I'd second Well Well Well by Duffy. You could argue it was the diet coke advert that did for her in terms of killing her career - but the performance of the lead single off the second album confirmed it.

I mean there's loads of examples I can think of, but the one that always stands out in my mind is one chart week in December 1999 when CD singles were at their height still.

 

Mainly because the release schedule on that week was so intensely rammed with new releases. There's been a lot of debate online about it since, maybe because it was the last week before the Christmas chart week that year, maybe because of the whole worries about the Millennium bug thing which had everyone running scared (which ultimately proved unfounded), but many of the acts in question had had either number ones or top 10s with their previous releases and badly underperformed:

 

- B*Witched feat. Ladysmith Black Mambazo, "I Shall Be There", #13 (previous single, "Jesse Hold On", #4)

- Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews, "Baby It's Cold Outside", #17 (previous single, "Burning Down The House" with the Cardigans, #7)

- TLC, "Dear Lie", #32 (previous single, "Unpretty", #6)

- Thunderbugs, "It's About Time You Were Mine", #43 (previous single, "Friends Forever", #5)

- Enrique Iglesias, "Rhythm Divine", #45 (previous single, "Bailamos", #4)

- Bryan Adams, "The Best of Me", #47 (previous single, "Cloud Number 9", #6)

- Lou Bega, "I Got A Girl", #55 (previous single, "Mambo No. 5", #1)

- Lenny Kravitz, "Black Velveteen", #83 (previous single, "Fly Away", #1)

 

It then basically served as a cautionary tale about timing the release of your single in the middle of the Christmas rush as it was back then. In the case of bands like Thunderbugs, who had had millions poured into their launch with their first single, it marked the moment that Epic Records dropped them and didn't even release their debut album here (except on MiniDisc. It did get a release on CD in Europe, however. I have a copy and it's a good album, just poorly timed).

 

B*Witched were already on a bit of a come down after the performance of "Jesse Hold On" following four number ones but "I Shall Be There" missing the top 10 and then "Jump Down" their next single also missing the top 10 sent them into a tailspin they never recovered from that led to them being dropped and splitting.

 

Enrique Iglesias flopping meant his next US single, "Be With You", which was number one in the States, was passed on for release entirely in the UK. It wasn't until "Hero" that he got another shot (aside from his Whitney Houston duet).

 

Most of the others on that list however, survived - Bryan Adams' next single with Chicane was a number one ("Don't Give Up"), likewise Tom Jones had more hits in the year that followed that went top 10 off his Reload album that sold by the truckload (and "Baby It's Cold Outside" still gets played on what's left of the music channels every Christmas, even if it gives me the major ick).

Edited December 27, 2024Dec 27 by ThePoguesmith

This thread has quickly become a list of underperformances despite the title being "biggest flop ever" lol

 

Rhythm Divine is an interesting case though. It reached only #32 in the US as well... maybe it was too similar to Bailamos?

More than anything, it wasnt very good. Plus he wasnt stablished yet.

 

Was thinking Dido-Dont believe in love

The lead from album 3, totally bombed. But in a way it was expected

Left it too long, just ok song, not big push

I'll go for Lena Fiagbe's 'You Come From Earth'. Despite being playlisted on Radio One and a high billing on Now 25 (suggesting at least a spot in the Top 20), the song stalled at #69.

oh found another big flop

Camila Cabello & Pharrell Williams - Sangria Wine

that was a huge collab coming right after Havana and totally bombed everywhere

Well Well Well is a good shout, but then it’s a pretty horrible song and terrible choice of second album lead. I do blame that rather than the Diet Coke ad for the way her career absolutely tanked, the album never had a chance at all.

 

The song and indeed whole album isn’t even on Spotify anymore!

This thread has quickly become a list of underperformances despite the title being "biggest flop ever" lol

 

Rhythm Divine is an interesting case though. It reached only #32 in the US as well... maybe it was too similar to Bailamos?

 

Remember you're saying this to a community where many proclaim a Number 2 peak as being a flop if its the alleged rival of the diva they're stanning for....

 

I know this is more about flop singles but I remember Whitney Houston releasing a studio album (Just Whitney)in 2002 a few short years after her very successful My Love Is Your Live album.and a No.1 peaking Greatest Hits collection and it failed to make the Top 75...it entered at #76 and disappeared thereafter. One lead single Whatchoolookinat was released that failed to hit the top 10 (#13 peak) and all other singles release plans were cancelled. As a major fan, I was disappointed as despite the inferior lead single, the rest of the albums tracks were quite good and it remains an underrated album. Thankfully her legacy lives on as she us a permanent feature of the top 100 due to her extensive greatest hits catalogue.

 

 

 

Yea, I think from Whitney that era is better example than If I Told You That, which was an old song at that point (albeit it was the solo version that is on MLIYL)

Edited December 27, 2024Dec 27 by Sour Candy

Some kind of bliss by Kylie Minogue. Debut single from Impossible Princess. It stalled at no22 and was her first song not to make the T20.

