This is one of the best examples. He had a series of big hits before the pandemic (13 top 40 hits from 2017 to 2020), with just one top 100 hit post-Know Your Worth (which was a feature on Justin Bieber album track As I Am, #24 in 2021). From a #2 album in 2019 to his latest release not charting...!

 

I think there are a few UK rappers that fit this bill at the moment too. Headie One's a good shout, Tion Wayne's had a few singles fail to chart in a row now after feeling like a consistent chart presence for a little while (bear in mind he had a huge hit with IFTK only in 2022). I think this is more part of a general trend that's affecting almost every UK rapper right now, with only a select few (Dave, Central Cee, Stormzy) continuing to be (semi) reliable hitmakers.

I have noticed that since Central Cee there haven't been any major UK rappers having the same measurable success.

 

Khalid was also a frequent guest vocalist on dance songs, but it seems no major producers are interested in him now, including Calvin Harris who he worked with before.

 

As for female artists, 2024 has allowed many of them to shine which is great. Perhaps Selena Gomez has lost some appeal to some listeners as she doesn't get hits like before Calm Down.

Central Cee feels like he's on the way out now too, the recent Raye feature going 38-62-OUT doesn't bode well and the one lasting hit he's actually had since 'Sprinter' was very much carried by the hype of having a Lil Baby feature.

Mimi Webb came to my mind:

 

#9 Seven Shades of Heartbreak (EP)

#8 Good Without

#12 Dumb Love

#25 24/5

 

#4 Amelia (Debut Album)

#6 House on Fire

#23 Ghost of You

#12 Red Flags

#73 Freezing

 

but this year…

 

n/a Mistake

n/a Erase You

n/a One Eye Open

Mimi Webb came to my mind:

Oh yes I had noticed she was no longer getting hits, what changed there? Just the overall quality dipped?

 

Also what happened to Griff?

Someone like Mimi was always gonna have a short shelf life. There's nothing particularly interesting or unique about her so once the initial hype died down there wasn't much left.

 

Griff I think can still get hits.

Griff is still as relevant as ever x

They've not been mentioned thus far but for me B*Witched are a prime contender for this.

 

First four singles all went straight in at number one - a record no other girl group has achieved before or since - but then the six month layoff between "Blame It On The Weatherman" hitting the top in March 1999 and them returning with "Jesse Hold On" in the October whilst they focused on cracking America was basically all that was required to lose the momentum they had in the UK on their second album.

It's a knife when you're finally on top 'cause logically the next step is they wanna see you fall-fall-fall

They've not been mentioned thus far but for me B*Witched are a prime contender for this.

 

First four singles all went straight in at number one - a record no other girl group has achieved before or since - but then the six month layoff between "Blame It On The Weatherman" hitting the top in March 1999 and them returning with "Jesse Hold On" in the October whilst they focused on cracking America was basically all that was required to lose the momentum they had in the UK on their second album.

 

That’s a very good pick. Not just in the UK and Ireland either.

 

C'est la Vie & Rollercoaster got to #6 & #1 in Australia and To You I Belong #25 and Blame It On The Weatherman #48 all made the top 50. Their debut album also got to #5 and was certified 2x Platinum. Awake and Breathe got to #70 with neither of its two singles cracking the top 50. Jump Down limped in at #88 and I Shall Be There didn’t even get released.

The Shabba Ranks story was a big part of why the whole Reggae scene began to struggle though. Copeland Forbes, the manager, promoter, Reggae historian and one of the most important figures in Jamaican music has spoken many times about how the reaction to Shabba's comments ignited a 'war' with the GLAAD and homosexual communities that Reggae artists 'lost'. Artists were being forced to sign contracts promising not to make statements or use lyrics that were negative towards homosexuals and if they didn't do so their careers would be affected. The whole genre suffered because of it in a way that, rather surprisingly, Hip Hop never did.

 

http://old.jamaica-star.com/thestar/20150217/ent/ent1.html

 

Were it not for Shabba Ranks the genre may well have continued the long unblemished chart success that it had enjoyed since the '60s. It's worth noting that very few Reggae acts enjoy that kind of crossover success anymore and the genre was huge in the early 90s.

