songs that weren't a bands biggest hit, but have gone on to be their legacy song and biggest iTunes seller

This guy has tracked Spotify play counts for every song that charted on the Hot 100 through 2005:
http://poly-graph.co/timeless/

"Don't Stop Believin'" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" both in the top 20, natch.

Top Fleetwood Mac song (and 2nd most-played song of the 70s, after "Bohemian Rhapsody") is "Go Your Own Way" ... which I'm not sure I would have predicted.

yeah that was a huge hit and is the one most likely to appear in crit lists but i would've guessed something different, maybe 'landslide' or 'rhiannon' or 'dreams' which kinda suprised me when it won the ilm poll a little while back.

I saw that "timeless" article a couple days ago and was kinda disappointed by the method - it's a neat concept but for example wouldn't it have made sense to figure out when the songs got added to Spotify, and do the stats based on how many plays it's had versus months it's had when it was possible for it to get played? Also surprising that AFAICT they seem to be suggesting that every song that charted on the Hot 100 1990-1999 is on Spotify, which I guess certainly could be true though I'd be a little surprised if it were.

The funniest thing though is this bit - "Some of my friends were deeply disturbed by what's been lost in time (e.g., Pearl Jam)." Er... except that Pearl Jam's biggest songs on Spotify would totally show up on this table, they just never charted on the Hot 100. "Alive," at 32.2 million spins, would be among the top four little circle icons if it qualified for inclusion. "Even Flow" is at 27m and "Jeremy" at 21m - that one should absolutely show up on this chart since it made #79 on Billboard (years after the song's actual peak in popularity). Their biggest Hot 100 performers are Spotify duds, but nobody would have ever confused those for their biggest songs anyway - "I Got Id" #7, 684,000 plays; "Last Kiss," #2, 10 million plays.

Somewhere in here might be an interesting project, like sorting out how much songs have changed in popularity, but some of it's self-fulfilling prophecy stuff; radio sorta stopped playing some songs for whatever reason, so people don't know them, so people don't choose to click them on streaming apps.

"Yellow Ledbetter," which b-sided the charting "Jeremy," also should be here - over 14 million plays on Spotify.

311-Amber

http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/these-are-the-most-streamed-beatles-songs-so-far?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

Fabs Top 5 after 24 hours on Spotify

1. Let It Be
2. Here Comes The Sun
3. Hey Jude
4. Twist and Shout
5. Come Together

Yeah I have noticed that. Quite surprising (I would have expected "she loves you", "yesterday", "help"...).
Also not much love for John's songs these days !

Oh fuck I just copied & pasted different results in the Spotify thread FUCK oh well

Sam Cooke for the win, maybe? "A Change is Gonna Come" is his signature song and and the most streamed on Spotify, yet more than twenty of his songs charted higher!

people don't know much about history

Andrew Gold - Spooky Scary Skeletons

this thread title is v.unwieldy, mods should re-title it "Burning down the charts"

I guess "legacy" song works but it suggests more permanence & less renewal than we actually see ~in the streaming era~

btw Dr C's lecture upthread re: Pearl Jam chart placements was great. I love when ppl get called out on messageboards, forever <3

haha aww, thanks. forgot about that. so stupid!!!

it occurred to me yesterday that for the pretenders this is probably "i'll stand by you". (and it's a deserving song! sorry haters aka fans of the pretenders' actual music.)

anything after the death of James Honeyman-Scott is not canon imo

never even heard of that Pretenders song, no way is that their biggest hit

or best known song or whatever

all i ever hear on the radio (in the US) are "Back on the Chain Gang" and "Brass In Pocket." oddly, though, their spotify results break down as:

1 I'll Stand By You - 16,924,456
2 Don't Get Me Wrong - 9,015,625
3 Brass in Pocket - 9,980,157
4 Back on the Chain Gang - 4,611,021
5 Holy Commotion - 44,212

so, wow, weeeeird. maybe it's a US/UK thing? or a "when they were added to spotify" thing?

That's the only Pretenders song I know.

