I saw the Prodigy last night and was surprised to find out that the biggest reaction wasn't for "Breathe" or "Firestarter" or "Poison", but for "Smack My Bitch Up." I checked on iTunes and it's their biggest selling track! Sometime in the last 10 years it became their legacy track. How? Why? What other bands is this true?
so, yeah. Please cross-reference with iTunes for this.
1. Prodigy - "Smack My Bitch Up"
― donky tonk women (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 27 March 2009 16:50 (nine years ago) Permalink
great thread idea, i definitely have sat around and figured this out w/ a few bands, will have to look some up when i get home tonight
― the worst breed of fong (some dude), Friday, 27 March 2009 16:53 (nine years ago) Permalink
would be interesting to cross-reference this with licensing
― s1ocki, Friday, 27 March 2009 16:54 (nine years ago) Permalink
like maybe in the long run that impacts sales more than radio/video play
― s1ocki, Friday, 27 March 2009 16:55 (nine years ago) Permalink
my guess is that there are a large number of people out there who did not know the band Prodigy but knew there was a song called "Smack My Bitch Up"
― fight the real NME (Curt1s Stephens), Friday, 27 March 2009 16:58 (nine years ago) Permalink
i always thought smack my bitch was the big prodigy song!!
― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Friday, 27 March 2009 16:59 (nine years ago) Permalink
it wouldn't have sold as well as nearly half their other 90s songs esp. the two #1s
― Hard House SugBanton (blueski), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:00 (nine years ago) Permalink
notoriety was helped by banned video, no?
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:03 (nine years ago) Permalink
2. Elton John - "Tiny Dancer"^^ someone can doublecheck this and refute it if necessary since i'm looking at a cached browser page of his top iTunes songs, but that's a very prominent example of a song that movie licensing turned into a much bigger part of the artist's legacy than it had been before
― the worst breed of fong (some dude), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:03 (nine years ago) Permalink
wouldn't be surprised if 'Wonderwall' was biggest-selling Oasis song online (was probably their biggest hit in the US if not in the UK tho)
― Hard House SugBanton (blueski), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:06 (nine years ago) Permalink
Don't have iTunes right here, but just guessing on a few...
Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes (wasn't even a single from So)Queen - Bohemian RhapsodyLou Reed - Perfect Day
― kornrulez6969, Friday, 27 March 2009 17:06 (nine years ago) Permalink
Bohemian Rhapsody was always Queen's biggest hit surely
― Hard House SugBanton (blueski), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:07 (nine years ago) Permalink
"Bohemian Rhapsody" benefitted from the 90s re-release and Wayne's World, but it was always one of their biggest hits, I gotta veto that. xpost
― the worst breed of fong (some dude), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:09 (nine years ago) Permalink
Perfect Day? It must still be "Walk on the Wild Side"
― President Keyes, Friday, 27 March 2009 17:13 (nine years ago) Permalink
Journey's only two top 5 songs in the US were "Open Arms" and "Who's Crying Now."
"Don't Stop Believing," meanwhile, is the biggest-selling catalogue track in iTunes history.
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:16 (nine years ago) Permalink
no way was bohemian rhapsody a bigger hit than "another one bites the dust" or "crazy little thing called love"
What about "Son of a Preacher Man" by Dusty Springfield?
obv I don't know the UK chart stuff much, but was that actually her biggest hit?
― stank pony (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:16 (nine years ago) Permalink
ooh good call, put a 3 on that. xpost re journey
― the worst breed of fong (some dude), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:17 (nine years ago) Permalink
"Bohemian Rhapsody" held a sales record in the UK for almost a decade and was Queen's first US top 10. I would say songs that establish a band on that level count as one of their biggest hits whether there are higher charting songs or not.
― the worst breed of fong (some dude), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:19 (nine years ago) Permalink
Not in the U.S., where No. 1 hits "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (!) and "Another One Bites The Dust" both charted higher. (So did "We Are The Champions," at first, but then "Rhapsody" came back in 1992 and hit No. 2 off of Wayne's World; it had only hit No. 9 on its original release.)
The Romantics' legacy song is almost certainly "What I Like About You" (big jock-rock hit, right?), though in their lifetime "Talking In Your Sleep" charted way higher (No. 3, compared to No. 49.)
