Chart Displacement / Alternative Rock

• 10,000 Maniacs' only two top 40 hits were covers: A live version of "Because the Night" from MTV Unplugged (it peaked at #11) and a cover of Roxy Music's "More Than This" that was their first single featuring new vocalist Mary Ramsay (it reached #25). This is despite their original material being some of the most commercially accessible of any college radio-era Alternative Rock band; singles like "Like The Weather" (#68), "Trouble Me" (#44), "These Are Days" (#66) and "Candy Everybody Wants" (#67) are all arguably better known today than those covers despite each one narrowly missing out on the Top 40. The "Because The Night" cover still gets regular radio airplay, but their "More Than This" is largely forgotten. Overall averted on Mainstream Rock, where "Like The Weather" and "Trouble Me" were their only entries, but played more straight on Alternative, where they had seven entries, none of which were "Like The Weather".
• 311 had two Top 40 hits on the Hot 100 Airplay chart, but the biggest of the two wasn't "Down", but rather "All Mixed Up" (which peaked at #36, beating out the former by one spot), which probably isn't their second ("Amber", which peaked at #3 on the Bubbling Under chart) or third (their cover of "Lovesong", which is their only entry on the Hot 100 at #59) best-known song. "Lovesong" and "Down" topped the Alternative charts, yet "Amber" petered out at #13 (and also wasn't any of their six entries on Mainstream Rock)!
• The All-American Rejects avert this on one hand, as their 2009 signature "Gives You Hell" peaked at #4. The biggest hit on their 2005 breakthrough album Move Along wasn't the Title Track (#15) or "Dirty Little Secret" (#9), but rather the #8 "It Ends Tonight", which isn't quite as well-known as the other two. Their Breakthrough Hit "Swing Swing", which still gets quite a bit of airplay, missed the Top 40 entirely and peaked at #60.
  • They had three entries on Alternative Airplay: "Swing", "Hell" and... "The Last Song", which is nowhere near as well-known as "Secret", "Along", or "Tonight", to say the least.
• All Time Low stunned the alternative music scene in 2020 with their collaboration with blackbear, "Monsters", which reached #1 on Billboard's Alternative Airplay chart and stayed there for 11 weeks, kickstarting a pop-punk revival on the format in the process. Even with the song subsequently crossing over to pop and beginning a run on the Hot 100, it will likely not unseat their long-time signature "Dear Maria, Count Me In", especially after it blew up on TikTok in the wake of "Monsters" achieving its success.
  • "Damned If You Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)", All Time Low's only other Hot 100 entry (which it achieved largely through downloads in 2009), is likely going to be even more overshadowed than it was before.
• alt-J scored their first Billboard Airplay #1, on the adult alternative chart in 2022 with "U&Me", a song unlikely to be better known than "Breezeblocks" or "Left Hand Free". Averted on both the main alternative airplay chart and the UK singles chart, where the latter two entered the chart but not "U&Me".
• Arcade Fire's biggest hit on the alternative charts was the #12 "Everything Now", which was the lead single for their lowest-selling and least acclaimed album, and isn't as well-known as "Wake Up" or "Rebellion (Lies)" (neither of which charted). Also, their only Hot 100 entry, and their highest entry in their native Canada, was "Reflektor", which similarly, is not as well-known as "Wake Up".
• Arctic Monkeys:
  • They had two #1 hits in the UK, "I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor" remains their signature there but the other, "When the Sun Goes Down", (both from Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not) isn't as well known as "Do I Wanna Know?" (from AM) which only hit #11 back home. In the US, this is averted where "Do I Wanna Know?" was their only chart entry on the Hot 100.
  • Two songs from Favourite Worst Nightmare hit Bubbling Under, "505" (which wasn't even a single, but charted 15 years after its release thanks to virality on TikTok) and... "Fluorescent Adolescent"? The other song was the far-less remembered "Brianstorm", which was featured in Guitar Hero 5 as one of the hardest songs on the drums.
• AWOLNATION only had one #1 hit on the alternative songs chart, and surprisingly it wasn't "Sail", which only peaked at #5. Instead it was "Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf)". Nonetheless, "Sail" was their only Top 40 hit, and their only visit to the Hot 100.
• Bad Religion has a weird example of this, as they have this going on with two versions of the same song, "21st Century (Digital Boy)" (which is also their signature). The 1990 original is the vastly more known one among their fanbase and punk rock fans in general, and also puts up vastly superior streaming numbers, but failed to chart. The 1994 re-recording is by far Bad Religion's best charting entry on alternative and the version you'll most likely hear on terrestrial radio, but that's it as far as traction goes.
• The Barenaked Ladies easily avert this, as their signature "One Week" spent (you guessed it) a single week on top of the Hot 100. Their second Top 40 hit was the less remembered "Pinch Me", which made it to #15. Nowadays, if you hear a Barenaked Ladies song other than "One Week" on American pop or rock radio, it's not going to be "Pinch Me", but something else that originally peaked much lower, like "It's All Been Done" (#44), the Rock Spectacle live version of "Brian Wilson" (#68), "The Old Apartment" (#80) or the live version of "If I Had $1,000,000" (not issued as a single and didn't chart).
  • They also had one #1 in their native Canada, but it wasn't "One Week", which only hit #3, but rather the relatively lesser-known "It's All Been Done". If you think "One Week" was their second-highest charter in Canada, be surprised to hear it was actually the much lesser-known "Enid". It's a bit worse on the Canadian AC chart, where "One Week" peaked at #5 and was outpeaked by three of their other songs: "Jane", "It's All Been Done" (their two #1s), and "Alternative Girlfriend".
• Beck is an aversion overall. His signature "Loser" was his only Top 10 hit, and his only visit to the overall Top 40. However, he's had three #1 hits on alternative radio: The aforementioned "Loser" from 1994, "Up All Night" from 2017 and... "E-Pro" from 2005. "E-Pro" isn't as well known to the public as songs like "Where It's At" (#5) and "Devil's Haircut" (#23).
• The Black Keys have a chart-specific example: "Lo/Hi", while relatively new, is unlikely to displace all of the Black Keys' better known songs, even though it has become their only #1 hit on Mainstream Rock. This is averted on AAA and alternative (as the Keys have multiple #1s on both charts), and "Lo/Hi" has not outpaced their four entries on the Hot 100.
• blink-182 easily avert this, as their signature "All the Small Things" was their only top 40 hit and one of five #1s on alternative. Their second #1 on alt and the closest they ever got to the top 40 again was "I Miss You", another classic. However, many would be surprised to learn that songs like their Breakthrough Hit "Dammit" (#11), as well as "What's My Age Again?", "Adam's Song", "Man Overboard", "The Rock Show" (all four peaking at #2), and "First Date" (#6), all fell short of the top spot on alt. As for their third #1 alt radio hit, and their first Top 10 on mainstream rock? "Bored to Death", the lead single off their 2016 album California, largely due to interest in how they sounded without Tom DeLonge.
  • Hilariously, in late 2022 blink-182's single "Edging" became their fourth Alt #1 and their 2nd mainstream rock top 10 hit, for the exact opposite reason as "Bored to Death". Tom DeLonge had unexpectedly rejoined the band.
  • The band would later tie the record for the most weeks at #1 with "One More Time", their fifth #1. While a newer song, it is unlikely to be as remembered as their older hits.
• Bloc Party had two hits on U.S. alternative radio. One of them was "Banquet", no surprise there. The other song must have been "Helicopter", right? Nope, it was "I Still Remember", which ironically enough is mostly forgotten today. Even more surprising is that "Banquet" was actually the lower charting of the two, hitting #34 to "Remember"'s #24. This is also played straight in their native UK, as neither "Banquet" nor "Helicopter" were among their four top 10 hits there, peaking at #13 and #26 respectively, as well as on The US Hot 100, where "I Still Remember" was the closest they've gotten to reaching the chart, peaking at #119.
• Blonde Redhead's "For the Damaged Coda" was used as Evil Morty's Leitmotif on Rick and Morty. As a result, the song underwent Memetic Mutation in 2018, 18 years after its release, and is easily the band's best known song. Only two of the band's songs have charted, and neither of them were "Coda", which was never even released as a single. They were "Elephant Woman" and "Equus", which respectively reached a measly #82 and #84 in the UK and are both completely forgotten today.
• Blur had three Top 10 hits on Modern Rock, yet "Song 2" had the lowest peak (#6), compared to "Girls & Boys" (#4) and "There's No Other Way" (#5). However, on the Hot 100, "Song 2" was in fact their highest charter.
  • Blur made the Modern Rock chart three more times, but the first two songs weren't "Parklife" or "Coffee and TV", but rather "Chemical World" and "Crazy Beat". The third was "The Narcissist", which is too new to count as a displacement just yet.
  • Downplayed in the UK, where they had twelve Top 10 hits. And yet the #1 hits, "Country House" and "Beetlebum", are probably less known (or at least well-regarded, given the band expressed Creator Backlash against the former) than the #2 charters "Song 2" - which followed up "Beetlebum" - and "Tender".
• Boys Like Girls had 3 top 40 hits: "The Great Escape", "Love Drunk", and "Two is Better Than One" with Taylor Swift. The former is still their most famous song, but actually peaked the lowest out of all of them.
• Cage the Elephant has had ten #1 hits on alternative radio, but their signature "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked" peaked at #3. Nevertheless, "Wicked" was their highest entry on the mainstream charts. Also played straight on the Hot 100 — they had two chart entries, and "Wicked" was the lower charting of the two, only reaching #83. The song that beat it? "Shake Me Down", by five spots. It's not even their second best-known song (an honor that likely goes to "Come a Little Closer").
  • This is also played straight on the Rock Songs chart, where "Wicked" stopped at #6 and got outpeaked by three of their other songs ("In One Ear", "Social Cues", and the #1 "Shake Me Down"), and on AAA, where they had five #1s, none of which were "Wicked", which, out of their 12 entries, is actually their second-lowest peaking.
• Cake had four top 10 songs on modern rock radio: "Never There" (their only #1), "The Distance", "Short Skirt/Long Jacket"... and "Sick of You", which even managed to outpeak the last one (#4 opposed to #7). "Sick of You" and its two follow-up singles are also the band's only songs on the rock chart.
