Chart Displacement / Rock Music

• 3 Doors Down:
  • They easily avert this, as their signature "Kryptonite" was their highest-charting hit, reaching #3 on the Hot 100 and topping both rock charts. However, their other two top 10 hits, both from sophomore album Away From the Sun, qualify as an example. The group hit #4 with "When I'm Gone" and later #5 with "Here Without You". While the former is still well-known, it's not quite as remembered as the latter, which served as an anthem for families of Iraq War veterans.
  • They hold the all-time record for the longest-reigning #1 in the history of Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, which spent 21 weeks on top. The song that holds the record? Their second single "Loser", which isn't nearly as iconic as the likes of "Kryptonite" (#1 for 9 weeks), "Gone" (#1 for 17 weeks), and "Here" because it never crossed over to pop radio. In fact, "Here Without You" never made it past #14 on mainstream rock (though it did top the Adult Pop Airplay chart).
• 38 Special's highest charting song was the #6 "Second Chance", which is far less remembered than "Hold on Loosely", which peaked at #27, or even their other top 10 "Caught Up in You". In fact, it's less remembered than the other top 10 hit called "Second Chance", Shinedown's 2009 #7 hit.
  • They had two #1s on Mainstream Rock. One was "Caught Up in You", but the other one wasn't "Hold on Loosely", which peaked at #3, but the nearly-completely forgotten "If I'd Been the One".
• Ask a music fan about AC/DC's signature songs, and you'll get such responses as "Highway to Hell" (#47), "Back in Black" (#37), "You Shook Me All Night Long" (#35), "T.N.T.", "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", "Hells Bells", and "Thunderstruck" (the latter four didn't chart). But not too many people are likely going to cite "Moneytalks" (the follow-up single to the much more lasting "Thunderstruck"), their highest charting hit on the Hot 100 at #23. Also, they had five #1 hits on mainstream rock, but it was none of the aforementioned singles or even "Moneytalks". Those five #1s came between 1993 and 2020, well after their overall peak in terms of commercial success.
  • In their native Australia, "Thunderstruck" peaked at #4, and the UK, "Highway to Hell" also peaked at #4. Their second highest charter in both of those countries? "Heatseeker", at #5 and #12 respectively, which isn't anywhere close to being one of their signatures.
• A weird subversion regarding Aerosmith. Their sole #1 on the pop charts was "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing", a power ballad made for the 1998 movie Armageddon (1998). It sounds nothing like their normal material and wasn't even written by the band. Many fans would name a large number of songs, such as their Signature Song "Dream On" (#59; reissue peaked at #6), "Sweet Emotion" (#36), "Walk This Way" (original didn't chart; reissue peaked at #10 and version with Run–D.M.C. peaked at #4), "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" (#14), "Love in an Elevator" (#5) and "Janie's Got a Gun" (#4) for example, without even thinking about that song, and it gets little airplay on classic rock radio (where they play plenty of their other hits). Yet the song introduced the band to a new generation of listeners and is their second-most popular song on Spotify.
  • They 9 chart-toppers on rock radio. While none of them are totally obscure (the closest being "Deuces Are Wild"), that total does not include "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" or "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" (both #4), or "Janie's Got a Gun" (#2). As the chart debuted in 1981, their first six albums never charted there.
• While Bad Company's highest-charting song in both the US and UK (#5 and #15 respectively), "Can't Get Enough", is still a classic, it's not quite as well-known as their second-highest entry "Feel Like Makin' Love" (#10 and #20 respectively) is, and many would be surprised to learn that "Bad Company" didn't even chart. The last song remains a staple of classic rock radio and is arguably their best-known song to modern audiences (although that's mostly for it being Covered Up by Five Finger Death Punch).
• The Band's highest charting song, the #25 "Up on Cripple Creek" is certainly a classic — but not to the same extent as "The Weight", which stalled in the 60s.
• The Beatles easily avert this, as all 27 of their #1 hits, like the rest of the band's discography, are still classics (and some are truly timeless). However, they still have several iconic songs with surprisingly low peaks, such as "I Saw Her Standing There" (#14), "I Am The Walrus" (#56), and "Strawberry Fields Forever" (#8). This is justified, as they were all B-sides to #1 hits ("I Want To Hold Your Hand", "Hello, Goodbye", and "Penny Lane", respectively). Other iconic songs of theirs, like "Here Comes the Sun", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Michelle", and "Tomorrow Never Knows", were never even released as singles (although they often reached chart positions on their own, especially "Here Comes the Sun" being arguably the most popular song by the band nowadays).
• What was Billy Idol's only #1 hit? "Rebel Yell"? "White Wedding"? "Dancing With Myself"? Nope, it's his version of Tommy James' "Mony Mony" — and not even the studio recording that's now more commonly used, but a live version. The studio version of "Mony Mony" didn't chart on the Hot 100. Additionally, he had three other top 10 hits, none of which were "Rebel Yell" (#46), "White Wedding" (#36), or "Dancing With Myself" (didn't chart), but instead "Cradle of Love" (#2), "Eyes Without a Face" (#4), and "To Be a Lover" (#6). The former two are still remembered positively, but aren't considered Billy's signature songs, while the latter has almost totally been forgotten (In his native UK, it's a bit averted, as his highest charters are re-releases of "White Wedding" and "Rebel Yell" at #6... but then comes "Mony Mony" at #7, surpassing the other songs mentioned here).
• While Billy Squier's "Rock Me Tonite" is a classic, it doesn't hold up today the same way "The Stroke" (#17) does, despite the former outpeaking the latter by two spots.
  • He had two #1 singles on Mainstream Rock: "Rock Me Tonite" and... not "The Stroke (#3), but rather "Everybody Wants You".
• Black Stone Cherry only had one top 10 hit on the rock charts, which just hit #10. It has to have been "White Trash Millionaire", right? Wrong; that song just barely missed the top 10. It's the considerably lesser known "In My Blood".
• Blessid Union of Souls' biggest hit, by far, was the #8 ballad "I Believe". Their best-known song, by far, is the #33 upbeat pop-rocker "Hey Leonardo (She Likes Me for Me)"^note  in fact, they had another hit, "Let Me be the One", which charted higher than "Hey Leonardo", at #29, and it's even less known than "I Believe", although some would cite "Brother, My Brother" (which didn't chart) from Pokémon: The First Movie. Averted on Adult Pop Airplay, where "Hey Leonardo" was their highest charter at #16.
• Bo Diddley is a revered icon and pioneer of the rock & roll genre, but he only managed a single Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100: The song "Say Man" made it to #16 in 1958 and is practically forgotten nowadays. Pretty much all of Diddley's most iconic songs, including "Bo Diddley", "I'm a Man", "Pretty Thing" and "Who Do You Love?", failed to make it onto the Hot 100 or any of its predecessor charts. It's a bit averted on the Hot R&B chart, where "Bo Diddley" was his only chart-topper, but "Say Man" is his second-highest charter at #3.
• Bob Dylan had two #2 singles, one of which was the iconic "Like a Rolling Stone". However, many of his most famous songs of the 60's did surprisingly poorly on the charts - "The Times They Are A-Changin'" and "Blowin' in the Wind" didn't chart as singles at all in the US, while "Subterranean Homesick Blues" stalled at #37. An even better example is his only other #2 hit, "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35", a borderline novelty song, which charted higher than every other song from his legendary Blonde on Blonde album, including classics like "I Want You" (#20) and "Just Like a Woman" (#33).
• Bob Seger's only #1 hit of his career? The largely forgotten "Shakedown" from the Beverly Hills Cop II soundtrack. His signature song "Old Time Rock n' Roll", meanwhile, only reached #28, a position that he outpeaked seventeen times. In addition, "Turn the Page" is a very popular song of his, even though it never charted for him.
  • He had two #1 hits on Mainstream Rock... "Shakedown" and "Like a Rock".
