Since 1952, the UK charts have saved monitor of our nation’s very favorite songs, with over 1,400 hits making it to primary in 72 years.
Britain loves the pop charts greater than every other nation on the planet and our nationwide playlist options hundreds of giant hits from all around the globe.
However typically, the chart positions of sure huge songs don’t mirror simply how common they actually have turn into with the British public.
Everyone knows sure songs ought to have been primary over others (Joe Dolce vs Ultravox, anybody?), however what about songs that hardly charted in any respect?
What if we instructed you that one of many UK’s greatest promoting albums of all time, Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, didn’t even produce a high 10 single?
And what if we instructed you {that a} track launched in 2004, which has spent virtually 10 years on the UK charts in whole, solely spent one week inside the highest 10?
Prepare for some all-time shockers…
Don’t Cease – Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours is likely one of the UK’s most beloved albums of all time, with hundreds of thousands of copies bought on this nation since its unique launch again in February 1977.
However would you imagine that not one in every of its singles made it into the UK high 10? In actual fact, Desires, The Chain, You Make Loving Enjoyable, and Don’t Cease all stalled exterior the highest 20.
Through the years, Don’t Cease endured as a basic, ultimately (technically) reaching primary in 2009 as a part of the Youngsters In Want medley sung by Peter Kay’s Animated All Star Band.
However by itself, it has solely spent a month on the UK singles chart, reaching a peak of simply 32 when it was launched three months after the album it got here from.
It was an enormous success in America, the place it reached quantity three, and the track has ultimately been licensed Platinum within the UK due to streaming and on-line gross sales.
However the uncooked knowledge tells us that, whereas Rod Stewart and the Intercourse Pistols have been battling it out for primary in 1977, Fleetwood Mac have been languishing within the decrease reaches.
Pocketful of Sunshine – Natasha Bedingfield
Because it seems, Gen Z love a little bit of Natasha Bedingfield. The singer-songwriter has seen renewed curiosity in her hits from 20 years in the past – particularly the track Unwritten.
That single initially reached quantity six within the UK in 2004 and went all the way in which again to quantity 12 this 12 months after it was utilized in latest Sydney Sweeney movie Anybody However You.
20 years go, Natasha was celebrating the success of her first ever primary single, These Phrases, and her debut studio album Unwritten, which additionally topped the charts.
When she was planning the place to go subsequent, she co-wrote the track Pocketful of Sunshine. However, surprisingly, it was by no means included on her second album in 2007 and was by no means launched as a single within the UK.
It was ultimately launched as a single within the US in early 2008, the place it soared all the way in which to quantity 5 and was used on the soundtrack for comedies like Simple A and The Ugly Fact.
However within the UK it was by no means launched as a correct single and by no means charted. iTunes purchases and Spotify streams ultimately made certain it was licensed Silver, however it stays Natasha’s greatest track to by no means seem on the UK charts.
Mr. Brightside – The Killers
The Killers’ Mr. Brightside may need been launched 20 years in the past, however it stays as common as ever, with the track nonetheless within the UK high 100 as of November 2024.
In whole, it has spent 434 weeks on the UK chart, which is equal to eight years and 4 months. Solely particular chart guidelines stop Mr. Brightside from being in the principle high 40 chart actually each single week in 2024.
It’s performed on the finish of each celebration, virtually each DJ set, and positively each wedding ceremony you’ve ever been to since 2004 – and but, it’s by no means been a primary.
And never solely has it by no means been primary, it’s additionally spent only one week within the high 10 in its whole chart run. 434 weeks within the high 100, and 433 of them have been spent at quantity 11 or decrease.
It solely reached a peak of quantity 10 on the time of its launch, held method off the highest as one-hit wonders Eamon and Frankee battled it out with their two variations of the very same track (I Don’t Need You Again).
Mr. Brightside initially left the charts inside a month, however saved creeping again in all through the late 2000s and early 2010s due to on-line gross sales and streaming figures.
Then, in the course of the early weeks of 2021, because the UK regularly got here out of Covid-19 lockdown, it re-entered the highest 100. It hasn’t left the charts in any respect since then on the time of writing.