• Camper Van Beethoven's Signature Song is "Take The Skinheads Bowling" - The song was popular on college radio and gave the band a lot of its initial exposure, but its only chart appearance was on the UK independent Singles Chart, where it made it to #8 (this despite their being an American band). Their biggest chart success is a Cover Version of "Pictures Of Matchstick Men", which reached number one on the Billboard Modern Rock charts in 1989, their sole entry on that chart. Both songs are staples of the band's live sets, but "Skinheads", being their own song rather than a cover, is much more heavily associated with the band.
• The Cardigans' highest charter in their native Sweden made it all the way to #2. Many would be surprised to learn that it wasn't their worldwide megahit "Lovefool", or even their second best-known song "My Favourite Game". Rather, it was the completely forgotten cover of Talking Heads "Burning Down the House", a duet with Tom Jones. What is also surprising is that "Lovefool", despite being their biggest hit in every other country, never made it further than #15 back home, while "My Favourite Game" was a far bigger hit, reaching #3.
• CHVRCHES: Despite being their most well-known song, "The Mother We Share" didn't appear at all on the Hot 100. Instead, CHVRCHES's only appearance on the Hot 100, and their highest entry in their native UK, was the forgettable Marshmello collaboration, "Here with Me", that only peaked at #31 in the US and #9 back home. Also played straight on the US Rock chart, where their two highest entries, both at #17, are "Leaving a Trace" and "Get Out", compared to "Mother"'s #30. Averted on the alternative charts where "Mother" is CHVRCHES's most popular song at #12.
• Coheed and Cambria:
  • They have had six entries on the alternative charts (the highest-peaking being the #13 "A Favor House Atlantic"). However, their signature "Welcome Home" was the lowest-peaking of all of them, at #36.
  • 2021 saw them score their first top 10 mainstream rock hit with "Shoulders". While new, it is also unlikely to be more famous than "Welcome Home", which peaked at #25.
  • The same holds true for the Hot 100, where "The Suffering" was their only song to even get near the chart.
• Coldplay avoids it in their native UK, where basically every big single since Breakthrough Hit "Yellow" reached the Top 10, for a total of 19. But in the US...
  • They had two #1 hits in the US: "Viva la Vida" and... surely the other one was "Clocks" or "Yellow", right? Nope, those bowed out at #23 and #48 respectively. It was instead "My Universe", an equally-billed collaboration with BTS. While it's too recent to tell if it will stand the test of time, it's not likely going to be as associated with them as the former three tracks, since it only got to #1 because of BTS' involvement.
  • They had two more Top 10 hits by themselves (thus discounting "Something Just Like This", their equally-credited collaboration with The Chainsmokers), but they still weren't "Clocks" and "Yellow". They were instead "Speed of Sound" and "A Sky Full of Stars". The former isn't even the best-known song from X&Y (an honor that likely goes to the #59 "Fix You").
  • The highest charting song from Mylo Xyloto? It has to be "Paradise", which peaked at #15 (it's even their other #1 UK hit alongside "Viva la Vida"). Nope, it was "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall" by one spot, though "Paradise" made up for it by lasting on the Hot 100 nearly twice as long.
  • On Alternative Airplay, they had four #1 hits, but "Yellow" and "Clocks" stalled at #6 and #9 respectively, while "Orphans" reached #1, despite not being nearly as iconic as either of those songs.
  • Even more baffling is on that same chart, the completely forgotten "Lost!" peaked at #10, beating out, among other songs, "Fix You" (#18), "The Scientist" (#18), "Hymn For The Weekend" (#20), "Just Like This" (#16), and "My Universe" (#13)! It only reached that peak because Jay-Z released a rap version of the song (titled "Lost+") and performed it at the 2009 Grammy Awards (it even outpeaked "Yellow" on the Hot 100 by eight spots).
• The Connells had four entries on the Modern Rock charts, including three Top 10 hits, but none of them were "'74-'75" (a.k.a. the one song they're known for in Europe).
• Counting Crows:
  • Neither of their two Top 40 hits were "Mr. Jones", which was a Top 5 airplay hit but never charted due to a lack of a physical single release. They were "Accidentally in Love" (#39) from the 2004 film Shrek 2, and "Hanginaround" (#28), which isn't even their third best-known song (that would either go to "A Long December" (never released as a physical single either) or their cover of "Big Yellow Taxi" (#42)).
    • Speaking of "Big Yellow Taxi", it was outdone by a cover by a completely forgotten 70s band called The Neighborhood (#29, not to be confused with The Neighbourhood) and a live version by Joni Mitchell (#24).
  • Their only #1 single on the Modern Rock chart wasn't "Mr. Jones" (#2) or "A Long December" (#5), but "Einstein on the Beach (For An Eggman)". "Einstein" is probably the single most obscure song to ever top the alternative chart (at least from a non-obscure band), because it was taken from, of all things, a Geffen Records rarities compilation. Needless to say, the song was very quickly forgotten once it dropped off the chart.
• Cracker only had one #1 hit on the modern rock charts, but it wasn't their signature "Low", which only hit #3, but the far less iconic "Teen Angst". This is averted on the Hot 100 as "Low" was their only entry on that chart, and the mainstream rock chart where it was their biggest hit by a long shot.
• The Cranberries had three Top 40 hits. Of course, one was the iconic "Linger", but the other two surprisingly enough weren't "Zombie" and "Dreams", but the considerably lesser known Siamese Twin Songs "Free to Decide" and "When You're Gone", which hit #22 together. "Zombie" was an airplay-only single, while "Dreams" surprisingly petered out at #42; despite having great longevity as a recurrent, it wasn't as big as one would think.
  • On the Alternative chart, the Cranberries have two #1 hits. One of them is "Zombie", and the other is a completely forgotten 1996 single called "Salvation". The iconic "Dreams" only made it to #15, and was their lowest entry, on Alternative, behind songs unknown outside the Cranberries' fanbase like "Ode to My Family" and "Promises".
  • They mostly avert this in their native Ireland, where their two highest peaks were "Linger" and "Zombie", both at #3, but then comes "Salvation" at #8, one spot higher than "Dreams".
• The Cure had three top 40 hits in the U.S.: "Just Like Heaven" (#40), "Love Song" (#2), and "Friday I'm in Love" (#18). Despite the widely varying chart peaks, they are all equally iconic.
  • An interesting variation in the UK. Their iconic 1979 single "Boys Don't Cry" made the Top 40 in the UK in 1986... but only in a new and widely disliked re-recording that the band almost immediately regretted and is now difficult to find. The cover art for that 1986 version is also probably better remembered than the actual re-recording, as it was re-used as the cover for their 2004 rarities box set Join the Dots - which pointedly doesn't include the re-recording.
  • Indeed, considering its iconic status, "Just Like Heaven" wasn't even a particularly big hit in the UK either, only reaching #29. They've had four top ten singles in their home country, and while most Brits would correctly guess that two of those were "The Lovecats" and "Friday I'm in Love", the chances are that most would struggle to identify "Lullaby" and "High" as the others. "Lesser" hits like "In Between Days" (#15), "Close To Me" (original #24; remix #13) and "A Forest" (#31) are much better remembered.
  • Despite being perhaps their best known song, "Love Song" was only a smash hit in the United States. In the band's native UK, it missed the Top 10 and peaked at #18. In pretty much every other country where the band was a consistent chart presence, it was outpeaked by another Disintegration single, "Lullaby". That song is well remembered by fans of the band, but hasn't nearly had the staying power that "Love Song" has.
  • The highest charting single off their 1996 album Wild Mood Swings wasn't "Mint Car" (#58 US, #31 UK), but "The 13th" (#44 US, #15 UK), whose experimental, hookless structure hampered the band's momentum as a charting pop group in both countries.
• The Dandy Warhols easily avert this, as their signature "Bohemian Like You" was their biggest hit on both the U.S. Alt. and the UK charts. Their second biggest hit on both must have been "We Used To Be Friends", right? Nope. It was "Not If You Were the Last Junkie On Earth". "Friends" is more known for being the Veronica Mars theme than for being a single, and in the U.S. it was never even promoted to radio. In the UK it is still their third highest charter (excluding a mashup of "Bohemian" with Mousse T.'s "Dandy" released in 2006) at #18. If "Junkie" is remembered by non-fans, it's because of its semi-ironically lavish and ostentatious music video, which appeared in the band's famed documentary Dig!.
• Death Cab for Cutie have this on both the Hot 100 and alternative charts. "Soul Meets Body" was their highest-charting song on the former, reaching #60, while "You Are a Tourist" and "Here to Forever" were their only #1s on the latter. None of the three are as well-known as "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" or "I Will Possess Your Heart" - while the latter was their only other song to reach the Hot 100, "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" only reached #28 on the alternative charts, making it their second lowest-charting single since signing to Atlantic. "The Sound of Settling", which is considered to be their breakthrough single on the alternative radio format, did not make the Billboard modern rock chart. It too is better known and has more recurrent play than their only #1s on that chart.
• Dropkick Murphys have only notched a solitary entry onto the Billboard alternative chart, but it wasn't their Platinum-certified single "I'm Shipping Up to Boston", their other hometown homage "The State of Massachusetts", or their Red Sox anthem "Tessie", but their quickly forgotten 2012 Christmas song "The Season's Upon Us". Their breakthrough single "Walk Away" is their highest charter in the UK at #84, but is less well known there than "I'm Shipping Up to Boston". Averted on the US Hot 100, where "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" and "The State of Massachusetts" were the closest they got to the chart, both peaking at #1 on Bubbling Under.
• Zigzagged with Everclear's highest charter, which wasn't "Santa Monica", which did not enter the Hot 100, but rather "Wonderful". As "Wonderful" was the song that marked their transition from a firmly alternative post-grunge band to a more mainstream pop-rock act, it isn't quite as well remembered as their earlier material. While "Santa Monica" was Everclear's only #1 on Mainstream Rock, their sole #1 on Alternative was… "Everything to Everyone", which isn't as well known as "Father of Mine" (#4), "I Will Buy You A New Life" (#3), or even "Wonderful" (#3), let alone "Santa Monica". All of that said, "Santa Monica", despite peaking at #5 on the Alternative chart, had a long run and would be ranked #67 on Billboard's 25th Anniversary Top 100 Alternative Songs List.
