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2020 has so far been a busy year at the top end of the Official Singles Chart. The first six months has seen 12 songs reach Number 1 – the same amount as the whole of 2019.

But while turnover at the top is on the up, breaking into the Top 40 is still no mean feat. Competition is tough, meaning some songs – usually for very different reasons - miss out on a spot in the top flight.

The biggest song to miss out on a Top 40 placing this year is Juliet & Romeo by French DJ/producer Martin Solveig and Canadian singer-songwriter Roy Woods. The dance-pop track first appeared on the Official Singles Chart in April, debuting at Number 77 and peaking at 51 four weeks later.

Despite being hugely popular on radio, the song’s chart success was possibly hindered by his Jax Jones and Raye collaboration, Tequila, hitting the Top 40 around the same time. Its total chart sales to date stand at 164,000.

In second is What If I Told You That I Love You by Ali Gatie. The rap ballad was the follow-up to the Iraqi-Canadian star’s debut single It’s You – a hit around the world in 2019 (though it stalled at 45 in the UK). Released in January, the song logged 10 weeks inside the Top 100, peaking at Number 57 in March, notched up 130,000 chart sales to date.

Another hit-that-shoulda-been, soul-jazz stomper Stop This Flame by Celeste ranks third in the biggest songs to miss the Top 40 this year, topping out at Number 47 in February (112,000 chart sales), shortly after winning this year’s Rising Star BRIT Award.

In fourth, British singer-songwriter Tom Grennan kicked off his second album campaign in January with This Is The Place, a song, he said, “is about finding a place of complete calm and escaping utter chaos and carnage”. Despite seemingly having all the makings of what could have been his first Top 40 single, the track topped out at Number 73 in April, logging eight weeks in the Top 100.

Elsewhere, stripped-down pop ballad Selfish by US singer-songwriter Madison Beer also features in the Top 10 biggest songs to miss the Top 40 this year, peaking at Number 53 in April. Just behind is The Other Side by SZA and Justin Timberlake, released for the Trolls World Tour film and a massive radio hit in March, which stalled at Number 44.

Also featured in the list is NSG’s Ourself, which landed at 43 in February, Level Of Concern by Twenty One Pilots, which topped out at 42 in April, and Rita Ora’s How To Be Lonely. The Lewis Capaldi-penned song missed the Top 40 in March, peaking at Number 57.