History BlackSheepHit / Music

* The British {{ska}} band Music/{{Madness}}, known to Americans for the '80s song "Our House", is a OneHitWonder in the United States, in part due to the fact that ska in general wouldn't really catch on until [[SkaPunk the third wave of ska during the '90s]]. "Our House" itself is a far more conventional-sounding post-disco and soft rock song that sounds almost nothing like their TwoTone and {{New wave|music}} material.[[note]] They actually had another American hit on the Top 40, their cover of Labi Siffre's "It Must Be Love", but that song has been completely forgotten in the U.S., and also sounds ''much'' closer to their regular style.[[/note]]

* Music/{{Extreme}} was known for poppy HairMetal with clever lyrics and remarkably intricate and speedy guitar work by Nuno Bettencourt (the Beethoven guitar riff from ''Film/BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure'' came from their song "Play With Me" and a regular feature in their concerts was Nuno's rendition of "Flight of the Bumblebee"... take THAT, Music/DragonForce!). The only songs by them that get any airplay anymore? The ballad "More Than Words" and the folksy "Hole Hearted", both slower acoustic songs.

* Music/ChildishGambino started off as and has always been primarily a rapper. However, his album ''Awaken, My Love!'' saw him [[GenreAdultery veer off into funk]]. That album has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp7eSUU9oy8 ''Redbone'']], which was his first big hit on the charts.

* CountryMusic singer Aaron Tippin is best known for his patriotic, blue-collar working-man songs and his extremely nasal singing voice. However, his only #1 hits on the country charts do not reflect his typical blue-collar themes at all: "There Ain't Nothin' Wrong with the Radio" (1992) and "Kiss This" (2000) are goofy novelty songs, while "That's as Close as I'll Get to Loving You" (1995) is a smooth ballad about an affair which has Aaron singing in a much higher and less nasal range than usual.

* Music/CalvinHarris did all the singing himself on his first two albums, but since he broke into the mainstream almost every song features a SpecialGuest doing the singing rather than him. There are two exceptions, namely "Feel So Close" from ''18 Months'' and "Summer" from ''Motion'', two massive hits sung entirely by him (the latter of which is seen as his SignatureSong). Almost every other song that doesn't feature a guest vocalist is an instrumental.

* Music/DustySpringfield kicked off her solo career in 1963 with "I Only Want to Be with You", a heavy song in her rather light career. Somehow, it shot to #4 in her native UK but missed the Top 10 in the US.

* Music/EllieGoulding:
** As a common example of covers being black sheep hits, one of her biggest hits is "Your Song", an Music/EltonJohn cover. It is a lot more piano based than her other songs, which are basically electro-pop with folk elements.
** Also, "Burn" was the biggest hit off of ''Music/{{Halcyon}} Days''. It's the most straightforward pop song on the album, being a light-hearted song about ThePowerOfFriendship, while rest of the album consists of {{obsession song}}s and {{destructive romance}}s with a DarkerAndEdgier sound.
** "Love Me Like You Do" became her third Top 20 hit and second Top 10, and it is, by a sizable margin, the biggest hit of her career worldwide, yet it's completely different from what she normally does for a couple of reasons. It was made for ''Film/FiftyShadesOfGrey'' soundtrack, and as such is heavily about IntercourseWithYou (a topic she hasn't even hinted at before), and Goulding had absolutely no involvement in the songwriting process (a far cry from her normal IndiePop DIY style). It is in her signature {{synthpop}} style, however. It's just that the subject matter and production is completely different from what she normally does. It was also unusual in that its success was fueled by digital downloads and streaming whereas most of her previous hits were predominantly radio hits (it briefly held the World record for the most streamed song in a single week).
* Music/EltonJohn's "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" is one of his best-known songs, but is ''much'' harder than his other material. An inversion of the usual scenario. Elton also never thought "Bennie and the Jets" was commercial enough to be a hit. It not only ''did'' become a hit, but topped the ''R&B'' charts. Elton was one of the first white performers to play on ''Series/SoulTrain''.
* "Everyday I Write the Book" is one of Music/ElvisCostello's biggest hits, but he's said he's not that big a fan of the song, admitting he deliberately wrote it to be very poppy.
* Music/ElvisPresley pretty much ran the gamut from loud rockers and jumpy, jazzy tunes to soft ballads and bluesy melodies. Shortly before his entry into the army, however, he recorded the Dixieland-based "Hard Headed Woman", one of the more unusual of his numerous chart-toppers, for the film ''King Creole'', while his last #1, "Suspicious Minds," was less unusual but featured a little soul music to it.

* Emiliana Torrini's biggest hit "Jungle Drum" is a textbook example of this. Being very upbeat and rather poppy it was a big hit in Europe. And also completely different from her usual rather quiet, dark and bittersweet songs. Torrini herself was rather surprised at the success of the song since it [[ExecutiveMeddling barely even made it to the album.]]

* Music/FrankMills first gained notice as a singer-songwriter in his native Canada, with a couple of his vocal songs also becoming minor hits south of the border in the United States. But when a piano {{instrumental|s}} he initially recorded as an album cut, "Music Box Dancer", became a major worldwide hit in 1979, he shifted his style to instrumental music.
* Music/FrankSinatra and his SignatureSong "Music/MyWay", which is more adult contemporary than his usual swinging style. Indeed, he never really liked it despite being his most famous song.
* Music/FreeBand, "All Right Now". Before that, they mostly did slow blues-rock ballads.

