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

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Solitaire1, Jun 1, 2018.

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  1. tim_neely

    tim_neely Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Central VA
    "Oh Diane," a Fleetwood Mac song from Mirage, was a top-10 hit in the UK in 1983 (#9).

    During the group's most commercially successful period (1975-1988), only two of their American singles failed to make the Billboard Hot 100, and this was one of them.
     
  2. Blimpboy

    Blimpboy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Walton, KY
    Tina had a 1996 Top 40 hit in about 10 countries with the Trevor Horn produced "Whatever You Want". I believe Taylor Dayne released a version in 1998 that did well on the US Dance chart.
     
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  3. tim_neely

    tim_neely Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Central VA
    Suzi Quatro was a one-hit wonder in the United States, and that was a 1979 duet with Chris Norman of Smokie, "Stumblin' In."

    But in many other parts of the world, it was a different story for the Detroit, MI native:

    "Rolling Stone" -- #1 in Portugal, 1972 (released in the US but didn't chart)
    "Can the Can" -- #1 UK, Australia, and Germany; #5 Ireland, 1973 (#56 US)
    "48 Crash" -- #1 Australia, #2 Germany, #3 UK, 1973 (released in the US but didn't chart)
    "Daytona Demon" -- #2 Germany, #4 Australia, #14 UK, 1973 (not a US single)
    "Devil Gate Drive" -- #1 UK, Australia, and Ireland; #2 Germany, 1974 (released in the US but didn't chart)
    "Too Big" -- #6 Germany, #12 in Ireland, #13 in Australia, #14 in the UK, 1974 (not a US single)
    "The Wild One -- #2 Australia, #7 UK, #11 Ireland, #15 Germany, 1974 (not a US single)
    "Your Mamma Won't Like Me" -- #14 Australia, #27 Germany, #31 UK, 1975 (released in the US but didn't chart)
    "I Bit Off More Than I Could Chew" -- #34 Germany, 1975 (released in the US but didn't chart)
    "Tear Me Apart" -- #17 Germany, #25 Australia, #27 UK, 1977 (not a US single)
    "If You Can't Give Me Love" -- #2 Ireland, #4 UK, #5 Germany, #10 Australia, 1978 (#45 US, 1979)
    "The Race Is On" -- #11 Ireland, #15 Germany, #28 Australia, 1978 (not a US single)
    "She's in Love with You" -- #5 Ireland, #8 Germany, #11 UK, #30 Australia, 1979 (#41 US)
    "I've Never Been in Love" -- #38 Germany, 1979 (#44 US)
    "Mama's Boy" -- #19 Germany, #27 Ireland, #34 UK, 1980 (not a US single)
    "Rock Hard" -- #9 Australia, #26 Germany, 1980 (released in the US but didn't chart)
     
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2018
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  4. mtvgeneration

    mtvgeneration Forum Resident

    Location:
    CA
    "Home" by Sheryl Crow doesn't look to have made any American charts or done well anywhere outside the UK, where it was Top 40. Similar story for the earlier, worse "Run, Baby, Run."

    From 1983 until 2009, almost all U2 singles charted well in the UK and Ireland and sometimes did well in other territories, but most did not make Top 40 in the USA.
     
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2018
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  5. Damiano54

    Damiano54 Senior Member

    Reet Petite - Jackie Wilson

    Only reached No. 62 here.
     
  6. LoveYourLife

    LoveYourLife Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, UK
    Martha Davis, former lead singer of the Motels.
    "Don't Tell Me The Time" (1987) - Top 10 in Australia but stalled at # 80 on the Billboard Hot 100. What a great record.
     
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  7. DesertHermit

    DesertHermit Now an UrbanHermit

    This was huge in Australia and the Policy record was also a wonderful album and deserved far more attention.
     
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  8. LoveYourLife

    LoveYourLife Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, UK
    Agree-- I should have said brilliant single and brilliant album.
     
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  9. LoveYourLife

    LoveYourLife Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, UK
    Stan Ridgway, original lead singer of Wall of Voodoo.
    "Camouflage" (1986) - Top 5 the UK, Top 10 in Germany, as well as Top 20 in a few other European markets. Didn't trouble the Billboard Hot 100.
     
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  10. carrolls

    carrolls Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dublin
    This was number 1 in the UK and did very little in the USA.

