Songs that were successful worldwide, but not in the US

Most non-Spanish-speaking Americans were introduced to Ricky Martin in 1999 with "Livin' La Vida Loca". However, it was actually the spanglish remix of "Maria" that catapulted him to fame in most other territories. It was an international smash in 1997, reaching the top 10 of several countries, not to mention becoming a #1 hit in Australia in 1998. By contrast, though it did decently enough in the US Latin market in 1996, it only peaked at #88 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year and never re-charted after garnering international popularity.

BTW, Whole Again is like, my own personal Shape of You or something. Because I've been listening to that song since January 2018, and it refuses to leave my top 10 on last.fm.

Here's a much older soccer hit, released back in 1961...



This song by the early '60s British teen idol Helen Shapiro was a global smash, reaching #1 in 5 countries, including Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel, and Shapiro's native Britain. It made it into the top 10 of 7 countries more, as well. Despite this, its peak in the US was only #100, while its placement was nonexistent in Canada. This is a huge shame to me because it's one of the only legitimately excellent and creatively layered pop songs of 1961, benefiting from its speedy pace, halftime gallops, dynamic vocal performance, and especially its complex, momentous chord progression. Shapiro's songs at the time in general had much more interesting progressions than the rote garbage that dominated the early 1960s, so it's a bummer she wasn't more relevant here, though America at least eventually got Lesley Gore, who was just as good.

Alesha Dixon was a member of the British girl-group, Mis-Teeq, whom did in fact achieve a moderate hit in the U.S. in the form of "Scandalus". With that said, i'm not really surprised that "The Boy Does Nothing" never achieved success in North America, because Mis-Teeq were far more successful in their native UK (where they achieved seven Top-10 hits) and in other First-World countries around the world. 

"The Boy Does Nothing" actually topped the charts in the Czech Republic, as well as peaking at #2 in Finland, France and Spain. It was also a hit in the UK and Australia, where it reached a peak of #5 and #8 respectively. Interestingly enough, it did not chart at all in New Zealand, which is strange, because New Zealand were embracing of Mis-Teeq's singles. I can't really think of a reason for the song's lack of success over there. I have noticed that New Zealand generally isn't as embracing of British imports as what Australia is, so maybe it can simply be put down to that. 



This song came on during the "Totally '90s" programming block I watched last night. It did, in fact, top the US Dance Club Chart, as well as charting at #2 on the Canadian Dance Chart, but it never saw the light of day on the Billboard Hot 100. "Sing It Back" was a worldwide hit back in 1999. In the UK, the country where the duo originate from, it peaked at #4 on their charts. "Sing It Back" also charted in several European countries and in Australia, where it reached a peak of #20. 

Kelly Rowland was always sort of overshadowed by Beyoncé here in the US. Wheres Queen Bey was a feminist and fashion icon with a tabloid-feeding relationship with Jay-Z, Kelly Rowland was mostly just there. Girl groups in general were more popular internationally than they were in the 2000s, so the individual members had more of a shot at substantial solo careers. Even though Kelly did have some solid success in the early 2000s as a result of Nelly's "Dilemma", which resulted in "Stole" performing pretty well (#9 on the Mainstream Top 40), she never established enough of an image authoritative enough to compete against Beyoncé.

Kelly's case of Germans Love David Hasselhoff actually goes back well before "When Love Takes Over", with the aforementioned "Stole" doing a lot better in most other countries besides the US, not to mention her sophomore record Ms. Kelly being a huge flop in America that produced only one minor hit in "Like This" (again, a mega-smash in the UK) before her career was over there.

Ms. Kelly actually had another major soccer hit, which charted in the top 10 of multiple countries and the top 40 of plenty others still, yet had absolutely no presence on the Hot 100:

Interestingly enough, this 1996 alt-rock anthem failed to chart in the UK and on the Billboard Hot 100. I'm less surprised by it's lack of success on the Billboard Hot 100, given the fact that many alt-rock songs were restricted to only charting on the "Modern Rock" or "Airplay" charts, but the fact that it didn't chart at all in the UK is quite surprising. My guess is that the backlash against Grunge, which was embodied through the popularisation of the Britpop scene, played a huge part in the song's lack of success in the British Isles. Had it been released in say, 1993 or 1994, it likely would have been more successful.

Despite it's lack of success in the US and the UK, it was successful in other parts of the world. It was very successful in Australia, in particular, where it peaked at #5 on the ARIA Charts and finished as the 46th best-selling single of 1996. "Mother Mother" also peaked at #6 in Norway, #13 in New Zealand and #16 in Belgium.

That's interesting to hear. I knew that American alternative-rock from the Mid '90s was generally less successful in the UK than it had been just a few years earlier, but I didn't realise it was too that extent! :S