Five songs far more popular than the album they featured on
The relationship between albums and the songs that live on them is interesting. Back in the days before streaming services and shuffle buttons, that connection was tied tight. Unless a song was released as a single, they were heard one by one, in order. It meant that the cohesion of an album was more important, even if there were some clear hits on there. But sometimes, even back in the day, there’s a dichotomy where one track looms large over the whole LP.
With every album, there is usually a clear winner, and the artist knows that. There are usually one, two, maybe three obvious singles in the mix. They’re the songs that come out before as teasers to hook listeners in. They’re the ones that get music videos and marketing pushes as an artist’s label believes they’re destined to be winners that will storm the charts, rake in the money and hopefully boost attention around the whole album.
But sometimes it backfires. Perhaps there are moments where a single is so good that the full record could never keep up, or all the attention is exhausted over one song. In other instances, maybe a certain song on an album is too good for the scale an artist is at, being lost or wasted in a moment before their star has fully risen.
Most of the time, though, it is a complete mystery. While the music world hires so-called experts to try and understand these things, to predict the hits or to listen to albums and state with as much certainty as they possibly can if they will sell or not, no one can ever fully predict the way the public will react to art. Sometimes, it hits, sometimes it flops, or, in the case of these five songs, sometimes a track is a buoy that a sinking LP clings to.
Five songs more popular than the album they featured on:
The Kinks – ‘Lola’
There are a select few rock and roll tunes that are truly and timelessly iconic. The Kinks have a couple in that ranking: ‘Waterloo Sunset’, ‘All Day and All Of The Night’, ‘You Really Got Me’, and, undeniably, ‘Lola’. It’s one of those songs that never seems to dip out of fashion long either, always being brought back around by a new cover or a new feature on a film soundtrack as its sexy, lazy rock and roll infects new audiences.
But while the track is huge, and of course, The Kinks were huge by 1970, the song’s home album just failed to hit. There are a few theories why Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One might not have worked. Maybe it was simply the turn of the decade and the band being forgotten as a 1960s act through and through. Maybe it was the transitional period the group were going through in their sound, causing people to drop off. Maybe it was simply the mysterious ways the music world works. But while ‘Lola’ the song stormed the charts, landing at number two in the UK, Lola the album never even made the top 100.
The Beatles – ‘All You Need Is Love’
OK, this one is a little more complex. It asks the question, What is an album? Is a soundtrack an album? Sure, if that soundtrack is simply a compilation of songs by other artists gathered up, then maybe not. But if the artist themself is making a movie and writing all new songs for it, does that count?
While some of The Beatles’ other soundtracks feel like official albums, like Help!, their later ones, like Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine, never quite felt like proper Beatles records, making them often forgotten when the general public reflects on their work. Ask any punter on the street to name a Fab Four album, and they probably won’t say Yellow Submarine. But ask them to name a song, and ‘All You Need Is Love’ would likely be one of the top answers.
The album didn’t flop as it landed at number three in the UK chart, but what it fails to have is any real legacy between two tracks that loom far over the full LP; ‘All You Need Is Love’ and the cringeworthy title track itself, ‘Yellow Submarine’.
Charli XCX – ‘Party 4 U’
As a modern pick, Charli XCX’s ‘Party 4 U’ serves as the perfect contemporary example of the odd dichotomy that albums and their tracks can go through. Released in 2020, in the depths of the pandemic, How I’m Feeling Now is a cult classic for Charli fans. At the time, the record was crafted with fans’ help through a series of live streams, so it’s not that the album was a release no one cared about.
But this was a pre-Brat era when Charli herself was simply a smaller artist, and the reassurance of ‘Party 4 U’, now she’s bigger, is a prime example of how pure gold can be lost in these earlier eras. Now one of her best-loved tracks and an essential part of her live set, this 2020 track is finally getting its moment in 2025, hitting the charts and finally getting its own music video.
Heart – ‘Barracuda’
You can hear it in your head, right? That iconic guitar chug that leads Heart’s biggest track, ‘Barracuda’. It’s arguably the song that defines the band, but it even goes beyond that. It’s ranked in lists celebrating the greatest rock songs of all time, it’s one of the prime examples used to show the band’s worth as guitarists, and it’s another that rarely falls out of fashion long before another band or movie brings it back to the world’s attention.
But can anyone name another track on the album it sits on? Can anyone beyond big fans even name that album? Released in May 1977, its home record, Little Queen, got nowhere near as much attention as that one song has. It peaked at 34 in the UK and only nine in the US. ‘Barracuda’ as a single didn’t chart amazingly either, but it’s not all about that. It’s about cultural awareness and legacy, and it would be tough to find someone who didn’t at least recognise that iconic rock tune.
Patti Smith – ‘Because The Night’
Don’t get me wrong, I love Patti Smith, but the punk-poet was never destined to be a hit maker, really. It’s not that she doesn’t have the talent or doesn’t deserve to be a chart topper, but her music has never fit into that world. There are bangers, yes. But even her catchiest tunes deliver more intellect than the mainstream typically allows.
But when you link up with Bruce Springsteen, that changes. With the help of a stadium-sized Springsteen chorus, Patti Smith’s ‘Because The Night’ was suddenly on the radio everywhere, skyrocketing her from the queen of a niche scene to a global name. But ironically, the song only came about kind of as a favour to The Boss. He couldn’t find the words to finish the song, so Smith helped him out and was then allowed to release it.
The album’s home, however, is much more typical of Smith. Easter is her classic mix of rock tunes and readings, more nuanced poetry tracks rich with literary references and some raging punk moments. For her fans, it’s a masterpiece. But for the majority of people that might know ‘Because The Night’, they likely haven’t even explored it.
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