     
  11. John54

    John54 Senior Member

    Location:
    Burlington, ON
    Cliff Richard, Don't Talk to Him:

     
  12. forthlin

    forthlin Member Chris & Vickie Cyber Support Team

    This raises a point I think of often: Why give "charts" any credibility at all? They are largely useless in judging anything other than what particular song sold in any week over the other songs sold that week. Kinda kooky when you think about it.
     
  13. DesertHermit

    DesertHermit Now an UrbanHermit

    Toni Childs enjoyed 5 Top 40 singles in Australia and none in her native US:
    Stop Your Fussin’ (#17)
    Don’t Walk Away (#17) her only charting single in the US where it peaked at #72
    I’ve Got To Go Now (#5)
    House Of Hope (#39)
    Many Rivers To Cross (#12)

    Maybe that’s one of the reasons she now calls Australia home :D
     
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  14. delmonaco

    delmonaco Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sofia, Bulgaria
    Demis Roussos scored about 30 (too many to list) top 40 entries around the globe (mostly in continental Europe), and at least half of them were in top 10. In the US he has only one top 50 song, #47 in 1978.
     
  15. cut to the chase

    cut to the chase Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    In 1978, South African band Clout reached #2 in the UK, #1 in Germany and the top 3 in many other European countries with a remake of 'Substitute' by The Righteous Brothers. It only went to #67 in the US.

     
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  16. Surly

    Surly Bon Viv-oh-no-he-didn't

    Location:
    Sugar Land, TX
    "You Win Again" by Bee Gees - their 1987 "comeback" hit that was a smash all over Europe, including going to #1 in the UK, but only managed #75 in the US.
    However, they did hit #7 in the US with "One" in 1989, a song that only reached #71 in the UK.

    "Road To Nowhere" hit #6 in the UK in 1985, and didn't even chart in the US.
    Their biggest US hit is "Burning Down The House" (#9, 1983) a song that I don't believe was even a single in the UK.

    "Victims" by Culture Club was #3 in the UK yet wasn't a single here (although some radio stations picked up on it briefly in 1984 before "It's A Miracle" became the official 4th US single from Colour By Numbers). "Miss Me Blind," however, was a #5 smash in the US and was not released as a single in the UK.
     
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  17. LoveYourLife

    LoveYourLife Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, UK
    I never knew this was a remake... you learn something new every day.
     
  18. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dixie
    This definitely for US airplay, as it even got played by the AOR station in my backwater hometown
     
  19. Solitaire1

    Solitaire1 Carpenters Fan Thread Starter

    "Ain't No Pleasing You" by Chas & Dave. Per Wikipedia it reached #2 in the U. K. but per The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn it did not chart in the U. S.
     
  20. SpudOz

    SpudOz Forum Resident

    Devo had a few Australian Top 40 (and New Zealand) hits that did nothing in the USA:

    Dev-O Live EP - #1 in Australia for three weeks in 1981, 14 in New Zealand and 50 in the USA
    Beautiful World - #14 in Australia, 15 in New Zealand and 102 in the USA
    Working in the Coalmine - #8 in New Zealand, 20 in Australia and peaked at 43 in the USA
    Here To Go EP - #40 in Australia, didn't chart anywhere else
     
  21. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    Sometimes the Americans got it right! :)
     
  22. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    There must be thousands of songs that fit this definition, but I don't think it's particularly notable unless they are recordings coming out of the US. River Deep, Mountain High, for example.

    A real curiosity is "Cottonfields", the Beach Boys' rendition of the Huddie Ledbetter song. This was a number one hit in Australia, leading the record companies to add the track to the Sunflower album as the opening track. I don't think it was a hit anywhere else.

    Inappropriate as it seems on the album, I probably should be grateful to it because it generated a few album sales and led to DJs playing a couple of other songs from the album, and that was what first got me seriously interested in the Beach Boys.
     
  23. Mulderre

    Mulderre 60s and 70s Music Lover

    Cottonfields went to Number One in Australia, but also in South Africa, Norway and Sweden. It was top 10 in the UK, Japan, Ireland or Denmark. Only was 103 in USA.
     
  24. slinkyfarm

    slinkyfarm Forum Resident

    Location:
    Winchester, KY
    Going through Tim Rice's books on British charts, for the most part I'd rather have grown up listening to Britain's hits instead of America's. It would have been nice to have been exposed to more than one T. Rex song, like "Jeepster" - #2 in the U.K., didn't chart in the U.S.

     
  25. kiefer2

    kiefer2 Eastern European knockoff Mr. Potato Head

    Location:
    Brookhaven, Pa.
    Paging Robbie Williams...Robbie Williams to the white courtesy phone.
     
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