History Main / TheRunnerUpTakesItAll

* The ''Sound of 2012'' poll was won by Michael Kiwanuka, who was ultimately supplanted in popularity by second-placed Music/FrankOcean, fourth-placed Music/{{Skrillex}}, and unranked nominee Music/ASAPRocky.

** Subverted with Music/TaylorSwift in 2010 and Music/BrunoMars in 2011, who only fail to qualify because the artists who beat them were Music/LadyGaga and Music/JustinBieber, respectively.

** Music/CamilaCabello won in 2018, but failed to obtain the massive level success of Music/CardiB and Music/DuaLipa, the consistency of Music/{{Khalid}}, or, thankfully, the PosthumousPopularityPotential of Music/XXXTentacion.

** Season 5: Perhaps the biggest example yet, as winner Angela Hacker never released anything other than an album of demos that she cut while she was still on the show, and a couple guest appearances on an album by Music/CowboyTroy. She's such a nobody that she doesn't even have a Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} article. Meanwhile, fifth-placer Whitney Duncan managed to get a full album out (although she had an EarlyBirdCameo on a Music/KennyRogers song back in 2004), and ''seventh''-placer Music/KaceyMusgraves has become a popular artist in TheNewTens, winning the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2019.

* On several occasions in the race for the [[UsefulNotes/AVeryBritishChristmas Christmas Number One]] position on the British charts, the Christmas Number Two song has a longer shelf life among listeners. Two notable cases are Music/JohnLennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over" and Music/MariahCarey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You", which are still heard today but lost the Christmas slot to St. Winnifred's School Choir's "There's No One Quite Like Grandma" and East 17's "Stay Another Day" respectively. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UK_Singles_Chart_Christmas_number_twos More here.]]

** It's not the only example from the Song Contest - Mocedades' "Eres Tu" from 1973 and Cliff Richards' "Congratulations" from 1968 both finished second, yet became far more massive hits than the winners. Julio Iglesias was also a runner up who became more successful than the winner. Olivia Newton John would have been viewed the same way if ABBA was not the act that beat her -- she probably would count against any other winner other than Celine Dion (1988).

* The 1990 Juno Awards (Canada's Grammy equivalent) had Daniel Lanois win the award for Most Promising Male Vocalist. While he's been modestly successful, he didn't get much fame outside of Canada, and he's much better known now as a superstar producer for artists like Music/{{U2}} and Music/BobDylan than he is as an artist. One of the losers just so happened to be a young Music/RufusWainwright. Enough said, really.

*** Ukraine's "Dancing Lasha Tumbai", the runner up song in 2007, outsold Serbia's winning song, "Molitva". [[CurbStompBattle By almost double]]. In the long-term, Serbia's entrant Marija Šerifović was more successful, but Russia's Serebro (3rd) had the most successful act that year. In the longer term, Verka appeared on the movie ''Film/{{Spy}}'', and returned to ESC in 2016 (as Ukraine's vote reader), 2017 (when Ukraine hosted, as entertainment in all 3 shows) and in 2019 (as part of a unique supergroup with reigning runner up Music/EleniFoureira - one of the most popular runners up ever, although in a year with a more successful winner relative to some other recent ones - which went [=TikTok=] viral, and was probably more successful in America - and with 10 years of experience behind her compared to her conqueror being a complete debutant - and two former winners, singing each other's songs, plus that of the latest winner Netta, before being joined by the earlier-mentioned Atari to replace Milk and Honey for a new version of Hallelujah) and elicited widespread acclaim (though it is worth noticing that Seferovic was part of a supergroup with the 4 subsequent winners (and 4 more recent at the time) in heat 2 in 2012, which was similar, but wasn't as popular).

** Also James Max from the first season, who only made it as far as the interview week, but often pops up as a guest presenter on TV shows and has his own radio show with a pretty decent audience. For a while this also applied to Raef Bjayou from the fourth season, although he seems to have faded into obscurity more recently.

