History ChartDisplacement / HipHopRAndB

* Music/{{Chamillionaire}}[='s=] biggest hit on the hip-hop charts wasn't "Ridin'", but rather the far less memorable "Hip Hop Police". This is averted on the Hot 100, where "Ridin'" was easily his biggest hit.

* The Music/{{Commodores}} had two #1 hits: "Three Times a Lady" and..."Brick House"? (Nope, #5) It was actually the less memorable "Still". Also, they had seven #1s on the R&B chart, none of which were "Brick House", which stalled at #4.
* Craig David averts this in his native UK, where both "Fill Me In" and "7 Days" hit the top spot. But in the US, "7 Days" was his only Top Ten hit, while "Fill Me In" stalled at #15, but became his most enduring hit overseas. This is partially attributed to the fact that both singles and their accompanying album, ''Born to Do It'', weren't released in the US until well over a year after its initial UK release, which slowed David's crossover momentum considerably.

* Music/DianaRoss's signature song "I'm Coming Out" isn't among her 6 #1 songs, topping out at #5. Its status as a queer anthem throughout the decades since its release which would explain its chart displacement.

* Music/DJJazzyJeffAndTheFreshPrince, and, by extension, Creator/WillSmith (See below for his own entry), avert this trope on paper, with several successful Top 40 singles including the #4 Billboard hit "Summertime", and a UK #1 with "Boom! Shake the Room". But their most iconic song, "Yo Home to Bel-Air", AKA "''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' theme", was never released in the US as a single until ''2016'', twenty years after the show ended. The song was released in 1992 to the Netherlands and Spain, and hit the Top Five in both countries, and earned the group a Silver BPI certification in the UK.

* Music/DrDre averts this on one hand, as his signature "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" peaked at #2. He had three more Top 10 hits as the lead artist, but none of them were "Still D.R.E.", "Forgot About Dre" and "The Next Episode". Believe it or not, they never made it past #23[[note]]it originally peaked at #93, but reached its current peak after Dr. Dre headlined the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl halftime show with Music/{{Eminem}}, Music/SnoopDogg, Music/MaryJBlige and Music/KendrickLamar in 2022[[/note]], #25 and #23, respectively. The others are "Fuck wit Dre Day (And Everyone's Celebratin')", "Keep Their Heads Ringin'" and "I Need a Doctor" (the latter commonly being thought of as Eminem's song).

** In the UK, he had nine #1 hits, with five of them being some of his most popular songs ("The Real Slim Shady", "Stan", "Without Me", "Lose Yourself" and "The Monster"), whilst the other four were the lesser remembered "Just Lose It", "Like Toy Soldiers", "River" and "Godzilla".

* Music/TheFugees is a weird example. Their highest charter only reached ''#29'', it was their only Top 40 hit, and it was neither their cover of "Killing Me Softly" nor "Ready or Not", but rather "Fu-Gee-La". However, that's because despite being a massive airplay hit and a worldwide chart-topper, "Killing Me Softly" was not eligible to chart on the Hot 100 because it was not released as a physical single. It undoubtedly would've made the Top 10, if not #1, if it were. Meanwhile, "Ready or Not", which was also not released physically, peaked at a mere ''#69'' on the airplay chart. Averted with Music/LaurynHill as a solo artist, as her signature "Doo Wop (That Thing)" was her only #1 hit and nothing else came close.

** In the UK, he averts this overall as "Talk Dirty" and "Want to Want Me" were two of his five #1 hits, although some of his other well-known songs such the aforementioned "Whatcha Say" and "Ridin' Solo" didn't make it (#3 and #2 respectively), especially as one of those #1 hits was the completely forgotten "Don't Wanna Go Home".

* Music/StevieWonder's "Ribbon In the Sky" is widely considered to be a highlight in his immense discography, but only reached #54 on the pop charts. Also, he had 30 entries on the AC chart, yet his iconic "Superstition" was his ''third-lowest'' peak on that chart.

* Music/VanillaIce's only #1 was his signature "Ice Ice Baby". Most people would be surprised to hear that he had [[TwoHitWonder another top-5 hit]]. Was it the "[[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIITheSecretOfTheOoze Ninja Rap]]"? Nope, that song never charted; the second was a rap remix of "Play That Funky Music", which Wild Cherry sued over, which resulted in the remix being blacklisted from many radio stations.

* Music/LutherVandross has five top ten hits, but "Never Too Much" (#33, #1 R&B), "Superstar" (#87, #5 R&B) and "A House Is Not a Home" (never released a single) are not amongst them.