― xhuxk, Friday, 27 March 2009 17:20 (nine years ago) Permalink
what about "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond....again, i'm a lil ignorant of his history but wiki says "Song Sung Blue" was a bigger chart hit
― stank pony (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:20 (nine years ago) Permalink
yeah that's really interesting, i don't think i've ever even heard "Talking In Your Sleep" but I've heard "Like" a million times. xpost
― the worst breed of fong (some dude), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:21 (nine years ago) Permalink
this icon should be next to all these songs in the iTunes store: http://www.soulstrut.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/badassbuddy_com-slowburner.gif
― the worst breed of fong (some dude), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:23 (nine years ago) Permalink
I think I've heard those 2 about an equal # of times--but I guess "Like" is more of a party song.
― President Keyes, Friday, 27 March 2009 17:23 (nine years ago) Permalink
Yeah, I think "Sweet Caroline" and "Cherry Cherry" are both more famous today than "Song Sung Blue" or "Cracklin' Rosie" -- but they were all in the top 5.
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:24 (nine years ago) Permalink
Freebird? That's certainly Skynyrd's legacy song, but probably not their biggest iTunes seller (Sweet Home Alabama?).
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 27 March 2009 17:26 (nine years ago) Permalink
(Meant to add "Song Sung Blue" and "Cracklin' Rosie" were his only two solo #1s.)
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:27 (nine years ago) Permalink
oh wow here's the ultimate one:
according to wiki, "Dancing With Myself" by Billy Idol only reached 102 on the U.S. charts and FAILED to chart in the U.K.
― stank pony (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:27 (nine years ago) Permalink
usually a soundtrack or placement in a television show will raise a song out of the bands "hits" into a totally different demographic
― cutty, Friday, 27 March 2009 17:27 (nine years ago) Permalink
Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes (wasn't even a single from So)
This was released as a single off of the "Say Anything" soundtrack and received massive amounts of radio play.
― BADGES DON'T GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO WALTZ OFF WITH A BABY (HI DERE), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:27 (nine years ago) Permalink
― stank pony (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, March 27, 2009 1:27 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
yeah but "Rebel Yell" and "White Wedding" are both bigger iTunes sellers
― the worst breed of fong (some dude), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:30 (nine years ago) Permalink
i mean this could very easily turn into "early hits that established a band's identity but didn't chart as high as later singles when they were more famous" list and get away from the original idea
― the worst breed of fong (some dude), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:31 (nine years ago) Permalink
yeah that's true
― stank pony (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:31 (nine years ago) Permalink
i was more just shocked that that hadn't even charted at the time, being how catchy it was and all
― stank pony (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:32 (nine years ago) Permalink
"Should I Stay or Should I Go?"
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 27 March 2009 17:33 (nine years ago) Permalink
...
"In Your Eyes" was released as a US single, peaking at #26 Billboard Hot 100 and #1 Billboard Mainstream Rock in 1986.
Say Anything gave "In Your Eyes" a second chart run in 1989, but it peaked at #41. No Top 40 for you!
...and became PG's first certified Gold single in 2005 lol
― butt-rock miyagi (rogermexico.), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:35 (nine years ago) Permalink
"Only You" did marginally better than "Situation" on the US charts (67 vs. 73) and much better on the UK charts (2 vs. wasn't even released), but "Situation" seems much more like Yaz's legacy song.
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:36 (nine years ago) Permalink
"Born to Run!" Peaked at #23.
(Well, technically it's outsold by "Radio Nowhere" on iTunes, but I think that was thanks to some "Magic" promotion)
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 27 March 2009 17:38 (nine years ago) Permalink
yeah acts with recent singles kinda skew this, but i think it's safe to assume "Born To Run" ultimately sells more than "Radio Nowhere"
― the worst breed of fong (some dude), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:39 (nine years ago) Permalink
Oh oh oh!
"American Girl" was the second single off Tom Petty's debut album, after "Breakdown," but did not even chart.
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:41 (nine years ago) Permalink
Radiohead. Creep is their biggest hit, but probably not their "signature" song. NOt sure what is, though.
