I Can't Believe It's Not A Top 40!

[Channel98]

Ritchie Valens' La Bamba was a staple of oldies radio for decades. It was the B-side of his #2 hit Donna and reached #22 on the Hot 100 in February 1959. Valens wrote both songs. He also wrote his first hit, Come On Let's Go, which peaked at #42 in November 1958, It should have been a much bigger hit. In Los Angeles, the song reached #13 on the KFWB Fabulous Forty. The McCoys, best known for their 1965 number-one hit Hang On Sloopy, reached #22 in June 1966 with a remake of Come On Let's Go and a remake by Los Lobos got to #21 in November 1987.

 

[sadchild]

41 – From Me To You
45 – All My Loving
46 – Yes It Is
47 – Act Naturally
48 – You Can't Do That
53 – I Should Have Known Better
53 – If I Fell
56 – I Am The Walrus
68 – Roll Over Beethoven
74 – There's A Place
81 – What Goes On
95 – I'm Happy Just To Dance With You

If I remember right, one of these songs only made the Hot 100 because Canadian stations were playing it and American listeners reported to Nielsen that they heard it. I may not have the story right but it's something like that.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

If I remember right, one of these songs only made the Hot 100 because Canadian stations were playing it and American listeners reported to Nielsen that they heard it. I may not have the story right but it's something like that.

Damn Canadians!

 

[sadchild]

Ramping up in case this becomes the next madness...

#94
Smithereens "Blues Before And After"

#92
Smithereens "Only A Memory"

 

[sadchild]

And more

#41
Tom Petty "I Need To Know"

#46
Tom Petty "A Face In The Crowd"

#59
Tom Petty "Here Comes My Girl"

#68
Tom Petty "It's Good To Be King"

 

[sadchild]

Even more (note "Jeremy" was already posted here)

#108
Pearl Jam "Evenflow"

#107
Pearl Jam "Alive"

#102
Pearl Jam "Not For You"

#97
Pearl Jam "Daughter"

#78
Pearl Jam "Just Breathe"

#56
Pearl Jam "The Fixer"

#47
Pearl Jam "Wishlist"

#43
Pearl Jam "I Am Mine"

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

My surprises from above:

#59
Tom Petty "Here Comes My Girl"

#107
Pearl Jam "Alive"

#97
Pearl Jam "Daughter"

 

[scotchandcigar]

My surprises from above:

#59
Tom Petty "Here Comes My Girl"

#107
Pearl Jam "Alive"

#97
Pearl Jam "Daughter"

These, and

#92
Smithereens "Only A Memory"

 

[HecticArt]

Ramping up in case this becomes the next madness...

#94
Smithereens "Blues Before And After"

#92
Smithereens "Only A Memory"

These

And more

#59
Tom Petty "Here Comes My Girl"

This

Even more (note "Jeremy" was already posted here)

#108
Pearl Jam "Evenflow"

#107
Pearl Jam "Alive"

#97
Pearl Jam "Daughter"

and these.

 

[scotchandcigar]

Taking the Pearl Jam songs, for example; Evenflow and Alive were both top players on every rock radio format. So was Daughter. But I don't really picture the first two getting much airplay on the pop stations. Only Daughter was a crossover hit. But even that one didn't make it up the chart.

 

[sadchild]

Back in the day I heard Evenflow and Alive even more than Smells Like Teen Spirit and Come As You Are. Pretty surprised those PJ songs didn't make the top 40 like those Nirvana songs.

#100
Seal "Killer"

#98
Youssou N’Dour & Neneh Cherry "7 Seconds"

#94
Melissa Etheridge "Similar Features"
REM "Fall On Me"
Suzanne Vega "Solitude Standing"

#93
Madonna "Nothing Really Matters"

#90
Tracy Champman "Crossroads"

#89
Foo Fighters "Long Road To Ruin"
Lenny Kravitz "Let Love Rule"

#88
Barenaked Ladies "The Old Apartment"
Bruce Cockburn "If I Had A Rocket Launcher"

#86
Allman Brothers "Melissa"
Script "The Man Who Can't Be Moved"

#85
Hole "Celebrity Skin"
REM "South Central Rain (I'm Sorry)"

#83
Gary Portnoy "Where Everybody Knows Your Name"

#80
10,000 Maniacs "What's The Matter Here?"