* Music/BeastieBoys scored three Top 40 hits. If you guessed two of them were "Fight For Your Right" (their highest charting hit, despite major CreatorBacklash) and "Intergalactic", you're right. What was the third? "No Sleep Till Brooklyn", "Paul Revere" (Nope, the former two didn't chart), "So What'cha Want" (Nope, #93), "Sure Shot" (Nope, didn't chart either), or "Sabotage" (Nope, #115)? It was the now forgotten "Hey Ladies", which is usually only remembered as part of the band's seminal 1989 album ''Music/PaulsBoutique'' rather than as a single. Like its parent album, "Hey Ladies" was only a modest hit when originally released (at least, comparatively to the blockbuster success of ''Licensed to Ill'') and barely made the Top 40. "Hey Ladies" also holds the curious distinction of being the very first song to chart on both the ''Billboard'' Hot Rap Singles and Modern Rock charts -- both had only just been introduced when the single was released.

* Music/CypressHill easily averts this trope, as their signature "Insane in the Brain" was their only Top 40 hit. However, they have a strong PeripheryDemographic with rock fans, even with those who don't normally listen to hip-hop. As a result, they've managed several hits on rock radio. However, "Insane", the song you're most likely to hear on the rock format nowadays, never charted there, as the format was not very friendly to hip-hop acts at the time of its release. The rock hits were 2000's "(Rock) Superstar" (#18), 2004's "What's Your Number" (#23), and 2010's "Rise Up" (#20). Today, only the formermost song remains well-known, though not to the extent of "Insane".

** Many of his most famous songs (including his signature "Lose Yourself") reached #1, but most people would be surprised to find out that "My Name Is" fizzled out at #36 and "Stan" never made it past #51. In fact, Dido's "Thank You", the song that the latter [[SampledUp adopted its hook from]], peaked at #3 despite nowadays being much less remembered.

* Music/DieFantastischenVier's three best remembered songs are also the ones that were really huge: "Sie ist weg" (#1), "Die da!?!" (#2) and "[=MfG=] – Mit freundlichen Grüßen" (#2). Their arguably fourth most popular song, however, is "Tag am Meer", which only reached #67 (the one that charted was an unplugged version; the original didn't chart), whereas various other major and moderate hits such as "Troy" (#9), "Ernten was wir säen" (#12) and "Einfach sein" (#11) are pretty much forgotten.

* {{Music/Gucci Mane}}'s highest charting appearance on the Hot 100 before his prison sentence was a feature on Mario's long-forgotten "Break Up", at #14. In comparison, of his more iconic singles from this time period like "Wasted", "Icy" and "Lemonade", only "Wasted" made it to the top 40 (at #36; "Lemonade", while being more popular than "Wasted" today, just missed the top 40 at #53, and "Icy" only charted on the Bubbling Under charts). Inverted post-release, with him having a feature on Rae Sremmurd's huge #1 hit "Black Beatles" (Rae Sremmurd, however, ended up a TwoHitWonder, albeit remembered outside of trap circles as a OneHitWonder for "Black Beatles") and his own tracks "I Get The Bag" and "Wake Up In The Sky" being both his highest charting tracks on the chart (both peaking at #11) and party staples.

* Music/JamesBrown released more than a hundred hit singles over the course of his legendary career, so chart displacement is inevitable. Most assume he had at least a couple chart toppers on the Hot 100, but that's far from the case. "Cold Sweat"? Reached #7. "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag"? Hit #8. "It's A Man's World"? Also reached #8. "Say It Loud - I'm Black & I'm Proud"? Stalled at #10. "I Got You (I Feel Good)"? Undeniably his biggest hit, but it only topped out at #3. In fact, Brown holds the distinction of having the most Hot 100 hits without ''ever'' topping the chart (though he technically averts this in a way, with "I Got You" being his highest charter), and many of his most influential and sampled songs, such as "Funky Drummer" (#51) and "Funky President" (#44), weren't Top 40 hits, let alone Top 10 on that chart. Brown had much better success on the R&B charts, with 17 number-one singles, and several more top 40 hits.

* Kiwi rapper Savage has had only [[OneHitWonder one song]] with his name attached hit the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Is it "Freaks" by Timmy Trumpet featuring him? Of course not, it's instead his own song "Swing" (specifically the version featuring [[Music/SouljaBoy Soulja Boy]]). While "Swing" is not a forgotten song, more people would probably recognize him for "Freaks".