  • They had one more Top 10 on Mainstream Rock. Was it "Everyone" (#15), "Father" (#29), "Buy" (#20) or even "Wonderful" (#28)? Wrong, it was the now-obscure "When It All Goes Wrong Again".
• Fall Out Boy
  • Their highest charter, "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race", is not only far away from being their Signature Song (being best remembered for its memetic mondegreens), it's not even the best known song off its parent album Infinity on High (that would be "Thnks fr the Mmrs", which peaked nine spots lower). This is especially odd, since "Scene"'s robust digital sales debut had it open one space short of topping the charts (it got stuck behind Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable"). "Sugar, We're Goin' Down" and "Dance, Dance" (which are probably tied for the title of the band's signature) only reached #8 and #9, respectively.
  • Their first #1 single on Alternative radio was 2023's "Love from the Other Side", years after their popularity faded. They had eight other Top 10 singles, including "Sugar, We're Goin Down", "Dance, Dance", "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)", "Centuries", and "This Ain't a Scene".
• Fleet Foxes's sole top 10 on the adult alternative chart is "Can I Believe You", from their 2020 album Shore. While a newer song, it is unlikely to displace "Mykonos" (#30) or "White Winter Hymnal" (didn't chart) as their signature.
• Florence + the Machine have four top 10 alternative hits. Of course, one was their signature "Dog Days Are Over", but none of them include "Shake It Out" or "You've Got the Love". Many Americans will also be surprised that "Days" and "Shake" didn't do as well as they would expect in their native U.K., only reaching #23 and #12 there, respectively. Their only UK #1 was "Spectrum (Say My Name)".
• Foo Fighters:
  • Their highest-charting song, at #18, is "Best of You", a classic but not as well-known as "Everlong" or "My Hero" (neither of which charted; in fact, they only reached the Top 40 on two other occasions, with "The Pretender" and "Learn to Fly"). In fact, of their three Top 40 hits, "Best of You", though still far from obscure, is likely the least-known of them.
  • Among their many #1 singles on both rock formats (12 on Alternative, 14 on Mainstream Rock), none of them were "Everlong" (#3 Alt., #4 Main.) or "My Hero" (#6 Alt., #8 Main.). "The Pretender" topped both charts (ruling alternative for a then-record 18 weeks).
• Fountains of Wayne easily avert this, as "Stacy's Mom" was, for the most part, their only song to chart anywhere and they are today considered a quintessential One-Hit Wonder of the 2000s. However, they had one bigger hit on the alternative charts — the 1996 #14 hit "Radiation Vibe" ("Mom" only made it to #33). That song is fondly remembered by critics and Power Pop fans, but doesn't have the same mainstream recognition as "Stacy's Mom".
• Frente! is a One-Hit Wonder for their Softer and Slower Cover of "Bizarre Love Triangle". And yet their biggest single in their native Australia at #4 is their first, "Accidently Kelly Street" (The cover peaked at #7) , and on Billboard's Alternative Charts, the follow-up to that #10 cover, "Labour of Love", outpeaked it by one position.
• "Only Happy When It Rains", which peaked at #55, is one of Garbage's most famous songs, but they actually had three bigger hits. While "Stupid Girl" (their only Top 40 entry) is still well-known, "Push It" and "Special" (both #52 peaks) aren't nearly as well-remembered today. Also, their only #1 on Alternative wasn't "Only Happy When It Rains" (#16) or "Stupid Girl" (#2), but, fittingly enough, "#1 Crush".
• Most people wouldn't be surprised to learn that Gin Blossoms only had one Top 10 hit. They will be surprised to learn however that it wasn't "Hey Jealousy", which only reached #25, but the somewhat less remembered "Follow You Down", a #9 hit (which is still their second most famous song). Although "Follow You Down" would spend months on the airwaves and eclipse the single it was attached to commercially, the real reason it debuted so high was because its CD single release also included "Til I Hear It From You", the band's hugely popular (at the time) contribution to the Empire Records soundtrack. The song was only available for sale as part of the film's soundtrack or on the CD single (you can read more about its weird release history here). The single was listed on the charts as a "Double A-side", which was rare for 1996, because both songs were getting airplay. Nowadays? Despite all of the hype and acclaim "Til I Hear It from You" received at the time, "Hey Jealousy", "Follow You Down", "Found Out About You" (#25) and "Allison Road" (#24 on Hot 100 Airplay) all eclipse it in recurrent airplay.
  • They somewhat avert this on Mainstream Rock, where "Hey Jealousy" was their highest entry at #4, albeit tied with "Til I Hear It From You". However, it's played more straight on Mainstream Top 40, where "Hey Jealousy" was their second-lowest entry; and Alternative and Adult Pop Airplay, where "Hey Jealousy" didn't even enter either chart, with their highest entries being "Found Out About You" and a tie between "Til I Hear It From You" and "Follow You Down", respectively.
• Goldfinger had three entries on the Modern Rock chart, but none of them were "Superman". The reason why "Superman" is considered their signature was because it featured on the iconic video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.
• Good Charlotte had three Top 40 hits, yet surprisingly their signature "The Anthem" only reached #43. The biggest hit, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", is easily their runner-up, yet is not quite as well-known as "Anthem". Their other two hits? One was "Dance Floor Anthem (I Don't Want To Be in Love)", which is still well-known but not as much the former two, and probably not even their third best-known song (a title that likely goes to "Girls & Boys", which only reached #48). Their third hit, however? "The River", their collaboration with M. Shadows and Synyster Gates, which peaked at #39 and was almost instantly forgotten.
• Green Day:
  • It's not surprising that "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" reached #2, but what is surprising is that none of their 90s songs - including "Basket Case", their breakthrough pop radio hit "When I Come Around" or "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" - ever touched the Hot 100. They only hit the airplay charts because of rules against songs not released as physical singles. Nevertheless, "Good Riddance", which just missed top 10 in airplay, is still very well-known.
  • From American Idiot, the two top ten hits off the album were "Boulevard" and "Wake Me Up When September Ends". The last top 40 hit must be the title track. Nope, it only peaked at #61 because it was released as a single shortly before Billboard started including iTunes sales in their chart algorithm (it likely would have gone to #1 had its iTunes sales counted). Their third top 40 off the album was "Holiday", "Boulevard"'s Siamese Twin Song, which is far from forgotten, but not quite as iconic as the title track.
  • They've had nine #1 hits on mainstream rock. The first of which was "Boulevard", which isn't too surprising, nor is it all that surprising that their second was "Holiday". The third was "Know Your Enemy" from 21st Century Breakdown, which isn't even the best-known song from its parent album (see below). The remaining five were all released years after their prime: "Bang Bang" in 2016, "Still Breathing" in 2017, "Father of All..." in 2019, "Oh Yeah!" in 2020, "The American Dream Is Killing Me" in 2023, and "Dilemma" in 2024.
  • 21st Century Breakdown only produced one song that topped both the modern and mainstream rock charts, but it wasn't "21 Guns" (which only hit #3 and #17 respectively), but rather "Know Your Enemy", which isn't quite as well-known. Averted on the Hot 100 where "Guns" was the bigger hit (#22 vs. #28).
  • Back on Alternative radio, they've scored twelve #1 singles, yet both "Good Riddance" and "Wake Me Up When September Ends" fell just short at #2. And one of those #1s? "J.A.R.", which isn't even in a studio album (originally from the Angus soundtrack, but later included in Green Day's first Greatest Hits Album).
• A weird variation with The Hives. Their #6 alternative hit and sole Hot 100 entry "Hate to Say I Told You So" is easily their most famous song stateside, but Americans would be surprised to learn that back home in Sweden it never charted at all. Their biggest hit there is the #4 "A Christmas Duel", a duet with Cyndi Lauper of all people. They also had a #19 on US Alt. with "Walk Idiot Walk", but it's mostly forgotten outside their fanbase, and the only other song most people can name is "Tick Tick Boom" (due to how many times it was used in the media), which only barely scraped the alternative charts.
• Imagine Dragons:
  • They have three #1s on the Hot Pop Songs chart, but none of them were "Radioactive", which only hit #2, but "Demons", "Thunder", and "Enemy". Back on the Hot 100, though, "Radioactive" is their champion, having hit #3 to "Demons"' #6, "Thunder"'s #4, and "Enemy"'s #5. Also, among their ten top 40 hits was not the iconic "On Top of the World" (#79), but "I Bet My Life", which is well-remembered but far behind in popularity, was one of them. Even "Monster", a song the band recorded for the obscure video game Infinity Blade III, narrowly outpeaked it, and that song is pretty much only remembered today for its usage in a video package for WrestleMania XXX recapping the rise of Daniel Bryan, and is today considered one of the greatest promos in wrestling history.
  • The band has seven #1s on the alternative chart, and yet their Breakthrough Hit "It's Time" stalled at #4. One of the songs that reached the summit was "Follow You", which was released in 2021, by which point their popularity had been falling and therefore did not cross over like their other #1s.
  • They achieved five #1s on the Hot Rock chart, and while all of them are well-known, none of them are "Demons", which fell one spot short.
• Incubus is an aversion. Their signature "Drive" was their only Top 40 hit and the first of four #1s on modern rock. However, what were the other three? "Megalomaniac", "Anna Molly"… and then there's "Love Hurts", which isn't nearly as well known as songs that didn't hit the top like "Pardon Me" (#3), "Stellar", "Wish You Were Here" (both #2) and "Dig" (#4).
• Jack Johnson has three songs that can be argued as his signature: "Flake", "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing", and "Upside Down". The former two didn’t crack the top 40 of the Hot 100, peaking at #73 and #66 respectively, and while "Upside Down" scraped in at #38, it is eclipsed by "You And Your Heart", which is considerably less-remembered despite peaking at #20; "Upside Down" has better recognition, especially by those who grew up in the 2000s, due to being associated with a children's animated movie, and is even better-known than the movie itself. None of these songs are his sole top 10 hit on the alternative chart either, that honor goes to "If I Had Eyes". Averted on the AAA chart, where he has been dominant: all of these songs, and six more, have hit #1 there.
• James Bay downplays this trope. He scored his first American Top 40 hit in July 2016 with the #16 "Let It Go" (not to be confused with the much more iconic song from Frozen — which did outpeak it at #5). However, it has not overshadowed his Breakthrough Hit "Hold Back the River" in public consciousness, despite the fact that it never charted on the Hot 100 (falling just short at #101). Instead, they're known roughly the same, which is notable considering they're eons apart in terms of chart peaks.