* Gary Clark Jr. is known for his eclectic mix of guitar-driven rock, blues, and soul. However, his biggest hit, and his only rock radio hit so far, is his cover of Music/TheBeatles' "Come Together" made for ''Film/JusticeLeague2017''. This one is a booming electronic rock track that sounds nothing like what he usually makes, mainly due to being produced by Music/JunkieXL.

* French singer Henri Salvador is best known for his child-friendly comedy songs, yet he also wrote a lot more mature romantic ballads, which were never quite as popular. He's also famous for recording the first French rock-and-roll songs under the pseudonym Henry Cording, but despite that he later claimed to dislike rock-and-roll and treated his Henry Cording persona as an OldShame.

* Joan Osborne is a raw and rootsy blues-rocker whose one big hit, "One of Us", is a relatively lightweight alternative-pop tune.

* Music/JohnCage's "4'33[=''=]." Of course, [[FridgeLogic what else]] ''[[FridgeLogic could]]'' sound like it?
** Although he's also sometimes noted in the record books for another reason: His piece [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_Slow_as_Possible As Slow As Possible]] is currently being played in a church in Germany... and if things go as planned, will be until '''''September 5, 2640'''''.

* Most people who've heard of Leslie Fish know her first for "Banned From Argo", a lighthearted song about spacers[[note]]as in the crew of space ships[[/note]] misbehaving in bars and becoming [[PersonaNonGrata Personae Non Gratae]] as a result. However, most of her work, even most of her filks, is some kind of ''protest'' song.
* Lina Santiago's [[OneHitWonder only hit]], "Feels So Good (Show Me Your Love)", was Latin freestyle/electropop, while the rest of her debut ([[OneBookAuthor and only]]) album, thanks to ExecutiveMeddling, was mainly R&B/pop ballads.

* Michael Franti is a fusion musician who has been playing professionally since 1986 and recording since 1992, with nine albums in his name in a variety of styles from jazz to reggae to hip-hop. The only song of his to get significant airplay is 2009's "Say Hey (I Love You)", a {{Silly Love Song|s}} that barely represents the scope of his abilities.
* As an experimental musician, Music/MikeOldfield has never been interested in crafting pop hits, but he's remembered by most people as the guy who recorded "Music/TubularBells", the theme from ''Film/TheExorcist''. Only a small part of the album-long composition was used in the film, but that part was released as a single and made the U.S. Top 10.

* Music/TheMoodyBlues were best known for their psychedelic and prog-rock songs in the 60's and 70's like "Nights in White Satin" and "The Story in Your Eyes." In TheEighties, however, they scored their second and last Top 10 entry with 1986's "Your Wildest Dreams," a synth-pop song.

* Music/NickCave's duet with Music/KylieMinogue, "Where The Wild Roses Grow", was an international hit song, yet Cave himself felt a bit bothered by this as its soothing performance, despite the LyricalDissonance of the topic, is not all representative for the rest of [[Music/MurderBallads the album]].

* Music/OtisRedding was already famous as an Stax/Volt R&B artist when he recorded "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay". Three days later, he and most of the rest of his band died in a plane crash. The song became wildly popular (the first posthumous song to top the charts in the UK), even though it's very different from much of his ''large'' body of work.

* Music/OzzyOsbourne is known for the metal he does. His only two songs to chart in the top 40 in the US were "Close My Eyes Forever" (a somber, melancholy duet with Lita Ford) and "Mama, I'm Coming Home" (about his impending "retirement"; also co-written by [[Music/{{Motorhead}} Lemmy]]!), which are ''not'' indicative of the bulk of his discography. His highest-charting song in Britain, "Changes" (which hit no.1), is a father-daughter duet with Kelly, and a cover of what is ''itself'' a Black Sheep Hit of Black Sabbath's.

* Music/PattiSmith was a founding mother of American [[PunkRock punk music]] who was shockingly profane for a female vocalist of her time, and brought to her music a strong feminist vibe. Her best-known hit is "Because the Night" (first heard on the 1978 record ''Music/{{Easter}}''), a pop love ballad written by Music/BruceSpringsteen, which contains ''none'' of these elements.
** "Hungry Heart" for Springsteen would qualify as well, being musically miles away (although lyrically similar) from his bleak late 70's/early 80's output. He originally wrote it for the Ramones, but recorded it himself after being chewed out by his manager for giving away his hit songs ("Because the Night", as well as "Blinded by the Light", which became a #1 hit for Manfred Mann, and "Fire", later a #2 hit for the Pointer Sisters). Most of his later singles from ''Born in the U.S.A.'' were cut from the same cloth.

* Jazz legend Peggy Lee will be remembered to kingdom come for "Fever", "It's A Good Day", "Is That All There Is?", "Why Don't You Do Right" and literally hundreds of other superbly performed torch songs...but her biggest hit by far was a forgettable, racist (by today's standards) number called "Mañana (Is Good Enough for Me)", sung in a faux-Mexican accent and comprising a string of stereotypes about Latin Americans. Latinos were considered to be acceptable targets in 1948, which helps explain how that song got to #1 for nine weeks.

** Its source, ''Empire'' could be considered a Black Sheep Album, as the majority of it is lighthearted Music/{{Yes}}-esque ProgressiveRock of the more mainstream-leaning '80s sort, in stark contrast to the darker material that surrounds it.

