The biggest challenge with Leona’s second album is they just tried to repeat the formula of the first. A big Ryan Tedder produced ballad should have been an easy smash but Happy was just so lifeless. She needed far more of a statement song.

 

It’s a pity as Echo is a far superior album to the debut, it was just totally mishandled.

I don’t know if it’s already been mentioned but No Doubt’s “Looking Hot” comes to mind. It only got to #397 in the charts after an X Factor performance in 2012 when that was basically a guaranteed top 10. Can’t think of a much bigger flop than that.

I don’t know if it’s already been mentioned but No Doubt’s “Looking Hot” comes to mind. It only got to #397 in the charts after an X Factor performance in 2012 when that was basically a guaranteed top 10. Can’t think of a much bigger flop than that.

 

Yes I remember that one well. What probably rubbed salt in the wounds even more on that was that "Don't Speak" returned to the top 75 that same week (I wanna say because someone performed it on the live shows that week, either Ella Henderson or James Arthur?)

 

It did prove however that No Doubt were, where the majority of the UK was concerned at least, less of a big deal than Gwen Stefani was but even her moment as a solo artist in a commercial sense had passed by that point.

 

I'd also put Leona Lewis' 'Trouble' down as a complete and utter misfire and led to her complete downfall in the UK charts :drama: (I like the song - but 'Glassheart' has a couple of other tracks I'd have opted over that as a single....) and she never really recovered (outside of her Christmas era).

I would say Hurt was the bigger misfire personally. There are countless missteps in the handling of Leona’s career though and I actually feel that started before the Spirit era even finished (but that is for a different thread).

 

As for biggest flop, I would also go Silly Me. Many other mentions here are underperformances to expectations, but that was a total tank. Can’t think of many other acts to go from the heights Jess Glynne had in the previous era (multiple top tens with worst single charting at 19 + a big Amazon Christmas exclusive) to not even charting with the lead single.

Yes I remember that one well. What probably rubbed salt in the wounds even more on that was that "Don't Speak" returned to the top 75 that same week (I wanna say because someone performed it on the live shows that week, either Ella Henderson or James Arthur?)

 

It did prove however that No Doubt were, where the majority of the UK was concerned at least, less of a big deal than Gwen Stefani was but even her moment as a solo artist in a commercial sense had passed by that point.

 

The handling of that era was very frustrating. IIRC they never even released Settle Down here, if they’d have performed that instead I imagine it’d have fared a lot better. Then Gwen made the same mistake a few years later by never releasing Baby Don’t Lie here, Fergie got a decent sized hit with L.A Love (thanks to pre-orders), Gwen could’ve at least got a top 20 hit if she bothered to release it here I bet

^Settle down did chart, one week at #85, so must have been released

sure a flop but they were far beyond their expiration point

^Settle down did chart, one week at #85, so must have been released

sure a flop but they were far beyond their expiration point

 

Not necessarily, it performed decently around the world - #34 US, #23 Canada, usually with pre-orders something like that could’ve made top 10 here. There was just absolutely no promotion and radio’s ageism got even worse around that time. If the timing was different and Settle Down got an X Factor performance instead I’m sure it could’ve been a modest hit

The 2nd album is widely considered her absolute best by many though, isn't it?? I agree that 'Happy' wasn't the right choice of single, but I completely understand that they were trying to launch the era with another 'Bleeding Love' kind of power ballad (and then 'I Got You' release being delayed significantly really hindered 'Echo' success/longevity).

 

Single choices are important, but at least there was some kind of method to thinking 'Happy' would do what 'Bleeding Love' did etc.. I'd have probably launched her new era in July/August tbh. Lead with 'Outta My Head' as a Summer "omg Leona can do uptempo!!!" banger and then have an X Factor performance for the 2nd single and more Q4/ballad friendly choice and then launching a 3rd single in February and choosing one of either 'Naked' or 'Can't Breathe' which I think could have been huge on US radio for her.

 

I just don't think this era is quite the disaster it is made out to be... unlike 'Glassheart'. Yeah it was an under performance - I agree, but not a flop (but following up what was at the time the biggest selling debut album by a solo female was ALWAYS going to have added pressure and an impossible bar to beat)

 

 

I mean I agree with everything you have said tbh, other than Happy being a good single choice. I don't understand why it was considered so, it was hardly a Bleeding Love power ballad at all!? As you said Outta My Head would have been a much smarter choice showing a more upbeat banger side to Leona although I guess the underperformance of Forgive me the more uptempo number followed by Run being such a smash convinced them not to go with an uptempo number.

