Surprise Chart Successes

This song's performance surprises me on multiple levels. First and foremost, it became a very big hit in the United States and Canada during the early 90s, a time when manufactured pop groups were so unpopular that even international giants like East 17 couldn't score any legitimate success in North America. What's even more surprising, however, is that it was produced by Stock Aitken Waterman, who were responsible for a huge chunk of the biggest soccer hits from the end of the 80s and beginning of the 90s, such as "Too Many Broken Hearts," "You'll Never Stop Me Loving You," and "Better the Devil You Know;" this was actually a rather atypical SAW production, but like I've stated before, the instruments sound much more like they belong in the Y2K era, not the new jack swing-dominated early 90s. The biggest shock of all, however, is that this song completely bombed in the UK, both upon its original release in 1991, as well as its rerelease following its success in America. Considering groups like Bananarama and Exposé were on their way out in 1993, it astounds me that such a flashy, bubblegummy song as this could chart so high alongside "Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang," "What About Your Friends," and "Give It Up, Turn It Loose" in the United States, yet not do well alongside "Deep," "Could It Be Magic," and "U Got 2 Know" in the UK.



This Police-soundalike band is from Manchester, yet their songs totally flopped in their native UK. In the United States, however, they had several big hits throughout the second half of the 80s, this being their biggest. I could understand why a band like Def Leppard would attain more popularity here than in their native UK, since hair metal was not as popular in the UK, but The Outfield really don't seem like the type of band that would have struggled in the UK at the time, so I'm left scratching my head as to what caused them to do particularly well here instead.



I briefly mentioned this while talking about "Prince Igor" being a soccer hit, but it still rather surprises me that this song was a decent top 40 hit in the United States as late as mid-1999 and that it outdid "What's Love Got to Do with It" and "Smokin' Me Out," both of which were huge internationally. "I Want It All," by contrast, was not a hit anywhere outside of the US. Considering hip hop was dominated by the likes of Jay-Z, Juvenile, and Lauryn Hill by the time of its release and the West Coast gangsta rap movement was long since over, this definitely seems like a fluke hit.



This song may seem safe enough for 2015 audiences, but what makes its massive international success strange to me is the singer herself. Rachel Platten is actually older than Britney Spears by seven months! By the time "Fight Song" came out, Platten was already married and had released two albums prior, one of which came out in 2003. Considering her target demographic is the same as those who eat up babyfaced teen starlets like Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande and that the industry is so more selective about its new hitmakers than ever before, it's pretty weird to think she could become a breakout star when she was about half a year older than another woman who's already a full-on veteran of pop music. Of course, because of this, it doesn't surprise me that Platten is presumably going to be remembered as a one-hit wonder, considering her latest album didn't produce any real hits (the follow-up to "Fight Song," "Stand By You," actually did just barely make the American top 40, but clearly won't have the same staying power).

This 2006 cover of Donna Summer's "This Time I Know It's for Real" was only intended to be a one-off single, purely to promote the members as solo artists (although, Paulini, Ricki-Lee and Kate DeAraugo already had successful solo careers prior to its release). However, the single was so successful, that the four members established "Young Divas" as an official group and released an album several months later.

Interestingly enough, the cover peaked at #2 on the ARIA Chart and stayed on the charts for a total of 30 weeks! It would finish as the 6th best-selling single of 2006. The group disbanded just two years later, however Ricki-Lee continued to have a very successful solo career in the years after the disbandment.

I was thinking about this earlier. How the hell did the UK allow "Laffy Taffy" to reach #29 on their chart? Like Australia, the country chose not to embwace snap-rap, so it's unfathomable that a song as horrible as "Laffy Taffy" could perform so well in a country that has produced many great quality artists/bands over the years.