• Bon Jovi scored four #1 hits in the '80s. Two of them were obviously "Livin' on a Prayer" and "You Give Love a Bad Name". Also, "Wanted Dead or Alive", right? It was their best-selling single after all. Actually, it never made it past #7. The other two are "Bad Medicine" and "I'll Be There for You". And despite bringing the band back to the spotlight and becoming one of their most iconic songs (it's their most viewed on YouTube!), "It's My Life" maxed out at #33, outcharted by plenty of lesser songs from prior ("In These Arms" (#27), "This Ain't a Love Song" (#14)) and after ("Who Says You Can't Go Home" (#23), "(You Want To) Make a Memory" (#27)).
• Boston's only #1 hit on both the Hot 100 and Mainstream Rock is "Amanda", which is a classic ballad but nowhere near as famous as "More Than a Feeling" (#5 on Hot 100). "Don't Look Back" actually peaked higher than "More Than a Feeling" on the Hot 100 and is better remembered than "Amanda".
• Bonnie Raitt had five Top 40 hits, all of which charted during her Career Resurrection period in the early-to-mid-90s. However, her most iconic song, "I Can't Make You Love Me", only made it to #18. Her highest-peaking Top 40 entry was the #5 hit "Something to Talk About", her second-best-known song.
• Bruce Hornsby, then alongside his backing band The Range, had two #1 hits on Mainstream Rock, neither of which were his most-well-known song "The Way It Is" (#3). Averted on the Hot 100, where it's his sole #1 hit. And while one of the two #1 rock hits was "The Valley Road", which is still well-remembered, the other, if not "The Way It Is", must have been "Mandolin Rain", Hornsby's second-best-known song (and second-highest Hot 100 entry), right? Nope, #2; it was "Across the River", which is mostly forgotten outside of Hornsby's cult following.
• Bruce Springsteen generally downplays the trope. His biggest hit is "Dancing in the Dark", which hit #2. While extremely well-remembered, and easily his most popular song on the internet, there are some of his most iconic songs which are more representative of his songwriting and more associated with him overall, such as "Born to Run" which peaked at #23, or "Born in the USA", which peaked at #9.
  • However, the trope is played more straight if you think that his largely forgotten "Fade Away" and live cover of "War", or well-known, but not timeless classics "Tunnel of Love", "One Step Up" and "Better Days" were all top 20 hits in the US, while some of his most iconic songs such as "The River" and "Thunder Road" weren't released as singles at all - though the former was a hit in several European countries - and also, the classic "Badlands" just reached #42.
  • He had five #1 hits on Mainstream Rock, including "Dancing in the Dark", but "Born in the U.S.A." peaked at #8. However, his first four albums were released before the chart was created.
• Bryan Adams had four #1 hits, including classics such as "Heaven" and "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You", but his overall Signature Song "Summer of '69" only hit #5 and didn't even manage that in the UK charts. In fact, it didn't even make the top ten, the top 20, or even the top 40, for that matter. It stalled at #42. It is probably his best-known song in that country along with "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You", which did make it to #1 and promptly stayed there for 16 weeks.
  • He had two #1 hits on mainstream rock. "Run To You" is far better-known than… "Somebody".
  • Adams achieved ten #1s in his native Canada (including "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You"), but "Heaven" and "Summer of '69" both stopped at #11.
• Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music was a One-Hit Wonder in the United States and one could reasonably assume that the one-hit was either "Don't Stop the Dance" or "Slave to Love", but it was neither of them. Instead, it was the forgotten song "Kiss and Tell" which peaked at #31 on the Top 40.
• Buckcherry's only top 40 hit, the ballad "Sorry", is not nearly as well-remembered today as the hard-rocker "Crazy Bitch" (#59). While "Crazy Bitch" was their biggest hit on alternative radio at #13, their sole number-one single on the Mainstream Rock chart was their debut single "Lit Up" (their third best-known song).
• The Cars had four top 10 hits throughout their career, but "Just What I Needed" only made it to #27, and "Good Times Roll" went even lower at #41. Conversely, one of their four top 10 hits is the relatively lesser-known "Tonight She Comes".
• Cheap Trick's only #1 single wasn't "Surrender" or the live version of "I Want You to Want Me", but rather "The Flame", which (to be fair) is still a classic and would rank as their third most remembered track, but not as fondly remembered as the former two tracks (which isn't probably helped by the fact the band outright hates the song). While "Want" hit #7 on the charts, "Surrender" only made it to #62. Similarly, their highest entry on Mainstream Rock was "The Flame", because the chart did not exist when the former two songs peaked.
• Chicago's three #1 hits were "If You Leave Me Now", "Hard To Say I'm Sorry", and "Look Away", all from their time as a "sell-out" adult contemporary act. Their signature "25 or 6 to 4" from their jazz-rock days, however, only hit #4.
• Chuck Berry's only #1 hit in America? Not "Johnny B. Goode", which only reached #8, but "My Ding-a-Ling". It was his only #1 in the UK as well. Similarly, he had three #1s on the R&B chart, none of which were "Johnny B. Goode", which fell at #2.
• The Clash averts this trope back home in the UK, where "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" was their sole #1. Across the pond, they had two Top 40 hits, but they weren't "Stay" or "London Calling". They were actually "Train in Vain" (#23) and "Rock the Casbah" (#8), which although not quite as iconic as the former two, are also rock classics. While "Stay" fell just short of the top 40 at #45, "Calling", surprisingly enough, didn't even chart on the Hot 100.
• Corey Hart is best known for his 1984 #7 hit "Sunglasses at Night". However, about a year later, the ballad "Never Surrender" reached #3. Despite the chart peaks, the former song remains one of the best-known songs of the 80's, while the latter remains in relative obscurity. It's a similar deal on Mainstream Rock, where "Surrender" outpeaked "Sunglasses" (#8 vs. #15). Despite the fact that Hart had a perfectly decent career with nine Top 40 hits in the US (and three #1's back home in Canada, "Sunglasses" not being one of them at #24), "Sunglasses at Night" eclipses his discography so much that you might erroneously find him included on One-Hit Wonder retrospectives.
• Creed's only #1 hit was "With Arms Wide Open"; while it's certainly well remembered, particularly overseas, it's not quite as iconic as "Higher", which only hit #7 despite topping both rock charts. Much more surprising, however, is the fact that their two top 10s from Weathered, "My Sacrifice" and "One Last Breath", also outpeaked "Higher" on the charts.
  • Creed's spin-off group Alter Bridge never had a Hot 100 hit (the closest being "Open Your Eyes" at #123) but did manage one #1 on Mainstream Rock songs. Was it "Open Your Eyes", "Rise Today", or "Metalingus"? Actually, it was none of them (the former two peaked at #2 and #3 respectively, and the lattermost song was never even released as a single; it's only widely known for being the theme song to legendary professional wrestler Adam "Edge" Copeland) It was instead "Isolation".
• Creedence Clearwater Revival reached #2 on five different occasions (including the classic "Bad Moon Rising"), but "Fortunate Son" only reached #14 (or #3 if you count it as the B-side to "Down on the Corner") and "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" reached #8. They are nowadays the band's signature songs, going by popularity.
  • John Fogerty's solo career also qualifies. His biggest hit was "The Old Man Down the Road", which peaked at #10 on the Hot 100 and #1 on Mainstream Rock. While still well-known, it's not on the level of his Signature Song "Centerfield" (#44 Hot 100, #5 Rock).
• Daughtry has one #1 on Mainstream Rock. Many, however, would probably not correctly guess that song is "Artificial" from 2023, nor that their second-highest charting song is "Heavy is The Crown" from 2021 (#4), both long after their career peak. Their signature "It's Not Over" peaked one spot lower than "Heavy" at #5, and many of their other popular songs weren't released to rock radio and/or didn't chart. Averted on the Hot 100, where "It's Not Over" is their highest peak at #4.
• Dave Matthews Band's highest charter was 2005's "American Baby", at #16. It's not nearly as well-known as their earlier hits such as "Crash Into Me" and "Ants Marching". DMB are one of many '90s artists who fell victim to the record industry's practice of not releasing big hits as CD singles, thus rendering most of their best-known songs ineligible for the Hot 100 until 2000. On the radio airplay chart, which inadvertently became a more reliable way of gauging the popularity of a song in the mid and late '90s than the Hot 100, "Crash Into Me" (#19) and "Ants Marching" (#25) were two of their six Top 40 entries.