* Comedian/singer Rodney Carrington rarely saw chart action due to the highly profane nature of his songs, which include such titles as "Letter to My Penis", "Dancin' with a Man", "Morning Wood", "Burning Sensation", et cetera. But in 2009, he had his only major chart hit to date with "Camouflage and Christmas Lights" -- a completely serious song about a soldier celebrating Christmas while on active duty.

* Music/BlakeShelton was one of the big figures in bro-country, a subgenre defined by two things: rap-inspired production and a near-total disinterest in any topic beyond parties, booze, tits and cars. Even after bro-country fell out of favour, Shelton's output was still pretty heavy on pop production and light on deeper themes, which is why "God's Country," a bleak, harsh-edged Southern Gothic country song, is so jarring. It's not his ''biggest'' hit, but it still feels weird to listen to it and think that this was the dude who made "Boys Round Here".

* Sophie B. Hawkins's biggest pop hit is "As I Lay Me Down", which lacks the overt sexual content of most of the rest of her repertoire (including her other big hit, "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover").

* Music/WeirdAlYankovic:
** While parody artists frequently adapt their output to match the music of the times, was there anyone who watched him and his band develop their fame in the "Eat It" era who believed that his first top 10 hit in the US was going to be a ''rap''? "White and Nerdy" is his biggest American hit to date.
** Weird Al's original composition "You Don't Love Me Anymore", a breakup song with humorously brutal lyrics, was a decent hit in Canada and one of the most popular ballads in the Philippines in 1992 and 1993 -- probably the only Weird Al song many Filipinos instantly recognize. So popular was the song in the Philippines that it inspired a song called "Sinaktan Mo Ang Puso Ko" (semi-literally translated to "You Broke My Heart") by Michael V, who is arguably the country's answer to Weird Al for his parodies of popular songs and original novelty recordings. Even in the States, "You Don't Love Me Anymore" stands out for being one of his only non-parody songs that isn't InTheStyleOf another artist.

* Music/TheB52s are well-known for their [[Main/NewWaveMusic new wave]] and [[Main/PostPunk post-punk]] sound, but "Love Shack", one of their five Top 40 hits, is lighter and more poppy.
* The rapper B.G. felt this way about the song "Bling Bling", which spawned a global phenomenon, and made the term a recognized word in the dictionary. Saying that people thought that was what he was all about.
* Music/PatBenatar's "Love Is a Battlefield".
** Rather typical of her later style; she and Neil Geraldo seem to indicate that their earlier style was more the result of ExecutiveMeddling, and that a change in record label produced songs like "Love Is a Battlefield" and "We Belong" that are more in line with their preferred style.

* Chris Rea is best known as a blues-rock artist and for his slide guitar playing, but his biggest American hit was his debut single "Fool (If You Think It's Over)", a keyboard-based soft rock song which is also the only song he's released that he doesn't play guitar on.

* Count Basie, leader of an influential jazz big band, had his only #1 hit in 1947 with "Open the Door, Richard", a comedy skit with the occasional chanted refrain and not much jazz outside of Basie's piano accompaniment. A contemporary review lamented that "musically, this is Basie's worst record."

* David Johansen, former singer for the proto-punk band Music/NewYorkDolls, recorded the pop song "Hot, Hot, Hot" under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter. He later described the song in an interview as the "bane of his existence". Unfortunately for him, the song is more famous than anything he ever did with his band.

* "Hurts So Good" by Music/JohnMellencamp. (And don't call him Cougar.) His greatest hit (besides "Jack and Diane"), but his later career should make clear he always wanted to be a "political" singer.
** "Ain't Even Done With The Night", a laid-back, [[Creator/StaxRecords Steve Cropper-produced]] soft rock/pop-soul ballad which pre-dates "Hurts So Good" and "Jack and Diane" and is far mellower that most of John's singles, might also count.

* Music/MeghanTrainor had one with "Like I'm Gonna Lose You", featuring John Legend. The song is more along the lines of classic soul, rather than her normal bubblegum pop/doo-wop style. It ended up being her biggest hit on adult contemporary stations.

* Music/PaulaCole's "I Don't Wanna Wait", a.k.a. the ''Series/DawsonsCreek'' theme song. The rest of her work is much harder and darker. Yes, darker than a song about wanting to die.

* Music/RayStevens is mainly known for his novelty songs. However, he had his biggest hit with the extremely serious and sentimental "Everything Is Beautiful". He had another serious hit earlier with "Mr. Businessman" and also had a country hit with the Gospel standard "Turn Your Radio On".

* The Rembrandts, "I'll Be There for You" (the ''Series/{{Friends}}'' theme), a more mainstream-pop friendly song compared to their alternative power-pop sound.

* "Strange Fruit" was the only protest song Music/BillieHoliday ever recorded. It was the underground hit that marked the turning point in her career.

* Bonnie Tyler is primarily a pop-rock artist, but her first international hit was the country rock styled "It's a Heartache". Due to the success of "It's a Heartache" on country radio stations at the time (1978), this made people originally think she was a country singer.

