Songs That Were Top 40 Hits...But Not In The United States

This was an AC hit in the US

 

I Got You , #53 highest they got . Only 3 songs ever charted .

 

It was a different story in Canada. "I Got You" was a major top 40 hit peaking at 13 in late 1980.

 

"Nothing Rhymed" by Gilbert O'Sullivan: Per Wikipedia it hit #8 in the U. K., #2 in Ireland, and #1 in The Netherlands but did not chart in the U. S.

"Underneath The Blanket Go" by Gilbert O'Sullivan: Per Wikipedia it hit #40 in the U. K. and #1 in The Netherlands but did not chart in the U. S.

 

wow ... that's awful

 

One of my all-time favorites by Dean Friedman, "Lucky Stars", from his great second album, "Well Well Said The Rocking Chair". This one hit number 3 in the UK singles charts, while in America it sadly completely stiffed.

 

John Cougar Mellencamp - I Need A Lover .
#10 in Australia in 1978 , didn't chart in USA ,
re-released in USA in 1979 went #28

 

I visited the Billboard Website, checked the Billboard Chart for 18 June 1966 (when
Ike and Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High" was at #88) and the following songs were in the Top 40:

• "Strangers In The Night" by Frank Sinatra
  
• "Sweet Talkin' Guy" by The Chiffons (one of my favorite songs)
• "Paperback Writer" by The Beatles

Also "I Love Onions" by Susan Christie was at #84.

 

Speaking of Gilbert, here is one of my favorites by him that had no US chart success (somewhere around #62 or so here), but was #3 or 4 in Ireland and #19 in the UK.

"Happiness Is Me And You"

 

I like "Happiness Is Me And You" too and I agree about his chart performance being much more outside the U. S. He had only five songs that made the Top 40 in the U. S., yet he had (if I've counted correctly) 21 Top 40 hits overall.

 

Here is a great late single by Frankie Valli and The 4 Seasons, from their MoWest (MOTOWN L.A. side label) catalog, called "The Night". This made it to #7 in the UK, but was never even released as a single in the U.S., which is a damn shame, as it is a really, really good track.

NOTE: There are two different versions of this song, the first one, which was the hit single version that starts with The 4 Seasons together singing the first lines of the song before it kicks in and then there is a later remixed version, from Frankie's Motown album "Inside You", where they replace Frankie right from the start. I actually prefer that later remix, as The 4 Seasons version starts off a little draggy, while Frankie's remix is good to go from the start, in my opinion.

 

^^^

Here is the Frankie Valli remixed version ...

 

Nicole's A Little Peace (in German, Ein Bischen Frieden). The winner of Eurovision 1982 got to number one all over Europe (Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium) and, of course, the UK. But it wasn't never released in the USA!

 

The song was released in the UK in 1972, where it flopped completely. It was in 1975 when they re-released it because it was played a lot in the Northern Soul scene, and got to #7.

 

Got it, thanks!

 

Blue Mink - Our World
UK #17, US #64

 

"Jolene" - Dolly Parton (UK #7)
"I Will Always Love You" (1982 version) - Dolly Parton (CA #8)
"You Are" - Dolly Parton (NL #1)

 

Jolene and I Will Always Love You were country chart hits and are country classics.

 

"Moonlight Shadow" by Annie Haslam: Per Wikipedia it hit #4 in the U. K. but did not chart in the U. S.

 

Deep Purple classics...

• Black Night (#2 in the UK....#66 in the USA).
• Strange Kind of Woman (#8 in the UK, but did not chart in the USA).

 

The same with the original version by Mike Oldfield with Maggie Reilly which was also a huge UK hit but didn't chart in the US.

 

Yet, in the case of the latter, Strange Kind of Woman was the album cut in the US while in the UK, Demon's Eye was on the In Rock album.

 

"Woman From Tokyo" reached #60 in the US but is still a classic rock staple.

 

True.

 

Is it evil that I remember 'I Love Onions?'