On 16/01/2026 at 16:08, Tafty said:

Paris' follow up top 5 hit 'Stars Are Blind'... I don't understand how this wasn't a big top 10 follow up tbh. It missing top 40 altogether is an absolute CRIME!

I agree it's a much better song, but think 'Stars Are Blind' was almost seen as a novelty one-off hit for her at the time. Plus her album not doing well off the back of SAB probably didn't help.

4 hours ago, Paddington James said:

I was sure Silly Boy would be massive too. I remember the rumours at the time it leaked. People were saying it was Rihanna ft Lady Gaga!

YES!!!! IIRC, everyone on this forum thought it was going to be a massive hit.

Leona Lewis' Happy also from around that time. I vividly remember a chart prediction poll on "where will Happy chart?" and the vast majority predicted #1 (not a surprise considering the huge anticipation for the release). I don't think anybody expected it to (a) be beaten to #1 by the Black Eyed Peas' third single from their album and (b) fall down the charts pretty quickly. Admittedly, it's still a hit (peaking at 2) but considering how huge Leona was around this time, it just didn't land. I'd also throw in her Avatar theme song I See You from that year too. It was from the highest-grossing film EVER at that point yet didn't get pushed as a single.

25 minutes ago, Scene said:

YES!!!! IIRC, everyone on this forum thought it was going to be a massive hit.

Leona Lewis' Happy also from around that time. I vividly remember a chart prediction poll on "where will Happy chart?" and the vast majority predicted #1 (not a surprise considering the huge anticipation for the release). I don't think anybody expected it to (a) be beaten to #1 by the Black Eyed Peas' third single from their album and (b) fall down the charts pretty quickly. Admittedly, it's still a hit (peaking at 2) but considering how huge Leona was around this time, it just didn't land. I'd also throw in her Avatar theme song I See You from that year too. It was from the highest-grossing film EVER at that point yet didn't get pushed as a single.

If I remember correctly The Black Eyed Peas performed on the same X Factor results show as Leona and that may very well have given them the push to #1 over her.

Agreed, I really like I See You, they should’ve pivoted to it after they realised Happy wasn’t going to hang around.

1 minute ago, Paddington James said:

If I remember correctly The Black Eyed Peas performed on the same X Factor results show as Leona and that may very well have given them the push to #1 over her.

Agreed, I really like I See You, they should’ve pivoted to it after they realised Happy wasn’t going to hang around.

Yep I remember that playing out. 🥲

ISY could’ve been an easy top 10 hit for her for sure.

Duffy - Well, Well, Well

2008 was a massive year for Welsh singer Duffy. Her single Mercy hit #1 on the UK Singles Chart and stayed there for 5 weeks and finished the year the as the 3rd highest selling single, behind two X Factors songs (Alexandra Burke and X Factor Finalists). Her debut album Rockferry also hit #1 on the UK Albums Chart and stayed there for 5 weeks as well notching up sales of over 1.6 million. Follow up single Warwick Avenue also made it to #3 and ended the year as the 30th highest selling single.

So when it came to launch album #2 Duffy went with Well, Well, Well as the lead single and as a massive fan myself expectations were high, as I'm sure they were with many others. It limped all the way to a peak of #41 and follow up single My Boys was quickly canceled. Neither Well, Well, Well or the album Endlessly appearing to be available on streaming.

Emeli Sande - Hurts

Not too different to Welsh songstress Duffy in 2008 Scottish single Emeli Sande dominated the charts in 2012. Whilst non of Emelis singles hit the same heights as Duffy's Mercy did, (Heaven go to #2 in late 2011) she still ended 2012 with twop of the top 15 singles of the year (Next To Me at #14 and her Labrinth collaboration Beneath Your Beautiful at #12). It was the parent album Our Version Of Events that catapulted her to stardom. It spent 5 non consecutive weeks at #1 on the UK Albums Chart and ended 2012 as the highest selling album in the UK with sales of more than 1.3 million. It would also end 2013 as the second highest selling album of the year, falling short of #1 by less then 2,000 copies.

Unlike Duffy who had a two year gap between albums Emeli Sande waited over 4 years before releasing the lead single from her second album Long Live The Angels. Hurts would go on to miss the UK top 20 on the UK Singles Chart

Leona Lewis - Forgive Me

Now this one is a little different to Duffy and Emeli Sande, but in 2008 Leona Lewis was one of the biggest names in pop music around the world. Fresh off the gigantic success of the single Bleeding Love and debut album Spirit, (which finished 2007 as the highest selling single and second highest selling album) and follow up single Better In Time (#2 UK, #6 AUS & #11 US) Leona Lewis released a then 'new' single 'Forgive Me' from what would become the Deluxe Edition of Spirit. (Though it already featured on the US version). Whilst it still hit #5 and is certified Silver in the UK I can't help but feel this underperformed and briefly halted her momentum. Thankfully Leona's cover of Snow Patrol's Run got things back on track.