Some Kind of Bliss was definitely seen as a huge flop at the time, especially as Kylie had never missed the top 20 before and for a lead to only enter at 22 was a huge shock at the time, i remember been absolutely gutted myself with the result.

How times change though, a number 22 debut/peak nowadays would be a huge triumph for Kylie and other artists of her calibre.

'Earth' by Lil Dicky springs to mind :,)

Band Aid II and Band Aid 40.

Westlife - Lighthouse.

 

With majority of their singles being #1 and all of them in the Top 10 for like 13 years, this one which was considered their last ever single, peaked at around #32 I think, and that was before streaming took over.

Going slightly off piste here because it wasn't a flop per se, but 'Take A Bow' by Madonna ended an incredible run of 35 consecutive top 10 singles when it peaked at number 16. It's never been my favourite Madonna song but I was still pretty gutted about that.

Various Artists - It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll

 

Chickenshed - I Am In Love With The World

 

George Michael & Whitney Houston - If I Told You That

 

Louisa Johnson - Forever Young

 

Most of these were hyped to the hilt and failed to perform, the first one was supposed to be the next Perfect Day and stiffed at No.19 - I cannot imagine the cost to put this together, and for charity too, for such a tiny return.

 

The second one was in memory of Princess Diana and was touted as a contender for Christmas No.1 that peaked at No.15, and the third was a superstar duet that I definitely thought would be a No.1 and it ended up at No.9. Even the follow up from Whitney, an Enrique collab, did better - I don’t really get what happened there.

 

Louisa - all those massive X Factor No.1s in a row and even Ben Haenow was pretty big the year before - there was nothing to suggest the bubble was about to burst in such dramatic fashion when this went in at No.9.

 

If i told you that, reached top10, so it was hardly a flop

Various Artists - It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll

 

Chickenshed - I Am In Love With The World

 

George Michael & Whitney Houston - If I Told You That

 

Louisa Johnson - Forever Young

 

Most of these were hyped to the hilt and failed to perform, the first one was supposed to be the next Perfect Day and stiffed at No.19 - I cannot imagine the cost to put this together, and for charity too, for such a tiny return.

 

The second one was in memory of Princess Diana and was touted as a contender for Christmas No.1 that peaked at No.15, and the third was a superstar duet that I definitely thought would be a No.1 and it ended up at No.9. Even the follow up from Whitney, an Enrique collab, did better - I don’t really get what happened there.

 

Louisa - all those massive X Factor No.1s in a row and even Ben Haenow was pretty big the year before - there was nothing to suggest the bubble was about to burst in such dramatic fashion when this went in at No.9.

 

Streaming killed the X factor winners singles. Also didn’t music start getting released on Fridays not Sundays which meant they had less time to “sell” the singles?

 

I would agree that Whitney Houston & George Michael - 'If I Told You That' was a surprising underperformance though. On paper you'd think a pairing like that - two of the very biggest artists of the 80s and 90s - would result in a hit that managed a lot better than 9-19-25-34-out (in terms of the Top 40 run).

 

The single release did come three weeks after the release of Whitney's Greatest Hits though, a big seller and a #1, which might not have helped. Yet that's maybe not much of an excuse when the follow up release, the Whitney/Enrique collaboration 'Could I Have This Kiss Forever' (which came 21 weeks after the album) went to #7 and performed quite a lot better overall: 7-9-11-16-21-28-out.

 

Regarding UK radio airplay, 'If I Told You That' performed pretty well. It had already spent 3 weeks in the Top 10 (9-8-6...) prior to the physical release, and another 3 weeks beyond that (...5-4-6). Interestingly 'Could I Have This Kiss Forever' was not a particularly big radio hit, going no higher than #23.

 

So I do think there's an element of "what went wrong?" with 'If I Told You That'. I would say, having looked at the physical release, that it doesn't look overly appealing, either from an artwork or track list perspective. Maybe it's ultimately an example of a song that was well received, but that goodwill translated more directly into album sales (Greatest Hits was at #3 in its 4th week in the chart, in the same week that the single was at #9).

personally I love the Whitney and Enrique duet, think it's a great song, and I'm not the biggest Enrique fan.

On the other hand, the duet with GM, I think the song is super dull and a total borefest.

Both the George and Enrique collaborations are much of a muchness for me, they're ok!

 

~~~~~

 

I'm surprised that Spice Girls - Headlines (Friendship Never Ends) hasn't been mentioned yet!

 

Released in November 2007, it was their comeback single - their first single in 7 years. It peaked at #11, undoubtedly a poor result for a group that had otherwise achieved:

 

9 x #1 singles

1 x #2 single

2 x #1 albums

2 x #2 albums

 

Although the general reaction to Headlines upon its premiere was " :nocheer: ", I still don't think anyone would have predicted it missing the Top 10.

 

Despite streaming contributing to sales for a decade, Headlines' current total sales stand at around 66,000 (estimated). When it left the Top 200 in January 2008 it had sold 44,000. So it's very firmly remained forgotten / unappreciated.