* Music/CarlySimon's "You're So Vain" is not her only TakeThat, but it's probably her least subtle. While it's far from her only hit, it's her only #1 (in Australia and North America), her best known song and is more rock-oriented than most of her hits.
* Music/CatStevens was quite reluctant to release "Wild World" on ''Tea for the Tillerman'' because he considered it too commercial compared to his folk-rock output, but it was indeed one of his first Top 20 hits. His next album, ''Teaser and the Firecat'', gave him two Top 10 hits with "Peace Train," which has a loose soul inspiration, and his cover/arrangement of "Morning Has Broken," contrasting his calm guitar with the flamboyant piano of [[Music/{{Yes}} Rick Wakeman]].

* Everything Music/ChrisDeBurgh ever did falls into three categories: 1. Michael Bolton-esque PowerPop beltfests ("Don't Pay the Ferryman"), 2. Gentle, melodic folk ballads ("This Song for You"), and 3. narratives ("Patricia the Stripper"). One time... ''one time''... he did a mushy love song, "Lady in Red". Which he specifically did as a tribute to his wife. Guess which one gets the most airplay? (At least they're still married.)

* Music/BlakeShelton was one of the big figures in bro-country, a subgenre defined by two things: rap-inspired production and a near-total disinterest in any topic beyond parties, booze, tits and cars. Even after bro-country fell out of favour, Shelton's output was still pretty heavy on pop production and light on deeper themes, which is why "God's Country," a bleak, harsh-edged Southern Gothic country song, is so jarring. It's not his ''biggest'' hit, but it still feels weird to listen to it and think that this was the dude who made "Boys Round Here".

* Songwriter Dave Bassett is best known for writing hard rock songs (including the aforementioned "Second Chance" for Shinedown), but the biggest hit of his career? Music/RachelPlatten's "Fight Song", which is a purely Adult Contemporary ballad. He had another major hit only a few months later writing Elle King's Grammy-nominated "Ex's & Oh's". While it's the closest pop radio has seen to a "hard rock" hit since "Second Chance" and Music/KingsOfLeon's "Use Somebody", it's still practically pop compared to most other Bassett tunes. That being said, they're both typical songs for Platten and King. Those three songs were Bassett's only mainstream hits, with his only other top 40 entry being a song he wrote for the first winner of ''Series/TheVoice'', and none of the artists ever had another pop hit aside from Platten, and even then, with a song that wasn't written by Bassett and barely scraped the top 40 for a week or two. Shinedown and King both maxed out at #42, the latter only via a featured spot on a song by country singer Music/DierksBentley.
* Music/DavidAllanCoe was best known for his rebellious outlaw style, yet his biggest hit was the sensitive ballad "Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile".

* Music/DonnaSummer was most famous as the Queen of Disco, but then "I Feel Love", her 1977 collaboration with Music/GiorgioMoroder, was almost entirely produced on a Moog Modular 3P synthesizer, and may be the UrExample of ItaloDisco and ElectronicDanceMusic, not to mention her singing in [[VocalDissonance head voice]] as opposed to her normal chest register.

* Elvin Bishop's musical style is primarily blues-rock. His only Top 10 hit "Fooled Around and Fell in Love", however, is an easy-listening soft rock ballad. Adding further is that the vocals were done by his then-backing vocalist Mickey Thomas (who eventually joined Music/JeffersonStarship on the strength of this song), as Elvin felt that his gruff vocal style did not do the song justice.

* Music/FrankZappa's ''Music/SheikYerbouti'' contained one in the form of "Dancin' Fool". The humor is very typical of Zappa's music, but the highly commercial melody and radio-friendly production is not. Ironically he was trying to ''parody'' these effects, but Top-40 radio programmers [[MisaimedFandom didn't get the joke]]. See also "Valley Girl", the lead single from ''Music/ShipArrivingTooLateToSaveADrowningWitch''.
** "Bobby Brown (Goes Down)", from the same album as "Dancin' Fool", fits the bill as well.

* Music/JacquesBrel: One of Brel's most popular songs, "La Valse a Mille Temps" (and its TranslatedCoverVersion, "Carousel"), is a comedic number, almost completely devoid of any of the social commentary he is best known for. He once claimed in an interview that "La Valse" "should have never become such a success."

* Music/JimCroce wrote mostly melodramatic, guitar-laden pieces during his brief career as a singer-songwriter. A couple of months before his tragic death in a plane crash, however, he scored his only #1 hit – at least in his lifetime – with the blues-inspired, piano-heavy "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown".

* Music/KennyChesney has had three styles since scoring his first big hits at the TurnOfTheMillennium: beachy Music/JimmyBuffett-esque tunes, introspective acoustic ballads, or arena rock. His two biggest hits on the country charts, "The Good Stuff" and "There Goes My Life", are none of the above -- they're slicker and more mainstream than the likes of "You and Tequila", "A Lot of Things Different", or "Down the Road".

* Music/PatBenatar's "Love Is a Battlefield".
** Rather typical of her later style; she and Neil Geraldo seem to indicate that their earlier style was more the result of ExecutiveMeddling, and that a change in record label produced songs like "Love Is a Battlefield" and "We Belong" that are more in line with their preferred style.

* Ray Parker Jr.'s "Film/{{Ghostbusters|1984}}", which sounds uncannily like a Music/HueyLewisAndTheNews song "I Want a New Drug" but sounds nothing like Parker's other work. This led to legal action being taken and an out-of-court settlement.

* "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes, who otherwise does serious work. This song is "the success that ruined his career."

* Music/SiouxsieAndTheBanshees, whose signature style is GothRock, achieved their biggest hit in the US with the much poppier AlternativeDance single "Kiss Them for Me".

