Related to the recent thread about the biggest acts never to have had a UK number one single, who would you consider this to be? I've taken all the (arguably) most relevant suggestions mentioned in the thread. Vote for who you think are the most popular and culturally relevant acts from the list and who the general public would be surprised to find out that they haven't had a number one. I'd say vote for up to three artists.

Edited 21 hours ago21 hr by Mangø

I voted for Amy Winehouse, Avril, and The Killers.

I'm sure most people would have expected 'Complicated' or 'Sk8er Boi' to be #1, and obviously 'Mr Brightside' haha. Amy Winehouse was such a big name for the Back To Black and she left us at her peak, so I'd imagine most people would have thought she had a #1!

So many of those are huge (and I really struggled to decide on 3), but I think these are the ones that most of the public would be surprised about if you told them they never had a number one single if you were asking them today!

26 minutes ago, Juranamo said:

Amy Winehouse was such a big name for the Back To Black and she left us at her peak, so I'd imagine most people would have thought she had a #1!

I think she could well have done with the lead single from album 3 (if it all ran smoothly). Ah, what could've been.

Avril was robbed on SO many occasions.

This might sound controversial but Avril stands out quite a lot in that list albeit she’s a great artist and has a good discography but compared to the status of some of the others she stands out.

I struggled to pick three but went for Bob Dylan, REM and Amy Winehouse. Close to picking The Killers though prob in place of REM.

To me Hall & Oates are the one that stands out. For most people in the UK, surely they only know 'You Make My Dreams', and would they really be able to tell you who that's by?

It used to be 'Maneater', 'I can't go for that' and 'Out of Touch' their most famous tracks in UK.

Amy Winehouse, Avril Lavigne and The Killers.

Though I was close to choosing Bon Jovi, Janet Jackson, Green Day and Tina Turner.

Bob Marley was my big one but he's not in the poll 😂 out of these probably Amy Winehouse.

gonna say Janet, most people are aware of her over several decades

I’ve gone with Bon Jovi and Tina Turner: classic songs over a long period of time.

Then Bruce Springsteen as I felt he was huge - and has released successful material over a long period of time.

Bob Dylan could well be included but as his peak was before my time he doesn’t spring to mind.

Avril Lavigne and Amy Winehouse didn’t have enough breadth of material (Amy, for obvious reasons), The Killers and Led Zeppelin were massive album acts but I couldn’t name many songs, and I really don’t think Janet Jackson was that big in the UK.

Up to three SONGS 🤔

Voted for Bon Jovi, Depeche Mode and Tina Turner as the main ones people would be surprised didn't have a #1 imo.

Where's Bob Marley?

7 hours ago, gasman449 said:

Bob Marley was my big one but he's not in the poll 😂 out of these probably Amy Winehouse.

6 minutes ago, Dobbo said:

Where's Bob Marley?

Apols, don't know why I forgot to include Bob Marley. I've added him now (at the bottom), if anyone wants to edit their votes to include him, just click on Show Vote Options and it will let you vote again.

Voted Bob M, Bon Jovi & Bruce Springsteen (sorry Bob D you're out of this particular B-fest)

Incidentally I remember a question from The Chase being which of these exact 3 artists have had the most top 40 singles. Everyone was surprised to learn that it was in fact Bon Jovi.

2 hours ago, Dobbo said:

Voted Bob M, Bon Jovi & Bruce Springsteen (sorry Bob D you're out of this particular B-fest)

Incidentally I remember a question from The Chase being which of these exact 3 artists have had the most top 40 singles. Everyone was surprised to learn that it was in fact Bon Jovi.

Oh yeah I'd have easily guessed Bon Jovi for that, they've had loads!

I went Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.

Bon Jovi I considered but don't feel like they are as influential as the three above to me?

Not sure about The Killers, remove Mr Brightside and I wouldn't have even thought about them as a contender above about 20 others on here. They only have four or five iconic songs, as good as they are.

Edited 18 hours ago18 hr by gooddelta

I've interpreted this as biggest singles act, and voted Bon Jovi, The Killers and Tina Turner.

Can't overemphasise how big 'Mr. Brightside' is for that not to be a #1, add in their three Top 3s ('Somebody Told Me' also pops up in the Spotify chart, 'Human' had sales to have been #1 most weeks in 2008) and they're valid.

Loads of these artists have much bigger / more influential bodies of work, but were either primarily albums acts, or in Bob Marley's case didn't have much singles chart success in his lifetime.

Bruce Springsteen was the hardest to cut and along with R.E.M. are my two favourite acts even outside of this category, but only a soundtrack song 'Streets Of Philadelphia' came close for him, and all his other Top 10s were from one album.

Would it be reasonable or unreasonable to say Mr Brightside is the biggest song of this century in terms of impact, streams over the length of time since release and cultural impact?