High-selling singles that never entered the Billboard top 40

Washed Out "Feel It All Around" must have gone gold?

xp Oh come on, "Never" is def known better. I assumed they were a one-hit.

Not unlike the fact that "Pray" is MC Hammer's biggest hit.

Ha. Stranger still is that he has three other songs with higher peaks than "U Can't Touch This."

― jaymc, Thursday, October 30, 2014 7:50 AM Bookmark

This one has not just the factor that Lee626 mentions, but also the fact that the only single format "U Can't Touch This" was released on is 12" (it likely would have gone to #1 otherwise), whereas later Hammer singles were released on more conventional formats.

You can pretty much add every 'Indie' popular songs in this category. I don't know if they don't chart since most of the labels they have are not affiliated to the RIAA.

Back in the day, they were just sold in non-chart shops.

I think "Where's Captain Kirk" was one years' top indie seller, and would have come pretty high up a year-sales chart if such a thing could have been compiled.

it's nielsen that compiles data for charts, not the riaa. the data they collect isn't obtained from labels, but from retailers and radio research. most popular 'indie' songs are not really selling that much.

don omar "danza kuduro" (#82, 5x platinum)

should be noted that it got all its 2-5x platinum certifications at the same time as soon as riaa decided to incorporate streaming numbers into certification for singles (may 9, 2013). a glance at its youtube numbers will make it pretty clear that it's an absolute monster in that regard, so it probably hasn't sold 5 million. but before that point it had already been certified gold and platinum, so evidently it has sold at least a million, which is pretty major for a song that only reached #82. (also it was certified under the standard 'digital' category, not the 'latin' category which has lower thresholds for certification.)

birdy's version of "skinny love" also didn't chart but went gold lol

Old Crow Medicine Show's "Wagon Wheel" was certified platinum in 2012, before Darius Rucker covered it. The OCMS version didn't chart on the Hot 100 or country airplay chart, but Rucker's version hit #1 at country radio, #15 on the Hot 100, and won a Grammy.

Possibly a dumb question: do RIAA certifications only take US sales into account? I'm assuming so (judging by "Stairway To Heaven"'s lack of RIAA certification, if nothing else).

The song was never released as a single.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros (did not chart; platinum)

That's intriguing. It can't be because of Community. Was this used in a prominent commercial or movie?

As for all the modern rock songs upthread, is it just a matter of steady modern rock airplay?

"Home" was in a couple ads too, iirc.

maybe Community viewers buy music on iTunes en masse? Childish Gambino has never had a top 40 hit but two of his songs have gone gold. xp

britt nicole "gold" (#83, gold)

aaron carter "saturday night" (did not chart, gold)
janet jackson "i want you" (#57, platinum)
seether "fake it" (#56, platinum)
goo goo dolls "stay with you" (#51, gold)
green day "american idiot" (#61, gold)
blink-182 "feeling this" (did not chart, gold); "i miss you" (#42, gold)
eminem "space bound" (did not chart, gold)
lifehouse "broken" (#83, platinum)
nickelback "figured you out" (#65, gold)
3 doors down "citizen/soldier" (#96, gold)
o-zone "dragostea din tei" (did not chart, gold)
ashley tisdale "he said, she said" (#58, gold)
john legend "tonight (best you ever had)" (#79, platinum)
ludacris "blueberry yum yum" (did not chart, gold)
kanye west "diamonds from sierra leone" (#43, gold); "touch the sky" (#42, gold); "can't tell me nothing" (#41, platinum); "gotta have it" (#69, gold); "no church in the wild" (#72, gold)
jay-z "dead presidents" (#50, gold); "gotta have it" and "no church in the wild" (see kanye)
big & rich "save a horse (ride a cowboy)" (#56, gold)
system of a down "chop suey" (#76, gold); "hypnotize" (#57, gold)
fall out boy "alone together" (#71, gold)
rihanna "cockiness (love it)" (did not chart, gold)

taylor swift

"i'm only me when i'm with you" (did not chart, gold)
"hey stephen" (#94, gold)
"breathe" (#87, gold)
"enchanted" (#75, gold)

Capitol Cities "Safe and Sound" is another example of it breaking the top 10 other than Foster the People although I secretly fux with that song (and it rips off M83 instead of MGMT)

― I Love Makonnen: New Answers (The Reverend), Thursday, October 30, 2014 4:23 AM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Q: Does "Sweater Weather" by the Neighbourhood count?

(Not top 10, but top 20.)

ugh, safe and sound is the worst

xp not really. right audience, wrong style imo

ugh, safe and sound is the worst

Seriously. It makes me stabby.

drowning pool "bodies" (did not chart, gold)

Just discovered this:

"Tempted" was the second single released from Squeeze's fourth album, East Side Story. Over the years it has become one of Squeeze's best-known songs, despite failing to crack the Top 40 in any country in which it was released (UK No. 41, Canada No. 45, US No. 49, Australia No. 90)

That completely blows my mind.

Paula Abdul - 'Knocked Out'. It peaked at 41!

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - 'Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble'. It peaked at 57!!