* Simply Red were one of Britain's biggest blue-eyed soul groups of the 80's and 90's. Their only number one single in their native country is "Fairground", a house track.

** In the US, they had a big hit with "Dirty Work", a country-influenced ballad which features effeminately voiced guest vocalist David Palmer on lead vocals. At the time, songwriter and usual singer Donald Fagen felt Palmer could help make the song a bigger hit, and had also hired him to sing vocals live, due to lack of confidence in singing and playing piano at the same time. After the album ''Can't Buy a Thrill'' (which features vocals from Fagen, Palmer and fellow bandmember Jim Hodder), Fagen would assume lead vocals for all their songs - partly for continuity and partly because he felt nobody could convey the cynicism in his lyrics as well as he could. This is something of a subversion in that the two other hits from ''Can't Buy a Thrill'' - "Do It Again" and "Reelin' in the Years" - do feature Fagen singing lead.

* Music/TobyKeith's biggest crossover hit is "Red Solo Cup", a silly acoustic novelty song far outside his usual mainstream sound, ''and'' one of only a handful of singles that he did not co-write.
** His 2000 hit "How Do You Like Me Now?!" is his biggest hit on the country charts. At the time, it was far more cocky and in-your-face than he had ever been before, but instead of letting it be a black-sheep hit, he began changing his style to match. Similarly, the post-9/11 "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)" was a jarring change for him as he had never done a patriotic song before, but its success led to him doing several more.
* Music/ToddRundgren, despite his [[GenreRoulette mastery of a myriad of different genres and styles]], may be best known for the latter-day Music/TalkingHeads rip-off "Bang the Drum All Day". Especially by [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Green Bay Packers]] fans.[[note]]The song is played after every Packers touchdown at their home stadium, Lambeau Field.[[/note]]
** All of Rundgren's big hits ("Bang the Drum All Day", "Hello It's Me", "I Saw the Light", "We Gotta Get You a Woman") are from the poppier side of his music. He can get ''really'' experimental and weird from time to time (''A Wizard, A True Star''; the early Utopia albums).
** He was so disgusted with the vapidness of his biggest hit "I Saw the Light" (which he insists his record label forced him to record, and he writes off as a "bad Peter Frampton wannabe song"), that he intentionally quit the high-profile music business to focus on producing other artists while occasionally releasing more low-profile but critically-acclaimed albums.

* Music/WaylonJennings hated "Luckenbach, Texas", because it was way too conventional and derivative for his outlaw country style, but he recorded it anyway because he figured it would be a huge hit. He was right: it was his biggest hit on the country charts and crossed over to the pop Top 40 too.

* Music/ZZWard's single "Last Love Song", which has received solid airtime on radio stations, is a pretty traditional BreakupSong: slow, melancholy and despairing. The rest of her debut album, "'Til The Casket Drops," is quite upbeat and energetic, even when dealing with breakups or bad relationships.

* Music/AlanJackson is one of the leading voices in "neo-traditional" country, a style that flourished in TheNineties and up to the TurnOfTheMillennium which was defined by twangy fiddle-and-steel with a bit more modernized polish. So what was his biggest hit? A duet with Music/JimmyBuffett titled "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere", which fit well into Buffett's laid-back beach-party style but was a pretty radical departure for the usually more buttoned-down Alan.
* Atlanta singer Alicia Bridges got pegged as a "disco diva" when her dance-oriented "I Love the Night Life" became her biggest/[[OneHitWonder only hit]]. It was far removed from the bluesy rock & roll that made up the rest of her output.

* Music/ArianaGrande had a massive hit with "Break Free", which is an EDM number that is at complete odds with her normal Music/MariahCarey-esque RAndB style. This is because it was produced by German DJ Music/{{Zedd}} (who was even credited as a feature). For Zedd, however, it's pretty normal sounding.

** "Kokomo," (#1) released in the 1980's and well after their peak of popularity, uses reggae and calypso elements, such as the steel drum heard during the verses.

* Music/BillyCurrington is usually known for his relaxed, laid-back drawling country songs such as "Good Directions" or "People Are Crazy" (his biggest hit overall), or for warm impassioned ballads like "Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right" or "Let Me Down Easy". However, his career from 2013 onward has been dominated by heavier and more upbeat songs driven by electric guitar, such as "Hey Girl", "Don't It", and "It Don't Hurt Like It Used To".
* Music/BillyIdol, "Eyes Without a Face"; a synthpop ballad by a normally punk-rock singer.

* Music/BobMarley's "One Love" and "Three Little Birds" are happy anomalies in his usually serious rock reggae catalogue, but they are the songs most commonly associated with him. Similarly the album ''Music/{{Kaya|BobMarleyAlbum}}'' sold well but is LighterAndSofter than the rest of his work. It is said that he released accessible material on ''Music/{{Exodus|BobMarleyAlbum}}'' and ''Kaya'' so that the public would pay attention to his work for his next album ''Music/{{Survival}}'', which contained his most political themes to date. However, they ended up changing the public perception of him to that of a carefree hippie rasta rather than someone who was using his music to call for social change.
** The same can be said about his international hit song "No Woman, No Cry" (the version [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJzJewlOfVs featured]] on [[Music/LiveBobMarleyAlbum his live record]]), which is a track most people consider very moving. Yet, the original studio version, found on ''Music/NattyDread'', almost sounds comedic. And despite the fact that Marley did write a lot of love songs: he is also best known for his social commentary, which is overshadowed in "No Woman, No Cry" by its message of love.
* Music/BobSeger was first known for his garage rock and then his guitar-driven arena rock. His only #1? "Shakedown", a synth-driven song that was written by him, Harold Faltermeyer, and Keith Forsey for the movie ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopII''.
** Another one of his big hits, "Shame on the Moon", managed to get enough airplay at country radio to make #15 on the country music charts. It was even written by critically acclaimed country singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell. It, too, is a (less blatant) departure from his usual sound.
* While Bobby [=McFerrin=] is still respected as a jazz vocalist, he's not likely to ever live down "Don't Worry, Be Happy".