  • Dave Matthews Band achieved nine #1s on Adult Alternative Airplay, but "Ants Marching" was released before the chart existed, and "Crash Into Me" stopped at #2.
• David Bowie had two #1s in the United States — "Fame" & "Let's Dance", both are classics but not quite to the extent as songs like "Ziggy Stardust", "Heroes" (neither of which charted), "Under Pressure" (#29), "Rebel Rebel" (#64), "Starman" (#65), "Changes" (#41), and "Space Oddity" (#15).
  • He had four #1 hits in the UK. "Space Oddity", "Under Pressure", and "Let's Dance", indeed. And the third? "Ashes to Ashes".
  • "Heroes" wasn't a particularly big hit when it was released as a single in 1977. It peaked at #24 in the UK, a relative disappointment for a new Bowie single. It also did fine enough in Europe, making the Top 20 in a couple countries, but nothing particularly special (compare this to "Sound and Vision" earlier that year, which was a Top 10 smash all across the continent). Its popularity and acclaim really started to pick up in the 80s, particularly in West Germany, where it was adopted as a youth anthem. By the 2000s, "Heroes" was widely regarded as one of Bowie's best singles, if not one of the best songs he ever wrote. When his singles re-charted after his death in 2016, "Heroes" improved on its original 1977 chart peaks in several countries, including the UK, where it made #12.
  • Many people in the UK simply wouldn't believe you if you told them that "Changes" had never been a hit single there at all. It's certainly been Vindicated by History, but it was ignored on its original release in 1972 and unlike Hunky Dory's other iconic song "Life on Mars?" (which subsequently charted as a reissue) it was never given a second chance. The closest it came was being used as a B-side to the 1975 reissue of "Space Oddity" (which went to #1, so a lot of people got "Changes" on 45 that way).
  • He had two #4 hits on the modern rock chart. Surely one of them must've been "I'm Afraid of Americans", right? Nope, one was "One Shot" from the abortive Tin Machine project, and the other was "Jump They Say". Also surprising is that "Americans" only reached a measly #29 on that chart, which was his lowest entry on that chart.
  • He also reached #2 on mainstream rock with "Blue Jean", ahead of "Under Pressure" (#7)
• Glam-metal singer David Glen Eisley appeared in exactly one Top 40 Hot 100 hit in his career, his band Giuffria's top 20 smash "Call to the Heart". But nowadays, the most famous song he sings on would be "Sweet Victory", due to its use in the ending of SpongeBob SquarePants' classic episode "Band Geeks". The latter was never released as a single and never appeared on any chart, but has become one of the most iconic songs in cartoon history.
• Deacon Blue's biggest single in the UK is the #2 hit Four Bacharach and David Songs EP, headed up by their version of "I'll Never Fall in Love Again", which though not entirely forgotten is hardly the song that would spring to most people's minds first. That would more likely be either their biggest original song "Real Gone Kid" (#8) or their Breakthrough Hit and Signature Song "Dignity" (#20).
• Def Leppard's only #1 hit was "Love Bites", which isn't even the best known song on their album Hysteria. That would be "Pour Some Sugar on Me", which fell short at #2.
  • They had two #2 hits in their native UK, which were "Let's Get Rocked" and "When Love & Hate Collide", both of which were released in the 90's.
  • They achieved five #1s on Mainstream Rock, two of which were "Photograph" and "Rock of Ages". However, if you guessed that "Pour Some Sugar on Me" was one of the other three, be surprised to hear it only got to #25. The other three were "Let's Get Rocked", "Stand Up (Kick Love into Motion)", and "Promises", the lattermost of which was released in 1999, long after their career peak.
• Dire Straits avert this in the USA, as "Money for Nothing" was their only #1 hit there and is indeed one of their signatures.
  • They had two #2 hits in their native UK: the iconic "Walk of Life" and… "Private Investigations", which, while fairly well-remembered, isn't nearly as iconic as "Sultans of Swing", "Walk of Life", "Money for Nothing", "Romeo and Juliet" or "Brothers in Arms".
  • Though it reached #8 in the UK, "Romeo and Juliet" wasn't released as a single at all in the US, and several other iconic tracks like "Tunnel of Love", "So Far Away", "Your Latest Trick", "Lady Writer" and especially "Brothers in Arms" either reached lower positions (some still entering the top 20) or did not chart at all, while the internationally fairly high-charting hit "Twisting by the Pool" is much less iconic as a track.
  • It's a similar story on Mainstream Rock. "Money for Nothing" was indeed a #1 hit, but the other, "Heavy Fuel", isn't even close.
  • For Mark Knopfler's solo career, things are odd. His only top 10 single in the UK was his duet with Emmylou Harris "All the Roadrunning". While a reasonably popular track in Knopfler's solo career, it's not as iconic as the instrumental "Going Home" (#56) or "What It Is" (a hit in several countries, but did not chart in the UK).
• Donnie Iris is best-known for his 1980 single "Ah! Leah", but it wasn't his biggest hit on the Hot 100 (#29) or rock radio (#19). On the Hot 100, his best showing was 1982's "My Girl", and on rock radio, he had a #9 hit with "Love Is Like a Rock". Both songs are almost competely forgotten today.
• While Duran Duran's two #1 hits "The Reflex" and "A View to a Kill" are classics, they are nowhere near as legendary as "Hungry Like the Wolf", which only hit #3, or even "Rio", which only made it to #14.
  • They also had two #1 hits in their native UK. One of those was "The Reflex", and the other one had to be either "Hungry Like A Wolf" or "Rio", right? Wrong - they only made #5 and #9. Their other #1 was "Is There Something I Should Know?", which tends to be forgotten outside of their fanbase. In fact after the release of "A View To A Kill", which made #2 in the UK, they only made the top ten four more times in that country. Two of those songs were obviously "Notorious", and "Ordinary World". The other two? The definitely forgotten "All She Wants Is", and the reunion song "(Reach Up for The) Sunrise". "Come Undone" missed out completely, only making #13, but is better known than those other two.
• Eddie Money achieved two top 10 hits. One being "Take Me Home Tonight" isn't too surprising, but what was the other? Not "Two Tickets to Paradise" (#22), or even "Baby Hold On" (#11), but rather the considerably less remembered "Walk on Water". In fact, "Two Tickets" got outpeaked by a total of eight different songs.
• Eric Clapton's only #1 as a solo artist was a cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff". While it's still a well-known cover, people nowadays associate it First and Foremost with Marley; thus, it can't beat "Tears in Heaven" (#2), "Wonderful Tonight" (#16), or "Layla" with Derek & The Dominos (#10) as his signature. And Clapton's actual best known cover song is his Covered Up version of "Cocaine", which was a B-side to "Lay Down Sally".
  • In the UK, "Wonderful Tonight" only made #30, and that was a later live recording; the original studio version never got higher than #81.
  • He had five #1 singles on Mainstream Rock, including "I Can't Stand It" (the chart's first-ever #1 single), but "Tears in Heaven" and "Layla" both peaked at #9.
• Europe's 1987 classic "The Final Countdown" was their biggest hit in most countries, topping the charts in a few countries… but not in the USA, where it peaked at #8 and was outpeaked by the far less iconic ballad "Carrie", a #3 hit that fall.
• Most people won't be surprised that rock band Fastball had only one top 40 hit on the Hot 100, but they surely will be when they find out that the one hit was not "The Way", but the less remembered "Out of My Head" (which is, nevertheless, pretty much the only song by them that someone may know besides "The Way"). "The Way", which reached #5 on Hot 100 Airplay, would've surely been their highest charting song had it not been deemed ineligible for the Hot 100 due to the lack of a physical single release ("Out of My Head" also had no physical release, but it charted after the rules about physical singles were changed). Unsurprisingly, "The Way" was the higher-charting song on every radio chart. However, "Out of My Head" did also see something of a revival after having its chorus interpolated by Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello's 2017 hit "Bad Things".
