#2 songs that had bad luck

[tekkenguy]

What songs that peaked at #2 could have been #1 if not for bad luck or bad timing?

[312999]

I Don't Wanna Know by Mario Winans. Number 2 behind Yeah by Usher for 4 weeks then when Yeah moved to 3, Burn by Usher came to number 1 for 4 more weeks while I Don't Wanna Know got stuck at 2 for 4 more weeks.

Smack That by Akon was blocked at number 1 by 3 different songs while staying at 2, Money Maker, My Love, and I Wanna Love You.

Work It by Missy Elliott was number 2 for 10 weeks behind Lose Yourself.

Survivor by Destinys Child was 7 weeks at number 2 all behind All For You by Janet Jackson, and it's funny cause Survivor is way more known and memorable than All For You too.

[🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲]

Chris Brown - Forever
Blocked by: Katy Perry - I Kissed A Girl
Blocked by: Rihanna - Disturbia

Chris Brown - With You
Blocked by: Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain - Low
Blocked by: Usher Featuring Young Jeezy - Love In This Club


Christina Aguilera - Beautiful
Blocked by: B2K & P. Diddy - Bump, Bump, Bump



Ciara Featuring Ludacris - Oh
Blocked by: Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl

Ciara Featuring Missy Elliott - 1, 2 Step
Blocked by: Mario - Let Me Love You


Janet Jackson - Any Time, Any Place/And On And On
Blocked by: All-4-One - I Swear

Janet Jackson - Come Back To Me
Blocked by: Mariah Carey - Vision Of Love

Janet Jackson - Let's Wait Awhile
Blocked by: Club Nouveau - Lean On Me

Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation
Blocked by: Phil Collins - Another Day In Paradise



Madonna - Causing A Commotion
Blocked by: Michael Jackson - Bad
Blocked by: Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now

Madonna - Cherish
Blocked by: Janet Jackson - Miss You Much

Madonna - Express Yourself
Blocked by: Martika - Toy Soldiers
Blocked by: Simply Red - If You Don't Know Me By Now

Madonna - Frozen
Blocked by: K-Ci & JoJo - All My Life

Madonna - I'll Remember (From "With Honors")
Blocked by: All-4-One - I Swear

Madonna - Material Girl
Blocked by: Phil Collins - One More Night
Blocked by: REO Speedwagon - Can't Fight This Feeling

[Luckie Starchild]

"Loverboy" by Mariah Carey. Tommy Mottola deliberately sabotaged Mariah and stole her original planned sample, Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Firecracker" after she had signed for it. He also timed and pushed for Destiny's Child's "Bootylicious" to prevent Mariah from hitting #1.

[🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲]

Mary J. Blige - Not Gon' Cry (From "Waiting To Exhale")
Blocked by: Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men - One Sweet Day


Monica - Don't Take It Personal (Just One Of Dem Days)
Blocked by: Bryan Adams - Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?
Blocked by: TLC - Waterfalls


Mya - Case Of The Ex (Whatcha Gonna Do)
Blocked by: Destiny's Child - Independent Women Part I


SWV - Right Here (Human Nature)/Downtown
Blocked by: Mariah Carey - Dreamlover

Shai - If I Ever Fall In Love
Blocked by: The Heights - How Do You Talk To An Angel
Blocked by: Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You

TLC - Baby-Baby-Baby
Blocked by: Boyz II Men - End Of The Road (From "Boomerang")

TLC - Red Light Special
Blocked by: Montell Jordan - This Is How We Do It


Usher - My Way
Blocked by: Brandy & Monica - The Boy Is Mine

Usher - You Make Me Wanna...
Blocked by: Elton John - Candle In The Wind 1997/Something About The Way You Look Tonight



En Vogue - Don't Let Go (Love)
Blocked by: Toni Braxton - Un-Break My Heart

En Vogue - Hold On
Blocked by: Glenn Medeiros Featuring Bobby Brown - She Ain't Worth It

En Vogue - My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)
Blocked by: Kris Kross - Jump


Boyz II Men - It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday
Blocked by: Michael Jackson - Black Or White

Boyz II Men - Water Runs Dry
Blocked by: Bryan Adams - Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?

Brandy - Sittin' Up In My Room (From "Waiting To Exhale")
Blocked by: Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men - One Sweet Day

[rnb]

anaconda by nicki minaj could’ve been #1 if the music video was released just the week before

[Deleted]

P!nk - “F**kin’ Perfect” peaked at #2, was blocked by Bruno Mars’ smash “Grenade”.

A great feat she would have had with two #1s (“Raise Your Glass” being the other) from her Greatest Hits’ album.

[Luckie Starchild]

Foreigner's "Waiting for a Girl Like You" was held off the #1 spot for 10 weeks--9 behind Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" and then a 10th week blocked by Hall & Oates' "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)."

[Steel Sponge]

In a general sense, Creedence Clearwater Revival. Never had a #1 hit on Billboard, but had 5 inconsecutive #2 hits ("Proud Mary," "Bad Moon Rising," "Green River," "Travelin' Band," and "Lookin' Out My Back Door")

[Deleted]

I Knew You Were Trouble

[lazer]

Gangnam Style is the obvious answer

[Luckie Starchild]

Party in the U.S.A. may have hit #1 if its peaks in airplay and sales coincided at the right time.

[RoseColoredGirl]

May 19, 2023 17:26:59 GMT -5 312999 said:

I Don't Wanna Know by Mario Winans. Number 2 behind Yeah by Usher for 4 weeks then when Yeah moved to 3, Burn by Usher came to number 1 for 4 more weeks while I Don't Wanna Know got stuck at 2 for 4 more weeks.