* Music/BradPaisley:
** He usually records tongue-in-cheek novelty numbers, and on the rare occasion that he ''does'' a ballad, it's still got an undercurrent of humor mixed with introspection ("Letter to Me") or sympathy and praise for the opposite sex ("Waitin' on a Woman"). Not so with "Then", a very pop-sounding ClicheStorm love ballad that sounds nearly nothing like the rest of his career as far as melody or lyrics.
** "Whiskey Lullaby" (featuring the aforementioned Alison Krauss) is a very soft, somber TearJerker, which is unusual for Paisley's standards, but not so much for Krauss'.
** Another example of a black sheep hit from him is "Remind Me", a duet with Music/CarrieUnderwood, which is his highest charting song on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. Like "Then", it's a poppy ballad, and its subject matter of DeadSparks is an aberration to both artists' catalogs.
** His very first #1 hit, "He Didn't Have to Be", is a ballad honoring stepfathers. A much softer and more heartfelt beginning compared to the songs he'd record later on.
** And then there's his collaboration with Music/DollyParton. "When I Get Where I'm Going" has a reverent, preachy quality that, although right up Dolly's alley, is rather far from Brad's wheelhouse.
* The two biggest hits for the British band Breathe in America were the ballads "How Can I Fall" and "Hands to Heaven". The rest of their material isn't exactly ''heavy'' by any means, but does have a much more upbeat and dance-y SophistiPop quality to it than those two songs.

* Music/ChuckBerry, the RockAndRoll legend whose songs such as "Johnny B. Goode" and "Roll Over Beethoven" influenced entire generations of rock artists, scored several hits on the R&B charts but only one #1 hit single on the Billboard Hot 100 during his multi-decade career: the silly novelty ditty "[[DoubleEntendre My Ding-a-Ling]]", which he didn't even write.

* One reason that Music/DonMcLean's successful career as a singer-songwriter was somewhat limited was that audiences and radio programmers expected his other songs to be similar to "Music/AmericanPie" and were disappointed when they weren't.

* Music/GarthBrooks, "Lost in You" (from ''Music/InTheLifeOfChrisGaines'') at least was his biggest single pop-wise (it was his only Top 40 pop single, believe it or not).

* "This Guy's in Love with You", a #1 hit for Music/HerbAlpert in 1968, is one of the few vocal entries among the mostly instrumental material of Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. It's a Black Sheep Hit in another way—even though it was recorded during the Brass' heyday, it was credited solely to Alpert.[[labelnote:Postscript]]Alpert went on to become the first (and to this day only) artist to hit #1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 with vocal and instrumental performances, with "Rise" (1979) filling the latter slot.[[/labelnote]]

* [[CreatorCouple Husband-and-wife team]] Jack Blanchard and Misty Morgan had a #1 hit on the country chart (and a fairly sizable crossover hit on the pop chart) with the wacky 1970 novelty tune "Tennessee Bird Walk", then also had a Top 10 country hit with the equally wacky followup "Humphrey the Camel". While their repertoire (mostly written by Blanchard) had a few more eccentric songs along those lines, the majority of it is fairly straight SliceOfLife country songs, featuring the pair's SopranoAndGravel vocal stylings. Their other Top 20 country hit, "Somewhere in Virginia in the Rain" (about a separated couple deciding to reconcile) is much more representative of their usual style.

* Music/JasonAldean had his first big hit in 2007 with "Why", which was also his only love ballad for quite some time. "Big Green Tractor" and "The Truth" are also far mellower than his usual rock style. With the release of the Music/KellyClarkson duet "Don't You Wanna Stay" (a PowerBallad), "Why" now looks like much less of a Black Sheep Hit, but the other two still qualify.
** There's also "Dirt Road Anthem", a CountryRap that's his biggest hit on the pop charts to date. Country-rap is not usually what he does.

* Music/LanaDelRey's only pop radio hit is a dance remix of "Summertime Sadness" by Cedric Gervais. It sounds nothing like her normal material (the original "Summertime Sadness" included), which is many things but ''not'' dance music.

* Music/LeeAnnWomack's career is dominated by neotraditionalist country with twangy vocals and plenty of fiddle and steel. But her biggest hit was the extremely slick pop ballad "I Hope You Dance".

* Music/LouisArmstrong, primarily a player of hot jazz, is best remembered for the sentimental pop ballad "What a Wonderful World".
** Either that or the theme from ''Theatre/HelloDolly'', which is a Black Sheep Hit of a different style.

* Maria [=McKee=] with "Show Me Heaven" mean't people expected her to be a pop balladeer when her usual style was more of a raw country rock.