Bruce's biggest chart hit is Dancing In The Dark
― kornrulez6969, Friday, 27 March 2009 17:45 (nine years ago) Permalink
"Creep" is Radiohead's legacy song to millions of non-Radiohead fans
― the worst breed of fong (some dude), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:45 (nine years ago) Permalink
I'm not sure what Bob Marley's legacy song is, but I have a feeling that "Roots, Rock, Reggae" (his only U.S. Hot 100 hit, peaking at # 51) isn't it. It might not even be in the Top 10.
― xhuxk, Friday, 27 March 2009 17:47 (nine years ago) Permalink
(Well, Marley has lots of Legacy songs, obviously. Or at least an album full of them.)
― xhuxk, Friday, 27 March 2009 17:48 (nine years ago) Permalink
Cheap Trick's only #1 is "The Flame." ("I Want You to Want Me" was #7, "Surrender" #62.)
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:48 (nine years ago) Permalink
What about remixes doing this with a song? Because Run DMC's It's Like That was just a b-side until it became like their biggest song (v. walk this way obv.)
Also presumably this must have happened by tunes that were sampled a bunch, although none come to mind immediately.
― there's a big metaphor going on in which pussy is medicine (a hoy hoy), Friday, 27 March 2009 17:49 (nine years ago) Permalink
'Hallelujah' wins this thread, surely?
― James Mitchell, Friday, 27 March 2009 17:50 (nine years ago) Permalink
Run DMC's It's Like That was just a b-side
Not really. It was on side one of the 12-inch, and came before "Sucker MCs"; ditto with the instrumentals on side two:
http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=257372
― xhuxk, Friday, 27 March 2009 17:53 (nine years ago) Permalink
How do I find out Itunes sales numbers? Is there some page for them?
― Tuomas, Friday, 27 March 2009 17:54 (nine years ago) Permalink
Talking Heads. Their biggest charting US single is Wild Wild Life. Biggest in UK is Road To Nowhere. Their signature/legacy song is clearly Once In A Lifetime, which never even charted.
― kornrulez6969, Friday, 27 March 2009 17:55 (nine years ago) Permalink
I tried to a search for a specific tune on the Itunes store, but when I click on the song name, I'm thrown back to the Apple store home page.
― Tuomas, Friday, 27 March 2009 17:56 (nine years ago) Permalink
"Big Yellow Taxi" was in my Grade 7 English textbook!
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Sunday, 12 November 2017 16:35 (eleven months ago) Permalink
I'd have guessed Both Sides Now would be her legacy song.
― kornrulez6969, Sunday, 12 November 2017 16:50 (eleven months ago) Permalink
Big Yellow Taxi was the first song of hers i remember from my youth, so dang catchy. there have been a number of crappy modern covers so makes sense that would be her big song rn.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 12 November 2017 17:20 (eleven months ago) Permalink
"Help Me" was a bigger hit at the time, but agreed that at the least the "choooo bop bop" was probably what the average radio listener would conjure up if asked to do a Joni Mitchell impression.
I've never heard of "Help Me" tbh.
― Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Sunday, 12 November 2017 19:00 (eleven months ago) Permalink
I would say "Both Sides Now".
! "Help Me" is wonderful. Essential LA-sound early 70s pop imo.
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 12 November 2017 19:03 (eleven months ago) Permalink
totally, it's a perfect song
Why preposterous?
well, maybe not preposterous then but BYT is kinda one of her children's song songs imo, it's a decent song but not very representative
― niels, Sunday, 12 November 2017 21:37 (eleven months ago) Permalink
'Big Yellow Taxi' is the first song that I think of whenever someone brings up Joni Mitchell, so I'm not surprised to hear that it's her most streamed song. I hate it, though.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Sunday, 12 November 2017 21:44 (eleven months ago) Permalink
I wouldn't say I hate it but the songs on fx Hejira and Hissing are on an entirely different plane
― niels, Sunday, 12 November 2017 21:51 (eleven months ago) Permalink
It put me off checking out her other material for the longest time.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Sunday, 12 November 2017 21:59 (eleven months ago) Permalink
have to say though, first 100 times I heard the refrain was on the Janet Jackson song where it works perfectly imo, Q-Tip on point
― niels, Sunday, 12 November 2017 22:26 (eleven months ago) Permalink
damn I would've thought "A Case of You" or "Woodstock"
― flappy bird, Sunday, 12 November 2017 22:31 (eleven months ago) Permalink
Judy Collins' version of "Both Sides Now" is the one that reached the Top Ten in the US
― Brad C., Sunday, 12 November 2017 23:08 (eleven months ago) Permalink
...and "Woodstock" has two competing hit covers w/CSNY and Matthews Southern Comfort.
― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 12 November 2017 23:43 (eleven months ago) Permalink
Everyone's covered "Both Sides Now".
― Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Sunday, 12 November 2017 23:46 (eleven months ago) Permalink
Letters To Cleo: "I Want You To Want Me" (a Cheap Trick cover from 10 Things I Hate About You) way outpaces "Here And Now" on Spotify (5 mil spins vs. 1 mil)
― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 16 November 2017 03:01 (eleven months ago) Permalink
...and their other 10 Things cover (Nick Lowe's "Cruel To Be Kind") is almost at 2 million.
― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 16 November 2017 03:03 (eleven months ago) Permalink
such a good movie
― niels, Thursday, 16 November 2017 07:09 (eleven months ago) Permalink
while Heroes is probably Bowie's legacy song (and a good one!) if you count collabs Under Pressure is by far his best streamer with 200 million streams! (Heroes "only" at 90 million)
― niels, Tuesday, 9 January 2018 18:51 (nine months ago) Permalink
surprised at both of those - would have said that if he has a single "legacy song" (which isn't really ever going to fit perfectly for an artist with that many hits) it'd be SpaceOddity or Ziggy Stardust.
― Newb Sybok (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 9 January 2018 19:26 (nine months ago) Permalink
Space Oddity over Ziggy, tho. But "'Heroes'" and schmaltzy covers of it have become ubiquitous in movies, tv, and advertising especially after his death. Under Pressure benefits from being a collaboration with another one of the biggest pop acts in history.
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 9 January 2018 19:29 (nine months ago) Permalink
on a similar tip, Iggy Pop: The Passenger has 88 million plays and Lust For Life has 29 million plays on Spotify. I guess his biggest hit was real wild child? still would not have figured The Passenger would have such a massive play count
― porg and bess (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 9 January 2018 19:31 (nine months ago) Permalink
again, ubiquitous syncs
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 9 January 2018 19:37 (nine months ago) Permalink
more ubiquitous than lust for life, though?
― porg and bess (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 9 January 2018 19:40 (nine months ago) Permalink
i guess the numbers don't lie
very close second
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 9 January 2018 19:41 (nine months ago) Permalink
i think more people take the lust for life drumbeat for syncs and that maybe splits the numbers
a weird streaming age story: so i was listening to some Eno earlier today and I was astonished at the ridiculously high play totals for some of his tracks...not his 70s solo tracks, not his collaborations with David Byrne, but his ambient stuff. "An Ending (Ascent)" has over 57 million streams! Why? A few of his ambient tracks made their way onto Spotify's "Sleep" playlist, which has well over 2 million subscribers.
― MooVaughn.org (voodoo chili), Monday, 26 March 2018 02:15 (six months ago) Permalink
people just listen to that playlist on repeat for hours every night! it's probably earning some experimental composers some decent money.
Ha, that's great.
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Monday, 26 March 2018 02:55 (six months ago) Permalink
2 million users falling asleep to it is an uncapped bandwidth provider’s nightmare.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 26 March 2018 03:51 (six months ago) Permalink
I'm not sure how these Spotify rankings work exactly, but I see that Johnny's Cash's version of "Hurt" has double the plays of any of his other songs (188 million to "I Walk the Line"'s 92 million and "Ring of Fire"'s 94 million) but is only ranked as his second most popular track, hopefully because some Spotify bot is going "Nah, man."
― President Keyes, Monday, 26 March 2018 12:57 (six months ago) Permalink
I think there's some recency element in the algorithm
― MooVaughn.org (voodoo chili), Monday, 26 March 2018 13:00 (six months ago) Permalink
yeah i think glenn broke that down at some point, there's a special sauce, maybe also taking into account how much it's been searched for, how many playlists it's in, etc.