• Finger Eleven's signature "Paralyzer" was their only Top 10 hit in the US and Canada and only #1 on both Billboard rock charts. Their former signature, "One Thing", was their second-biggest hit on the Hot 100 (#16) and only other Top 10 on Alternative radio. Back on Mainstream Rock, "One Thing" never made it past #38 and their only other Top 10 was… "Living in a Dream", which is almost completely forgotten today except as the theme song to the 2011 Royal Rumble. Their third best known song is probably "Slow Chemical", which was never released as a single but is remembered for being the former theme song to professional wrestling icon Kane.
  • In their native Canada, they achieved six entries on the Hot 100, but none of these are "One Thing". While that song did chart on the Canadian rock chart, it was not one of their nine top 10 hits, peaking at #14.
• Fleetwood Mac
  • Almost none of the songs that were hits for the band in the United States were as successful in the United Kingdom. For instance, not one of the singles off of their 1975 self-titled album or Rumours made the Top 20 there, despite those songs being just as well known now as they are across the pond. The band's most consistent era of hitmaking in their home country instead came in the late 1960s, when they were a blues rock band; Their instrumental "Albatross" made it to #1 and was their only UK chart topper, and they followed it up with two #2 singles: "Oh Well" and "Man of the World". The first two were very minor hits in the US, at #104 and #55 respectively, but they're obscure compared to the material they recorded after 1975.
  • They avert this overall in the US, where their two biggest hits were the iconic "Dreams" and "Don't Stop", with the former being their only #1 on the Hot 100. The almost equally-iconic "Go Your Own Way", however, stopped at #10, behind relatively lesser-known songs such as "Big Love" and "Tusk", and some may be surprised to hear that "The Chain", another classic, was never a single.
  • They achieved three #1s on the AC chart: "Little Lies", "Everywhere", and "As Long as You Follow", all of which were released in the late 80s.
  • Stevie Nicks had four top 10 solo hits on the Hot 100 (the highest being the Tom Petty duet "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around"), yet her signature "Edge of Seventeen" fell short at #11. Even Destiny's Child's "Bootylicious", which sampled it, hit #1 but is much less remembered than "Edge of Seventeen". Similarly, she had two #1s on Mainstream Rock, but neither were "Edge of Seventeen" (#4) or even "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (#2), but the much less iconic "Talk to Me" and "Rooms on Fire".
• A Flock of Seagulls' only top 10 hit in the UK surprisingly wasn't "I Ran", but rather "Wishing (I Had A Photograph of You)". "I Ran" only hit #43 there, but it was their sole top 10 across The Pond.
• Foreigner achieved nine top ten hits: "I Want to Know What Love Is" (their only #1), "Waiting for a Girl Like You", "Hot Blooded", "Feels Like the First Time", "Cold as Ice", "Double Vision", "Urgent"... One of the other two had to be "Juke Box Hero", right? Nope, they were "Say You Will" and "I Don't Want to Live Without You" from their 1987 album Inside Information, the latter of which generally being the more forgotten of the two. "Juke Box Hero" only got to #26, yet is one of their four platinum-selling songs, along with the formermost three.
  • They had four #1 hits on Mainstream Rock, which were "I Want to Know", "Urgent", "Waiting for a Girl" and (surprisingly enough) "Say You Will".
• Disgraced glam rocker Gary Glitter had three number ones in his native UK, but "Rock and Roll Part 2", which was his only top ten hit in the US and was used by a number of sports teams prior to his child pornography conviction, in addition to various movies and TV shows, was not among them, peaking at #2.
• George Thorogood's highest charter on mainstream rock went to #2. "Bad to the Bone"? Nope, that peaked at a measly #27 and got outpeaked thirteen times. It was the long-forgotten "Get a Haircut", which was released in 1993, well after his peak in overall popularity. He also only had one entry on the Hot 100, but again, it wasn't "Bad" but rather his cover "Willie and the Hand Jive". Of course, the real reason for why "Bad" has eclipsed his other work is that the song was used in media so many times that it named a trope after it. His second best-known song, "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer", never charted at all.
• When people think of The Grateful Dead, certainly the first song they'll think about won't be their one Top 40 hit, 1987's "Touch of Grey", although it probably wouldn't be far off, as that song's success introduced the band to a new generation of Deadheads and brought them back into the mainstream. Instead, "Truckin'" is a contender for their best-known, and is considered to be so important to the history of American music that the Library of Congress declared it to be a national treasure in 1997. However, when it was released, the song only made it to #64 on the Hot 100. Another contender for best-known song would be "Casey Jones", which was never a single.
• The Greg Kihn Band had a #15 hit in 1981 with "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)", and two years later they hit #2 with "Jeopardy" (which was parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic). It's easy to forget that however, since the latter has fallen into complete obscurity while the former is the only one that still gets airplay today.
• Guns N' Roses topped the Hot 100 with "Sweet Child O' Mine", so they avert the trope. Their next two biggest hits must have been "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Paradise City", right? Nope, those bowed out at #7 and #5 respectively. The next two hits were actually the Power Ballads "November Rain" (#3; which is their most-played YouTube video) and "Patience" (#4), which are not quite as iconic.
  • Their biggest hit on Mainstream Rock was "Don't Cry" at #3. While not forgotten, it doesn't compare to "Jungle" (#37, their lowest peak), "Sweet Child" (#7), "Paradise City" (#14), or "November Rain" (#15).
• Harry Nilsson only had one #1. You'd be forgiven for thinking it was "Coconut" (#8) due to it becoming a meme or "Everybody's Talkin'" (#113; rerelease peaked at #6) because of its usage in Midnight Cowboy, but it was actually a cover of Badfinger's "Without You".
• The one song Head East is best remembered for, "Never Been Any Reason", reached #68 on the Hot 100, but it surprisingly is their lowest charting of their three entries on the chart.
• Heart had eight Top 10 hits (including two #1 hits in the 80s with "These Dreams" and "Alone"), yet their 1977 signature "Barracuda" fell just short at #11. While Heart's 70s hits make up most of their airplay, "Barracuda" wasn't even their biggest hit in that decade. That would be the #9 "Magic Man", which is relatively well-remembered, but not as much as "Barracuda" and the two #1's.
  • Of all their 80s songs, only one topped the Mainstream Rock chart; it wasn't "These Dreams" (#2) or "Alone" (#3), but the much less iconic "How Can I Refuse?".
• Huey Lewis and the News had three #1 hits. Of course, the first was their signature "The Power of Love", and the other two were... "Stuck With You" and "Jacob's Ladder". While the former of the two remains among their most well-known, the latter is much lesser known when compared to non-#1 hits such as "Do You Believe In Love" (#7), "I Want a New Drug" (#6), "If This Is It" (#6), and "Hip to be Square" (#3). As for "Back in Time", the band's other main contribution to the Back to the Future franchise? Never made it to the Hot 100.
  • On Mainstream Rock, they achieved three #1s, two of which were "Power" and "Hip". The third? Not "Believe" (#12), "Drug" (#7), "If This" (#3), "Back" (#3), or even "Stuck" (#2), but rather "Heart and Soul".
• Quick, what was Iggy Pop's only Top 40 hit? No, it wasn't "Lust for Life" or "The Passenger", neither of which charted, but rather "Candy", which featured Kate Pierson.
• Jackyl's most famous song is "The Lumberjack", probably best known for its chainsaw solo. However, it only got to #24 on the Mainstream Rock charts, a peak they outperformed four times.
• James Taylor's only number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, "You've Got a Friend", is undoubtedly a classic but isn't quite as iconic as his debut single, "Fire and Rain" (which peaked at #3).
  • Despite having 5 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, his covers of "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" (which peaked at #5), "Handy Man" (which peaked at #4), and his appearance on Carly Simon's cover of "Mockingbird" (which peaked at #5), aren't as well-known when compared to "Your Smiling Face" (which only peaked at #20), "Carolina in My Mind" (#118; rerelease peaked at #67) or "Sweet Baby James" (which didn't even chart but is considered one of Taylor's most well-known songs).