 

The interview absolutely put his career into terminal decline and may well have taken other's with him.

 

You're right that the interview played it's part in reggae getting its reputation and yes reggae has been blacklisted in many places as a result.

 

However that time when reggae was huge in the charts in the early 90s came after the interview. 1993 and 1994 were the main years. The only big reggae hit of 1992 was a posthumous Bob Marley hit and there weren't any big reggae hits in 1991. It also got big again in the early 00s with Shaggy's comeback plus the likes of Sean Paul and Beenie Man.

Are we considering "falling off" to be someone who's actively trying to recapture their previous success (big singles rollout, album, promo, interviews etc)?

 

Or someone who is very much not aiming for chart success at all, and is just putting things out as they wish?

 

I feel Jess Glynne would fall into the former category but Pixie Lott would fall into the latter.

Edited November 5, 2024Nov 5 by Hassaan

"Falling off" could also be a term referring to artists who are becoming increasingly problematic

I know it's subjective but for me B*Witched's second album singles were such a huge step down from the first album.

 

Also, 1999 was such a transformative and fast-paced year that those six months felt a lot longer. By the time Jesse Hold On came out, it really felt like they were yesterday's news and it was such a corny song for me, but not in as charming a way as something like Rollercoaster.

 

Another one I thought of was Mika - in the UK anyway, he continued to have success in Europe, and is still very popular in France and Italy. A definite one-album wonder here though, with a fleeting return hit in We Are Golden that was attached to an album that basically tanked compared to his debut and contained no further big hits, despite being more of the same really (but not quite as good). I actually still love him though, he's had much better albums since than that second album.

Mika. I read an interesting article about his popularity in Britain and how it was during the financial recession (his first album) in which he was huge. But then his popularity tailored off after the recovery. Basically referring to him being good for that time but only as a one trick.

Edited November 10, 2024Nov 10 by nirvanamusic

Katy B struggles to get a hit these days, even her fab feature on that Sub Focus single recently should have smashed!

she's one of the handful of British artists who sadly struggled with the transition from a download-led climate to streaming-led, she pretty much fell off as soon as streaming started factoring into the chart.

 

although she did have a #1 hit in 2015 that was a massive fluke as the song was literally the final one to benefit from download pre-orders before Ministry of Sound finally gave up on that release strategy.

Blu Cantrell - her first album was a big hit in the US with a #2 single, her second album underperformed in the US but Breathe was an international hit, and then she disappeared. There's been rumours circulating for years that she was blackballed from the industry but nothing proven...

 

Amerie is another one. Decent hit first album which set her up for a bigger second era, including the BIG hit 1 Thing only for her career to fall off a cliff after.

 

Gnarls Barkley. Huge first era with 'Crazy' and then their second album did very little IIRC.

I do agree with Amerie but she fell into the category of R'n'B girls who all began to struggle to get hits around a similar time (Ciara, Ashanti, Christina Milian, Cassie, Eve and others)

I do agree with Amerie but she fell into the category of R'n'B girls who all began to struggle to get hits around a similar time (Ciara, Ashanti, Christina Milian, Cassie, Eve and others)

 

True, but it felt like she fell out of favour rather rapidly considering how big 1 Thing was. :(

 

Going off on a slight tangent :kink: this video always comes to mind too when I think of Amerie:

 

 

Tierra Mari being placed in the middle and getting Beyonce's verse seemed like she was being primed to be the next big thing. Amerie was the biggest name out of the 3 at the time so you'd think she'd get the "main girl" treatment. Not long after, Tierra Mari gets dropped suddenly and Rihanna's star rises. :thinking: (I adore Rihanna but, doing some digging, I feel like the decline of some of these R&B girls wasn't simply because the public got bored of them - I think Beyonce and Rihanna were the "chosen ones" and everyone else fell by the wayside. :ph34r: :ph34r: :ph34r:

I don't think Amerie was an artist who was ever destined for long-term success, it kind of seemed obvious to me at the time '1 Thing' was a hit she'd never quite match.

 

(Much as the Because I Love It era deserved better)