legs" was either the third or fifth single from Eliminator ("Got Me Under Pressure" and "TV Dinners" may have been earlier charting B-Sides, with the latter getting a video).

The UK chart placements for Bjork's singles from Debut are telling (I'm not counting the Play Dead single, which disrupts the trajectory slightly but also was not on the original version of the album):

- Human Behaviour - 36
- Venus as a Boy - 29
- Big Time Sensuality - 17
- Violently Happy - 13

Glyserine

My Heart Will Go On

"Paradise City" was the fourth single off Appetite and it was the highest charting song off the record (in Ireland)