* Melissa Manchester's biggest hit and only Grammy Award-winning song is "You Should Hear How She Talks About You" in 1982 which is a dance pop song while her primary music style is MOR. Her other top 10 hits, "Midnight Blue" and "Don't Cry Out Loud", are more representative of her usual style of music.

* Music/MirandaLambert is known for her somewhat prominent rock influence and empowering lyrics, with up-tempos such as "Kerosene", "Gunpowder & Lead", or "Mama's Broken Heart". But her first top 5 hit was the mid-tempo, bluegrass-influenced "White Liar". And its followup was "The House That Built Me", a sentimental ballad featuring only her voice and acoustic guitar, which became her absolute biggest hit to date.

* In TheNineties, Music/SarahMcLachlan was an artist who specialized in folk and alternative music, and she commonly received airplay on rock radio. However, her two biggest hits, 1998's "Adia" and "Angel" (both from ''Music/{{Surfacing}}''), were adult contemporary piano ballads. Ever since the success of these two singles, she's been producing nearly nothing but piano-based adult contemporary music.

* Music/VanMorrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" is ''way'' poppier than most of his other stuff. It ''really'' doesn't help that Morrison was broke, desperate, and had no star leverage when he wrote it. Because he was forced to sign the rights to Bang Records, he gets virtually no ongoing royalties whatsoever from what is still his most popular song (which is why he was still broke and desperate when he recorded his career-defining album, ''Music/AstralWeeks''). Yet the fans still expect to hear it at gigs, which does not help his legendary curmudgeonliness.

* Music/WizKhalifa's "See You Again" was recorded for the ''Film/FuriousSeven'' soundtrack and was a pop-rap song combined with a piano-based ballad, which is completely at odds compared to usual urban stuff. It became his first bona-fide mainstream hit, becoming much bigger than its already-huge parent movie and the biggest rap hit since "Thrift Shop".

* Jazz legend Peggy Lee will be remembered to kingdom come for "Fever", "It's A Good Day", "Is That All There Is?", "Why Don't You Do Right" and literally hundreds of other superbly performed torch songs...but her biggest hit by far was a forgettable, racist (by today's standards) number called "Mañana (Is Good Enough for Me)", sung in a faux-Mexican accent and comprising a string of stereotypes about Latin Americans. Latinos were considered to be AcceptableTargets in 1948, which helps explain how that song got to #1 for nine weeks.

* Strawberry Alarm Clock and their #1 hit from 1967 "Incense and Peppermints" count. For one thing, the lead vocal on "Incense" wasn't even by a band member. The band had worked up the melody as an {{Instrumental}}, then their producer hired an outside writer to pen some lyrics that ended up they hating, so they asked a friend who was visiting the recording session to sing lead. And the song leaned much more in the direction of PsychedelicRock than their usual material, which was typically Sunshine Pop (with a bit of Psychedelic influence) featuring elaborate vocal harmonies. Naturally, the band never had another hit afterwards.

* Strawberry Alarm Clock and their #1 hit from 1967 "Incense and Peppermints" count. For one thing, the lead vocal on "Incense" wasn't even by a band member; their producer had brought in someone else to write the song's lyrics and the band hated them, so they had a friend who was visiting the recording session sing lead. And the song leaned much more in the direction of PsychedelicRock than their usual material, which was typically Sunshine Pop (with a bit of Psychedelic influence) featuring elaborate vocal harmonies. Naturally, the band never had another hit afterwards.

** Genesis had been making a steady progression towards the mainstream even before Music/PeterGabriel left ("I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" and "Counting Out Time" are probably the most "poppy" sounding of their early stuff, despite the latter being on a double concept album). They had no serious commitment to a particular style or image; they just did what they did and followed whatever worked for them. Hell, their first singles were done "in the style of" Music/TheBeeGees in an attempt to appeal to producer Jonathan King, and their [[OldShame largely forgotten]] first album, ''From Genesis to Revelation'' was essentially a Music/ProcolHarum[=/=]Music/TheMoodyBlues clone. They didn't really have much success with it until Phil Collins underwent a nasty divorce and started throwing himself at his work ("Misunderstanding", along with "Man on the Corner", were essentially Collins solo tracks that the rest of the band liked).

** Two of Music/PeterGabriel's biggest solo hits, "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time" (both from ''Music/{{So}}''), are quite a bit funkier and more light-hearted than his usual {{progressive|rock}}[=/=]WorldMusic-influenced songs that frequently tackle serious, mystical, and/or intellectual subject matter.
* The Music/GooGooDolls were originally a punk-oriented alternative band similar to Music/TheReplacements (they were on Metal Blade Records - a famous metal label, and as such, were a strange fit there) with a few slower acoustic songs here and there. They decided to record a ballad ("Name") for their 1995 album ''A Boy Named Goo'', which wound up being a major hit (their first, after five albums). They actually decided to roll with it and wound up completely changing their style to the softer pop-rock they're known for now.
* Music/GratefulDead - "Touch of Grey". The pop song introduced them to new fans in the 80's, whom their original fans absolutely hated.

* Music/IggyPop. Known for being the grandfather of punk rock, much of his output is rough, hard, and loud. But the closest thing he's had to a hit was a pop ballad love song. It's called "Candy" and is duet with Kate Pierson of The B-52s. It reached 28 in the US Billboard top 100.

* Music/JanesAddiction - "Been Caught Stealing", an upbeat, hooky, somewhat comical song with HipHop influences and even dog barks.