Interestingly, "Creepin'" had the exact same thing happen on pop radio. Had "Flowers" not been such a smash hit, "Creepin'" would have easily made #1.

[neel]

Every song blocked by “Candle in the Wind 1997” (Usher, LeAnn Rimes & that forgettable double sided P. Diddy song), “Bad Romance”, “Gangnam Style” (both of these two were surprising, since they were everywhere when I was kid) and “Hotline Bling”, notable cuz Drake’s team dropped the ironic music video the same week Adele came out of her cave.

[johnm1120]

Donna Lewis - I Love You Always Forever. Stuck at 9 weeks at #2 behind the Macarena.

[Private Dancer]

Gangsta Lovin was #2 on multiple formats for weeks on end stuck behind Dilemma.

[Ｓｏｕｎｄｃｌ🕤ｃｋ]

Apologize by OneRepublic.

4 weeks at #2 (2 behind Kiss Kiss and 2 behind No One), it was the biggest #2 song of the 2000s (#10 overall).

[wjr15]

I usually think of big #2 hits that would’ve been #1 if it wasn’t for an extremely strong #1, usually long lasting, blocking multiple songs from the top spot.

Call Me Maybe blocking Payphone, Wide Awake, Lights

Blurred Lines blocking Get Lucky, We Can’t Stop

Uptown Funk blocking Thinking Out Loud, Sugar

Despacito blocking Wild Thoughts

Old Town Road blocking ME, If I Can’t Have You, You Need To Calm Down. Bad Guy could’ve been in this club if it didn’t hold on at #2 for 9 weeks. Fun fact: The 3 songs blocked by OTR, along with Señorita all debuted at #2 behind that song.

All of these #2 songs were huge at their chart peak but had the bad luck of being behind a massive #1 hit.

[dbhmr]

"Since U Been Gone" was blocked by "Candy Shop."

[tekkenguy]

May 23, 2023 10:41:12 GMT -5 dbhmr said:

"Since U Been Gone" was blocked by "Candy Shop."

And speaking of songs being blocked by “Candy Shop”…




Also, how about songs that kind of got screwed out of #1 after initially being expected to get there?

-Levitating would have been #1 the week it hit #2 if Billboard didn’t increase the weight of radio that week a bit (where Leave the Door Open was stronger at the time).

-Rich Flex would have gone #1 almost any other week except for a week when Taylor decides to mass-sell Anti-Hero.

-And the famous Loverboy/Bootylicious battle of 2001.

[gikem]

The 6 songs that got blocked by the Black Eyed Peas during their 26-week consecutive reign at #1 with Boom Boom Pow and I Gotta Feeling throughout 2009.

[85la]

May 20, 2023 18:26:58 GMT -5 neel said:

Every song blocked by “Candle in the Wind 1997” (Usher, LeAnn Rimes & that forgettable double sided P. Diddy song), “Bad Romance”, “Gangnam Style” (both of these two were surprising, since they were everywhere when I was kid) and “Hotline Bling”, notable cuz Drake’s team dropped the ironic music video the same week Adele came out of her cave.

It actually came out earlier, and was stuck behind The Hills at #2 only because they made the video originally only an Apple Music exclusive, which didn't at the time count for the Hot 100.

Another example is Mariah Carey's Shake It Off. The first week it reached #2, it was behind We Belong Together, and was close in points and poised to take over the following week, only Gold Digger was released on digital that same week and suddenly skyrocketed to #1. Even more strange, Gold Digger was actually on the same label, so surprising that they would shoot themselves in the foot like that and not try to let both songs get to #1, but they probably didn't expect Gold Digger to get so huge right away.

[#brayden]

All of them. They were unlucky the #1 song existed.

[neel]

May 24, 2023 18:59:43 GMT -5 #brayden said:

All of them. They were unlucky the #1 song existed.

Especially songs that spent 10+ weeks at No. 1, which reminds me that “As It Was” didn’t really block any song during its reign. Have any other 10+ week monsters failed to prevent a song from the top or is Harry the first?

[Kelly's 10th Fan]

May 24, 2023 20:02:47 GMT -5 neel said:

May 24, 2023 18:59:43 GMT -5 #brayden said:

All of them. They were unlucky the #1 song existed.

Especially songs that spent 10+ weeks at No. 1, which reminds me that “As It Was” didn’t really block any song during its reign. Have any other 10+ week monsters failed to prevent a song from the top or is Harry the first?

For all the bragging BTS Army did about monopolizing the chart in summer 2021, every song that Butter 'blocked' at #2 eventually got a week in at #1 anyway.

[neogale]

Bad Romance is among the first ones that come to my mind. At least Tik Tok is enjoyable, but I wish it could have got some of the weeks that Empire State Of Mind had at #1.

Get Lucky being blocked by Blurred Lines is just cursed.

And at least Good 4 U had a week at #1, because the whole Butter fiasco was truly annoying

[Future Captain]

I think cases like Anaconda which would have been #1 for any other week in the year if it's not for that week's #1 being even stronger is the best example tbh. Also 34+35 getting blocked by an out of nowhere gigantic hit in Drivers License.

[kcdawg13]

I think Gangnam Style had terrible luck, it was way bigger culturally than One More Night and still remains more memorable than generic Maroon 5 song No. 800. But it didn't have the radio so it couldn't get there.

[onebuffalo]

Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree.