Pop songs that weren't big hits, but became career-defining (1 Viewer)

VoR

VoR

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Thinking about this in relation to 'Dancing On My Own' which is almost certainly the defining moment of Robyn's career, but was actually a bit of a disappointment at the time compared to the success of the Robyn singles.

Went in at #8, out of the top 40 in 3 weeks. Didn't even sell any albums, really (though the confusing 3 EP strategy probably didn't help in that regard). Now it's her most streamed track by over 100 million.

 
Possibly more of a stretch, but I reckon you could argue that Green Light by Lorde is another example of this. It'll probably never top Royals for recognition factor, but it feels like more of a significant song in terms of the wider arc of her career, and certainly proved she wasn't just a one-trick pony.

 
Does it count if they haven't really had a hit ever? 70 million streams and one of the most critically acclaimed tracks of the last decade. Chartwise - how will #92 in Ireland and NOWHERE ELSE do?

 
Does Steve Winwood count? Valerie only made #19 and Higher Love #13. They’re his biggest hits and despite covers of them being bigger hits, they’re still probably better known from his versions.
 
Ellie said:
Does Steve Winwood count? Valerie only made #19 and Higher Love #13. They’re his biggest hits and despite covers of them being bigger hits, they’re still probably better known from his versions.
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But in the UK at least they are pretty much his ONLY hits, aren't they? And I'm not sure they would be seen as his defining singles, necessarily.
 
lolly said:
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This was their biggest hit here in the Netherlands so I’m surprised it wasn’t that big elsewhere.

For me it’s Total Eclipse of the Heart (#24) or Walking on Sunshine (failed to chart).
 
Kevin said:
This was their biggest hit here in the Netherlands so I’m surprised it wasn’t that big elsewhere.
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I'm sure it was in no small part responsible for the huge success of the album here. And I imagine it is now their bestseller, even though they had many more reach considerably higher peak positions.
 
VoR said:
Thinking about this in relation to 'Dancing On My Own' which is almost certainly the defining moment of Robyn's career, but was actually a bit of a disappointment at the time compared to the success of the Robyn singles.
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I actually didn't realise how massive this was compared to With Every Heartbeat on Spotify etc. To me WEH is her career defining moment - it kinda passed me by how many DOMO has been, apart from cover versions etc.
 
Kevin said:
This was their biggest hit here in the Netherlands so I’m surprised it wasn’t that big elsewhere.

For me it’s Total Eclipse of the Heart (#24) or Walking on Sunshine (failed to chart).
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STFU. Walking On Sunshine failed to chart?!!? :o
 
VoR said:
WEH feels oddly overshadowed by DOMO these days, considering the former saw so much more chart action.
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I'm sure you'd know better on this one, but it just surprised me to see that in the initial post cos I don't really know much about her and remember WEH better (that might be partly due to the fact that RB radio plugged it a year or so before I met him and I was always blown away by that :D )
 
VoR said:
WEH feels oddly overshadowed by DOMO these days, considering the former saw so much more chart action.
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But globally there isn't that much between them, is there?

Considering that DOMO has felt more critically praised to me, its use on Drag Race and Girls, and the Callum Scott version which was an international hit all stoking curiosity, I'm not surprised to see DOMO outperforming WEH on streaming. WEH was pretty much dead by the time streaming hit big numbers. DOMO was later and has never really gone away.
 
Mr L has been a bit of a cunt today. I'm going to blast Su as he's getting ready for bed. That'll learn the fucker.
 
Does All I Want for Christmas count? It didn't do much when it was released in 1994, but now it's Mariah's signature song (along with Hero and Without You in Europe and WBT in the US).
 
Debbie Jellinsky said:
Does All I Want for Christmas count? It didn't do much when it was released in 1994, but now it's Mariah's signature song (along with Hero and Without You in Europe and WBT in the US).
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There are probably a few Christmas songs that fit into this category.
 
Blondie - "One Way or Another" (#24 US, #98 UK*)



*it was never actually "released" in the UK, I believe, but just charted off downloads decades later. In the US, this is far more remembered than number one hit "Rapture" and I'd say more recognizable to the GP than any other Blondie song (yes even Heart of Glass and Call Me). I'd attribute it to the lack of accompanying video but that didn't matter back then, did it?


Britney Spears - "I'm a Slave 4 U" (#27 US, #4 UK) - even in the UK its chart run went 4-7-12-20... overall a lackluster showing for one of her signature hits

 
Summer of 69 is the acceptable face of Bryan Adams, but I'm pretty sure it didn't even make the top 40 here the first time around.

Also Journey - Don't Stop Believin'.
 
I don’t really agree with neither Mariah nor Britney mentioned above. AIWFCIY has only become Mariah’s signature hit in recent years and Slave is only one of many of Britney’s defining moments, but don’t think it’s the main one.
 
A lot of these songs are bigger than their chart performance may suggest, but I wouldn't call them 'career defining' at all.
 
lolly said:
A lot of these songs are bigger than their chart performance may suggest, but I wouldn't call them 'career defining' at all.
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Some are defining or key MOMENTS, eg Bowie and Britney. Most artists with long careers have several key or signature songs..
 
I was going to suggest Dirrty by Xtina, but I've just looked and it was a number 1 here. I think it was a flop in America though, and whether it was a commercial flop or not, I think the image of a sticky-looking Christina splashing about by the urinals in assless chaps really did go some way to redefining her in the hearts and minds of people the world over as a sket.
 
Gangsta Nancy Lam said:
I was going to suggest Dirrty by Xtina, but I've just looked and it was a number 1 here. I think it was a flop in America though, and whether it was a commercial flop or not, I think the image of a sticky-looking Christina splashing about by the urinals in assless chaps really did go some way to redefining her in the hearts and minds of people the world over as a sket.
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Wasn’t that the weird era in the US before digital downloads had really taken over and where radio hits were only really there to generate physical album sales?
 
“Dirrty” definitely did not fall on deaf ears in the States (despite peaking at #48) but radio did not play it and without an available CD single it was not going to chart high. The video was widely played, it got headlines, etc and obviously allowed the album to debut well (350k opening week IIRC?). But it was “Beautiful” that really redeemed her here.
 
Ellie said:
Wasn’t that the weird era in the US before digital downloads had really taken over and where radio hits were only really there to generate physical album sales?
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I’d agree. Even if digital sales were counted, that format didn’t take off until 2004. There wasn’t much of a point in releasing a CD single at that point unless you were going to charge 99 cents for it to manipulate a high debut (a la Loverboy)....
 
Again, stretching “career-defining” a bit but definitely a signature song and more well remembered than a UK chart position of #33 (and lack of any chart position in Sweden or America) would normally merit:

 
This fits the bill in a different sense, not a big hit compared to what came before, especially as a lead single. And it defined the beginning of the end of her career in the UK

 
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