I think a lot of things need to be looked into perspective firstly. Most of these acts who have 'flopped' had big selling albums between 2004-2007. The album market was much stronger back then, and big name artists tended to rely more on their name more than anything because the evolution of web 2.0 wasn't as big as it is now, so all the big artists don't get the exposure they did 3-4 years ago.

 

How can people say Gorillaz flopped? Ok, I will you give you thta it sold nowhere near as much as Demon Days, but they had a massive tour, Glastonbury headline performance and the album did not sell as bad as its been made to have done if you compare it to the sales market. Joe McEldery is probably the biggest UK flop. Christina bombed massively, but then these artists only bombed because we as the public had huge expectations for them.

 

Like a lot of things, we on the whole are VERY fickle. Mika is irrelevant now for example, yet he was huge beyond belief 2/3 years ago. His sound has moved on, the small camp pop phrase was just a little fad, I mean he had the lead single from Kick-Ass, one of the biggest films of 2010 and even that couldn't give him a small needed boost...

Surprised only one person so far has mentioned The Hoosiers. Tbh, they released the best pop album of 2010.

 

Undeserved flops (considering their album efforts):

 

The Hoosiers

Robyn

Amy MacDonald

Adam Lambert

HURTS :'(

The Pretty Reckless

Laura Marling

Scissor Sisters

The Ting Tings (album released next year, but 'Hands' did flop badly)

Gabriella Cilmi

Goldfrapp

Joe McElderry (Yes, really - a solid pop album only the prejudiced or pop-haters would cast off as rubbish)

Gorillaz

Brandon Flowers (considering he's the frontman of The Killers, a modestly-selling #1 album and a top ten single, then a cancelled single is not necessarily a success)

One Night Only

 

Deserved flops (considering the album):

 

Scouting For Girls

Christina Aguilera

Ne-Yo

Alphabeat ('The Beat Is...' wasn't that good if I'm honest)

MGMT (pretentious snobbery in album form)

Eliza Doolittle

Kelis

Mika (released 'The Boy Who Knew Too Much' in 2009, but the bulk of releases came in 2010)

Duffy

Owl City

Kate Nash

Like a lot of things, we on the whole are VERY fickle. Mika is irrelevant now for example, yet he was huge beyond belief 2/3 years ago. His sound has moved on, the small camp pop phrase was just a little fad, I mean he had the lead single from Kick-Ass, one of the biggest films of 2010 and even that couldn't give him a small needed boost...

 

^This. Mika was part of... say a 'parade' of hugely eccentric, unique pop acts emerging out of the pop scene - Scissor Sisters (with 'Ta-Dah!'), The Hoosiers, etc., but no-one is interested in this kind of music anymore, regardless of the depth of his lyrics, people have moved on to trashier, flash-in-the-pan hits that they can dance to (possibly mirrored by the current economic crisis and music being a form of escapism from that reality?) - they've moved on but some artists saw it coming - the way The Hoosiers and Scissor Sisters evovled to match a dance-pop/electropop sound proves this, leaving Mika to wallow about in the regions of #70-#80, only to be joined by his tabloid-unfriendly, camp peers.

 

Although, I can;t remember the last time a big Hollywood film has ever helped a single. The only time it ever helps is when the single itself gets promoted (á la Nickelbacks' 'Hero') - having it as the soundtrack to a film has nothing to do with it's success - 'Kick Ass (We Are Young)' being a perfect example of this (the song started at the end of the film, but not before a seemingly randomly placed, 5-minute borefest nobody even cared about made everyone leave the cinema). Joe's 'Someone Wake Me Up' or Leona's 'I See You' (from two massive films over the last year) were possible chart hits - but because no-one heard them, no-one bought them.

 

Releasing a soundtrack single does not guarantee chart success, so it can't be held against an artist if they flop with it unless the song itself is promoted - I think I saw one advertisement of 'The Voyage Of The Drawn Treader' which also mentioned 'Someone Wake Me Up'.

Edited December 30, 201014 yr by OddOne

Duffy :o (Biggest shock, what happened there! Is it the end for her?)

 

 

I hope not. After some hesitation I bought Endlessly and it's great. I love it. Well, Well, Well is one of the weaker tracks imho. Great album and I can't stop playing it.