* Tanto Metro & Devonte's highest peak on the Hot 100 was not their signature "Everyone Falls in Love"(#88), but the obscure follow-up single "Give It To Her"(#85). Averted on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop and Hot Rap charts, where "Everyone Falls In Love" outpeaked "Give It To Her" by 11 and 14 places, respectively.

* Music/TevinCampbell's "Tell Me What You Want Me to Do" is his most successful single, hitting #6 on the pop charts, and reaching Gold certification, but is constantly overshadowed by "[[Film/GraffitiBridge Round and Round"]] and "Can We Talk", which only reached #12 and #9, respectively; and "[[WesternAnimation/AGoofyMovie I 2 I]]", which never got a single release.

** The situation is more blatant in the UK, where his sole #1 was "Ghetto Gospel", which is nowhere near as popular as many of his other songs.

* Music/{{Usher}} managed nine #1 hits, seven of which ("U Remind Me", "U Got It Bad", "Yeah!", "Burn", "Confessions Part II", "Love in This Club" and "OMG") remain classics to this day. The other two were "Nice & Slow" (his first #1) and the aforementioned "My Boo" (see the Alicia Keys example above), which are more obscure than non-#1s like "You Make Me Wanna..." (#2[[note]]stuck in the runner-up spot for seven straight weeks behind Elton John's mostly forgotten re-recording of his hit "Candle in the Wind", known as "Candle in the Wind 1997", which he famously performed at [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor Princess Diana's]] funeral[[/note]]), "U Don't Have to Call" (#3), "Caught Up" (#8), "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" (#4), "More" (#15) and "Scream" (#9).

* V.I.C.'s only top 40 hit on the Hot 100 wasn't "Wobble" (#94), as popularized by the iconic dance craze, but rather "Get Silly". Because it was written and produced by Music/SouljaBoy, and contains with his signature "Soulja Boy Tell 'Em" intro, [[MisattributedSong many people thought it was his song]] and were unaware both songs were by the same artist. Regardless, "Get Silly" was a minor hit that was quickly forgotten, and since Soulja Boy's career has not aged well into the New Tens it has remained that way; thus it's not surprising that V.I.C. is remembered as a one-hit wonder for an iconic rap dance song than one associated with a TwoHitWonder snap rapper.

* Ja Rule averts this, as "Always on Time" was his sole #1, not just on the Hot 100 but also on the hip-hop and rap charts. He also only had one #1 in the UK, but it wasn't "Always on Time". Was it "Livin' It Up" or "Mesmerize" instead? No, it was the much less remembered "Wonderful". The song's reputation isn't helped by the fact that it featured the now disgraced Music/RKelly.

* Music/FiftyCent easily averts this, as "In da Club", "21 Questions" and "Candy Shop" all made it to #1. But in the UK, his highest chart position was #2, yet neither of the aforementioned songs hit that spot. Instead, they were "Ayo Technology" and "My Life", with the latter having been released in ''2012'', well after his prime.
* Music/TwoChainz had several Top 40 hits (the highest of which being the #13 "Mercy", an equally-credited collaboration between him and rappers Music/KanyeWest, Music/BigSean, and Pusha T), but his signature "Birthday Song" only peaked at a measly #47.

** He topped the hip-hop charts three times[[note]]not counting "Niggas in Paris" or "[=FourFiveSeconds=]", songs where he wasn't top-billed[[/note]]: "Gold Digger" was of course one of them, but the other two were "Mercy" and "Hurricane". While they aren't obscure by any means, they don't compare to the likes of "Stronger" (#30), "Heartless" (#4), or "All of the Lights" (#2), among other songs.
** He also topped the rap chart six times[[note]]again, not counting "Niggas in Paris"[[/note]], but "Stronger" and "All of the Lights" fell at #3 and #2 respectively.

** Kanye partially averts this, as his two #1 hits, "Gold Digger" and "Stronger", are some of his most well-known songs to date. However, many would be surprised that his catalog of top-ten hits doesn't include classics like "Jesus Walks" (#11), "Touch the Sky" (#42), "Mercy" (#13), "Black Skinhead" (#69), "Flashing Lights" (#29), or ''any'' of the singles from his iconic album, ''Music/MyBeautifulDarkTwistedFantasy''.[[note]]"Power" (#22), "Runaway" (#12), "Monster", and "All of the Lights" (both reached #18)[[/note]] Four of his songs that did chart higher, "Yikes" (#8), "Follow God" (#7), "Jail" (#10), and "Carnival" (#2), while newer than all of the aforementioned tracks, aren't on the same level as them.