• Jet's only #1 on both rock charts was not their signature "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" (#3 Alt., #7 Main.), but "Cold Hard Bitch", although the former was their highest charting song on the Hot 100. Still, "Bitch" is easily better remembered than the band's other top 40 hit, "Look What You've Done".
  • They had two #14 peaks in their native Australia, but neither was "Are You Gonna Be My Girl", which stalled at #20. Rather, they were "Look What You've Done" and "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is".
• Johnny Marr is one of the most iconic guitarists in the Alternative Rock genre. Yet, in his entire career, he only performed on just three top 40 hits in the United States, and none of them were with The Smiths (who never charted at all in America) or his tenure with Modest Mouse (who never made the Top 40; their highest peak was at #61): The first was "Kiss and Tell", a 1987 #31 hit for former Roxy Music frontman Bryan Ferry, on which he played lead guitar as a session musician. The second was the 1990 #38 hit "Getting Away with It" by Electronic, a supergroup he was in with New Order singer Bernard Sumner and occasionally Pet Shop Boys frontman Neil Tennant. The third and most recent was "No Time to Die", Billie Eilish's 2020 theme for the James Bond movie of the same name, which reached #16 and also features Marr on guitar. While the Eilish song is too new and too high profile to count just yet, the other two songs are certainly not as well known as most of The Smiths or Modest Mouse singles he played on, or for that matter the music of the Smiths' other front man Morrissey (who has never appeared on an American top 40 hit; his highest peak was at #46).
• Kate Bush overall is an aversion, as her only #1s in the UK are her best known songs, "Wuthering Heights" and "Running Up That Hill", and the latter is also her biggest American hit (#30 on initial release, #3 after its 2022 re-release after it was featured in Stranger Things, which also helped it top the UK charts from its original 1985 #3 peak). However, Bush only had three more appearances on the Billboard Hot 100, and none of those songs are among her best known nowadays: "The Man with the Child in His Eyes" (#85 in 1978), "Don't Give Up", a collaboration with her friend Peter Gabriel (#72 in 1986), and "Rubberband Girl" (#88 in 1993). That means "Wuthering Heights", "Wow", "Babooshka", "Cloudbusting", "Hounds of Love", "This Woman's Work", and a host of other Bush singles that are better known than that charting trio in the US didn't make the Hot 100 at all. Only "Wuthering Heights" made it onto the Bubbling Under chart, where it only reached #108 and was outpeaked by its much less remembered followup "Child".
• Keane is easily an aversion, as their signature "Somewhere Only We Know" was the band's biggest hit in both the US and UK. But on the alternative charts, "Somewhere" was beaten out by "Is It Any Wonder?", which hit #18 to the former's #32. While the two songs were of relatively equal status when they were released (with "Somewhere" being stronger on adult pop and "Wonder" on rock radio), the former is by far the better-known song today.
• The Killers
  • They avert this trope overall, as "Mr. Brightside" was their only Top 10 hit — but "Somebody Told Me" only hit #51. The two are just as equally iconic despite the 41-spot difference in their peaks. Their other two top 40 hits, "When You Were Young" (a #14 hit) and "Human" (#32), are still two of their best-known songs, although not as much as either of the former two.
  • They had three #1s on alternative charts, but shockingly, "Mr. Brightside" and "Somebody Told Me" weren't among them, both peaking at #3. They were instead "When You Were Young", "Caution", and "Boy", the latter two of which were released in the 2020s, way after their commercial peak.
  • In the UK (where they're most popular), neither "Mr. Brightside" (#10) or "Somebody Told Me" (#3) were their highest-charting song; that was "When You Were Young" (#2). Still, "Brightside"'s iconic status in that country made their longest-charting single there by a wide margin, to the point where it was one of the UK's biggest songs of the 2010s despite being released in 2003.
• Kings of Leon had two top 40 hits, "Use Somebody" and… the almost-equally iconic "Sex On Fire"? Nope, that only got to #56; the other was "Radioactive".
  • Not only that, but the band had terrible luck early in their career on alternative radio. Before "Sex on Fire", only one of their singles made the top 40 of Billboard's alternative charts. It wasn't "Molly's Chambers", "Four Kicks" or "On Call", but the considerably less remembered "The Bucket".
• The La's' "There She Goes" never reached the Top 40 in the United States, with a remix of it falling just short at #49. While this is an aversion for The La's as it was their only chart entry, a version of it did crack the Top 40 stateside. That version being by Christian Rock band Sixpence None the Richer, which hit #32. Today, Sixpence is solely remembered for "Kiss Me", their one original hit, while the original by The La's gets all the airplay today.
• Lana Del Rey had four Top 40 hits: "Summertime Sadness" and "Young & Beautiful" are both well-known among the general populace. Were the other two any sort of combination of "Video Games", "Born To Die" or "Blue Jeans"? Nope, the former peaked at #91, while the other two didn't chart. The third was "West Coast", which only charted because of a big first-week digital launch, while the fourth was her equally-billed collaboration with Taylor Swift, "Snow on the Beach".
• Lloyd Cole and the Commotions have had five Top 40 hits in their native UK, but "Rattlesnakes" only got to #65. The group's Signature Song "Perfect Skin" was one of their Top 40 hits, but it only got to #26 and was outdistanced by two later songs — their biggest hit "Lost Weekend" (#17), which is still well-remembered but not as iconic as the former two, and "Brand New Friend" (#19), which is even less well-known.
• The Maine was one of the more popular pop-punk bands of the 2010's, but they had bad luck on Alternative radio, including with their signature song, 2017's "Black Butterflies and Deja Vu", which failed to chart. They would not break through until 2021's "Sticky", which peaked at #16. The following year, they scored their first airplay top 10 with "Loved You a Little" (#8), a collaboration with Taking Back Sunday and Charlotte Sands. Both songs, at least for right now, don't seem to have the same staying power in the fanbase that "Butterflies" has had.
• Marianas Trench had two top 10 hits in their native Canada… "Cross My Heart" and "All to Myself", right? (Nope, #15 and #11 respectively) They were actually "Haven't Had Enough" (still fairly well-known, if not on the level of the first two) and "Say Anything". The latter was released when the Canadian charts relied solely on sales of physical singles; despite being their biggest hit at #3, it’s nowhere near as remembered as "Shake Tramp" (#65) from the same album, let alone songs like "Celebrity Status" (#24) and "Fallout" (#26).
  • In the US, they had exactly one entry on Adult Pop Airplay, but it wasn't any of the above-mentioned songs; it was "One Love".
• Matt and Kim had two minor hits on alternative radio. Surely one of them had to be their signature "Daylight"? Believe or not it never charted (though it was their only Hot 100 entry, peaking at #95). Their two songs to chart on alternative are "Let's Go" and "Get It", none of which are even their second best-known song ("Cameras").
• Matt Nathanson's highest charting hit on the Hot 100 was not "Come On Get Higher" (#59), but "Run" (featuring Sugarland) (by six spots), which isn't nearly as well-known. The fact that "Run" was released not long after Sugarland's career became Overshadowed by Controversy due to the Indiana State Fair stage collapse didn't help.
  • His highest entry on the AC chart hit #2, but it also wasn't "Come On Get Higher", which peaked one rung lower; instead it was a cover of Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)". Averted, however, on both Adult Alternative Airplay and Adult Pop Airplay, where "Come On Get Higher" was his biggest hit on both.
• Metric's highest charter on the U.S. Alternative charts was 2012's "Breathing Underwater", which hit #11. While a popular tune, it isn't as well-known as "Help I'm Alive" or "Gold, Guns, Girls".
  • On the Canadian rock chart, they had two top ten hits, but neither were any of the above-mentioned songs. Rather, they were 2018's "Dark Saturday" and 2022's "All Comes Crashing". Overall averted on the Canadian Hot 100, where "Help I'm Alive" was their highest entry at #21, one spot higher than "Breathing Underwater".
• Midnight Oil is labeled as a One-Hit Wonder in America due to "Beds Are Burning". That's true on pop, but not on rock. They had two chart toppers on the Alternative chart, which did not exist when "Beds" peaked: "Blue Sky Mine" and "Forgotten Years". On the mainstream rock chart, which did exist at the time? "Beds" only made it to #6, and "Blue Sky Mine" was their only #1 there. While "Blue Sky Mine" is probably their second best known song in the US, it is nowhere close to the popularity of "Beds".
  • In their native Australia, their highest entry peaked at #4, but it wasn't "Beds Are Burning" or even "Blue Sky Mine", which peaked at #6 and #8 respectively, but rather the former's predecessor, "The Dead Heart".
• Modest Mouse:
  • Their biggest hit on the Hot 100 wasn't their breakthrough 2004 hit "Float On" (#68), but rather 2007's "Dashboard" (#61), which is easily their second-best known hit, but still not as iconic as "Float On".
  • They had three #1 hits on the alternative chart. One was "Float On", but one wasn't "Dashboard" (which reached #5). Instead their other #1s were 2015's "Lampshades on Fire" and 2021's "We Are Between", which reached that peak largely because they were the first singles from their respective albums. The band also took several years between album releases, and built anticipation from radio and their fans for those two singles. However, "Lampshades" and "Between" haven't had the same staying power, either with the band's fans or radio programmers, that "Dashboard" has had.
• Mumford & Sons had three Top 40 hits: "I Will Wait", "The Cave" and… "Little Lion Man"? Actually, that only reached #45. The third Top 40 hit was "Believe", which was forgotten as soon as it finished its run. "Believe" also outpeaked "Little Lion Man" and "The Cave" in their native UK (#20 vs. #24 & #31).
• Muse:
  • They're an aversion overall. Their signature "Uprising" was their sole Top 40 entry and they've been a mainstay of alternative radio since Absolution. However, "Feeling Good" and "Butterflies and Hurricanes" never charted anywhere in the U.S. despite being generally well-known. "Feeling Good" didn't chart in America largely because their Origin of Symmetry album wasn't released at all there until 2005, owing to Executive Meddling.
  • Besides "Uprising", the other two songs to enter the Hot 100 were "Madness" in #45 and "Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)" . While "Madness" is still remembered, "Neutron Star Collision" has been largely forgotten, only charting due to its inclusion in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. The band themselves barely acknowledge it themselves either, only being played a few times in 2010 and once in 2013.