  • Taylor had four #1s as lead artist on the AC chart, but none of them were "Fire and Rain" (#7) or "Your Smiling Face" (#6). Instead, they were "You've Got a Friend", "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)", "Handy Man", and "Shower the People".
• While Jimi Hendrix's only top 40 in the U.S., his version of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower", is one of the most iconic classic rock songs of all time, the classic "Purple Haze" is almost equally iconic. His second-biggest hit in the U.S.? "Crosstown Traffic" (peaking at #52), which has long since been overshadowed by tracks which had lower peaks, such as the aforementioned "Purple Haze" (#65) and "Foxy Lady" (#67), as well as songs that didn't even chart like "Hey Joe" and "The Wind Cries Mary".
• Joan Jett topped the Hot 100 with "I Love Rock N' Roll", one of the 1980's most memorable songs. She had two more Top 10 hits, one of which was the #8 hit "I Hate Myself For Loving You". Peaking one slot above it was… "Bad Reputation", another enduring rock tune, right? Believe it or not, "Reputation" never charted anywhere. That #7 hit was actually a cover of Tommy James' "Crimson and Clover", which has faded into obscurity like her minor Top 40 hits.
• John Lennon had two #1 singles, but neither was the legendary "Imagine", which stalled at #3. Those two chart toppers were the far less iconic "(Just Like) Starting Over" (which came after his murder) and "Whatever Gets You Through the Night". Averted in his native UK, where "Imagine" was one of three #1 hits (alongside "Starting Over" and its follow-up single "Woman").
  • "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" didn't make the Billboard Hot 100, but that was because Billboard didn't place Christmas songs on the regular chart at the time, segregating them to a separate Christmas chart. Even then, it didn't hit #1 on the Christmas chart (it only got to #3). It made the Top 40 in Billboard's rivals Cashbox and Record World (#36 and #28 respectively).
• Journey's classic "Don't Stop Believin'" never made it higher than #9 on its original run, but thanks to Revival by Commercialization on such TV shows as Family Guy, The Sopranos, and Glee, it has become the best-selling pre-2007 song in iTunes history. While none of the higher-peaking songs ("Who's Crying Now", which peaked at #4, "Open Arms", which peaked at #2, and "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)", which peaked at #8) are obscure, it's probably the only song by them most people born in the '90s and beyond can name.
  • While "Separate Ways" was their only #1 on Mainstream Rock, "Don't Stop Believin'" made it to #8.
  • They had 14 songs appear on the AC chart, but none of them were "Don't Stop Believin'". Conversely, their only chart-topper on that chart was the much less remembered "When You Love a Woman".
• Kansas had only one top 10 hit on the Hot 100: the #8 "Dust in the Wind". While it's still a '70s rock classic, it's nowadays not quite as iconic as their second-biggest hit: the #11 "Carry On Wayward Son".
• Kid Rock's only Top 10 hit was "Picture", a country duet with Sheryl Crow^note the radio edit officially had Allison Moorer singing Crow's part due to a label disagreement, but nearly all stations played the Crow version anyway; it was credited as "Kid Rock with Sheryl Crow or Allison Moorer" on the charts, which peaked at #4. Many would be surprised to learn that his comeback hit "All Summer Long" never made it past #23. Similar to the MC Hammer example over on the Hip-Hop / R&B page, "All Summer Long" was indisputably his biggest mainstream radio hit, but because Kid refused to put his music on iTunes at the time, it had almost zero sales, keeping it from going any higher (embarrassingly underperforming a karaoke cover by Hit Masters and only barely outcharting another by the Rock Heroes). His first of three top 40 hits came from Devil Without a Cause — but surprisingly it was not "Cowboy" (#82) or the album's signature "Bawitdaba" (#104), but the less memorable "Only God Knows Why". Interestingly, the reverse is true on the country charts: "All Summer Long" got to #4 and "Picture" only to #21, but both seem relatively equal in terms of familiarity there.
  • Kid also had two top five hits on Mainstream Rock: the aforementioned "Only God Knows Why" and the even more forgotten "So Hott". His signature "Bawitdaba" just barely missed out on the top ten.
• The Kinks' two highest-charting hits on the Hot 100 reached #6. One was "Tired of Waiting For You", which is still a well-known song, if not as iconic as "You Really Got Me" (#7), "Lola" (#9) or "All Day and All of the Night" (#7). The other? "Come Dancing", which was released in 1983, long after their commercial peak. This is partially because the American Federation of Musicians banned them from touring in the US between 1965 and 1969 at the height of their success, due to an incident in which Kinks frontman Ray Davies got into a very nasty altercation with an AFM official, and thus their better-remembered material from that period did not do as well in America. "Come Dancing", meanwhile, became big in part to The Kinks being one of only a few 1960s bands that really took to MTV or new wave, and as a result it had an eye-catching, high-concept video that introduced the group to a new generation. That, in turn, caused the song's radio airplay and sales to sharply increase; despite still being iconic enough to not be obscure, "Come Dancing" hasn't nearly had the staying power that their older tunes have had on classic rock radio.
  • In their native UK, they achieved three #1s: "You Really Got Me", "Tired of Waiting For You", and… not "Lola" or "All Day and All of the Night", both of which stopped at #2, but rather "Sunny Afternoon".
• KISS outpeaked "Rock and Roll All Nite" (the live version peaked at #12; the original peaked at #68) with three songs: "Beth", "Forever", and "I Was Made for Loving You". All three count as Black Sheep Hit too, being Power Ballads (the first is even piano-driven and sung by the drummer, the second is mostly unplugged, and the third has a distinct disco-like rhythm) instead of Intercourse with You or Heavy Meta rocking songs.
  • Their sole #1 on Mainstream Rock, "Psycho Circus", was released in 1998, long after the band's peak in relevance.
• Led Zeppelin:
  • All of their charting hits are classics (with the highest-charting of those, the #4 "Whole Lotta Love", likely being the best-known of those), but none of them come close to the iconic status of "Stairway to Heaven" (which was a radio hit but didn't even chart until 2007 due to not being released as a single). Perhaps even more surprising is the fact that the one time a song called "Stairway to Heaven" hit the top 10 of the Hot 100, it was not the Zeppelin song or even a cover of it, but a #9 Neil Sedaka song that predated the rock classic by a decade.
  • Additionally, Led Zeppelin pulls this off by First and Foremost. "Kashmir" is one of Zep's most recognizable songs, possibly the second best known after "Stairway", and seen by the band as its best musical accomplishment. However, like "Stairway", it never charted due to never being released as a single (and being eight minutes long, it wasn't exactly fit for pop radio). However, a version of "Kashmir" became a hit over twenty years later — "Come with Me", by Puff Daddy featuring guitarist Jimmy Page for the Godzilla (1998) soundtrack. It hit #4 on the Hot 100, yet it is almost completely forgotten today. If it's remembered at all, it's detested for being a poor attempt at a Rap Rock song or an insult to the original. In fact, it's probably not even the best-known song off the soundtrack today — that honor likely goes to Rage Against the Machine's "No Shelter", which didn't chart.
• Lenny Kravitz had 16 entries on the Hot 100, but surprisingly "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" failed to even bubble under. In spite of the song's major airplay on rock radio, it was never released as a physical single and was therefore ineligible for the chart at the time. His highest charter was the #2 "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over", which, despite being his only Top 40 hit for much of the 90's, isn't nearly as well remembered. The only charting entry that can compete is his #12 "Fly Away", which was not only outpeaked by "It Ain't Over" but also "Again".
  • He also managed to do this via Covered Up. His version of The Guess Who's "American Woman" is the one best known to modern audiences, yet it only reached #49. The original isn't nearly as well-known outside of classic rock, despite the fact that it topped the Billboard Hot 100.
  • "Fly Away" and "Are You Gonna" were his two #1's on Mainstream Rock, and the former song also topped the Alternative chart.
