# Songs that hit #1 in some areas, and sank without a trace in others **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2020, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-hit-1-in-some-areas-and-sank-without-a-trace-in-others/851673 "2020-04-13T02:52:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-hit-1-in-some-areas-and-sank-without-a-trace-in-others/851673/21 "2020-04-14T02:09:30Z")
[quote=“nearwildheaven, post:20, topic:851673”] “Back for Good” was an American Top Ten hit in 1995. [/QUOTE] Ah … forgot about that one. ---
**Author:** ![txjim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@txjim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txjim)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-hit-1-in-some-areas-and-sank-without-a-trace-in-others/851673/22 "2020-04-14T02:40:12Z")
Speaking of #1 in the UK, in the US,Slim Whitman commercials in the 70’s claimed that he had the #1 record in England (quoting the commercial, I know there is more to the UK!) for more weeks than anyone else in history. Perhaps some of you in the states heard of him but he was unknown to many of us. [This is the commercial that was all over the airways](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRvbnNwL54I), sorry for the poor quality. [More recently known as the singer who protected the Earth from Martians!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFr2tFLZom4) ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-hit-1-in-some-areas-and-sank-without-a-trace-in-others/851673/23 "2020-04-14T04:38:55Z")
Any song by a-ha that isn’t “Take On Me”. 18 Top Ten hits in their native Norway, including 9 #1s, 11 Top 10 in Ireland, 9 in the UK (although in the UK “Take On Me” peaked at #2). In the US, they were one-hit wonders: “Take On Me” - and maybe some Yanks remember the James Bond theme song they did. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-hit-1-in-some-areas-and-sank-without-a-trace-in-others/851673/24 "2020-04-14T08:06:14Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > The Kinks - “Waterloo Sunset”. Hit #2 in the UK, top 10 hit in many other European countries, Australia and New Zealand. Never even charted in the US or Canada. And it’s bizarre that it got a bit of a Renaissance in the USA a couple of years when it was featured in the gay teen romance Love, Simon. Thee main character was only about 17 in the film, so Waterloo Sunset was way before his time. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-hit-1-in-some-areas-and-sank-without-a-trace-in-others/851673/25 "2020-04-14T08:48:08Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Not really what the OP is looking for, but I have a CD from a woman named Eleanor McEvoy (who I’m sure nobody knows about in the USA) and she turns out to be the biggest thing since sliced potatoes in Ireland. Thats a bit of a stretch. She is basically a one hit wonder best known for having that one hit be the title track on a compilation album of female artists made nearly 30 years ago, we are hardly talking Bono or Enya here. More to the point, I’m open to correction but I don’t believe that song ever was no.1 in Ireland. The album was, but not McEvoy’s song as a a single. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-hit-1-in-some-areas-and-sank-without-a-trace-in-others/851673/26 "2020-04-14T12:21:35Z")
There was the tragic case of _Disco Duck_, a Number One hit for Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots. He was a Memphis DJ at the time; his employers at WMPS AM banned its airplay on conflict-of-interest grounds, and every other station in the Memphis market banned it because they didn’t want to promote the competition. [Cite.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco_Duck#Response_and_impact) ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Sean\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-hit-1-in-some-areas-and-sank-without-a-trace-in-others/851673/27 "2020-04-14T13:31:03Z")
Paul McCartney and his band still play “Mull of Kintyre” live in the Commonwealth countries. I think he purposely saves it for those places. Saw him back in '09. Told my mother the next day, “He could have played all night and still be playing now and he would have songs worth listening to.” * * * “Stay the blazes home” - Stephen McNeil, Premier of Nova Scotia [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-hit-1-in-some-areas-and-sank-without-a-trace-in-others/851673.md?page=1)