Which classic songs sold one million copies but never made it to number one?
Most musicians would be lying if they didn’t think about commercial success from time to time. Even David Bowie, a well-established independent visionary, was occasionally driven by formulas and audience expectations.
He wouldn’t admit it often, at least not openly, but there were a number of times when he candidly discussed industry pandering, revealing his own attitude when it came to mass popularity. In 1969, for instance, he was asked directly about whether commercialism worries him. “Not really,” he said. “It makes a considerable amount of money.”
Bowie, like many of his innovative peers, saw commercialism as a means to an end – a platform on which he could flex his creative muscles in freer, more experimental ways. This was something he touched upon in the same interview, and why he felt like it was important to be honest, as an artist, about what it is that you want from the industry.
“I defy any so-called artist to say they don’t like money and to get nothing,” he said. “There are so many hypocritical attitudes especially among the groups that haven’t made it. They’re striving like mad for some kind of commercial success – releasing singles and albums by the score. It’s not that they want to communicate particularly. A lot of them haven’t anything at all to communicate. I’ve never seen so many dishonest people in my life.”
It’s a fairly cynical position to take, but it speaks for itself – most artists compete for numerical validity, and anyone who says otherwise is probably lying. And yet, the numbers don’t always tell the kind of story we’d expect. In fact, the discrepancies occur when certain songs are sold in their millions, without ever claiming the top spot on the charts. In this case, things get a little more interesting.
Songs that sold one million copies without making it to number one
Sometimes, it’s about timing. Take Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ as an example – sold heaps of copies but didn’t make it to number one until years later. Oasis’ megahit, ‘Wonderwall’, was also a million-seller, but peaked only at number two in 1995. The funny thing is that Oasis have scored several number ones, including ‘Some Might Say’, ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’, and ‘All Around The World’, and yet ‘Wonderwall’ never made it, despite being their best-seller.
Others include New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’, the band’s career-defining hit that, despite being the best-selling 12-inch single in history and an explosive top ten arrival, never made it to number one. A few other pop entries also sold millions of copies without reaching the peak position, including songs by Katy Perry, Rihanna, Robbie Williams, and others.
But something about Oasis and New Order’s shortcomings seems especially telling of quantifiable success versus cultural impact. After all, success also depends on how you define it, and whether it’s about commercialism in the charting sense, or in ways that these songs accrued a shelf life longer than many number ones across history.
As Noel Gallagher once explained about the band’s earlier material, it lasts because it captures “the spirit, the arrogance of youth”. It’s simple, “teenage anthems” with “no bullshit”, which, sometimes, holds more weight than any easy number one ever could.