* Cara Mund of North Dakota was named Miss America 2018. Not too bad, right? But it was fourth placer Margana Wood of Texas who stole the show. Miss America adopted a political theme in its Q&A segment that year. Wood was asked to comment on Donald Trump's response to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier that year in which he blamed "both sides" for the violence. Wood sharply criticized his response, referring to the neo-Nazi car attack as a terrorist attack, stating the white supremacists were solely to blame, and saying Trump should have condemned them the day of the rally. Mund's question was about the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, which she disagreed with, but Wood’s got more attention for several reasons:
## The Charlottesville attack was very recent, happening less than a month before the pageant, whereas the Paris withdrawal decision was three months in the past at that point.

** Season 4: Johnny Curtis hasn't even appeared until recently ([[AbortedArc nor did he get his guaranteed tag title shot]] due to [[Wrestling/RonKillings R-Truth]]'s FaceHeelTurn), while runner up Wrestling/BrodusClay appeared on ''[=SmackDown=]'' as Wrestling/AlbertoDelRio's bodyguard, then disappeared from TV when Del Rio was drafted to Raw. After his [[CanonDiscontinuity debut]] was delayed week after week, he took a dramatic HeelFaceTurn as the Funkasaurus. Curtis has recently returned as Wrestling/{{Fandango}}, a ballroom dancer who became a sensation after a hyperactive post-[=WrestleMania=] crowd sang his theme song, leading to the short lived "Fandangoing" craze.

* The biggest new opening of the February 19-21, 1999 box office was ''Film/OctoberSky'', a film about the space race. Another, much more iconic film with the same initials was the week's second biggest new film -- ''Film/{{OfficeSpace}}''.
* Disney had absolutely no faith in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing,'' getting lower-level animators to work on it while the more accomplished ones worked on ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}''. While the latter film is still popular today, it is one of the more divisive films in the Disney catalog, being criticized for historical inaccuracies at best and being considered the ending of their stellar period in the 90s at worst, along with receiving a "rotten" score on Rotten Tomatoes. The former, however, was the highest-grossing film of 1994 and sold over 32 million VHS tapes in North America alone (and 23 million internationally) in addition to billions of dollars of merchandise in 1994 alone, a [[Theatre/TheLionKing Broadway musical]] that has been active since 1997, two [[WesternAnimation/TimonAndPumbaa TV]] [[WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard series]], and a [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing2019 remake that grossed over a billion dollars]].

** The 1998 Best Picture award is one of the more infamous examples - the award went to the comedy-drama ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'' instead of the heavily-favored ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan''. The latter is far better remembered today.

** 1981 winner David Sammartino is one of the biggest busts in wrestling history, whose name is brought up as a textbook example of failing to escape the shadow of [[Wrestling/BrunoSammartino a famous father]]. The third-place finisher that year, [[Wrestling/CurtHennig "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig]], went on to a more successful career.

** In 1989, the winners were The Destruction Crew, the team of Mike Enos and Wayne Bloom, better known as the Beverly Brothers from early-90's WWF. Neither as as well known as either of the two runner ups, Dustin Rhodes and Scotty the Body, nowadays better known as Wrestling/{{Goldust}} and Wrestling/{{Raven}}, respectively.
** Erik Watts won the award in 1992, although not without controversy: His father Bill was the WCW's booker at the time, and the push he received garnered accusations of nepotism. Readers of another wrestling mag, ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'', named Watts both their least favorite wrestler of the year and the most overrated. Ultimately, Watts did not wind up having an especially remarkable career, while Diamond Dallas Page, who came in second for the ''PWI'' award, went on to become one of the biggest stars in the WCW.

** [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]], then known as Rocky Maivia, finished in third place in 1996. Compared to the actual winner it's another downplayed example given that said winner was The Giant, now known as Wrestling/BigShow. Compared to the second-place finisher it's completely played straight, as that was none other than ex-NFL player Steve "Mongo" [=McMichael=], considered one of the biggest busts in WCW history.

** Mikey Whipwreck won in 1994. Whilst he had a respectable career as ECW Champion, the second-placer was one [[Wrestling/TripleH Jean-Paul Levesque]].

** The 2001 award went to El Hombre Sin Nombre from CMLL, who faded into obscurity almost immediately. Several of the runners-up went on to become some of the biggest names in wrestling, including Wrestling/RandyOrton, Wrestling/BrockLesnar, Wrestling/JohnCena (who went by the ring name of The Prototype at the time), and Wrestling/AlbertoDelRio (then known as Dos Caras Jr.)

** The ''Sound of 2019'' poll was won by French-born Ivorian-British rapper Octavian. Over the next few years, fourth placer Slowthai, fifth place Rosalía, and unranked Ella Mai and Dermot Kennedy both did better chart and popularity-wise, while Octavian's career came to a screeching halt after [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor a sexual assault allegation against him]].

** The ''Sound of 2017'' poll was won by neo-soul singer Ray BLK, who was ultimately eclipsed by second-place Rag 'n' Bone Man almost immediately, and unranked nominees Maggie Rogers and Anderson .Paak have both had more successful careers than her.

** 1995's winner was Lisa Loeb, who was a one-hit wonder in the UK and only had a few more hits in her native US. She beat Counting Crows and Warren G, both of whom had longer lasting success in both countries.

** In 2022, there was a lot of zig-zagging, particularly - but not just due to - Ukraine winning with Kalush Orchestra's "Stefania" which celebrated its national culture at the time of Russia's violent war on them, which made over 20 charts, and its main title contenders being from longtime underachievers The U.K. and Spain, whose acts had major chart success in their home countries due to their results and even performed for royals. However, six weeks after the contest, Armenian entry "Snap" by Rosa Linn, which placed 20th (the Eurasian country’s lowest place in the final) due to being bunched with more impactful songs in the running order, went viral on TikTok, and became more successful than all, or all-but-one, of the entries in the charts, and made wider impact in Asia and Latin America, and got a major US record deal.

* The thirteenth season of ''Series/TheBachelor'' had an interesting take on this trope. Jason selected Melissa Rycroft as the winner over Molly Malaney in the Finale. But during the "after show", he dumped winner Melissa in favor of Molly. Melissa ended up on ''Series/DancingWithTheStars'' (and wound up winning the All-Stars season), while Molly ended up with the "not as rich as he says he is, and willing to humiliate Melissa on national television, so how great can he be" Jason.

* You may have seen Dave Holmes as the co-host of the FX Network's "DVD on TV". He was also the runner-up in Creator/{{MTV}}'s first "Wanna Be a VJ?" competition. The actual winner, Jesse Camp, pretty much disappeared shortly after his 15 minutes in the spotlight... and his debut album completely bombed.

* Averted for the most part by ''Series/TheUltimateFighter''. Former [=TUF=] winners Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, and Matt Serra have all gone on to become [=UFC=] champions, while other winners like Diego Sanchez, Michael Bisping, and Nate Diaz have become legitimate contenders, at some point, in their weight classes. Not to say that non-winners haven't done well, considering the success that guys like Josh Koscheck and Kenny Florian have had. It's not that surprising given the show's format, where the contestants directly compete against each other, so it's all the more likely the stronger, more talented fighter would end up winning.

** The judges on this same season told Music/LindseyStirling she'd never sell as a "Hip Hop Violinist", that she needed a band to work with, and that she just wasn't good enough to fly through the air playing the violin. Shortly after she was eliminated from the show, she became a sensation on Youtube thanks to music videos that combined her playing and dancing with top-notch cinematography. She's since since become one of the most successful acts to ever come from the show, with two Gold-selling albums and sold-out tours...which pretty much debunked judge Sharon Osbourne's comment to her that "What you're doing is not enough to fill a theater in Vegas."

** In 1985, it was topped by the anti-apartheid CharityMotivationSong "Sun City" by Artists United Against Apartheid, which it won by a landslide with 101 list mentions, close to twice what the second place song received. While it was critically-acclaimed at the time, and it's fusion of rock, rap and R&B pre-dated the mainstream popularity of RapRock and NuMetal, it's not exactly memorable, and has faded into obscurity. Among the songs it beat to the top? Music/DireStraits' "Money for Nothing", Music/TearsForFears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", Music/KateBush's "Running Up That Hill", and Music/TheSmiths' "How Soon is Now?", all of which are considered among the most iconic songs of the '80s.

** Music/BobDylan's 1998 winner ''Time out of Mind'' was widely seen as both a ConsolationAward, and a recognition of Dylan's critical and commercial comeback with that album, which was considered to be the definitive end of [[DorkAge a not well-regarded period of his career]]. Today it's seen as just another Dylan album, albeit still regarded as one of his best after 1980, while Music/{{Radiohead}}'s ''Music/OKComputer'' has often been ranked as one of the [[https://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/all-time/ greatest albums of all time]]. The same can be said with the surprise Music/SteelyDan victory in 2001 beating both ''Music/KidA'' and Music/{{Eminem}}'s ''Music/TheMarshallMathersLP''.

** In 1989, the award was won by Music/NeilYoung's video for "This Note's for You", a satire of the trend of pop stars appearing in television commercials, with Music/MichaelJackson as it's main target. Its win was particularly noteworthy because MTV had banned the video after Jackson complanied, but the network reversed that decision after it made the news. Today, "This Note's for You" is barely remembered and the video itself is seen as HarsherInHindsight at best and completely tasteless at worst, while the videos for the Fine Young Cannibals' "She Drives Me Crazy", Jackson's "Leave Me Alone" and Music/{{Madonna}}'s "Like a Prayer" have become iconic in pop culture and have completely eclipsed it in the public eye. Not helping matters was that the album "This Note's for You" serves as the title track of is seen as part of Young's DorkAge by many, and it's mostly overshadowed by Young's much more iconic 1989 hit "Rockin' in the Free World" and it's associated album ''Freedom'', which [[WinBackTheCrowd fully won Young back his critical respect]] in comparision to ''This Note's for You''.

* ''Series/TheMaskedSinger'': In spite of placing second in season 3, Turtle/[[spoiler:Music/JesseMcCartney]] is much more fondly remember then the season's winner, Night Angel/[[spoiler:Kandi Burruss]]. To compare, Turtle managed to take fourth on a list of the top ten best performances in the show's history and would later return in season six to sing a duet with one of the contestants. By contrast, Night Angel is lucky if she gets to appear in a commercial for the show.
** Happened in again in Season 5 where The Black Swan[=/=][=JoJo=] lost to the Piglet[=/=]Nick Lachey. She ended up being nominated for a People's Choice award for the show while the Piglet got nothing.

*** Compare: The first winner of ''Survivor'': Richard Hatch who failed to pay taxes on his winnings and ended up in big trouble. (According to Wiki/TheOtherWiki, he served a 51 month sentence, which prevented him from competing in ''Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains'').

** Esperanza Spalding was one of the most buzzed-about artists of the late 2000s/early 2010s, and her win in 2011 was a suprise despite her popularity in jazz and indie rock circles. As a jazz musician in the 21st century, her mainstream popularity was limited, but she remained popular in the jazz world afterwards. The artists she beat? Music/JustinBieber, Music/{{Drake}}, Music/FlorenceAndTheMachine and Music/MumfordAndSons, all of them rising stars at the time and of whom have been much more successful compared to Spalding, particularly Drake and Bieber, who would become two of the biggest stars in music soon after.