  • Many of Muse's most famous songs failed to chart on the Hot 100. "Plug in Baby" (for the same reasons as "Feeling Good"), "Time is Running Out", "Supermassive Black Hole", and "Knights of Cydonia" failed to chart entirely, while "Starlight" and "Hysteria" were only able to "bubble under", peaking at an unofficial #101 and #118 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100.
  • Additionally, none of these songs listed here were their only #1 on mainstream rock. That honor goes to 2022's "Won't Stand Down", released many years after their peak in popularity.
• My Chemical Romance averts this, as "Welcome to the Black Parade" was their biggest hit on both the pop and rock charts. They had one other top 40 hit, "Helena", which while still well-known isn't on the level of "Sing" (#58), "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" (#86), or "Teenagers" (#67), and only slightly ahead of "Famous Last Words" (#88). Also of note, "Teenagers" wasn't a top 10 hit on alternative, as it only landed at #13.
• Neon Trees had two Top 5 hits on the alternative charts. While "Animal" (their only #1 on the chart) was one of them, "Everybody Talks" stalled at #7. The other hit, "Used to Like", isn't well-known outside of alternative radio listeners. Similarly, they had two Top 10 hits on the Hot Rock Songs chart; "Animal" was one of them, but the other wasn't "Everybody Talks", which just missed out on the Top 10, but the lesser-known "Sleeping with a Friend". On the Hot 100, however, "Everybody Talks" and "Animal" were their only trips to the Top 40.
• Nerf Herder had one minor alternative rock radio hit in the mid-to-late '90s. It must've been the Buffy theme, right? Nope, it's the much less remembered "Van Halen". While it is probably their best known song, the full version of the Buffy theme is just over a minute long and entirely instrumental, which would make it an unlikely fit for radio even if it were ever officially promoted as a single in the first place.
• Nine Inch Nails only had one song hit the Top 20, "The Day the World Went Away", driven entirely by the huge first-week sales of its CD single (the song didn't even chart on the alternative chart, which isn't surprising, considering it's an extremely uncommercial Noise Rock song). Suffice to say, it's not nearly as iconic as songs like "Closer" (#41), "Hurt" (didn't chart), "March of the Pigs" (#59), "Happiness in Slavery" (didn't chart either), "Head Like a Hole" (#109), or "The Hand That Feeds". It should also be noted that only the lattermost song was a #1 hit (their first of four) on the alternative rock charts (and their only other top 40 hit, hitting #31).
  • The highest charting song from Year Zero is "Survivalism", its lead single. It hit #1 on the alternative charts but plummeted down afterwards, and is today nowhere near as remembered as its follow-up "Capital G", which only made it to #6.
• Nirvana:
  • They avert this trope, as their legendary "Smells Like Teen Spirit" peaked at #6 on the Hot 100, and was their first of five #1's on Modern Rock radio. However, "Spirit" wasn't their only #1 hit on mainstream rock (it only peaked at #7); it was actually "You Know You're Right", released eight years after Cobain's death. Also surprising is the fact that they've outpeaked it on that chart five other times with "Come As You Are", "In Bloom", "Heart-Shaped Box", "Rape Me/All Apologies", and "About a Girl".
  • Some of "Teen Spirit"'s low chart peaks were because Top 40 radio was still a major part of the Hot 100, and "Teen Spirit" didn't do too well on that front: Many pop stations of the day balked at its abrasive sound and only played it late at night, if at all. The result? While a top 10 hit on the Hot 100 due to its huge single sales numbers, it peaked at just #41 on Billboard's airplay charts. (It peaked at #9 on the R&R Contemporary Hit Radio Airplay list, which guided Rick Dees' and Casey Kasem's respective weekly Top 40 programs.) Their biggest pop radio hit was the unplugged version of "About a Girl", which made it to #22 despite being ineligible for the Hot 100 because there was no physical single for sale.
  • Not even the chart it made #1 on is safe from this. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" topped the Modern Rock chart for just a single week in November of 1991...and was then promptly dethroned by U2's "Mysterious Ways", which sat at the top spot for the next nine weeks. In those nine weeks, "Teen Spirit" arguably became more popular than when it was at the top of that chart (its Hot 100 peak happened in this time frame) — and while "Mysterious Ways" remains iconic, it still isn't close to the legendary status of "Teen Spirit". This was owing to the fact that the Modern Rock chart was survey-driven prior to early '94, when the Soundscan method was finally adopted. Incidentally enough, the latter development catapulted "All Apologies", which had been stalling near the bottom of the top 10 for the past few weeks, straight to the top spot.
• No Doubt's highest-charting single reached #3. "Don't Speak"? No, it was "Underneath It All". "Don't Speak" was ineligible to enter the Hot 100 due to a lack of a physical single release (if it had, it would have very likely been a #1 hit, given it topped the Airplay charts). "Just A Girl" (which peaked at #23) and "Spiderwebs" (which also had no physical single release) are probably also better remembered than "Underneath it All" or their other two top 10 hits, "Hey Baby" and their cover of Talk Talk's "It's My Life". "Underneath It All" is also less well-known than "Hey Baby" and "It's My Life", as well as the #13 "Hella Good".
  • They had two #2 singles on the Modern Rock chart: "Don't Speak" and, none of the above songs, but rather "Ex-Girlfriend".
  • Lead singer Gwen Stefani is an aversion, as her signature song "Hollaback Girl" was her only #1 hit.
• Oasis:
  • "Wonderwall" was not amongst their eight #1 hit singles in the UK, peaking one spot short, but it was their biggest hit across the pond.
  • While "Wonderwall" is Oasis's best known song on both sides of the Atlantic, their runner-ups are different, and each performed relatively poorly in the other country. In the UK, their second best known song is "Don't Look Back in Anger", which only hit #10 on the U.S. alternative charts and stalled in the 50s of the overall airplay charts. Meanwhile, in America, "Champagne Supernova" is what they're probably better recognized for. It unfortunately wasn't a hit anywhere else it charted, and wasn't released as a single at all in the UK (Ironically enough, the video for "Don’t Look Back in Anger" was shot in Los Angeles despite a very British aesthetic, while the video for "Champagne Supernova" was shot in England).
  • While "Wonderwall" and "Supernova" were their sole #1 hits on US alternative, they actually had three more singles that outpeaked "Anger": the #2 hit "Live Forever" isn't obscure but still isn't quite as well known as "Anger". The other two? "D'You Know What I Mean?" and "Don't Go Away", which both come from the very divisive album "Be Here Now" and as a result are leagues behind "Anger" in popularity.
• The Offspring had three #1 hits on the Alternative charts. It's no surprise that two of them were "Come out and Play" and "You're Gonna Go Far Kid", but the third? "Hit That", which is nowhere near as iconic as some of their songs that missed the top like "Self-Esteem" (#4) and "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" (#3). Their three #1 hits on the Mainstream Rock charts were "Gone Away", a 1997 song that's not forgotten but not as well known as their bigger hits, "Coming For You" and "Let the Bad Times Roll", which were respectively released in 2015 and 2021, long after their peak in relevance. Averted on the Hot 100, where "Pretty Fly" was their highest peak.
• Panic! at the Disco had four top 40 hits. Three were "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies", "High Hopes" and "Hey Look Ma, I Made It", all among their best-known songs. Their fourth Top 40 hit peaked exactly at #40. It wasn't "Nine in the Afternoon" which peaked at #51, but rather "Hallelujah", which was instantly forgotten. "Hallelujah" isn't even the best-known song from its parent album (see below).
  • Death of a Bachelor had four charting singles: "Hallelujah", "Emperor's New Clothes", "Victorious", and the Title Track. The latter two are easily the best-known, but they are actually the two lowest peaking of the four.
  • They had three #1 hits on the alternative chart: "Say Amen (Saturday Night)", "High Hopes", and "Viva Las Vengeance". However, "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" only made it to #12, outpeaked by seven other PATD songs.
• Paramore has a single #1 on the Alternative chart. Surely it was "Misery Business", right? Wrong. "Misery Business" only got to #3. The #1 hit was 2022's "This Is Why", which, while new and on course to be a well-remembered track, is unlikely to unseat their 2007 hit as their signature.
  • "Misery Business" also is upstaged by a different well-remembered but not definitive song on the Hot 100. 2013's "Ain't It Fun" made it to #10 and "Business" only got to #26. The same happened on Hot Rock Songs, where "Business" stalled at #24 while "Ain't It Fun" topped the chart. As for "This Is Why", it only got to #8 on the Bubbling Under chart; however, it also outpeaked "Business" on Hot Rock, peaking nine spaces higher.
• What was Pearl Jam's highest charting Hot 100 hit? Was it "Alive", "Even Flow", or "Jeremy"? Maybe it was "Better Man"? Actually it wasn't any of them, but a cover of the 60's standard "Last Kiss". Furthermore, none of those four songs or even "Last Kiss" ever topped the Modern Rock charts, and only "Better Man" made it to the top of Mainstream Rock, with "Daughter" being the first Pearl Jam song to top both charts.
  • Unlike a lot of artists here who were denied Hot 100 placements of their big hits due to an unintended consequence of Executive Meddling, it was actually Pearl Jam themselves who requested their most popular songs not be released as singles. Additionally, their record label wanted the band to be seen as heirs to 1970s rock bands like Led Zeppelin, for whom singles were an afterthought. Despite several of Pearl Jam's songs having huge pop radio airplay — particularly "Better Man", "Daughter" and "Jeremy" — the only songs the group ever released as physical singles were noisy, heavy or experimental rock songs like "Spin the Black Circle" or "Who You Are", which all sold in high quantities and made the Top 40 despite minimal airplay. After noticing that fans were paying exorbitant costs to buy import copies of their singles, Pearl Jam eventually released some of their most popular songs as singles in the US long after interest waned: "Jeremy" in 1995 (it still made #79 on the Hot 100), "Daughter" in 1996 (#97), and "Alive" in 1999 (it didn't chart). The band relaxed their stance towards singles around the release of "Last Kiss", which resulted in its huge sales and radio airplay; the song not appearing on any studio albums drove its sales and it remains their best-selling single. Shortly thereafter, the Hot 100 allowed songs not released as singles to chart; the lead singles off of most of their subsequent albums have all narrowly missed the top 40 until rock in general stopped crossing over.