• New Zealand rock band Like a Storm's biggest hit in the U.S. (#11 on Mainstream Rock) was "Become the Enemy". While it's still well known to rock radio listeners, it's not exactly as known as "Love the Way You Hate Me", their #21 hit from 2014, which was their biggest hit back home by a sizable margin.
• Lindisfarne's Signature Song "Fog on the Tyne" was the title track of a number one album, but flopped as a single, only charting 18 years later in a heavily rewritten Stock Aitken Waterman-style electropop version with the band guesting as backing group to the footballer Paul "Gazza" Gascoigne. The band's actual one hit in the U.S. was the lesser-known "Run for Home".
• Loverboy had two top 10 hits: they weren't "Working for the Weekend" and "Turn Me Loose", which stalled at a measly #29 and #35 respectively, but "Lovin' Every Minute of It" and "This Could Be the Night".
  • On Mainstream Rock, they had two #2 hits: One was "Working for the Weekend", but the other wasn't "Turn Me Loose", which stopped at #6, but rather "Hot Girls in Love".
  • In their native Canada, "Turn Me Loose" was in fact their biggest hit, peaking at #7; "Working for the Weekend" was their 3rd-biggest, peaking at #10, just behind the #9 peak of "Hot Girls in Love").
• The Marshall Tucker Band's best-known song, "Can't You See?" fizzled out in the mid-70's, while their highest-charting, "Heard It in a Love Song", hit the Top 15.
• Modern English are a variant in that their 1982 new-wave classic "I Melt with You" was indeed their biggest "hit" in the US,^note despite the song's iconic status, it only charted in the lower rungs of the Hot 100 at #78 but a re-recorded version from 1990 later out-peaked it by two spots, which has fallen into obscurity.
• Nazareth became a One-Hit Wonder with a #8 single in 1976. Was it the hard-rocker "Hair of the Dog"? Nope, that song didn't chart; it was the ballad "Love Hurts" (their one other well-known song).
• Nickelback is an aversion, as "How You Remind Me" was a #1 hit in the USA, Canada, and Alternative and Mainstream Rock.
  • Their other #1 hit in their native Canada wasn't "Photograph", but rather "Someday". "Photograph" failed to chart entirely because it was released when the Canadian charts relied solely on sales of physical singles and the song wasn't released as such. Averted in the US, where "How You Remind Me" and "Photograph" peaked at #1 and #2, respectively.
  • They had ten top 40 hits in the US: "How You Remind Me", "Someday", "Photograph", "Rockstar", "Far Away", "Savin' Me", "If Everyone Cared", "Gotta be Somebody", "If Today Was Your Last Day" and... "Burn It to the Ground"? Maybe "When We Stand Together"? Well wrong, none of these two songs actually reached the top 40 (with the latter only reaching #44 and the former not even charting on the Hot 100 for that matter), instead their tenth top 40 hit was actually "This Afternoon" which despite peaking at #34 is nowhere near as remembered as the other tracks mentioned.
  • They achieved eight #1s on Mainstream Rock, including "How You Remind Me" and "Photograph"... but none of their other Hot 100 top 40 hits. One of their other #1s was released in 2014, long after their peak in popularity.
• Our Lady Peace averts this overall, as their signature ballad "Somewhere Out There" was their best showing on the Hot 100, and one of their two #1 hits in Canada. However, their biggest hit on alternative radio was actually "Clumsy" (the band's other Canadian #1 hit), and "Starseed" on mainstream rock.
• Pat Benatar's two highest-charting songs both reached #5. One of them, of course, was "Love Is a Battlefield" (which is also her only #1 on Mainstream Rock). While still iconic, it's not quite as much as "Hit Me with Your Best Shot", which only hit #9. The other #5 was... "Heartbreaker"? No, that only hit #23. The other was "We Belong".
• Phil Collins had three #1 hits in his native UK, and seven #1's in the USA, yet none of them were "In the Air Tonight" (#19 in the USA and #2 in the UK).
• Phish are one of the ultimate examples of a No-Hit Wonder in rock music, as their colossal success as a live act has not translated into major pop hits. They are, however, mainstays on Billboard's adult alternative chart, having charted eight entries there since it was established in 1996. The band's biggest hits there were a pair of songs that made it to #2. The first was 2000's "Heavy Things", Phish's only song to get any top 40 radio airplay and probably their best known song outside of their fanbase. However, even the band's most dedicated fans probably wouldn't guess 2004's "The Connection" was their other #2 hit. Unusually for Phish, they have rarely played "The Connection" live, and it also disappeared from radio rotation shortly after its peak. Averted on the mainstream rock chart, where fan favorites "Free" and "Down with Disease" are their only entries, and "Free" is also their only alternative chart entry.
• Pink Floyd are an aversion as "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" was their only #1 hit, and their only other top 40 was "Money"; however, many will be surprised that neither "Comfortably Numb" nor "Wish You Were Here" were major charting hits. In fact, "Wish" was never a single at all.
• The Police avert this overall, as "Every Breath You Take" was their only Billboard #1. However, many would be surprised to learn that neither "Roxanne" nor "Message in a Bottle" were among their five other Top 10 hits - they peaked at #32 and #74, respectively. In their native UK, they had 5 big hits at #1 ("Every Breath", "Message", "Don't Stand So Close to Me", "Walking on the Moon", "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"), leaving only "Roxanne" (#12) displaced.
• The Psychedelic Furs' only top 40 hit was "Heartbreak Beat" (#25), while "Pretty in Pink" (#41), "Love My Way" (#44) and "The Ghost in You" (#59) are all much better remembered. Averted in their native UK, where "Pretty in Pink" was their highest charter at #18.
• Puddle of Mudd's two alternative #1 hits were "Blurry" and…"She Hates Me"? Nope, the latter only hit #2. The other #1 was "Psycho". This is averted on mainstream rock where they all were among their five #1s, and on the Hot 100 where the former two consisted of their only top 40 hits.
• Pure Prairie League's signature song "Amie" was released as a single in 1975, although its parent album Bustin' Out was released in 1972 (another track was released as a single then, and did not chart). "Amie" only peaked at #15 on the Hot 100, while their only Top 10 hit is the 1980 soft rock ballad "Let Me Love You Tonight" which peaked at #10 and is much more obscure in comparison. That song is largely known as the first hit for Vince Gill, the band's lead singer at the time, who would later launch a very successful country music career.
• Queen had two #1 hits in the U.S., "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". While both songs are legendary (the former more so than the latter), they still don't beat out the likes of "Bohemian Rhapsody" (originally peaked at #9 upon release and later reached #2 after Wayne's World reintroduced the song), "We Will Rock You", and "We Are the Champions" (#4 in the same single).'
  • In their native UK, "Bohemian" was #1 (twice, upon release and after Freddie Mercury's death in 1991 as a double A-side with "These Are the Days of Our Lives") and the equally iconic David Bowie duet "Under Pressure" also topped the charts, but the third chart-topper is the much less representative "Innuendo", from their final album. All their UK #2 hits, "We Are the Champions"/"We Will Rock You",^note said single was runner-up three weeks straight, held off by ABBA and Wings "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Radio Ga Ga", and the above mentioned "Crazy Little Thing" are probably more famous.
  • "Under Pressure" has also an odd case in the U.S., where it only hit #29 and was out-charted by the following and much more divisive single "Body Language" (#11).
  • "Don't Stop Me Now" is one of the most recognizable hits of Queen's discography and reached the Top 10 in the UK, yet it is the lowest charting song of any of their Billboard Hot 100 hits, peaking at #86.
• ? and the Mysterians are commonly thought of as a quintessential one-hit wonder band for their #1 hit "96 Tears". Few people realize that they had a follow-up that hit #22. It must have been "Can't Get Enough of You Baby", a.k.a. the '60s song Smash Mouth covered for Can't Hardly Wait. That only hit #56, while the actual #22 was the completely forgotten "I Need Somebody".
• The Ramones' highest charting "hit" on the charts? "Rockaway Beach", which peaked at #66. In fact, of their three charting singles, none of them were the legendary "Blitzkrieg Bop" or "I Wanna Be Sedated". Even on other charts, it was songs from the band's final years, "Pet Sematary" and "Poison Heart" (#2 and #6 at the Modern Rock charts).