** Esperanza Spalding was one of the most buzzed-about artists of the late 2000s/early 2010s, and her win in 2011 seemed well-deserved thanks to her huge popularity within jazz and indie rock circles. After releasing ''Radio Music Society'', the follow-up to ''Chamber Music Society'', the album that won her the award, she took a break from making albums and went to work as a supporting musician for other artists, and by the time of her [[NewSoundAlbum jazz rock-influenced comeback album]] ''Emily's D+Evolution'' (2016), her career momentum had dried up completely. The artists she beat? Music/JustinBieber, Music/{{Drake}}, Music/FlorenceAndTheMachine and Music/MumfordAndSons, all of them rising stars at the time and of whom have been much more successful compared to Spalding, particularly Drake and Bieber, who would become two of the biggest stars in music soon after.

** According to Wiki/ThatOtherWiki, both Melo and runner-up Jaydee Bixby have sold more albums than Jepsen in Canada, but it is a totally different story for singles success.

* British singer Music/LittleBoots won Creator/TheBBC's ''Sound of 2009'' poll. She hasn't gone onto much success, but third-placed Music/FlorenceAndTheMachine, sixth-placed Music/LadyGaga and ninth-placed Music/PassionPit all became much more successful.

** 2006 winner Music/JackJohnson qualifies when looking at his career in the UK, where this award originates. He is very popular in his native United States and has notched ''11'' adult alternative number ones, but he only had two UK Top 40 hits. His mainstream impact in the UK is nowhere near that of IndiePop legends Music/ArcadeFire, pop icons Music/ThePussycatDolls and R&B icon Music/JohnLegend.

* The BRIT award for British Breakthrough act:

* They also used to do an international version of it as well:

** 1998's winner was the Music/{{Eels}}, an American alt-rock band who had a strong cult following in the UK, but whose success was ultimately dwarfed by two other nominees, Music/NoDoubt and Music/DaftPunk.
** Probably the biggest example of this happened in 2000, when Macy Gray pipped future icons Music/BritneySpears, Music/JenniferLopez and Music/{{Eminem}} to the award.

** The Music/DixieChicks' win in 2007 for ''Taking the Long Way'' was seen as an attempt to appeal to the Chicks' large liberal following that sprung up after the "Shut up and sing!" controversy wherein Natalie Maines made anti-George W. Bush remarks. Today, ''Taking the Long Way'' is seen as just another 2000s country album, while Music/JustinTimberlake's ''[=FutureSex/LoveSounds=]'', one of the nominees that year, is seen as one of the greatest albums of the 2000s, and harbored several hits, including the massively memetic "[=SexyBack=]".

** The Music/RobertPlant[=/=]Music/AlisonKrauss collaboration album ''Raising Sand'', which won in 2009, was seen as a ConsolationAward for both artists, as Plant was the lead singer of [[Music/LedZeppelin one of the most legendary rock bands of all time]], and they had ''never'' won a Grammy up to this point, while Krauss had been relegated to genre-specific categories (though was prominently featured on the ''O Brother'' soundtrack). It isn't exactly a household name today the way Music/{{Coldplay}}'s ''Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends'', Music/{{Radiohead}}'s ''Music/InRainbows'' or Music/LilWayne's ''Tha Carter III'' are seen.

** Samantha Barks finished third. She went on to play [[Theatre/LesMiserables Eponine]] at the Queen's Theatre, sing the role at the 25th Anniversary Concert at the O2, and played the same in the 2012 film version. Not too shabby.

** In 2022, there was a lot of zig-zagging, particularly - but not just due to - Ukraine winning with a song celebrating its national culture at the time of Russia’s violent war on them, which made over 20 charts, and its main title contenders being from longtime underachievers The U.K. and Spain, whose acts had major chart success in their home countries due to their results and even performed for royals. However, a further 6 weeks after the contest, the nu-folk ballad from Armenia, which placed 20th (the Eurasian country’s lowest place in the final) due to being bunched with more impactful songs in the running order, went viral on TikTok, and became more successful than all, or all-but-one, of the entries in the charts, and made wider impact in Asia and Latin America, and got a major US record deal.