** He was so disgusted with the vapidness of his biggest hit "I Saw the Light" (which he insists his record label forced him to record, and he writes off as a "bad Peter Frampton wannabe song"), that he intentionally quit the high-profile music business to focus on producing other artists while occasionally releasing [[DoingItForTheArt more low-profile but critically-acclaimed]] albums.

* Music/{{Chumbawamba}} got known as an anarchistic punk band, but the only song of theirs most people could probably name is the pop number "Tubthumping". Unfortunately, due to "anarchist punk" being virtually unknown in mainstream, and this tag being used in conjunction with every mention of the band, "Tubthumping" has become a representation of "anarchist punk".

* Music/{{BTS}}' first #1 hit in the US, "Dynamite", is also their first fully English single[[note]]not counting songs where they appear as featured artists[[/note]], and it's the only one where no member has writing credits (rap line included), so while its sound is on par with their GenreRoulette musical approach, it doesn't have BTS' usual lyricism, {{Call Back}}s or ties to larger themes. It's also their only single that's not part of an album (they usually release {{Concept Album}}s). Thematically, it only really fits on a meta sense, with the stated intent to bring joy to listeners during the COVID-19 pandemic being in line with the way much of their work seeks to bring healing and comfort (albeit through lyrics more elaborate and personal than in "Dynamite").

* Bachman-Turner Overdrive, a band cited as one of the precursors to heavy metal, hit the US top 10 only once - with the "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet", considered a bit of a novelty piece because of the stuttering vocal. It's not ''that'' much of an outlier to the rest of their music, but still was one of their more light and poppy songs. The lyrics were written as a lark.

* Jazz legend Peggy Lee will be remembered to kingdom come for "Fever", "It's A Good Day", "Is That All There Is?", "Why Don't You Do Right" and literally hundreds of other superbly performed torch songs...but her biggest hit by far was a forgettable, racist (by today's standards) number called "Mañana (Is Good Enough for Me)", sung in a faux-Mexican accent and comprising a string of stereotypes about Latin Americans. Latinos are OnceAcceptableTargets but in 1948 they still were AcceptableTargets, which helps explain how that song got to #1 for nine weeks.

* "867-5309/Jenny", Music/TommyTutone’s only hit single, was a goofy novelty love song that didn’t sound anything like the rest of their discography, which was much more serious and straightforward.

* Music/TheBeatles declined to release "Yesterday" as a single in Great Britain for fear it would become one of these. (Let's just say that their producer, George Martin, proposed that it be a Music/PaulMcCartney solo work. [[TheWorldIsNotReady The world was not ready]].) It became the most covered of their songs.
** According to ''Guinness World Records'', it's also the most covered of anyone's songs. Ever.

** "Sail on Sailor" (#49) is a piano-driven song that sounds more like a Randy Newman song.

* Bachman-Turner Overdrive, a band cited as one of the precursors to heavy metal, hit the US top 10 only once - with the novelty song "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet". Musically it is in a similar vein to their other music. The lyrics were written as a lark.

* Music/TheBeachBoys went through this with their last two #1 hits. "Good Vibrations" was psychedelia at its peak, especially compared to their early "surfin' style," while "Kokomo," released more than twenty years later, uses reggae and calypso elements, such as the steel drum heard during the verses.

* Music/{{Jewel}}, normally a folk-pop singer-songwriter, had an unexpected #1 hit on the dance charts with "Serve the Ego", especially when it received a remix from the [=DJs=] Gabriel & Dresden. The success of "Serve the Ego" led her to lean fully into electronic dance-pop on her next album ''0304''; unfortunately, said album is widely regarded by her fans as a DorkAge that [[CreatorKiller killed her mainstream success]], and she's largely returned to her older style since. She would later record a pair of CountryMusic albums, ''Perfectly Clear'' and ''Sweet & Wild'', and two albums of children's music with ''Lullaby'' and ''The Merry Goes 'Round'', but compared to "Serve the Ego" and ''0304'', they were a much smaller diversion from her usual style.

* Music/{{Nirvana}}'s "About a Girl" is the only song off ''Music/{{Bleach|Album}}'' that most people can name, and the only one you'll likely hear on the radio or in a public setting. For good reason, it's much more mainstream-friendly than the rest of the album, being more in line with the material from ''Music/{{Nevermind}}''. ''Bleach'' is easily their least-accessible album in their entire library, being much noisier and denser than its polished follow-ups, with the exception of that song. It should be noted however that it wasn't a hit until ''after'' Kurt Cobain's death, due to being featured as the lead single off of ''Music/MTVUnpluggedInNewYork'', where before then it was very obscure (like the rest of ''Bleach''), making it a SleeperHit.

* ''38 Special'' is known for their guitar-driven, arena rock/AOR-oriented Southern rock. Yet their biggest hit was the synth-driven soft rock/adult contemporary ballad "Second Chance", released in 1989 and a "comeback" single (it had been several years since they'd had a top 40 hit) to boot.

* Elvin Bishop's musical style is primarily blues rock. His only Top 10 hit "Fooled Around and Fell in Love", however, is an easy-listening soft rock ballad. Adding further is that the vocals were done by his then-backing vocalist Mickey Thomas (who eventually joined Music/JeffersonStarship on the strength of this song), as Elvin felt that his gruff vocal style did not do the song justice.