  • This also heavily applied for the UK as well. They've had four Top 40 hits over there. Several would correctly guess that one of them was "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker", which was their second biggest hit there, getting to #22. However, the third and fourth biggest hits over there were the generally forgotten "Swallow My Pride" and "Don't Come Close" at #36 and #39 respectively. But their biggest U.K. hit really falls into this trope. What was it? Their Phil Spector produced cover of "Baby, I Love You" at #8, which notoriously sounds nothing like their usual material and was hated by the band.
• Red Rider is best known for their song "Lunatic Fringe", which didn't chart outside of rock radio, though lead singer Tom Cochrane's solo version peaked at #70 in their native Canada. Their highest entry stateside was the long-forgotten "White Hot", which peaked at #48; and in Canada, the equally forgotten "Good Times" peaked at #2. On Mainstream Rock, "Lunatic Fringe" peaked at #11, two spots behind "Big League".
  • Averted with Cochrane's solo career, as his signature "Life is a Highway" was his first of three #1's in Canada and his sole visit to the US Top Ten.
• Rev Theory charted on the hot Mainstream Rock charts with eight different songs, but surprisingly none of them were "Voices", the theme song to pro wrestler Randy Orton. That is understandable, as it was never promoted as a single to begin with (and technically "Voices" was just a solo song by frontman Rich Luzzi recorded specifically for WWE). The best known of their charting songs, "Hell Yeah" (#18), wasn't their highest charter — that would be "Far from Over"(#15).
• Rick Derringer's only ever pop hit was 1974's "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo", and while it's not forgotten, it's nowhere near as iconic as his 1984 song "Real American". While it was never a single, it would become immortalized as the longtime theme music for arguably the most famous professional wrestler in history: Hulk Hogan.
• Ritchie Valens' biggest hit, the #2 "Donna", is not nearly as known as its B-side "La Bamba", which peaked in the 20s. After all, his biopic wasn't called "Donna", was it?
• Robert Palmer easily averts this, as his signature "Addicted to Love" was his only #1. He had two #2 hits...one must have been "Bad Case of Loving You", right? Nope; that stopped at #14. They were "Simply Irresistible" and "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On". While the former is still iconic, even if not at the status of the first two, the latter isn't nearly as well-known.
  • Palmer also averts this overall in his native UK, where "Addicted to Love" was his highest-charting at #5. He had two #6 peaks, neither of which were "Simply Irresistible" or "Bad Case of Loving You", which only got to #44 and #61 respectively, but rather the far-less remembered "She Makes My Day" and cover of "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight".
• The Rolling Stones had eight #1 singles (including their signature "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and other classics like "Honky Tonk Women" and "Paint It Black"). This total, however, does not include "Gimme Shelter" (not a single), "Sympathy for the Devil" (not a single either, although Fatboy Slim's 2003 remix hit #97), "Start Me Up" (#2), "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (#3, though it did hit #1 in their native UK), "Beast of Burden" (#8), "Wild Horses" (#28), or "You Can't Always Get What You Want" (#42).
  • They also had eight #1 hits in their native UK, all from 1964 to 1969. Including "Satisfaction", "Get Off of My Cloud", "Paint It Black", "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Honky Tonk Women".
  • They had five number #1 hits on rock radio, including "Start Me Up", which ruled the chart for 13 weeks. The Mainstream Rock chart launched in 1981, and most of the Stones' hits predated that chart.
• The Romantics had a smash hit in 1983 with "Talking in Your Sleep", which peaked at #4 on the Hot 100, #2 on rock radio, and topped the dance chart and in Canada. But their only other Top 40 hit wasn't "What I Like About You", which peaked at #49 and has been featured in countless media, but the long-forgotten "One in a Million" (#37).
  • A cover of "What I Like About You" by a long-forgotten singer named Michael Morales (not to be confused with the convicted murderer) actually charted higher at #28. And in the UK, the original version of "Talking in Your Sleep" did not chart, but Bucks Fizz's cover peaked at #15.
• Rush only hit the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 once, and topped their native Canada, with "New World Man", a song largely forgotten in relation to the likes of "Tom Sawyer" (#44 US, #24 Canada), "Limelight" (#55 US, #18 Canada), and "The Spirit of Radio" (#51 US, #22 Canada).
  • Making it even worse, what is singer Geddy Lee's highest charting single on Billboard, which beat out even "New World Man" by peaking at #16? "Take Off", a novelty song by Bob and Doug MacKenzie of SCTV and Strange Brew fame.
  • They had five #1 hits on Mainstream Rock, including "New World Man". But the other four are not "Tom Sawyer" (#8), "Limelight" (#4), "Time Stand Still" (#3), or "The Spirit of Radio" (a live version that peaked at #27).
• Santana had two #1 hits. One of them, of course, was their signature "Smooth", a smash collaboration with Rob Thomas that ruled the charts for 14 weeks and ushered in the new millennium. The other one? "Maria Maria", which isn't nearly as memorable (it arguably even got Sampled Up by "Wild Thoughts"), and is lesser known than their early '70s hits like "Black Magic Woman" (#4), "Evil Ways" (#9), and "Oye Como Va" (#13).
  • Santana's highest peak on Mainstream Rock hit #2. It wasn't any of their 70s hits, due to the chart not existing at the time, nor was it "Smooth", which stopped at #10, but rather a cover of Russ Ballard's "Winning".
  • Yet another example involving "The Game of Love" (see the Pop Music page for more examples): It was one of two top 10 hits from their 2002 album Shaman, hitting #5, alongside the #8 "Why Don't You and I", featuring Chad Kroeger or Alex Band. The former was also the band's only #1 on the AC chart, 15 spots higher than the latter. Despite the chart peaks, "Love" isn't nearly as remembered as "Why", and doesn't get nearly the same amount of recurrent airplay.
• Saving Abel had only one #1 on the Mainstream Rock songs chart. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't "Addicted", which got stuck at #2 behind Disturbed's "Inside the Fire". Rather, it was "The Sex Is Good" off of their follow-up album Miss America, which, like every other song in their discography aside from their debut, is almost completely forgotten today. Averted on the Hot 100, where "Addicted" was their one and only visit, and on Alternative, where it was their only entry in the single-digits.
• Simple Minds avert this in the US, as "Don't You (Forget About Me)", which is by far their best known song in that country, was their only #1 there. But in their native UK, neither that song, nor "Alive and Kicking", arguably their signature back home, was their biggest hit. Both those songs peaked at #7; their sole #1 was "Belfast Child" (though it was a double A-side with "Mandela Day", which had more lasting appeal).
• Squeeze became a Two-Hit Wonder in the United States with the wrong songs. They weren't "Tempted" or "Pulling Mussels", the latter of which didn't chart, but rather "Hourglass" and "853-5937". While "Tempted" has become a radio staple all around the world, and is now the band's best known song, it never cracked the Top 40 anywhere when it was originally released in 1982 (For instance, it topped out at #49 in the US and #41 in the UK). While "Hourglass" still gets some radio airplay, "853-5937" has disappeared from the airwaves and is not one of the band's better known songs. Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, the main singers and songwriters for the band, prefer that the latter song stays forgotten, and have made sure it never turns up on any of their greatest hits albums. This is averted on Mainstream Rock, where "Tempted" was their only top 10 entry.
• Status Quo's sole #1 hit in their native UK wasn't "Whatever You Want (#4), "In the Army Now" (#2), or "Rockin' All Over the World" (#3), but rather "Down Down", which still is an iconic track but not as popular as the aforementioned others.
  • In the USA, they became a One-Hit Wonder with "Pictures of Matchstick Men", which peaked at #12. While "Matchstick Men" is still their best-known song stateside, their aforementioned signature songs never charted there.
• When people think of Styx, they're going to think of songs like "Come Sail Away" (#8), "Renegade" (#16), or "Mr. Roboto" (#3) before their sole #1, "Babe".
