Number one singles that have been (almost) completely forgotten

"Photograph" "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" get radio play here. And occasionally "You're Sixteen". Granted "Whatever" gets less airplay than most Lennon tracks.

I heard "I Am Woman" recently too... but this is a good list.

 

There is a good reason songs are forgotten!


Except for "Don't Break the heart that loves you."

 

Good call on the Elton John 'Diana tribute' record. Inevitable that wouldn't be played much after a certain time I guess.

 

Wizzard's "See my Baby jive" seems to be have been almost forgotten.

 

It's not exactly the type of song you can play anywhere other than at a funeral for someone named Diana who was a princess in England, but I'll bet Sir Elton has a plane fueled and ready in the unlikely event that those particular set of circumstances coalesce one more time.

 

I believe I have heard "My Ding A Ling."

Are there stations these days playing Captain & Tennille "Do That To Me One More Time"? Perhaps there are but they aren't on my radar.

 

Not as bad as God Save The Queen being kept from No 1 by Rod Stewart...................................despite selling twice as many copies!!

 

It was actually the B side of the single.

 

"Shake You Down" by Gregory Abbott (1986)

I get why some of these novelty (Paper Lace) songs are forgotten - but usually a mainstream AC/R&B hit like that would be a lot of airplay - but other than looking it up on Youtube recently- I haven't heard this song in 25 years.

 

Allegedly. It's not a theory (for that's all it is) I've ever subscribed to. But it makes a good story/conspiracy theory. Where did you find authenticated sales figures?. Even Richard Branson has said it's probably not true. Don't forget that some shops didn't stock the Sex Pistols single (yes, I know it's silly - it's only a record) if some/most of those shops were chart return shops then it's no surprise it stopped at no.2. What people fail to understand at this distance in time is that Punk barely touched the album and singles charts and it didn't last very long anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if McLaren was behind the ''we were cheated'' story.

 

Was it not generally accepted that the BBC deliberately kept the single off the No1 slot in jubilee week?

(I do not have the sales figures)

The song peaked at number 2 (behind Rod Stewart's "I Don't Want to Talk About It" released as a double A-side single along with "The First Cut Is the Deepest") on the official UK Singles Chart used by the BBC, though there have been persistent rumours—never confirmed or denied—that it was actually the biggest-selling single in the UK at the time, and was kept off number 1 because it was felt that it might cause offence.[1] On at least one singles chart for the period, (TOP 20 POPS) the song's No. 2 slot is represented with a blank line. It did hit number 1 on the unofficial NME singles chart. It was banned by the BBC and the Independent Broadcasting Authority which regulated Independent Local Radio.

 

Anything with the name "Osmond" attached to it.

 

And you, you light up my life....
I think that was actually the #1 single of the whole dang year.

BTW, I think in #26 above that Lennon did "Whatever Gets You Through the Night."

Cool thread.cwd

 

Afternoon delight, anyone? IIRC, the band even got a short-run tv show the summer of 76, from that one massive hit. Not totally forgotten, I guess-in 2010 Billboard had it as one of the sexiest songs of all time.cwd

 

This s**t sandwich (I'm sorry, medley) hit #1 in the US in 1988 and thankfully faded into oblivion soon thereafter.

 

Prince - Batdance
Its popularity was seriously amped up by the hype surrounding the 1989 Batman movie. I've not heard the shouty disjointed mess ever since.

 

Muskrat Love, cover by Captain and Tenille, adult contemporary chart. Angie Baby, Helen Reddy. I could go on and on, too much fun, gotta get to work.cwd

 

Debbie Boone - You Light Up My Life
BJ Thomas - Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head / Somebody Done Somebody Wrong
Melanie - Brand New Key
Barbra Streisand - The Way We Were -
Clint Holmes - Playground In My Mind
Barbra Streisand/Neil Diamond - You Don't Bring Me Flowers

 

Bent by Matchbox 20

 

Again, J, it's hearsay. Never underestimate the power of a double a-side; if the general public - and, make no mistake, it's THEY who make a single a hit, not the artist's die-hard fans - like a song they hear on the radio, then hear another song that's on the same single (and BOTH sides of the Rod Stewart single got lots of airplay) and they like that too, then it's going to be huge. Blame the British public, no one else. It's often the case that a song so different from anything else around at the time just takes off. The mid-seventies was a VERY strange time in the UK, chart-wise; you'd have been hard pressed to predict what would be a hit and what would sink without trace.

 

Charlene's "Never Been to Me" comes to mind. And man, I wish it wouldn't.

 

Thanks loads...I had managed to completely erase this "band" and this record from my memory banks until you brought it up!

Both they and their record had absolutely no reason to exist.

They actually had a follow-up hit (#7) with their loving treatment of 1o c.c.'s "I'm Not in Love."

You know, why not just admit "We have absolutely nothing to offer in terms of originality, so we'll just take a proven hit melody and wreck it"?

But then, I feel that way about UB 40 too.

 

Once heard, never forgotten. Unfortunately.

 

Well, presumably each set of parents copulated at some point.

 

Walk Like An Egyptian!