HURTS :'(

 

THIS :snif: Frankly I can't believe you're the first to mention it, but thank you for doing so. Considering all the hype they received (justifiedly considering the quality of their album and live performance) it's shocking that they haven't had a UK top 20 single, and the album spent four weeks in the top 40 (despite peaking at 4). I think it says something about how bad British music taste is at the moment, and despite the success they have had in mainland Europe, I'm beginning to worry that they have left it too late to capitalise on Wonderful Life's success there with a second single... [/HURTSloonmodeoff]

I do agree with previous comments in this thread that Amy Winehouse's comeback could go either way.

 

With me I no longer buy an album based on me liking the artist's last one. I need to hear 4 or 5 tracks first. I suspect many other people are the same.

Edited December 30, 201014 yr by Common Sense

^This. Mika was part of... say a 'parade' of hugely eccentric, unique pop acts emerging out of the pop scene - Scissor Sisters (with 'Ta-Dah!'), The Hoosiers, etc., but no-one is interested in this kind of music anymore, regardless of the depth of his lyrics, people have moved on to trashier, flash-in-the-pan hits that they can dance to (possibly mirrored by the current economic crisis and music being a form of escapism from that reality?) - they've moved on but some artists saw it coming - the way The Hoosiers and Scissor Sisters evovled to match a dance-pop/electropop sound proves this, leaving Mika to wallow about in the regions of #70-#80, only to be joined by his tabloid-unfriendly, camp peers.

 

I've nothing against Mika, but it's not like his singles in 2007 were any different than "flash-in-the-pan" escapism songs. :unsure: Also, Scissor Sisters is hurt by the fact that everyone and their brother did the retro-80s dance pop already, same thing for Goldfrapp, these albums didn't offer anything new after La Roux or whatever. But then again I'm pretty sure if "Rocket" was released by Rihanna/Lady Gaga/Katy Perry/Kylie Minogue then it would have been a multiple-week #1 so who knows at this point...

One thing about the release schedule though: she could've released the album in November because as a household name already she could've done #5 peak and 2xp. But she chose #1 album instead. She was never going to have both. The question is: Would her fans have been happier with the first option?

 

I dont see why she couldnt have a number 1 album in November time. The album had very high first week sales in July never mind in the build up to christmas

Craig David:

 

Lead single peaked at #76, Album spent 2 weeks in the Top 75 peaking at #13 - To think how huge he once was!

 

Goldfrapp:

 

Lead single peaked at #47 - Follow up missed the Top 100, Album peaked at #6 and spent 5 weeks in the Top 75

 

Mary J Blige:

 

Lead single peaked at #34, Album spent 1 week in the Top 75 at #33

 

 

 

 

There seems to be a trend for established acts to flop, and huge names too. Maybe it's the deluge of new acts emerging all the time displacing the old. It's always gone on, but in recent years it seems there's a lot more hyping of new acts at the expense of returning older acts, and getting radio one airplay for established acts, apart from a select few, seems extremely difficult. I'm sure this is what contributes to all the flops, half the acts mentioned here I had no idea had released in 2010 :unsure:

 

Another example of the 'use once and throw away' culture we live in. It must be great for the new acts to get their moment, but after that then they join all the other acts in the pressure of trying to maintain a career against yet another crop of newbies.

Edited December 31, 201014 yr by fatmuffin

Avril Lavigne only got a #59 hit with Alice. An artist of her stature shouldn't have a problem getting to the top 40 with a song not on an album yet.

Another example of the 'use once and throw away' culture we live in. It must be great for the new acts to get their moment, but after that then they join all the other acts in the pressure of trying to maintain a career against yet another crop of newbies.

 

Always been like that but guess the internet speeds it up and makes it worse. For example everything Christina did in 2010 was instantly torn apart online so she didn't even have a chance to get some positive word of mouth. But yes, it's a reasonable guess that artists currently enjoying hits will be in the flop group in the near future and other acts will replace them.

I've nothing against Mika, but it's not like his singles in 2007 were any different than "flash-in-the-pan" escapism songs. :unsure: Also, Scissor Sisters is hurt by the fact that everyone and their brother did the retro-80s dance pop already, same thing for Goldfrapp, these albums didn't offer anything new after La Roux or whatever. But then again I'm pretty sure if "Rocket" was released by Rihanna/Lady Gaga/Katy Perry/Kylie Minogue then it would have been a multiple-week #1 so who knows at this point...