  • Their second biggest Hot 100 hit was, once again, not one of their better remembered singles; "I Got Id", featuring Neil Young, made the Top 10 much like "Last Kiss" did: It was not only one of the few times the band actually released a physical single during their peak, but it was also only available on CD single and couldn't be found on the Mirror Ball record they had then just released with Young.
  • "Spin the Black Circle", the band's third biggest Hot 100 hit, has its own story about how it came to chart so high. Its parent album, Vitalogy, was only available on LP for its first two weeks of release; The band, and singer Eddie Vedder in particular, were fans of the format and chose to release it this way at a time when vinyl was at an all-time low point in popularity. Hardcore fans indeed bought the LP to the tune of 34,000 copies in its first week, which remained the highest single-week sales for an LP record for 20 years. Other fans who really wanted new Pearl Jam songs on CD bought the "Spin the Black Circle" CD single in the meantime, even though that song is, ironically enough, about the band's love of vinyl. When radio got a hold of the album, "Spin" was eclipsed in popularity by "Better Man", one of the band's most accessible songs, which they refused to release as a single and was therefore ineligible for the Hot 100. "Better Man" became one of the band's biggest pop and rock radio hits, and it's the song from Vitalogy you're mostly likely to hear now, while "Spin" is much more obscure.
• Phantom Planet's only Top 20 hit on Modern Rock was shockingly not "California" (#35), which was popularized after it became the theme song to The O.C., but the completely forgotten "Big Brat".
• Phoebe Bridgers had three Hot 100 entries, two of which, "Nothing New" and "Ghost in the Machine", were collaborations with Taylor Swift and SZA, respectively. The only other one had to be either "Kyoto" or "Motion Sickness", right? Nope, it was a cover of "Iris" by The Goo Goo Dolls as a duet with Maggie Rogers to celebrate Donald Trump's loss in the 2020 Presidential election. What makes this baffling is that the cover was only available to purchase on Phoebe's Bandcamp page for one day. As a result, it was instantly forgotten.
  • A minor example on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart. In 2022, Bridgers scored her highest charting single on the chart with "Sidelines" at #12, barely edging out the #15 peak of "Kyoto". It, however, failed to spend as much time on the chart as the latter, and as it was a stand-alone single made for the miniseries Conversations with Friends, it is also unlikely "Sidelines" will be remembered as much as her two signatures.
• Pierce the Veil has a lone #1 hit on the Alternative Airplay chart. It is not their signature, 2012's "King For A Day", recorded with Kellin Quinn of Sleeping with Sirens featured. It is 2023's "Emergency Contact", which, while fairly popular, is not even close to topping "King For A Day". Pierce The Veil in general suffered from punk, metal, and emo music rapidly receding from alternative radio at the start of the 2010's when they broke out, their only other radio charter is 2016's "Circles", which sputtered out at #31.
• Zig-zagged with The Pixies, who had their biggest hit on the Modern Rock Tracks list with "Here Comes Your Man", which hit #3 and remains one of their most well known songs, alongside "Where Is My Mind?", "Monkey Gone to Heaven", and "Debaser". The Pixies only had a total of three songs to reach the top 5, though the remainder of these did not include "Where Is My Mind?", which was never released as a single, or "Debaser", which never charted. "Monkey Gone to Heaven" did reach #5 at least. So what does all of this leave? The less well-remembered "Velouria" which peaked at #4.
• Placebo had two entries on the alternative charts: "Pure Morning" and… "Every You Every Me"? No, it was the far less well-remembered "Infra-Red". In their native UK, "Every You Every Me" only hit #11, ensuring that alongside "Pure Morning" and breakout hit "Nancy Boy", their third top 10 hit is the lesser-known "You Don't Care About Us". Also, the closest they've gotten to the US Hot 100 (and only Bubbling Under entry), at #116? Their cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill".
• The Postal Service only had one entry on the Billboard Alternative chart, but it wasn't their Platinum-certified single "Such Great Heights" or its two equally well known follow-ups "We Will Become Silhouettes" and "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight". Instead, the song was their one-off reunion single "A Tattered Line of String" from 2013. The three songs didn't become alternative radio standards until years after their release, and their popularity is why "Tattered" even charted in the first place. "Tattered" has since faded into obscurity while the other three songs, and "Such Great Heights" in particular, continue to be massive radio recurrents on the format. It's a bit averted on the Hot 100, where "We Will Become Silhouettes" was their only entry.
• The Presidents of the United States of America's only Top 40 hit, and by extension their only Hot 100 entry, is "Peaches". Today, it's not quite as iconic as its predecessor, "Lump" (although still well-known enough to make VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '90s). At the time of their release, the two songs had roughly the same popularity, but only "Peaches" was eligible for the Hot 100. Averted on the Hot 100 Airplay chart, where "Lump" outpeaked "Peaches" by 16 spots, on the alternative chart, where "Lump" was their only #1 hit, and on the mainstream rock chart, where "Lump" was their highest entry, outpeaking "Peaches" by 17 spots.
• R.E.M.:
  • They generally avert this trope, as their signature "Losing My Religion" was their highest-charting song at #4. Many would assume their other three Top 10 hits were "Shiny Happy People", "Everybody Hurts", and "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", but while "Shiny" was indeed one of them, it was the lowest-charting out of the four, and the latter two songs peaked at #29 and #69, respectively. The other two hits were "Stand" and their Breakthrough Hit "The One I Love", which are still iconic enough to not be obscure and still get some radio airplay from time to time.
  • Their biggest hit off of Automatic for the People on the Hot 100 and both rock charts wasn't "Everybody Hurts" (#29 Hot 100, #21 Alt., didn't chart Main. Rock) or even the nearly-as-iconic "Man on the Moon" (#30 Hot 100, #2 Alt., #4 Main. Rock), but "Drive" (#28 Hot 100, #1 Alt., #2 Main. Rock).
  • They had six #1 hits on Modern Rock, including "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" (which debuted on top), and "Losing My Religion", but "Everybody Hurts" only made it to #21.
• Radiohead barely had two Top 40 hits. The highest-charting, of course, was "Creep" at #34. Their only other Top 40 hit, "Nude", peaked at #37 in 2008, due to sales of the individual master stems of the song that were released for fans to make remixes for a competition. It isn't nearly as iconic as "Karma Police" or "Paranoid Android" (neither of which charted) - which are among the band's top 10 hits in their native UK, alongside "Creep", "No Surprises", "Street Spirit (Fade Out)"... and two lead singles with not that much staying power, "Pyramid Song" and "There There".
• Red Hot Chili Peppers:
  • Overall they avert this trope, as "Under the Bridge" (from Blood Sugar Sex Magik) and "Dani California" (from Stadium Arcadium) were their biggest Top-10 hits. Their third top 10 hit was from their album Californication, but it wasn't the title track (which peaked at #69). The correct answer was the #9 "Scar Tissue", which was their biggest hit ever on rock radio, but it's not quite as well-remembered as "Californication".
  • They have had many #1 singles on both rock formats (including 15 on the alternative chart, the most of any artist), yet none of them were "Under the Bridge".
  • On Mainstream Rock, "Can't Stop" only hit #15, out-charted by the largely forgotten "Warped" (#13) as well as lesser known songs like "Aeroplane" and "Look Around" (both peaking at #12). And one of their chart toppers on the same format? "My Friends", which is nowhere near as well known as "Bridge" or "Stop".
  • Apart from "Under the Bridge", none of the other three singles from their classic Blood Sugar Sex Magik album made the Top 40 in the United States. "Breaking the Girl" and "Suck My Kiss" didn't even make the Hot 100, while "Give It Away", one of their most popular and iconic songs, topped out at #76. They did have a second Top 40 hit around this time though, but it wasn't with a song that could be found on the album. "Soul to Squeeze", recorded in the same sessions but not released until two years later on the Coneheads soundtrack, reached #22 on the Hot 100. "Squeeze" is well-liked by fans and shows up on alternative radio every now and again, but it didn't live up to the continued popularity of "Give It Away", let alone "Under the Bridge".
• The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus avert this trope overall, as their signature "Face Down" was their only Top 40 hit on the Hot 100. However, it wasn't their highest-charting song on mainstream rock... that honor would go to "You Better Pray", which hit #31, outpeaking "Face Down" by seven spots.
• Republica only had one Top 10 hit in their native UK. Surprisingly, it wasn't "Ready to Go", which only reached #13. Instead, their sole Top 10 was the long-forgotten "Drop Dead Gorgeous", a #7 hit. Easily averted stateside, where "Ready to Go" hit #7 on the alternative charts and #56 on the Hot 100, compared to "Drop Dead Gorgeous" only reaching #39 and #93 respectively. Not to mention, "Ready to Go" was used in numerous media in America at the time (while "Drop Dead Gorgeous" was not), further making it better known to the US. While "Ready to Go" has always been the only song by them most Americans can name, even in the UK it's become all they're remembered for.
• Rise Against only had one chart entry — 2011's "Help Is on the Way", which peaked at #89. It's also their highest charter on both Alternative and Hot Rock Songs, peaking at #2. However, while not forgotten, it's not as well known as songs like "Savior" (#2 Bubbling Under) and "Prayer of the Refugee" (#7 Alt.). Nor is it quite as well-known as "Hero of War" (which wasn't even a single outside of Sweden), "Swing Life Away" (#17 Bubbling Under, #12 Alt.), and "Give It All".
  • "Savior", their Signature Song, peaked at #3 on alternative, a position lower than "Help...", but many weeks in the upper reaches of the chart, resulting in what was then the longest running song on the chart at 65 weeks, and being ranked at #2 on the 2013 25th anniversary all time list (In a partial example when sized up against singles by other acts, those final months of its run were lighter in terms of airplay spins across the board in comparison to other long runners that barely came in short, i. e. "First" by the Cold War Kids which clocked 64 weeks despite pulling in more airplay spins at the point of dropoff, since all songs over 52 weeks on the chart are removed after falling out of the top 10).
  • Even fewer will get their only #1 on mainstream rock right: 2021's "Nowhere Generation", long after their prime.
  • Many would be surprised that "Give It All", one of their best-known songs, barely scraped the alternative charts with a #37 peak. Part of the reason why it's so well-known is the fact that it was featured in the blockbuster smash video game Need for Speed: Underground 2.
