History Main / FirstAndForemost

* Music/NewOrder's original "Blue Monday" will never be overshadowed, despite the stint of popularity by Music/{{Orgy}}'s late '90s cover version. Same goes for "Bizarre Love Triangle" in spite of the popular but now forgotten SofterAndSlowerCover by Frente!.

* Max-A-Million's reggae take on Music/MarvinGaye's "Sexual Healing" was highly popular in the latter half of Useful notes/TheNineties, but from the 2000's to the present day most stations have stuck with the original.

* Music/TracyChapman's song "Fast Car" got {{Speedy Techno Remake}}s from UK act Jonas Blue and Dakota, as well as Swedish act Tobtok. They performed fairly well in 2016, but did nothing to replace Chapman's 1988 original.

* Music/NoDoubt had a hit in 2003 with their cover of "It's My Life," but nowadays it's more common to hear the original version by Music/TalkTalk on the radio.

** Also note that the reverse is '''not''' true: songs that were covered ''by'' Beatles are still generally known as Beatles' songs. Yeah, they were ''that'' powerful a band.

* Ernest Kohl's cover of Music/{{ABC}}'s "Be Near Me" was a #1 international hit in 2010, but quickly faded back into obscurity afterwards.

* Music/NewOrder's original "Blue Monday" will never be overshadowed, despite the stint of popularity by Music/{{Orgy}}'s late '90s cover version. Same goes for "Bizarre Love Triangle" in spite of the well-known SofterAndSlowerCover by Frente!.

* Ernest Kohl's cover of Music/{{ABC}}'s "Be Near Me" was a sleeper hit in 2010, but quickly faded back into obscurity afterwards.

* Amici Stewart's cover of Eddie Floyd's "Knock On Wood" was a #1 Platinum-certified hit in 1979 and is [[CoveredUp considered the definitive version]]. Over the years, numerous other artists have covered it, including Music/DavidBowie, Music/RazzyBailey, Music/EricClapton, Music/MichaelBolton, and Mary Griffin (for the aforementioned ''Film/FiftyFour'' soundtrack), but none have come close to the prominence of Stewart's version.

* Music/ThinLizzy 's version of "Whiskey in the Jar" (which was a cover but they came up with the arrangement) is much more popular than the Music/{{Metallica}} version in the UK and especially Thin Lizzy's native Ireland. The Metallica version had huge chart success in America, though whether it is more popular there is a matter of debate (outside those countries it probably fills CoveredUp).

* Pat Boone, for a while, was notable for taking R&B and rock 'n' roll numbers and singing them with watered-down arrangements in order to make them palatable to pop radio and white audiences. Back then, his covers outsold the originals, but today, they're ridiculed as weak imitations of the real deal while the originals are seen as definitive. Therefore, Boone ended up being a victim of this trope.

* Music/ToriAmos' take on "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is one of the most well-known covers of all time, but of course, everyone still remembers Music/{{Nirvana}}'s original from ''Music/{{Nevermind}}''. Nirvana is one band that simply can't be CoveredUp.
* Similarly, you can try all you like but you just can't [[CoveredUp Cover Up]] Music/LedZeppelin.

* Music/BoyzIIMen is a very popular group with many hits and their 1991 version of "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" [[CoveredUp is more well-known]] than G. C. Cameron's original 1975 version from the ''Cooley High'' soundtrack. However, the same cannot be said about their 1997 cover of Music/NewEdition's 1988 mega-hit "Can You Stand the Rain", where it was to the point of many fans not even knowing that it existed. It only got further displaced after it was sung by the cast of ''Series/TheNewEditionStory'' and interest in the original only grew stronger.

* Ugly Kid Joe's version of "Cat's in the Cradle" (retitled without the apostrophe) was a huge hit in 1993, but always stood in the shadow of Music/HarryChapin's 1974 original.

* "I Will Be" is a song that destroyed Music/LeonaLewis's career in the US, so it's no surprise that the original by Music/AvrilLavigne is better looked upon.

* Several ChristmasSongs: "White Christmas" (Music/BingCrosby from his album ''Music/MerryChristmas''), "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Here Comes Santa Claus" (Music/GeneAutry), "The Christmas Song" (Nat "King" Cole), though in most of those cases the artists actually recorded multiple versions of the songs.

* As well-loved an artist Music/TomJones is in his own right, his 1988 cover with The Art of Noise did nothing to replace Music/{{Prince}}'s original 1986 version.

* Boyz II Men is a very popular group with many hits and their 1991 version of "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" [[CoveredUp is more well-known]] than G. C. Cameron's original 1975 version from the ''Cooley High'' soundtrack. However, the same cannot be said about their 1997 cover of Music/NewEdition's 1988 mega-hit "Can You Stand the Rain", where it was to the point of many fans not even knowing that it existed. It only got further displaced after it was sung by the cast of ''Series/TheNewEditionStory'' and interest in the original only grew stronger.

* Music/{{Sugarland}}'s 2008 cover of The Dream Academy's 1985 smash hit "Life in a Northern Town" is all but forgotten, especially since the duo is now more likely remembered for [[FatalMethodActing their 2011 concert that ended with a stage collapse that killed seven people.]]

* DHT's 2004 cover of Music/{{Roxette}}'s "Listen to Your Heart", which was [[OneHitWonder their sole international hit]], introduced many younger audiences to the song. By the 2010's, DHT's version had mostly faded from memory, and Roxette's original once again reigned supreme.

* In contrast with Music/SoftCell's aforementioned cover of Gloria Jones' "Tainted Love, their SiameseTwinSong cover of Music/TheSupremes' "Where Did Our Love Go?" has fallen into obscurity, with most radio stations fading out at the end of "Tainted Love".

* Blue Swede's 1974 #1 "Hooked On A Feeling" is much better known than B.J. Thomas's original. The same cannot be said for their #7 cover of "Never My Love," however, and the Association's #2 hit version is still the version most people think of first, with the Fifth Dimension's version a close second, despite actually charting lower than Blue Swede's at #12, largely due to both being produced by Bones Howe, and Blue Swede are today remembered only for the former.

* Music/SoftCell's cover of Gloria Jones' "Tainted Love" is miles better known than the original. By contrast, its SiameseTwinSong a cover of Music/TheSupremes' "Where Did Our Love Go?" has fallen into obscurity, with most radio stations fading out at the end of "Tainted Love".

* Music/{{Sugarland}}'s 2008 cover of The Dream Academy's 1985 smash hit "Life in a Northern Town" is all but forgotten, especially since the duo is now more likely remembered for their 2011 concert that ended with the stage collapsing that killed seven people.