(that's misleading, too - - - if you go down to their albums and scroll over the stats, they have tons of stuff with more plays than "Holy Commotion" - which makes me wonder how that top five is actually generated...)

wtf is this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLpmj059JFA

I think she is literally crying over spilled milk in this video

so i'm asking Glenn in the Spotify thread because even if you expand to the top 10 up top, there are some heavy hitters that show up way out of order. "2000 Miles" with 6,220,016, "Middle of the Road" with 1,581,639. still not beating "I'll Stand By You" - though as far as the thread question goes, a little wiki perusal reveals that in the UK, it was one of their biggest hits, at #10 on the singles chart - one of only six top-tenners, though behind "brass in pocket" (#1) "I Go To Sleep" (#7) and "Talk of the Town" (#8). this does not count chrissie hynde's dreadful sonny & cher duet with UB40 which also got to #1 and has had 12 million plays on spotify....

anyway though in terms of radio airplay in the US at least, i don't think their legacy has been displaced just yet. it's "brass in pocket" and "back on the chain gang," with very occasional spins of "don't get me wrong."

Yeah, "Brass in Pocket" is easily their best-known song in North America, right? Never heard of "I'll Stand By You" either.

Re: Spotify, since it may come up again on this thread, Glenn clarifies: The "Popular" songs show raw play-counts in the UI, but are actually ranked based on an internal score that measures, roughly, "current" popularity...

"I'll Stand By You" was huge! Albeit though on Adult Contemporary radio, where it's a staple to this day (and it's also a huge Muzak supermarket jam). It occupies that weird space where there's a whole bunch of people who know it way better than the songs from many years earlier that built the band's reputation.

anyway though in terms of radio airplay in the US at least, i don't think their legacy has been displaced just yet. it's "brass in pocket" and "back on the chain gang," with very occasional spins of "don't get me wrong."

Classic rock stations will also very, very occasionally play "Mystery Achievement" when they need a bathroom break.

Another thing about "I'll Stand By You" is that it's such a generic type love song (see also: Shania's "Still The One") that it's 'our song' for many couples.

I feel like I've heard "I'll Stand By You" in the last 5 minutes of 200 tv episodes

Also covered by Shakira, Girls Aloud, Rod Stewart etc.

could "Brass Monkey" be one of these

no way

i wasn't basing my suggestion on any actual stats, just my impression based on what i hear on the classic hits station these days. here it's definitely "i'll stand by you" >>>>>> "brass in pocket" > "back on the chain gang"

heard "i'll stand by you" again today since my last post loooool

it is definitely the best-known pretenders song among pretenders non-fans. it's tv talent show fodder. deserved!

lol this song was on the same album as "night in my veins"

I know Pretenders is an old band that had some older popular tunes, but for people my age "I'll Stand By You" is the only hit they had (at least in Finland) while we were actively listening to music, so if you're not a fan, most likely that tune is the only one you know. And presumably the older middle-aged Pretenders fans don't use digital music services as much as people my age and younger, so it's not suprising the it's the most popular one there.

CCR - "Fortunate Son"

Yeah, here in Vietnam, I have friends that know "I'll Stand By You" that have never even heard of the Pretenders. I remember hearing it all the time when it came out growing up in the US, but my mom always had the AC stations playing. Not surprised that it would be their most popular song

'I'll Stand By You' is the Pretenders' 'One Way Or Another' - like a representation of a universe where the band had been a one hit wonder.

Still think 'Hymn To Her' is an amazing, underrated song though.

CCR - "Fortunate Son"

"Bad Moon Rising" is still more popular in Itunes, though not in Spotify.

but "Proud Mary" was the bigger hit?

I don't know how much they sold, but both "Bad Moon Rising" and "Proud Mary" made it to #2 on the Billboard chart... And I'd argue "Bad Moon" is still their signature tune, or at least the one most people know because of its usage in movies etc. These days "Proud Mary" is better known as the Tina & Ike Turner cover version.

Probably so

I don't think Stevie Wonder has been mentioned in this thread already.
Apparently his biggest selling/longest chart topping single is "I just Called to Say I Love You".
On Spotify, his top, by far, is "Superstition" (and "Happy birthday" on iTunes).

lol iTunes users

Yeah, "Brass in Pocket" is easily their best-known song in North America, right? Never heard of "I'll Stand By You" either.

I'm in the UK and I've never heard of it.

I listened to "I'll Stand By You". It doesn't sound familiar but it also sounds pretty generic so it's believable that I could have heard it a bunch on AC radio without thinking about it. The video was not what I needed to see this morning.