― lol dis stance dunk (Doctor Casino), Monday, 26 March 2018 13:19 (six months ago) Permalink
I was shocked recently to see that "Mary Jane's Last Dance" is edging out "American Girl" for most played Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers song on Spotify. Both have half the plays of "Free Fallin'" but its credited to solo Petty. Just had no idea it was that popular.
― sofatruck, Monday, 26 March 2018 16:00 (six months ago) Permalink
Yeah, I wouldn’t have guessed that one would be even in his top 5 songs...
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Monday, 26 March 2018 16:20 (six months ago) Permalink
that makes sense to me, that was the massive single from the Greatest Hits album, which sold 12 million copies and was maybe the first Petty album that for my generation was somewhat aimed in our direction. I was 18 when it came out and the previous albums several albums he'd released were all imo a bit more "adult" (Southern Accents, Full Moon Fever, Into the Great Wide Open, Traveling Wilburys.) I liked them but MJLD was a song definitely with an eye on younger listeners, if only for the video. which was huge.
― omar little, Monday, 26 March 2018 16:31 (six months ago) Permalink
"An Ending (Ascent)" has over 57 million streams! Why?
I think this was in Trainspotting? pretty sure there was a film placement that kickstarted its popularity
― sleeve, Monday, 26 March 2018 16:31 (six months ago) Permalink
yeah it's used in lots of TV shows/movies, including Traffic, which I think is what you're thinking of, but that still struck me as a crazy high number.
― MooVaughn.org (voodoo chili), Monday, 26 March 2018 16:41 (six months ago) Permalink
xpost (re: Petty)Interesting -- I see it came out in fall '93, and that was definitely a moment when the song/video would have fallen thru the cracks for me (my first year of college).
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Monday, 26 March 2018 16:42 (six months ago) Permalink
Yeah I can see that in retrospect. That 93 GH package was actually my intro to Petty (was 15 or so) but that song never clicked that much for me then, so I guess I never picked up on how popular it was.
― sofatruck, Monday, 26 March 2018 17:13 (six months ago) Permalink
"Deep Blue Day" is the Trainspotting selection. It's from Apollo, which for about 20 years has been my favorite ambient Eno – perfect for 9:30 p.m. weeknight writing.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 26 March 2018 17:17 (six months ago) Permalink
kind of pointless to parse this for still-active huge artists, but kendrick lamar's top track on Spotify, by a long shot, is "HUMBLE." with almost 900K plays. "King Kunta" which I think of as his signature song, is way down at 250K. clearly i'm not really in touch with his hitmaking! but also clearly, it'll be years before he could properly have a "this thread" kind of song.
― got the scuba tube blowin' like a snork (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 29 August 2018 16:40 (one month ago) Permalink
it got way more airplay iirc
― aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Wednesday, 29 August 2018 17:18 (one month ago) Permalink
https://www.billboard.com/music/kendrick-lamar/chart-history/hot-r-and-b-hip-hop-airplay
wow, yeah, pretty clear, thanks! i must have just been out of the loop last summer...
― got the scuba tube blowin' like a snork (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 29 August 2018 17:33 (one month ago) Permalink
Ha I recently heard some younguns talking about the day Humble dropped as like the most momentous musical day of their lives, like now we know what it was like when you guys first heard Teen Spirit
I think the ilm reaction was like hmm this is okay
― President Keyes, Thursday, 30 August 2018 00:35 (one month ago) Permalink
Queen has come up before but the recent ascent of "Don't Stop Me Now" seems a conspicuous example. Almost: beaten only by "Bohemian Rhapsody" over at Spotify nowadays, but I virtually never heard it anywhere for the first couple of decades of its existence.
("This Must Be The Place" is the other one, but I see y'all discussed that in the past.)
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Thursday, 30 August 2018 05:01 (one month ago) Permalink
"Don't Stop Me Now" is a good one. I work pub quizzes and that song came up in an audio round (i.d. a song and artist from a 15-20 second clip) one time recently--I was genuinely surprised how many people nailed both, particularly in the company of newer and/or more obvious tracks in the round that they didn't.
Was it in a movie or commercial?
― Ubering With The King (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 30 August 2018 05:14 (one month ago) Permalink
Yeah, I think its resurgence can be traced back to 2004 when it was used in the most memorable scene of Shaun of the Dead.
― triggercut, Thursday, 30 August 2018 06:11 (one month ago) Permalink