#78
Madonna "Love Don't Live Here No More"
REM "Radio Free Europe"

#77
Cypress Hill "How I Could Just Kill A Man"
Sarah McLachlan "Good Enough"

#76
Fatboy Slim "The Rockafeller Skank"

#75
B52s "Private Idaho"
Offspring "Why Don't You Get A Job"
Tracy Champman "Talkin' Bout A Revolution"

#73
Phil Collins "Who Said I Would"
Josh Groban "You Raise Me Up"

#72
Michael Buble "Home"
Pet Shop Boys "Where The Streets/Can't Take My Eyes"

#71
Chicago "Questions 67 and 68"

 

[sadchild]

#70
Everclear "Father Of Mine"

#69
Skrillex "Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites"

#68
Barenaked Ladies "Brian Wilson"

#67
Yaz "Only You"

#66
Julie Andrews & Dick Van Dyke "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"
Alphaville "Big In Japan"

#65
Alphaville "Forever Young"
Foo Fighters "Times Like These"
Steve Carlisle "WKRP In Cincinnati"

#64
Eagles "Tequila Sunrise"

#61
Daft Punk "One More Time"
Green Day "American Idiot"

#60
Sheryl Crow "Leaving Las Vegas"
Sinead O'Connor "The Emperor's New Clothes"

#59
Coldplay "Fix You"
Psychedelic Furs "The Ghost In You"
Urge Overkill "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon"

#58
Berlin "The Metro"

#57
Journey "Wheel In The Sky"
Tegan & Sara ft Lonely Island "Everything Is Awesome"

#56
Billy Joel "Goodnight Saigon"

#55
Rush "Limelight"

#51
Killers "Somebody Told Me"
Lit "My Own Worst Enemy"

#49
Lenny Kravitz "American Woman"

#48
Bronski Beat "Small Town Boy"
Rolling Stones "Street Fighting Man"

#47
Meat Puppets "Backwater"

#45
Muse "Madness"

#44
Psychedelic Furs "Love My Way"

#43
Carroll O'Connor & Jean Stapleton "Those Were The Days"

#42
Ed Sheeran "Lego House"
Waylon & Willie "Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys"

 

[sadchild]

More 41-ers

#41
American Hi-Fi "Flavor Of The Weak"
Bush "Greedy Fly"
Cherry Poppin' Daddies "Zoot Suit Riot"
Diana Ross & Michael Jackson "Ease On Down The Road"
Dixie Chicks "Wide Open Spaces"
Elvis Presley "Raised On Rock"
Go West "We Close Our Eyes"
Lalo Schifrin "Mission-Impossible"
Mat Kearney "Nothing Left To Lose"
Pearl Jam "World Wide Suicide"
POD "Alive"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Warped"
Sarah McLachlan "Fallen"
Sponge "Plowed"
Used And My Chemical Romance "Under Pressure"
Toad The Wet Sprocket "Something's Always Wrong"
Winger "Easy Come, Easy Go"

 

[HecticArt]

There’s a lot of songs on those lists that I can really believe aren’t top 40’s.
Others, not so much.

 

[scotchandcigar]

#41
Pearl Jam "World Wide Suicide"

Great song from a good album. But how did it get to 41, when their biggest 'hits' barely reached 100?

 

[sadchild]

@kingchuck69 can't believe these songs didn't make the top 40 (but they did make the hot 100!)

Ice Cube "Wicked"
New Order "Blue Monday 1988" (not the original)
Wu-Tang Clan "CREAM"
Yaz "Situation"

 

[sadchild]

This was an interesting watch. A list (with short clips) of every UK #1 in the 1980s that was not a top 40 here in the States

 

[scotchandcigar]

These are the ones that stand out to me from that video list:

Bowie - Ashes to Ashes
Adam and the Ants - Stand and Deliver
The Jam - Town Called Malice
Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Two Tribes

 

[sadchild]

This was an interesting watch. A list (with short clips) of every UK #1 in the 1980s that was not a top 40 here in the States

And now the same, but it's 1990s UK #1s that flopped in the US.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

This was an interesting watch. A list (with short clips) of every UK #1 in the 1980s that was not a top 40 here in the States

That was interesting. Aside from a couple songs though, I can't say the British have any better taste.