• The Script had four top 40 hits (including their signature "Breakeven"), but "The Man Who Can't Be Moved" only reached #86.
  • They had seven top 10 hits in their native Ireland, but "Breakeven" was the lowest-peaking of them all. Conversely, one of their three #1s was the relatively lesser-known "Superheroes".
• The only time Shaun Ryder has ever topped the UK singles chart is with his guest spot on Gorillaz's "DARE". While it is one of Gorillaz’s best known songs (though some may be surprised that it outcharted songs like "Clint Eastwood" (#4) and "Feel Good Inc." (#2)), in Ryder’s case it isn’t as well-known as his work with the Happy Mondays ("Kinky Afro", "Step On" (both #5), "Hallelujah") or Black Grape ("Reverend Black Grape" (#9), "In The Name Of The Father" (#8)).
• The Shins' only Hot 100 hit wasn't "New Slang", but the less remembered "Phantom Limb". It also wasn't one of their several entries on either the alternative or adult-alternative charts.
• Silversun Pickups play this straight and avert it. Their signature "Panic Switch" was their only Hot 100 entry and sole #1 on alternative. However their other signature "Lazy Eye" stalled at #5 on alternative, beaten by the less remembered #3 "The Pit" and #4 "Nightlight", though "Lazy Eye" was the closest they've gotten to a second Hot 100 entry.
• What was Sister Hazel's highest entry on the Alternative chart? It actually wasn't "All for You", which peaked at #39, but rather the nearly-completely forgotten "Happy", which peaked two spots higher. The latter is also their only entry on Mainstream Rock. Easily averted overall as "All for You" was their only top 40 hit on the Hot 100.
• Smash Mouth had three Top 40 hits – "All Star", their cover of "I'm a Believer" and... "Walkin' on the Sun"? Nope, it wasn't eligible to chart due to the lack of a physical release. It almost certainly would've been a Top 10 hit had it been a physical single. Their other Top 40 was the completely forgotten "Then the Morning Comes", which actually peaked at #11 or fourteen spaces higher than "Believer". Additionally, "Sun" was their only #1 hit on the alternative charts, but isn't quite as well known as "All Star", which only reached #2. Averted on the mainstream chart where "All Star" was their only Top 10 hit.
• The Smashing Pumpkins had four top 40 hits on the Hot 100, all of them from their Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness album. While most fans would be able to correctly guess the first three as "1979", "Tonight, Tonight" and "Bullet with Butterfly Wings", they would probably guess "Zero" would be the fourth. In fact, it was "Thirty-Three", which reached #39 and is nowhere near as well known as the first four tunes. The reason "Zero" didn't make the Hot 100 is very different from many instances of that happening in the 1990s. It actually was released as a physical single, but the release was so long - with six B-sides, including a 23-minute medley of demos - that Billboard decided to classify it as an EP and put it on the album chart instead, where it made it to #46. Partially zig-zagged, as "Thirty-Three" was more MTV (where it received solid airplay) and top 40 friendly.
  • On the Alternative chart, they overall avert this, with "1979" being their only #1. They had four #2 hits, one of them being "Bullet with Butterfly Wings". However, the other three do not consist of "Tonight, Tonight" (#5) or "Zero" (#9). Instead, they consist of the aforementioned "Thirty-Three", as well as "Stand Inside Your Love" and "Tarantula", the latter two singles having been released in the new millennium, away from their peak popularity.
• Snow Patrol had five top ten entries in the UK Singles chart, two of them being "Run" at #5 and "Chasing Cars" at #6. Despite both songs being iconic, "Chasing Cars" is the most well-remembered of the two. For the other three top 10 entries, one might assume that they would be filled by "Open Your Eyes", "Just Say Yes" and "Called Out in the Dark", but they actually peaked at #26, #15 and a narrow #11 respectively. The other three entries were filled instead by "You're All I Have" at #7, "Signal Fire" at #4, their highest charting song, and "Take Back the City" at #6, despite those three songs being not as remembered by the general public.
  • Averted in the USA, where "Chasing Cars" was their sole Top 40 hit, peaking at #5. Their other two entries however, "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" at #54 and the aforementioned "Signal Fire" at #65 aren't as well remembered.
• Sonic Youth are technically a No-Hit Wonder, never having a single song chart on the Hot 100. They did, however, have some success on the modern rock charts, where five songs charted. Their Signature Song "Kool Thing" was one of the two that reached the top ten. The other top ten hit, charting three spaces higher than "Kool Thing"? "100%", which, while not forgotten in their fanbase, is not nearly as iconic as "Teen Age Riot" (#20), "Dirty Boots" or "Sugar Kane" (the latter two didn't chart).
• Soul Asylum had four Top 10 hits (including two #1 singles) on Modern Rock, yet "Runaway Train" only peaked at #13. One of those #1 singles was "Misery", which was also their biggest hit on Mainstream Rock (#2, one position above "Train"). Averted on the Hot 100 where "Train" peaked at #5 and "Misery" peaked at #20.
• Soundgarden's only charting song in the Hot 100 is... "Black Rain", which was the only unreleased track in the Greatest Hits Album the band would release following their reunion. Helps that their signature and highest charter otherwise "Black Hole Sun" fell victim to the no physical release rule listed in various entries above (otherwise its radio presence was huge, enough for the Airplay top 40). Their songs beside "Black Hole Sun" that topped the Mainstream Rock Charts, namely "Burden In My Hand" and "Blow Up the Outside World" from the follow-up album Down on the Upside, and three of their comeback singles in the '10s, are also not nearly as well-known as earlier material such "Outshined" (#45 on Main.), "Rusty Cage", (didn't chart) and "Spoonman" (#3 on Main.).
  • As for Alternative, "Black Hole Sun" and "Burden" both peaked at #2, yet the former was named the #1 song of 1994 despite missing the top.
• Staind is a total aversion, as their signature "It's Been Awhile" peaked at #5 and ruled both rock charts (20 weeks on mainstream, and 16 on alternative). Most people would guess that "Outside", which is easily their second best-known song, also topped both rock charts and was their only other Top 40 hit, when in truth it bubbled under and stalled in the tens on the rock charts. The correct answer is "So Far Away", which isn't quite as known. To be fair, a version of "Outside" did top the mainstream rock charts, placed #2 on alternative, and reached #56 on the Hot 100... but it wasn't credited to Staind. Instead, it was a live version performed by frontman Aaron Lewis with credited backing vocals from Fred Durst on the Family Values tour. This version topped the charts before the official version from Staind, or even its parent album, was ever released.
• The Starting Line's only entry on the Alternative charts wasn't "The Best of Me", but rather the long forgotten "Island (Float Away)" four years later.
• Stone Temple Pilots' only #1 hit on the alternative rock chart was neither "Plush" (#9) nor "Interstate Love Song" (#2), but "Between The Lines", their last major hit with Scott Weiland. This is subverted on the mainstream rock charts, where "Lines" only hit #2 and the former two were among their seven #1 hits.
  • On the Hot 100 Airplay chart^note their only entry on the actual Hot 100 was "Sour Girl", due to most of their previous singles being ineligible at the time, "Interstate Love Song" was their highest charter at #18. Many would assume that "Plush", at #39, was their second-highest charter… except it wasn't; it was only their fifth-highest. "Plush" got outpeaked by "Big Bang Baby" (#28), "Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart" (#36), and "Vasoline" (#38).
• Story of the Year had three chart entries on Mainstream Rock, 2005's "We Don't Care Anymore" (#38), 2010's "I'm Alive" (#36) and 2023's "War" (#40). Neither of those three are even as well-known as either "Until the Day I Die" or "And the Hero Will Drown" (which wasn't even a single but is well-known primarily through its usage in Need for Speed: Underground).
  • "Anthem of Our Dying Day" was their sole Top 10 hit on Modern Rock, peaking exactly at #10, while "Until the Day I Die" made it to #12.
• The Strokes' only Hot 100 entry was "Juicebox", which isn't nearly as well known as "Last Nite". On the alternative charts, their sole Top 5s were "Last Nite" and "Bad Decisions", and while "Bad Decisions" spent a longer period of time on the alternative chart, it is not as well remembered as "Last Nite". Furthermore, although "Juicebox" placed at #9, it isn't even their second or third most well known song. Those honors likely go to "Reptilia" (#19) and "Someday" (#17).
  • While "Bad Decisions" was the bigger hit from The New Abnormal on radio and their first radio #1 on adult alternative radio, the overall bigger hit from the album would turn out to be "The Adults Are Talking", spurred by it taking off on TikTok - but peaked much lower at #31 on alternative radio.
• Sugar Ray scored four Top 40 hits (and total entries) on the Hot 100: "Every Morning", "Someday", "When It's Over" and… "Fly", right? Actually, "Fly" spent six weeks on top of the Hot 100 airplay chart, but it never appeared on the Hot 100 because it was never released as a physical single. If not for this rule, it could've potentially topped that chart. That fourth Top 40 hit was "Falls Apart", which, due to sounding more like the band's original punk-funk-metal sound, is mostly forgotten today.
  • Sugar Ray had five entries on the Alternative chart, none of which were "When It's Over". One of which, however, was the now nearly-completely forgotten "RPM".
• The Sugarcubes were fairly popular in the UK even before Björk's Breakup Breakout, but their Signature Song "Birthday", didn't even make the Top 50, peaking at #65. By far their highest-charting single was the appropriately-named "Hit", which made #17. Similarly, on the US Alternative chart, which didn't exist when "Birthday" was released, "Hit" was their only #1.
• Sum 41 waited 22 years to get two #1 singles on Alternative Airplay: "Fat Lip" in August 2001, and "Landmines" in March 2024; amusingly, both songs were featured in EA Sports' NHL Hockey series. The latter song is not nearly as well-known as "Still Waiting" (#7) or "In Too Deep" (#10). However, "Fat Lip" is their only entry on the Hot 100.
  • In their native Canada, their best showing is "Pieces" (#9), while "Landmines" was their first #1 on Rock radio.
• Supergrass had just one alternative chart entry, but surprisingly, it wasn't their Signature Song "Alright", despite that song's huge airplay on MTV and college radio. Instead, "Cheapskate", released as a single only in the United States, squeaked in at #35 in 1997. That song is completely obscure now, and "Alright" (and to a lesser extent, "Richard III") gets massive airplay as a recurrent. Averted in their native UK, where "Alright" and "Richard III" were their two highest charters, both peaking at #2.
