Popular Songs that were never released

[franky]

Hello all AT40 fans. I can think of several famous songs that were never released as singles in the AT40 era. What singles come to mind regarding this? And what peak position do you think they would have reached if they were released? Here are songs that I have in mind off the top of my head.

The Chain by Fleetwood Mac
Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder
Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin
More Than A Woman by the Bee Gees
Into The Groove by Madonna

Any more, please feel to write in. What position do you think the songs above would have reached? The Bee Gees had 3 straight # 1 singles off Saturday Night Fever. Do you think it would have been 4 if More Than a Woman was released? Or was it a B-Side that never got credited?

[humbleheavy]

Pinball Wizzard by Elton John from Tommy sound track may be Top3 if it was released Feb 1975 before Philadelphia Freedom was released

[Caseyfan4everRyanfanNever]

I'm sure that "Into the Groove" would have reached the Top 5 given that 1985 was the year of Madonna. Although never played on AT40 as part of the Top 40 of a given week, it was played as an extra on what we thought at that time was the last AT40 show (it was the last AT40 hosted by Shadoe Stevens) of Jan 28, 1995.

[freakyflybry]

The ones that did chart on R&R reached the following positions:

"Pinball Wizard" - #9
"More Than A Woman" - #21
"Into The Groove" - #6

Similarly, "All My Love" by Led Zeppelin and "Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming" by Jermaine Jackson would've been top 10, as both reached the top 10 on R&R. Bon Jovi also made the top 40 on R&R with the never-released-as-a-single "Never Say Goodbye" though with a single release it probably would've got higher as I believe its airplay was scattered.

[mkarns]

"Never Say Goodbye" was one of two 1987 R&R chart entries for Bon Jovi that weren't issued as singles; "Edge of a Broken Heart" was the other.

Janet Jackson's "State of the World" was a radio hit in 1991, reaching #4 on the R&R chart (CT40/RDWT40). It was not issued as a single and so didn't make Billboard's list or AT40; if it were it would probably have been the eighth top 10 hit from her "Rhythm Nation 1814" album, which I think would have been a record at the time.

[tf1453]

Others off the top of my head:

Madonna - Spotlight
Practically any alternative rock track from 1994 on. Just to name a few:
- Counting Crows - Mr. Jones
- Stone Temple Pilots - Plush
- Alice In Chains - No Excuses
- Nirvana - All Apologies
- Michael Bolton - Ain't Got Nothing If You Ain't Got Love (yes, this is not alternative obviously, but it fits nonetheless).

I am only counting the AT40 era up to '95. Anything from the second Casey era on, you might as well post the entire chart!

[mkarns]

Dec 2, 2009 18:15:35 GMT -5 tf1453 said:

I am only counting the AT40 era up to '95. Anything from the second Casey era on, you might as well post the entire chart!

Yes; by 1994 or so I noticed that many of the most played songs that ranked highest on the countdowns being broadcast weren't being released as singles, and so didn't show up on the Hot 100 as then compiled. If AT40 hadn't abandoned the Hot 100 in 1991 they eventually would have had to do so or become less relevant.

This became even more endemic by the second Casey era and after, at least until digital downloads became popular. While they eventually revived singles buying in a sense, there is the additional problem of the fact that certain popular artists can sell downloads of lots of different songs at once, giving them multiple sales (and Hot 100) entries all at the same time. Imagine if AT40 today used that methodology; you'd have eight or so hits by the same act on the countdown in some weeks, usually with only one or two of them getting much radio airplay.

[jaxxalude]

If we're going by the up-until-1995 era rule, then Michael Bolton can add another one: "Steel Bars", in 1992. The one which also gained notoriety for being co-written by... Bob Dylan!

[jaxxalude]

And right from the final days of AT40, mk. I: Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" (yes, I know, it was eventually released physically years later; but still...).

[jaxxalude]

Some more:

* Pink Floyd, "Us and Them"
* Pink Floyd, "Wish You Were Here"
* Pink Floyd, "Comfortably Numb"
* Genesis, "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"
* Grateful Dead, "Sugar Magnolia"
* Soundgarden, "Black Hole Sun" (in the US; it was released as a physical single throughout Europe)
* Led Zeppelin, "Communication Breakdown" (although it did get released as the B-side for "Good Times, Bad Times")
* Aerosmith, "No More No More"

[mstgator]

Dec 2, 2009 12:48:21 GMT -5 mkarns said:

"Never Say Goodbye" was one of two 1987 R&R chart entries for Bon Jovi that weren't issued as singles; "Edge of a Broken Heart" was the other.

Both songs also hit Billboard's Hot 100 airplay Top 40, so it seems a sure bet that a single release would have propelled both onto AT40.

[mrjukebox]

I thought of two songs from the late 90's that were never released as singles but got a huge amount of radio airplay:"One Headlight"-The Wallflowers (1997) & "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia (1998).

[freakyflybry]

"Do The Bartman" by Bart Simpson was another one; it made the top 40 on R&R, but didn't chart on Billboard due to lack of single release. And a novelty song like that is one that would've sold loads of singles had they released it!

[kahunaburger61]

"Diana" by Bryan Adams. I don't think it was included on any of his albums. It was a "B" side to one of the singles off "Reckless".

[humbleheavy]

Deep Purple : Burn
Beatles :Michelle, Here Comes The Sun
Bad Company: Shooting Star
Mott The Hoople: Roll away The Stone