 

Leona really deserved more, she should have been the Mariah / Whitney of her generation!

This is probably a delusional take from me but I think the deal with Leona's second album was that they were trying to smash domestically and in the US simultaneously and that hurt them in the long run (partially bc US radio decided on I Will Be for the next single instead of "Forgive Me" or "Run" :lol:). I get why "Happy" was the lead single though, Leona has had a bit of variety in the UK singles run but stateside she was more known as a Celine type balladeer so they went with that image I guess

Dirrty flopped in the US because radio didn't want to play it. At the time sales were so low in general that no one got Hot 100 hits without good airplay. That's why Me Against the Music flopped as well. The album sales told the true popularity and Stripped opened with 330k in its first week.

 

Me Against the Music didn't have a lot to do with the opening numbers of In the Zone. Britney was guaranteed strong sales in the U.S. at the point in her career. She routinely had high first-week sales with her albums throughout the 2000s. Toxic and Everytime were what really sold ITZ to the masses throughout 2004. The success of those two singles maintained the album's presence on the charts. In fact, the album re-peaked in the U.K. after the success of Everytime. After 21 years, MATM still hasn't surpassed 250,000 copies in the U.K. and 500,000 copies in the U.S. Its sales pale in comparison to the multi-platinum Everytime and Toxic. Many people expected a Britney and Madonna collaboration to yield pop gold, but it turned out to be a middling disappointment. Radio play was also low.

 

Interestingly, Dirrty by Christina Aguilera has sold a million copies in the U.S. and almost 850,000 copies in the U.K.

Jamiroquai 'White Knuckle Ride' performed on The X Factor in 2010 and reached the dizzy heights of #39.

^ for a band 20 yers into their career that hadn't had a big hit in 10 years, going top 10 was much more than anyone expected. That was a good chart performance for them, more than ever expected, so hardly the biggest chart flop in the history of music

Jamiroquai 'White Knuckle Ride' performed on The X Factor in 2010 and reached the dizzy heights of #39.

 

And that was partly due to Jay Kay (happy birthday btw) slagging off Dannii & Cheryl in the week before the performance, leading to the first time in X Factor history that a guest performance didn't receive standing ovation from all 4 judges.

 

I don’t know if it’s already been mentioned but No Doubt’s “Looking Hot” comes to mind. It only got to #397 in the charts after an X Factor performance in 2012 when that was basically a guaranteed top 10. Can’t think of a much bigger flop than that.

 

Well this is news to me! Since when did the UK chart ever go beyond a top 200?

Well this is news to me! Since when did the UK chart ever go beyond a top 200?

 

It didn't, but Music Week have sometimes quoted hypothetical positions from an expanded chart I guess because they have access to all of the numbers.

 

(Though I think there was a brief period where there was an officially published top 250?)

On a similar "X Factor magic rub" note - if you pardon the expression, Shakira appeared on the live results at some point in the 2009 series doing "Did It Again". Following up "She Wolf", it only made #26 the week after, but then historically she always had a massive hit or two off a new album - "Whenever Wherever", "Hips Don't Lie" - followed by a flop - "Objection (Tango)", "Illegal" etc. So probably not qualified for this thread but an example of performing on the results show not working for everyone who had it.

Also Kylie with 'Better Than Today', but I think an XF performance wasn't always a guarantee a song would be a smash hit off the back of it if it had to climb up from nowhere.

No Doubt’s single also didn’t do much after their X Factor performance!

Also Kylie with 'Better Than Today', but I think an XF performance wasn't always a guarantee a song would be a smash hit off the back

of it if it had to climb up from nowhere.

 

Yes Better Than Today only peaked at number 32 but I think it had a lot to do with her label not knowing how to release post-album singles in the digital era. I remember Dermot asking in her interview on XFactor when the single was released and she said it would ‘be out very soon’ even though it was already available to download on the album.

How HER saying that is label's fault?

No Doubt’s single also didn’t do much after their X Factor performance!

 

That's what sparked this whole discussion! :lol:

 

Yes Better Than Today only peaked at number 32 but I think it had a lot to do with her label not knowing how to release post-album singles in the digital era. I remember Dermot asking in her interview on XFactor when the single was released and she said it would ‘be out very soon’ even though it was already available to download on the album.

 

That was really silly, but I think she got mixed up between the physical being out soon and the download already being available from the album. Either way though, I'm not convinced it made any notable difference!