• Survivor had two #1 hits on Mainstream Rock. Their signature "Eye of The Tiger" and... "Burning Heart", right? Wrong, "I Can't Hold Back" from Vital Signs. The song is largely forgotten today, just like the rest of their discography besides "Tiger" and "Heart". They had one more top 10 hit, but it still wasn't "Heart" (which barely missed the top 10 at #11); it was the even more obscure "High on You" at #8. Averted on the Hot 100, where "Tiger" and "Heart" were their two biggest hits.
  • They had five entries on the AC chart, including one #1. It wasn't "Eye of The Tiger" or "Burning Heart", which stopped at #27 and #35 respectively, but the much lesser-known "The Search Is Over".
• British band Sweet's biggest hit in the United States wasn't "The Ballroom Blitz" or "Fox on the Run", both of which only hit #5, but the novelty song "Little Willy", a #3 hit. The band hasn’t looked back too fondly of this song and rarely played it live. Even their final top 10 hit "Love is like Oxygen" is probably better remembered. Similarly, their only chart-topper in the UK wasn't any of the aforementioned songs, but rather the mostly forgotten "Block Buster!".
• Talking Heads' three Top 40 hits does not include "Psycho Killer" (#92), "Once in a Lifetime" (#103, though a live version later peaked at #91), or "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" (#62). They were the still-iconic "Burning Down the House", their not-as-memorable cover of "Take Me to the River", and the largely-forgotten (outside the band's core fanbase) "Wild Wild Life", the lattermost also being their highest entry on Mainstream Rock.
• Theory of a Deadman's biggest hit on the Hot 100 wasn't "Bad Girlfriend" (#75) or "Rx (Medicate)" (#110), but rather "Not Meant to Be" (#55), which was their only pop crossover hit and is still easily among their best-known songs. "Girlfriend" was their first of four #1 hits on rock radio, however, and their only top 10 hit on alternative.
• "Jailbreak" is one of of Thin Lizzy's most popular songs and still frequently heard on UK radio, despite peaking at a lowly #31, a long way behind their other radio staples "Whiskey in the Jar" (#4), "The Boys Are Back in Town" (#8), "Waiting For an Alibi" (#9) and "Dancing in the Moonlight" (#14).
• Third Eye Blind had four top 10 hits on alternative, with "Semi-Charmed Life" being their only #1 in that chart. People will be surprised to find out that "Jumper", their second-best known song, only hit #9 there and that "How's It Going to Be" and "Never Let You Go", neither of which are quite as iconic as "Jumper" is, outpeaked it. On the pop charts, this is averted, as "Life" and "Jumper" were their biggest and second-biggest hits there, respectively.
  • They had four minor entries on mainstream rock, with "Semi-Charmed Life" hitting #26. Their three other entries were "Jumper", "How's It Going To Be", and "Never Let You Go", right? Nope, they were "Graduate", "Losing a Whole Year", and "Anything", all of which were quickly forgotten.
• Todd Rundgren had four top 40 solo hits on the Hot 100, along with one a piece from his side-projects Runt and Utopia. Two of those solo hits are "Hello, It's Me" and "I Saw the Light", which remain two of his most popular songs, while the third, "Can We Still Be Friends", isn't as well remembered but is popular with his fanbase. The fourth was a cover of "Good Vibrations" that is relatively obscure today. Not among those Top 40 entries are two songs that are much better known than both "Vibrations" or "Friends": The Power Pop classic "Couldn't I Just Tell You" (which topped out at #93) and the funk-new wave song "Bang the Drum All Day" (#63), which is often referenced in pop culture and is regularly played on classic rock stations on Friday afternoons to celebrate the upcoming weekend. Among Green Bay Packers fans, "Bang the Drum" is by FAR the best-known.^note It's played at home games after every Packers touchdown.
• Tom Petty's highest charting song (with or without the Heartbreakers) was not, as many might suspect, "Free Fallin'", but rather his still well-known but less iconic collaboration with Stevie Nicks, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around", which made it to #3. "Free Fallin'" is his highest charting solo effort, however, at #7. More surprising, "American Girl" never charted, only gaining recognition after the band's later popular breakthrough brought their debut album to wider attention.
  • He had 10 #1 hits on rock radio, including "Free Fallin'", "Mary Jane's Last Dance", and "I Won't Back Down", but not "Don't Do Me Like That" or "American Girl", which were both released before the chart existed.
• The Undertones only had one Top 10 hit in the UK, but it wasn't their iconic debut single "Teenage Kicks". Instead, it was "My Perfect Cousin", which made it to #9 in 1980. "Teenage Kicks" only made it to #31, but it became a legendary song in the world of British indie rock because it was the favourite song of influential BBC DJ John Peel, who even had the song's opening lines inscribed on his tombstone, and the song received a boost in attention after One Direction recorded a mash-up cover of it and "One Way or Another" as a charity single. "My Perfect Cousin", on the other hand, is mostly remembered for containing lyrics making snide remarks at The Human League, who would go on to become Synth-Pop pioneers and one of the leading artists of the 1980s Second British Invasion.
• Van Morrison just barely qualifies, as his signature song, "Brown-Eyed Girl" (#10), was edged out by "Domino" on the charts by one spot.
  • His previous band Them had two top 40 hits, but neither of them were "Gloria", the song for which they are most recognized today. This was mostly due to concerns over a suggestive lyric, "she comes to my room", in the song. As a result, many stations refused to play it, and a cleaner version by long-forgotten garage rock group The Shadows of Knight was played in its place, moving it to a higher spot of #10. "Gloria" wasn't a top 40 hit in the UK either... because it was only issued as a B-side (its A-side, a cover of "Baby Please Don't Go", was a big hit).
• The Vapors' only entry on the mainstream rock charts hit #39. It must have been "Turning Japanese", right? Nope; it was released a year before the chart was even launched. That one "hit" was "Jimmie Jones", which, like every other song in their discography not named "Turning Japanese", is completely forgotten today. "Japanese" was, however, the band's sole chart entry on the Hot 100.
• War, one of the biggest rock bands of the '70s, made it up to #2 with their highest charting song, but that song wasn't "Low Rider" (#7) or "Why Can't We Be Friends?" (#6), but the less iconic "The Cisco Kid". On the R&B chart, "Low Rider" was their only #1, but "Why Can't We Be Friends?" stopped at #9, being outpeaked by a total of seven of their other songs.
• Warrant's biggest hit at #2, "Heaven", while still a classic, is not nearly as well-remembered as "Cherry Pie", which peaked at #10.
• The Who only hit the top 10 once in their career. That song? "I Can See For Miles", which while not obscure, and known for being the theme to CSI: Cyber, is not nearly as recognized as the likes of "My Generation" (#74), "Pinball Wizard" (#19), "Behind Blue Eyes" (#34), or the themes to the three more iconic CSI-verse shows: "Baba O'Riley" (didn't chart), "Won't Get Fooled Again" (#15), and "Who Are You" (#14).
  • Their two highest-peaking songs in their native UK peaked at #2. One was "My Generation", but the other one was the much lesser-known "I'm a Boy". Compare to the much more iconic "Won't Get Fooled Again" (#9), "Pinball Wizard" (#4), and "Who Are You" (#18).
• Yes:
  • They only ever scored one UK top 10 hit, but it wasn't "Roundabout" (which wasn't released in the UK) or "Owner of a Lonely Heart" (though both are their biggest hits in the US) - it was the far less well-remembered "Wonderous Stories".
  • A variation with "Owner of a Lonely Heart". The highest charting version of it in the UK was not the original, but rather a remix of it by British-Canadian DJ Max Graham, which reached #9 in 2005, outpeaking the original by 19 spots.
• ZZ Top had two #8 hits. One was their iconic 1984 hit "Legs", but the other was the lesser known "Sleeping Bag" from the following year. Two of their best-known hits, "Sharp Dressed Man" and "La Grange", both missed the Top 40 entirely. "Sharp Dressed Man" peaked at #56, while "La Grange" bowed out at #41.
  • They had six #1 singles on Mainstream Rock, including "Sleeping Bag", but not "Legs" (#3) or "Sharp Dressed Man" (#8).