The highest peaking song in an act's discography may not always be a reflection of their signature song. Which examples can you think of?

 

Ones that stand out for me in the U.K. -

 

Basement Jaxx - 'Rendez-vu' is their highest peaking, with its #4 showing, but I'd consider the likes of 'Red Alert', 'Romeo' and 'Where's Your Head At?' to be their signature songs

 

The Cure - 'Lullaby' is their highest peaking song at #5, I adore it but other singles like 'Friday I'm In Love' and 'Lovesong' (#18 in the U.K. what?!) seem to be more enduring. The latter did make a huge impact in the U.S. in terms of peak at least.

 

Green Day - 'The Saints Are Coming' with U2 is their highest peaking song at #2! When I think of Green Day, the iconic 'American Idiot' era is what would immediately come to mind.

The first one that came to my mind for some reason was Snow Patrol! Their highest peak was #4 with Signal Fire in 2007, but of course most of their hits, especially Run (#5) and Chasing Cars (#6), are a lot more remembered now!

A-ha's #1 single being the (still brilliant) The Sun Always Shines on TV and not Take On Me is my big one for this.

Taylor Swift is the biggest example of this now surely - #1 with Look What You Made Me Do, quite a few of hers had much better chart longevity (Love Story, I Knew You Were Trouble, Shake It Off, We Are Never Ever, Blank Space)

Isn't Alanis's highest charting single Thank U? An amazing song but definitely not her most remembered song

The highest peaking song in an act's discography may not always be a reflection of their signature song. Which examples can you think of?

 

Ones that stand out for me in the U.K. -

 

Basement Jaxx - 'Rendez-vu' is their highest peaking, with its #4 showing, but I'd consider the likes of 'Red Alert', 'Romeo' and 'Where's Your Head At?' to be their signature songs

 

The Cure - 'Lullaby' is their highest peaking song at #5, I adore it but consider the likes of 'Friday I'm In Love' and 'Lovesong' (#18 in the U.K. what?!) to be more enduring. The latter did make a huge impact in the U.S. in terms of peak at least.

 

Green Day - 'The Saints Are Coming' with U2 is their highest peaking song at #2! When I think of Green Day, the iconic 'American Idiot' era is what would immediately come to mind.

 

2006 seems to have a running theme of this. Mary J. Blige also made it to #2 that year alongside U2 for her highest peaking single with their version of 'One'. Whereas her signature hit, Family Affair from 2001, could only muster #8. I'd also argue her previous release 'Be Without You' is more well remembered yet that could only make #32.

I'd argue that Suede's best known songs with the general public would be "Animal Nitrate" (#7) or "Beautiful Ones" (#8), but their biggest hits were "Stay Together" and "Trash" (both #3).

 

The Stone Roses' signature songs include "Waterfall" (#27), "She Bangs The Drums" (#34) or "I Wanna Be Adored" (#20), but their highest charting single was the #2 hit "Love Spreads".

 

The Kooks are best known for "Naive" (#5) and "She Moves In Her Own Way" (#7), although their highest charting single was "Always Where I Need To Be" (#3).

Imagine Dragons' are Sucker For Pain (#11) and Radioactive (#12), but Believer (#42) has got to be their signature at song at this point!

Imagine Dragons' are Sucker For Pain (#11) and Radioactive (#12), but Believer (#42) has got to be their signature at song at this point!

Believer as their signature hit over Radioactive??? Good tune but surely not! :o Radioactive was around for AGES (27 weeks in the top 40 and 107 in the top 100!) and deserved a much higher peak if anything.

Believer as their signature hit over Radioactive??? Good tune but surely not! :o Radioactive was around for AGES (27 weeks in the top 40 and 107 in the top 100!) and deserved a much higher peak if anything.

I don't know! I'm pretty confident it would be more recognised by the GP at this point with how much it's used in movies/TV shows.

 

(I'm afraid I don't even think I could sing the chorus of Radioactive!)

Literally was just thinking of Snow Patrol and A-ha and I've been beaten to it! :lol:

 

Some other names that come to mind (you could make an argument otherwise granted):

 

The Verve - I would guess most of the average public would assume Bittersweet Symphony is their highest charting over The Drugs Don't Work.

 

Blur - I don't really hear anything of Country House or Beetlebum these days, not anywhere near the extent of Girls and Boys, Coffee and TV or Song 2.

 

Florence & The Machine - Dog Days Are Over feels like her signature song, indeed all of her highest charting hits, even Spectrum, I don't tend to associate with her.

 

Manic Street Preachers - I would say Motorcycle Emptiness and A Design for Life are more well known and regarded these days than their two number 1s (If You Tolerate This... is close though).

A couple more from the noughties:

The Killers getting their highest (#2) peak with When You Were Young. It’s a great song but hardly their most iconic.

The Kooks - Always Where I Need to Be making #3, higher than Naive and SMIHOW (edit - already mentioned).

Edited April 14, 20214 yr by JulianT

Radioactive is a much much better song but Whoddy does sadly have a case for Believer, it has a ridiculous sales total of 1.5m+ and is a staple of the Old Rules top 200.

You can also look at the global Spotify charts at any point in the last few years and find some sort of comfort in the reliability that "Believer" is probably sitting at #90-#110, it's not moving.

 

Also as time goes by, Arctic Monkeys' #11 peak for "Do I Wanna Know?" (admittedly because of a midweek release) looks more and more egregious, and heck even 1 week download hype #74 hit "505" is more popular than most of their proper hits at this point.

 

J. Cole & Tame Impala's signature songs still haven't charted.

Foo Fighters comes to mind, I’m not sure Best Of You is what they are most known for, would anyone else agree?

Red Hot Chili Peppers have 2 #2 hits, but they aren't Californication, Can't Stop or Under The Bridge - but the less remembered By The Way and Dani California

 

White Stripes a #2 hit... Icky Thump, not Seven Nation Army which only made... #7 :basil:

I don't know! I'm pretty confident it would be more recognised by the GP at this point with how much it's used in movies/TV shows.

 

(I'm afraid I don't even think I could sing the chorus of Radioactive!)

 

This sounds like it's probably more down to you just not following the charts when 'Radioactive' was around than anything else - I guess 'Believer' may have been bigger in the last couple of years but 'Radioactive' was definitely much bigger at its peak than 'Believer' has ever been.

 

'Sucker For Pain' being their highest charting song ahead of both of those does of course fit this thread description perfectly though.

Radioactive is a much much better song but Whoddy does sadly have a case for Believer, it has a ridiculous sales total of 1.5m+ and is a staple of the Old Rules top 200.

Radioactive has 1.8 million though, so it's still ahead in total for now at least, very impressed by how long Believer is staying around though!

 

I don't know! I'm pretty confident it would be more recognised by the GP at this point with how much it's used in movies/TV shows.

 

(I'm afraid I don't even think I could sing the chorus of Radioactive!)

:o That surprises me considering how EVERYWHERE it was in 2013. You're somehow making me feel old and I'm like one of the youngest people here :lol:

Red Hot Chili Peppers have 2 #2 hits, but they aren't Californication, Can't Stop or Under The Bridge - but the less remembered By The Way and Dani California

By The Way is one of their most widely known songs, so I think that is more remembered than some others. But Californifation and Under The Bridge will always be well known, as will the #9 Give It Away from 1994.

Billie Eilish is a recent example of this - I don't think anyone would say No Time to Die is her most well known hit despite the event of it being the Bond theme. bad guy is most definitely her biggest and that reached #2!