David Sylvian’s band, Japan were just a minor cult band in the UK, but were massive in… you guessed it, Japan.
Well, he’s known for exactly the same things in Germany as well (especially the “mockable” bit). He became kinda big with his Looking for Freedom gig at the Berlin Wall and his sales figures were likely higher here, but he was not as big as many seen to think and definitely isn’t anymore.
Not even close. B&S have had way more chart success in the UK than the US, with singles breaking into the top 20 and albums in the top 10.
How about Slim Whitman’s & Boxcar Willie’s album sales in Europe? Were they as phenomenal as used to be touted in their TV commercials?
Again, even artists who’ve been financially successful at home often find they’re taken far more seriously elsewhere.
U2 are hardly unknowns in Ireland, but when I’ve been in Ireland, I’ve been surprised (though amused) by just how widely and loudly mocked they are at home! In America, Bono is treated like a combination of Elvis and Gandhi… but a lot of Irish I met regarded him as a poseur, a wanker, and just plain stupid. (“Have yiz heard him talk? He’s a fookin MORON!”).
For a long time Steve Irwin was famous in every place except Australia. I remember seeing him being made fun of on The Panel TV show (I already knew who he was having watched his shows in New Zealand). But soon after that he became much loved, and when he died seemingly the whole country was affected by it.
Flight of the Conchords are pretty well unknown in NZ AFAIK; at most people are aware of their existence and that “they’ve got that TV show in the US”.
Well, the media kept telling us we were affected by it, but everyone I know was all a bit bemused by the fuss. The country really hadn’t paid much attention to him before that. Still, a dead celebrity is a dead celebrity.
Yes, their career in the US practically defines “one hit wonders”. Even that one hit took quite a while to penetrate the popular conciousness. For a long time it was more of a cult hit.
A few Australians became very well known in the UK in the 70s who - while not exactly unknowns back home - were far more popular outside Australia than within, at least as far as I can remember. Rolf Harris, Clive James and Germaine Greer are the ones I’m thinking about but there may be others.
On a smaller scale (but more meaningful for me at my age) in the 80s there were a few musicians who, although never becameing household names anywhere, became more popular in Europe than they did in Australia: Nick Cave, The Triffids and The Go-Betweens.
Most Americans I’ve talked with on the subject think that Bono is stupid wanker too, actually.
Thanks for all the replies, everyone.
No cite available, but…
I have heard that Akira Kurosawa, respected in America as a groundbreaking cinematic genius, is considered an artistic lightweight in Japan, not so much their Orson Welles as their…Who’s the dramatic version of John Hughes? A fine and popular filmmaker, just missing some gravitas.
I’d suggest Nick Cave should join the first list, of those who simply left Australia to make a life in Europe. He’s never gone away, here, with respectable chart positions for albums across the past fifteen years. Also I happened to see Grinderman live a couple of months ago. 'Twas good.
I think a lot of Americans think he’s a tool, too. Certainly South Park’s Trey & Matt think Bono’s basically just a pile of crap. 
I recall stories years ago about Brits wondering why “The Benny Hil Show” was still being produced, since nobody in the UK watched that stupid crap. They didn’t know about his ratings in the US - the show was essentially being produced as a very profitable export.
Do you have a cite for this? I thought Benny Hill was canceled when it was still very popular in England.
By the way, I think people in England do watch “crap like that.” Look at the second season of Extras to see what kinds of shows were popular recently.
Steven Spielberg?
I don’t know about Kurosawa but Japanese friends tell me that Haruki Murakami is generally deemed suspect, in part maybe because of his recognition abroad and his liking for dropping western cultural references (especially music) in his novels.
Yes, well…great minds. 
Actually, I stole the title from Television Tropes. com
As I understand, it was quite late in the career of Benny Hill that he became popular in the U.S. He quit making new shows in 1989, and he didn’t become popular in the U.S. until about 1980 or possibly a couple of years before that. The shows that made him popular in the U.S. were produced in the U.K. while he was still popular there.