Songs that were successful worldwide, but not in the US

That’s because the Spice Girls’ commercial breakthrough in America was delayed by half a year, with “Wannabe” being huge there at the time “Mama” was big in the UK. Because of this, by the time the song would’ve been released as a US single, Spice World was about to come out, so Simon Fuller just released “Spice Up Your Life” at roughly the same time it came out in the UK instead. “Who Do You Think You Are” was scrapped from the US singles market for the same reason.

For the most part, the 1980s didn't produce as many soccer hits as the 1990s or 2000s, but occasionally, there were some pretty big exceptions, such as this:



This was a huge hit in the late '80s in almost every country, including Canada, but it only peaked at a pathetic #75 in the US, for some strange reason. The reason this is odd is that even though they were obviously past their popularity peak from the disco era, the Bee Gees were still able to achieve some success in America before the death of Maurice Gibb broke them up. The song "One," also from the late '80s, was actually a resounding smash in the US, peaking at #7, even though it ironically failed to catch on anywhere outside of the Americas. "Alone" was an international smash in 1997, but while it wasn't as big a deal in the US as it was in most territories, it at least made the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, charting at #28.

This song charted in most first world countries during Early 2016 and did best in the UK, Australia & NZ where it reached #5, #3 & #2 respectively and also became the #14 song of 2016 here in NZ, yet again never made it to the Billboard Hot 100.

This is easily Zayn's best hit single to date, and yet even though it did excellently almost everywhere, it missed the top 40 in the US, although like "Grace Kelly," it did at least get a Gold Certification by the RIAA.

That's interesting to hear. I thought it would have at least reached the Top-20 on the Billboard Hot 100! :S


"Ocean Drive" was a massive hit here in Early 2016. For a short while, it was literally inescapable and I even managed to record it on radio (it's at 8:47 in the video). I'm not surprised to hear that it seemed like the only song you heard on the radio! 

Yeah, sadly these songs are fairly early examples of the United States being extremely resistant to dance/electronica music from the late '90s until the early 2010s, despite that being a golden period for the umbrella form of music. Here are some more good examples of dance/electronica soccer hits from 1997 to 2009:



Prior to Random Access Memories, Daft Punk were largely only a niche group in the US. They were certainly prominent among fans of techno, but unlike the rest of the world, it wasn't until "Get Lucky" that they broke into the top 40. "Around the World" was a huge hit around the world (no pun intended), with peak positions ranging from around the top 20 all the way to #1, but it only reached #61 in the United States.



Just over two decades into her career, Madonna was still one of the hottest things in music, at least outside of the US. "Sorry" was a resounding success in almost every single country globally, but in the US, it reached only #58 on the Hot 100 and took a backseat to such classics as "Lean wit It, Rock wit It," "I'm 'n Luv (wit a Stripper)," and "Fresh Azmiz."

It's also worth noting that the leadoff single from Confessions on a Dance Floor, "Hung Up," was one of the biggest hits of the entire decade, peaking at #1 in almost every single country worldwide, but in the US, it only reached #7, which technically means it was a big success, but relatively speaking, it's pretty much also a soccer hit. This exact outcome occurred to Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head," which was her comeback hit in the US after only her first album from 1988 ever produced hit singles here, but its peak position of #7 is still quite lousy compared to the overwhelming number of countries where it hit #1, including Canada. In fact, once Kylie released the leadoff single for Body Language, the followup album to Fever, she once again fell almost completely off the US radar:



"Slow" was a top 10 hit in most countries worldwide, but its US peak was an atrocious #91.



I already brought this song up in another thread, but a lot like Robbie Williams' "Rock DJ," this was a huge hit around the world with a particularly eyebrow-raising music video. It went to #1 in several countries. While it flopped in Italy and New Zealand, it did even worse in North America, where it didn't chart at all except on the American dance airplay charts, but even then, it didn't dominate the way a fair number of other soccer hits of the dance/electronic genre had.