Drive By by Train.

And on a similar note, I'm Yours by Jason Mraz.

To actually contribute to the thread, I honestly thought 'Niggas In Paris' was doing better than I expected when it entered the chart at #76.

Jennifer Lopez - "On The Floor"

Shakira - "Hips Don't Lie"

Whitney Houston - "Million Dollar Bill"

 

All performed WAY better than I initially thought they would.

'Sweet Nothing' wasn't a post-album single. His actual post-album singles have done extremely well though, 2 big top 5 hits already and another looking likely to go at least top 10.

 

Oh yeah, sorry my mistake I thought the album came out first but still an impressive run considering most post album songs can struggle to go top 40, hello Bastille :lol:

Mariah Carey - #Beautiful (feat. Miguel)

Really, who expected this to be big? I don't think I need to explain about her irrelevance outside of December.

 

Another song that has done very similarly to this (but with a much higher peak) is Demi's 'Heart Attack'. This is still inside the top 30 on iTunes over 2 and a half months after release, I don't think anyone expected it to have such longevity!

 

Another one is Taylor's 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together'. Before this, she had achieved just 1 top 10 single from her previous 3 albums and I don't think anyone would have expected the song to end up spending 10 weeks (something like that) in the top 10, which was largely due to the fantastic release strategy from her record label here.

Most songs in this thread are bizarre choices. See any massive radio hit, do you need it explained exactly why it did well? (less so something like Moves Like Jagger that only got a lot of airplay when it had been in the charts for a while)

 

I always thought "Price Tag" overperformed a little, at least at first. It's quite a feat for an up and coming artist to début at #1 using OA/OS.

 

I think it's less that "Still Into You" overperformed (it's not even their biggest seller), more than "Now" underperformed dramatically.

Will Young - Jealousy. Thought he wouldn't get another hit yet one that did hold up decently imo.

La Roux - In for the kill.

Train - Drive By

Labrinth ft Emeli - Beneath your beautiful

 

Robbie Williams' "Candy" is another one. I NEVER thought he would earn his second best selling single last year, let alone a #1. Especially since the song was snubbed by Radio 1.

Most songs in this thread are bizarre choices. See any massive radio hit, do you need it explained exactly why it did well? (less so something like Moves Like Jagger that only got a lot of airplay when it had been in the charts for a while)

 

I always thought "Price Tag" overperformed a little, at least at first. It's quite a feat for an up and coming artist to début at #1 using OA/OS.

 

I think Moves Like Jagger was actually quite high in airplay before it got released (mainly due to Radio 2 and Heart FM though).

 

Price Tag wasn't that surprising to me. It was just a held back release that had its release pushed forward a few weeks. It had its radio premiere in 2010, and its first play on Capital and Heart was on Januray 1st 2011 via the Big Top 40 Show.

 

La Roux - In for the kill.

 

Yeah, at least the Skream version doing so well.

Edited July 25, 201312 yr by Eric_Blob

When it was first announced Maroon 5 were doing a duet with Christina Aguilera, both rapidly fading in relevance at the time, I doubt many would've guessed the song would've gone on to be one of the best selling songs of the century.

Definitely agree with this. I remember hearing it all the time on Radio 2 - and always loved it! - but I was really doubtful it would take off. Probably even more surprising it had such success without initial (or perhaps none) Radio 1 support.

The Lumineers - Ho Hey

 

Did not expect this to last as long as it did! Hopefully it'll re-enter the top 40 this week :kink:

Whitney Houston - "Million Dollar Bill"

 

Totally agree.

Don't You Worry Child initially surprised me with it's success. Yes it was the groups last release but they'd only released 5 singles before it and they all weren't massive in the same way DYWC was. I can understand it's longevity though as Capital never stopped playing it once it became successful.

Edited July 25, 201312 yr by Rabbit Heart

Get Lucky - anyone who predicted this would be a million seller within 9 weeks of it's release would be laughed at.

 

Get Lucky - anyone who predicted this would be a million seller within 9 weeks of it's release would be laughed at.

Really? I can't think of anything else in a long time that had as much market penetration so soon after its debut. The number of my friends who normally wouldn't be so up on the latest music who were saying they loved 'that Daft Punk song' about a day or two after it debuted was astonishing...it's incredibly rare to have that much buzz surrounding a single's debut.

 

I think the classic one for this thread has got to be La Roux - In For The Kill. I thought #11 matched expectations, I never expected that to be as big as it was even as a massive fan.

1 million in 9 weeks though? While it clearly had mass appeal I dont remember anyone saying it would hit a million in 9 weeks before it had even been released. When they ended up releasing midweek some people even thought they had blown their chance of getting to number 1.

 

I certainly would have laughed at someone claiming such success. But maybe that's just me being dismissive.

Will Young's 'Leave Right Now' almost completely sold out of copies in its first week as they didn't make enough CDs to match the demand.

 

Cher's 'Believe' and Stardust's 'Music Sounds Better With You' didn't even have music videos when they first charted, which by the late 1990s was insane.

I think the classic one for this thread has got to be La Roux - In For The Kill. I thought #11 matched expectations, I never expected that to be as big as it was even as a massive fan.

 

Oh James Blunt's You're Beautiful is probably the main example of this - I thought it would peak at #12 when it charted there and never thought that it could spend five weeks at #1 later on during that summer, let alone shoot straight into the Top 3 randomly (why was that?).

Rihanna - Umbrella.

 

Yeah of course it was gonna be big, but not on that level. I dont think anyone predicted it to beat Maroon 5 to #01 at the time then either.

'5-6-7-8' by Steps was intended as a one-hit wonder. It was only after it became one of the biggest non-top 10 sellers ever(!) that they realised the group had some future and recorded more songs.