• Switchfoot had two #5 hits on the Alternative charts, "Meant to Live" and…"Dare You To Move"? Nope, that hit #9; the other is "Dark Horses". This is averted, however, on the Hot 100, where "Live" hit #18 and "Move" landed just one spot higher (whereas "Dark Horses" only reached Bubbling Under), and both songs are remembered almost equally.
• Taking Back Sunday has two songs that are equally considered their signatures: "MakeDamnSure" and "Cute Without the 'E' (Cut from the Team)". The former was their only hit on the Hot 100 and ties with 2022's "Loved You a Little" (with The Maine and Charlotte Sands) as their highest-charting song of their five entries on the alternative charts, but the latter never charted anywhere; despite having a popular music video released, it was not a single. While recent, it is also unlikely that "Loved You a Little" will be remembered as much as their signatures.
• Tame Impala's biggest hit on alt airplay was the #2 hit "Lost In Yesterday"; while it is one of his best-known songs, it's not nearly as iconic as "The Less I Know The Better", which shockingly ties for his lowest entry there at #37 alongside "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards". Averted in his native Australia, where "The Less I Know the Better" was his only Top 40 hit.^note It initially peaked at #66 in 2016, but after it topped Triple J's Hottest 100 of the 2010s in 2020, it recharted and peaked at #17
• Thirty Seconds to Mars has hit #1 on the alternative charts three different times, but "The Kill" only reached #3. Averted on the Hot 100, where it was their biggest hit overall.
  • Their sole top 10 hit on Mainstream Rock Airplay wasn't "The Kill" (#14), nor was it "Kings and Queens" (#20), but the far less iconic "Walk on Water" (#6).
• Tokio Hotel are a big name in rock in their native Germany and had a huge overseas fandom at the height of emo culture's popularity, but they only managed one hit in the US. Was it "Monsoon" or "Don't Jump"? Nope, their only English-language hit in the US was the #19 Bubbling Under hit "Ready, Set, Go!" (an English remake of "Übers Ende der Welt"), which, in spite of earning them the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist (by way of open-to-the-public voting), is mostly forgotten today.
• Tonic are considered one hit wonders for their 1997 song "If You Could Only See", which was easily their biggest hit everywhere it charted. However, it couldn't even touch the Hot 100 due to Billboard's rule on airplay-only singles at the time. The closest they got to the chart was with the #3 Bubbling Under hit "You Wanted More"; like every song of theirs that isn't "If You Could Only See", it's been forgotten.
• "Sing" by Travis was their lowest-charting hit on the Alternative charts, was not one of their two songs to make the adult top 40 chart and never touched the Hot 100, but it is undoubtedly their best-known song due to being featured in Torchwood and The Office.
• TV on the Radio managed to get a #27 hit on the alternative charts. "Wolf Like Me"? Actually, it was "Happy Idiot" in 2014. The former peaked 10 spaces lower.
• Twenty One Pilots have had three top 5 hits: their signature "Stressed Out", "Ride" and "Heathens". Those are easily their three best-known songs, but many would be surprised to hear that their Breakthrough Hit "Tear in My Heart" only reached #82.
  • Three songs from the band's fifth album Trench made the Hot 100. Surely one of them was "Chlorine", which hit #1 on Alternative and was the highest streamed song off the album by a sizable margin? Nope; that song never made it past the Bubbling Under charts. The other three songs ("Jumpsuit", "Nico and the Niners", and "My Blood") were boosted to the Hot 100 upon their release but lacked "Chlorine"'s longevity.
  • The band's first studio album Vessel was only the fourth non-compilation album to have every track certified Gold by the RIAA, with several of their Signature Songs like "Car Radio" and "Holding On To You" going platinum. None of those songs came close to topping the Alternative charts or reaching the Hot 100 during their initial runs, instead only collecting those sales in the wake of the massive success of the band's second album.
• Two Door Cinema Club managed three minor hits on alternative radio in the United States. Their highest charting single at #32 was "Sleep Alone", which isn't as well remembered as their second highest charting single, "What You Know", which peaked eight spots lower.
• U2 had six top 10 hits in the U.S. Five of them are classics: "With or Without You", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (their two #1's), "One" (#10), "Mysterious Ways" (#9), and "Desire" (#3). Then there's "Discotheque", which peaked at #10 and is all but forgotten today and far less remembered than non-top 10s like "New Year's Day" (#53), "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (wasn't released as a single in the US), "Pride" (#33), "Where the Streets Have No Name" (#13), "Beautiful Day" (#21), and "Vertigo" (#31), to name a few.
  • They achieved 21 #1s in their native Ireland, but both "New Year's Day" and "Pride" fell short at #2.
  • They had several #1 singles on both rock formats, but not "New Year's Day", "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "Pride" [all of which only charted on Mainstream Rock, as the Alternative Airplay chart debuted in 1989], or "Beautiful Day" (#5 Alternative, #14 Mainstream).
• The Used had one song chart on the Hot 100, a cover of "Under Pressure" they recorded with My Chemical Romance in response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. However, it was instantly forgotten in favor of the Queen and David Bowie original and is nowhere near as well-known as some of the Used's own tracks ("The Taste of Ink", "All That I've Got", "The Bird and the Worm"), let alone anything else by MCR. Averted on the Alternative chart, where "The Bird and the Worm" was their highest charter and "Under Pressure" was their third-lowest.
• Vampire Weekend's signature "A-Punk" only reached #25 on the alternative chart. They've only had two Top 10s on that chart: One is the quite popular "Harmony Hall", while the other is the much lesser-known "Unbelievers". Also played straight on the Hot 100; although they never made it out of the "bubbling under" charts, "Horchata" charted four spots higher than "A-Punk", largely due to it being the first song released off their then-heavily anticipated second album Contra.
• The Verve is considered a One-Hit Wonder due to "Bitter Sweet Symphony". That's true in the US, yet in their native UK, they outperformed that #2 smash by topping the charts with follow-up single "The Drugs Don't Work". Even the third single, "Lucky Man" (#7), might be better known, as it was even a minor hit on the US alternative charts.
• The Wallflowers were among the victims of the rules against songs not released as physical singles: as such Signature Song "One Headlight" was excluded from the Hot 100 - it topped the rock charts and hit #2 on the airplay one - and the band's only entry there is the far less known "Sleepwalker" (#73).
• Wavves had a song scrape the bottom of the alternative charts. "Nine Is God"? It was actually "Demon to Lean On", which isn't quite as well-known. To be fair, "Nine is God" was never made for any of their original material and its fame comes from the fact that it was made for the megahit video game Grand Theft Auto V.
• Ween had two entries on the alternative charts, and '90s alt rock fans will probably correctly guess that the biggest of the two was "Push Th' Little Daisies", the #21-peaking novelty tune that practically made them a One-Hit Wonder on the format. They might have a harder time coming up with the other one, "Voodoo Lady", a #32 entry that didn't stick around as a radio recurrent the way that "Daisies" did. "Daisies" has remained their best-known song, but "Voodoo Lady" has been almost completely replaced as their runner-up by "Ocean Man", which had a revival in interest due to its appearance in The Spongebob Squarepants Movie. "Voodoo Lady" isn't even the best-known song from the band's Chocolate and Cheese album anymore; that distinction goes to "Roses are Free", owing to it being regularly covered in concert by Phish.
• Weezer:
  • Their only pop hit came in 2005 with their #10 hit "Beverly Hills", which also became their first #1 hit on the alternative side. While it introduced Weezer to a new generation of listeners, it isn't as well remembered as some of their songs from the '90s, namely "Buddy Holly" and "Say It Ain't So"; both of which never charted on the Hot 100 due to their lack of a physical single release. "Beverly Hills" isn't even their best-known song from their '00s period; that would go to "Island in the Sun", which didn't get past the Bubbling Under charts but became popular once it was featured in countless media, or even second best known, which is probably "Island"’s predecessor "Hash Pipe", which also didn't get past Bubbling Under.
  • Speaking of "Say It Ain't So", it only reached #51 on the airplay chart and #7 on alternative charts, and did not cross over to pop radio like "Beverly Hills" and to a lesser extent "Buddy Holly" did. Despite the vast difference in peaks ("Buddy Holly" reached #2 on alternative, #18 on airplay, and #17 on pop), they're roughly equal in how iconic they are, and more so than "Beverly Hills". And that's not without comparing its icon status to "Pork and Beans", a cover of "Africa", "Perfect Situation", "Hero", "All My Favorite Songs", "A Little Bit of Love" and "Records", their other #1 alternative hits (the former is better known for its meme-themed video than the song itself).
  • Fewer will realize that their only Top 10 hit on mainstream rock was "Back to the Shack" in 2014, years after their peak.
• The White Stripes' only top 40 hit on the Hot 100 was the #26 "Icky Thump" in 2007, thanks to strong first week sales; while hardly obscure, it is today nowhere near as iconic as their 2003 classic "Seven Nation Army", which stalled at a less-impressive #76. Ironically enough, "Army" has become the only song they are known for to the public at large. Averted on the Alternative chart, where both songs were their only #1s.
• X Ambassadors' biggest hit was the #15 "Sucker for Pain" from the Suicide Squad (2016) soundtrack, which was also equally credited to rappers Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, Ty Dolla $ign and Logic as well as fellow indie rock group Imagine Dragons. Because it's a collaboration that is more likely to be associated with anyone but them, and was made for a movie rather than one of their own albums, it's unlikely it'll displace the #17 "Renegades" as their signature or even the #20 "Unsteady" as runner-up. Averted with the other artists, all of whom have had other songs chart higher than "Sucker for Pain".
• You Me at Six is an example on both sides of the Atlantic:
  • Their only entry on both the U.S. Alt. and Main. Rock charts is "Room To Breathe". While it's easily their best known song in the U.S., it's not even close to being it in the U.K. — American audiences will be surprised that "Room To Breathe" was the least successful of their seventeen charting singles, peaking at a measly #182.
  • This is a straighter example in their native UK — They've had five Top 40 hits there and twelve songs reach the Top 100, with the highest charter being the #11 "Lived a Lie", but their signature "Bite My Tongue" only reached #124.