But that's exactly what I mean - people enjoyed the enthralling new "wonky-pop" sound in 2007 - all the eccentric artists and the ones with real potential to progress rose to popularity, but now British music tastes have moved on (and as Thomas has already implied - plummeted in it's ability to spot quality), so artists who aren't producing R&B influenced dance music or aren't in the tabloids enough just don't sell as much. A prime example would be Brandon Flowers - he was the frontman of a hugely adored band and us Brits eagerly awaited his first solo single - we helped him into the Top 10, gave him a #1 album, but after that he had to cancel his second single, 'Only The Young' and replace it with 'Jilted Lovers & Broken Hearts' because there was no interest in him after 'Crossfire' due to the "uncool" genre he performed in.

 

And the real glitch is that he's releasing 'Jilted Lovers & Broken Hearts' (an obvious stand-out from his album 'Flamingo') in February of next year, after having it put back from it's December release - by then, they'll be little more than underground interest in him and unless Radio 1 supports him, it could miss the Top 100 completely.

Edited December 31, 201014 yr by OddOne

Id also add the Saturdays

How? Particularly when this era's done so well for them...

 

Avril Lavigne only got a #59 hit with Alice. An artist of her stature shouldn't have a problem getting to the top 40 with a song not on an album yet.

It'd have been nice for her to get Radio play to help boost her :blink: Avril hasn't properly released anything since the digital boom, so it's great to see her do as well as that, so far (considering lack of promotion, radio play, video play) the only thing it had going for it was the fact it's used in 'Alice In Wonderland'. That's all. #59 is great. I'm interested to see how well she does actually, with her new era. I don't think she'll have much of a problem, but I think her album won't be as big as her previous ones...

Yeah, how have the saturdays underperformed? Headlines has only sold about 100k but with three albums released, we know The saturdays are not album artists. Missing You and Higher have gone on to be Silver certified hits. Even Ego was a hit earlier in the year from the wordshaker era. Plus a sold out tour for next year.

Kylie Minogue, obviously.

Yeah, how have the saturdays underperformed? Headlines has only sold about 100k but with three albums released, we know The saturdays are not album artists. Missing You and Higher have gone on to be Silver certified hits. Even Ego was a hit earlier in the year from the wordshaker era. Plus a sold out tour for next year.

 

Headlines is actually on around 138K and will definately cross 150K soon, which, considering it's a "mini album" with only about four new songs and the last single was released at the beginning of November, i'd say it's amazing it's still in the top 100!

 

But I guess people could still say that 'Missing You' underperformed due to the amount of promotion and hype surrounding it's release, only making #3 and not even reaching 200K is a bit dissapointing. Also, 'Higher' should have been a much bigger hit BUT the video was released far too early anyway.

Brandon Flowers (considering he's the frontman of The Killers, a modestly-selling #1 album and a top ten single, then a cancelled single is not necessarily a success)

 

Ach, I feel like I must agree here. Although I thought that Only The Young was cancelled due to Boots being released? :unsure:

Shame about Nadine, Duffy, Christina and Alesha (though I am not the BIGGEST Alesha fan at the moment ... Strictlys ruined her.)

 

I disagree with Kylie been a flop, I think its been quite a good era for her. Especially with the critical and fan response she got.)

Duffy :o (Biggest shock, what happened there! Is it the end for her?)

 

KT Tunstall

 

James Blunt

 

Kylie

 

Adam Lambert (thought he'd do better in the UK)

 

Many, many more.

Take That and blooming Michael Buble seem to have a monopoly on album sales at Christmas. People see Take That/Buble and think to themselves, that'll do nicely for {gran, sister, neice, mum, aunty, .... insert other}

 

 

I'm sorry but is that seriously why you think Take That sell like they do because people buy their stuff as gifts for relatives etc? I suppose thats why their tours sell out in hours all the grannies being bought tickets as Christmas presents.

 

They sell like they do simply because they are THE best around, simple as. They sell more in the UK than anyone else thats all the evidence needed. The Circus was a poor album but it still sold over 2 million copies to date. 2.6 million to date Beautiful World, 1.8 million in six weeks for Progress, 1.5 million tour tickets sold and such high demand that phone lines all over the place crashed.

 

They may not be your cup of tea thats absolutely fine but give them the credit they deserve you belittle yourself and delude yourself by not doing so.