For me in hindsight it was such a mistake to release Forgive Me as a single in the UK when Spirit already had some strong choices left like Whatever It Takes, Take A Bow or 'The Best You Never Had'. Saying that though it could've been a little strange having two singles called Take A Bow in the same year.

This streamed well over time, with 550m on Spotify now and certified Silver in the UK, but only peaked at #45 here:

"Work" and "Not Giving Up" by The Saturdays. Those two songs could've been two of their biggest hits, but they instead peaked at #19 and #22.

21 hours ago, WhoOdyssey said:

This streamed well over time, with 550m on Spotify now and certified Silver in the UK, but only peaked at #45 here:

THE BIGGEST CRIME.

Actually Middle Of The Night missing top 40 was an even worse injustice...

7 minutes ago, Dobbo said:

THE BIGGEST CRIME.

Actually Middle Of The Night missing top 40 was an even worse injustice...

Glad I'm not the only fan of Happy Now - I play it loads every summer!

This being just #81 while “Like I Do” reached #29 was weirdly satisfying. It probably would’ve been Top 20 had the rumored Ellie Goulding feature been realized.

Produced by Darkchild and following up her top 10 hit Impossible, I thought this would be a hit of some kind but it failed to chart!

On 1/15/2026 at 5:34 AM, Riser said:

Shakira releasing a song with Dizzee Rascal in a year that Dizzee already had two #1s? Could've been massive in Q4 of 2010 even with minimal effort. Instead, if I remember correctly the UK release was cancelled entirely.

It will forever amuse me that this was Dizzee's first and only chart appearance in the US and it never even charted in the UK!

Does anyone know what actually happened with this?

I always thought it was a big hit in the UK for some reason. Didn't 'Waka Waka' miss the top 20 as well?

9 hours ago, DanielCarey said:

"Work" and "Not Giving Up" by The Saturdays. Those two songs could've been two of their biggest hits, but they instead peaked at #19 and #22.

'Work' was a 5th single from the album so was always going to struggle (although would've been #17 if it wasn't for Michael Jackson's passing)

Sadly by the time 'Not Giving Up' came around they were pretty much finished, they really should've released that instead of 'Gentleman' (probably their ultimate mistake)

20 minutes ago, blacksquare said:

Does anyone know what actually happened with this?

I always thought it was a big hit in the UK for some reason. Didn't 'Waka Waka' miss the top 20 as well?

Yeah not sure what was up with Shakira's promo team in 2010. Waka Waka peaked at No.21 and I guess suffered due to saturation of too many football songs with that awful Shout song, K'Naan's Wavin' Flag, Three Lions and various other novelties like Terry Venables. I think the market was just slightly crowded (in the way that it was in 1998 for Ricky Martin's The Cup Of Life) but at least it became recognised over time for the classic it is, and had a decent chart run in the end.

I'm unable to find any logical reason that Loca was cancelled, I can only assume they didn't think it would do much and maybe Dizzee's label thought it could hurt his profile as he was still racking up the number ones at the time, but there's no evidence he or his label had any involvement. This thread is an interesting re-read.

According to yours truly it eventually surfaced on iTunes for a few days as part of various compilation albums several months after it was released elsehwere. One of which looked like quite the treat:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Millennium-Next-Generation-Vol-9-Various/dp/B00483B9LY

And then it was pulled after a few days. And Loca only ever surfaced as an album track.

Edited Wednesday at 14:311 day by gooddelta

1 hour ago, CowTzy said:

This being just #81 while “Like I Do” reached #29 was weirdly satisfying. It probably would’ve been Top 20 had the rumored Ellie Goulding feature been realized.

I don't think I've ever heard this before, it's DREADFUL. #81 was too high!

There was genuine hype for this when the video dropped, right?

(My memory is biased with Charli)

On 1/14/2026 at 7:08 PM, Jessie Where said:

I forgot how good this was. What happened to Miike Snow/Bloodshy & Avant? I want to live in a world where this was actually a hit, and where, in fifteen years, Sky Ferreira hasn’t released just one album

On 1/20/2026 at 7:16 AM, Paddington James said:

Duffy - Well, Well, Well

I honestly don't think I have ever heard this, which is insane considering her debut.

Has anyone ever made a thread on here with all the British one-era wonders? There have been too many. I wish I could understand the rationale behind the UK’s obsession with propping artists up to huge levels of success, only to discard them almost immediately.