Here are three British groups I thought of from recent years;

 

alt-J

Ward Thomas

Wolf Alice

HRVY?

 

:lol:

 

Was going to say HRVY - 31 singles released and his highest charting is #62 *.*

Rina Sawayama?

 

Well that's if you don't count Beg For You (which is a banger btw).

Madison Beer (if you exclude her feature on All Day & Night) - v well known and always sells out tours

Lots of names within the metal scene who are very big, especially any who got their start past the late 90s when metal stopped really getting onto the singles chart - Nightwish and Within Temptation are just the thin end of the wedge and actually only a certain type of metal, one that is more commercially successful, as they have multiple charting singles in other European countries. Dragonforce are another good one as 'Through The Fire And Flames' got known through Guitar Hero but wasn't a big hit anywhere.

 

away from metal Sufjan Stevens is possibly one of the biggest artists to never have a single hit, his albums trend when he releases at least as far as I remember and in discussions about alternative music knowing his albums, at least Chicago/Age Of Adz/Carrie & Lowell is generally fairly expected. But I suppose this category is very easy to fall into if the artist is an album-focused act. I could probably list every post-rock band in existence and they'd qualify for this - at least in not having a hit and being well-known, not that you'd expect them to have a singles hit. The rest of the ones I'd mentioned probably could theoretically.

Little Simz?

Well that's if you don't count Beg For You (which is a banger btw).

 

Yep I wasn’t sure if collabs counted. :funky:

For no top 40s only, my first thought was also Carrie Underwood, apart from her feature on the Just Stand Up song that almost every female artist of the time was on.

 

In the 90s/early 00s there was an indie act called Gorky's Zygotic Mynci who were pretty well known at the time and had eight top 75 hits, none of which went top 40.

 

I think dodie qualifies too - she's had a top three album and is very well known online but never come close to the singles chart. There's probably a lot of similar Gen Z acts in this position, whose overall streams are impressive, they are well known online and sell out decent sized tours with ease, but they just haven't broken through commercially with any one individual song yet. I just can't think of any other good examples right now.

I think ‘girl in red’ fits that box quite well. I was at All Points East over bank holiday and her set went down a storm with everyone knowing the words. She has a few silver certified songs even but none that have broken through or that I recognised :lol:

Edited August 30, 20231 yr by Josh!

Jack Garratt was the first name I could think of. It’s such a shame he’s never had a hit particularly from his last album.

Maisie peters comes to mind for me. She came close last year with her Amazon Christmas one and her albums do well shame about singles cos she deserves to smash imo

Second Image - funk/pop band from the eighties. Plenty of sub-40 action but nothing there or higher I don't think.

Blake Shelton

Carrie Underwood

Reba McEntire

 

I think they are big enough names, even for someone who doesn't follow the genre

The main one for me is (obviously!!!!) Tinashe (If you don't count 'All My Friends' which was a collab with Snakehips & Chance The Rapper - which is a BANGER)

 

She consistently delivers for me and it's really frustrating seeing someone of her calibre get so under-looked for her own material. :( & very similarly (although I blame her/her label for not capitalising on a more pop/r&b sound sooner before she did the Gospel stuff!!!!) Tori Kelly.

Blake Shelton

Carrie Underwood

Reba McEntire

 

I think they are big enough names, even for someone who doesn't follow the genre

 

 

These were the three I was thinking of, that country genre music of huge names but no real UK hits.

There's been some good suggestions in this thread but to be valid I really think they have to be names that the general public will have heard of. For example I've never heard of Reba McEntire, Within Temptation or Second Image and I doubt they're particularly well known by the general public either. I also think we shouldn't be counting an artist if they've had a top 40 hit as a featured artist (not that it's my thread or my rules lol).

I think Reba is known by quite a lot of people

 

A name I’d suggest is Regina Spektor

There's been some good suggestions in this thread but to be valid I really think they have to be names that the general public will have heard of. For example I've never heard of Reba McEntire, Within Temptation or Second Image and I doubt they're particularly well known by the general public either. I also think we shouldn't be counting an artist if they've had a top 40 hit as a featured artist (not that it's my thread or my rules lol).

Defining what that general public is and knows gets tricky. Could be argued that a certain presence in the top 40 landscape is a requirement to get to that point, and we run into circles with it.

 

Though countering that I do think it's possible but it's more a matter of an artist having their peak of fame either be very slow burning, or just in an era that's not as conducive to artists breaking into that top 40 world (like now). No doubt a lot of 'hitmakers' of the '90s would not be charting nowadays where so many less artists do.

 

I do like Tame Impala as a suggestion though I would say that. I could see Gen Z'ers growing up shocked that Mac DeMarco has (thus far) never had a hit, although there are a lot of notable US acts that just don't break the UK (Matchbox Twenty would feel like a highly notable case if not for barely cracking the UK top 40 once. Sublime also comes to mind as an artist without one although all things considered I'm surprised they got as high as #71 in the UK.

There's been some good suggestions in this thread but to be valid I really think they have to be names that the general public will have heard of. For example I've never heard of Reba McEntire, Within Temptation or Second Image and I doubt they're particularly well known by the general public either. I also think we shouldn't be counting an artist if they've had a top 40 hit as a featured artist (not that it's my thread or my rules lol).

It can be your thread with your rules if you want lol. I merely got the ball rolling. :P

Also not exactly sure you can call this a hit in the truest sense, but James Blake has been releasing albums for years and his only chart hit was a #39 hit from 2010 with this;

 

Burial - one of the most influential artists of the 21st century. No weeks in the singles chart. One week in the albums chart.