Ring of Fireplace – Johnny Money
Johnny Money is a legend of American music, with the nation singer-songwriter releasing dozens of albums and lots of of songs over a 50-year profession.
Whereas solely a handful of his songs have made it into the UK charts, we’ve nonetheless taken his huge songbook to our hearts in Britain.
And his 1963 track Ring of Fireplace is one in every of them, with the track recognized up and down the land and by quite a few generations from the Sixties onwards.
Regardless of how common it’s turn into, nonetheless, the track by no means charted throughout its unique run as a single within the mid-60s and solely reached quantity 95 in 2007.
That week, The Proclaimers have been at primary alongside Peter Kay and Matt Lucas (in character as Brian Potter and Andy Pipkin) for Comedian Reduction.
Money’s greatest hit so far stays A Boy Named Sue, a comedy nation track that reached quantity 4 all the way in which again in 1969.
Summer time of ’69 – Bryan Adams
Whereas A Boy Named Sue was within the UK charts, occasions have been going down that may ultimately encourage one in every of Bryan Adams’ greatest recognized UK songs – Summer time of ’69.
The Canadian singer-songwriter wanted to attend till he was 31 earlier than he landed his first UK high 10 hit, however that was a biggie – Every little thing I Do, I Do It for You in 1991.
That track was primary within the UK for a whopping 16 weeks on the trot over the summer time, and woke Britain as much as an artist who’d already been round for nearly a decade.
As a result of throughout your complete Eighties, Bryan Adams had by no means registered a high 10 hit within the UK. He bought shut with debut single Run to You, however that stalled at 11.
Summer time of ’69 – an enormous hit at present – solely exploded in recognition after the discharge of his 1993 biggest hits assortment. In 1985, when it was initially launched, it peaked all the way in which again at quantity 42.
The track was solely within the charts for six weeks on the time, and has peaked method exterior the highest 40 at any time when it’s charted since, in 2008, 2012, and 2014.
When it initially charted, Madonna was atop the charts asking us all to get Into the Groove, whereas The Vehicles track Drive was additionally within the high 10 after its utilization in the course of the TV protection of Dwell Assist.
Man Down – Rihanna
If you consider pop artists who outlined the late 2000s and early 2010s, Rihanna is likely one of the first names that instantly springs to thoughts.
Nonetheless, whereas she did have main chart successes in 2011 – two quantity ones that 12 months – one in every of her greatest songs barely tickled the UK high 40.
Man Down, from her album Loud, made a serious splash in Europe, reaching the highest 10 in Italy, Switzerland, Romania, Belgium, and France.
However within the UK it stalled miles away from the highest 10 at quantity 54, and even in America the track solely rose as excessive as quantity 59 upon its launch.
It stayed across the UK charts for nearly three months in the long run, and it’s had virtually 400 million streams on Spotify, however by no means made the highest 40 across the time of her enormous hits We Discovered Love and Diamonds.
Satirically, California King Mattress – from the identical album – was Rihanna’s greatest hit that week, which had turn into one more high 10 hit for the Barbados singer.
Modifications – David Bowie
David Bowie is one in every of Britain’s most celebrated pop artists, with dozens of hits, 5 UK primary singles, and a whopping 11 primary albums.
However one in every of his most well-known songs, Modifications, from his 1971 album Hunky Dory, didn’t even chart within the UK regardless of being given a push as a single.
The album itself made it to quantity three on the album charts, and Life On Mars? made an enormous splash on the singles charts when it additionally peaked at quantity three – however this was all two years later in 1973.
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Modifications got here simply earlier than Bowie was an enormous, enormous star within the UK. Albums like Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust may be classics now, however it took some time for them to take maintain on the British public.
It was solely after the success of his sixth album, 1973’s Aladdin Sane, that Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust began to shift hundreds and hundreds of copies nd attain their peaks on the chart.
By that time, Modifications had been accessible as a single for nearly 18 months, which means that nearly no one went out and purchased it to ship it up the charts alongside Hunky Dory.
Modifications ultimately reached a peak of quantity 49 when Bowie died in January 2016, aged 69, following the discharge of his final ever album, Blackstar.
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