What do you call something that's not a hit

[Adonis the DemiGod!]

but not a flop?

[mst3k]

I guess I'll reply in this topic... from my standpoint, there's varying degrees of "hitness", if you will. As I implied in the other thread, I don't consider a song that goes top twenty to be a "bomb" or "hot radio flop", no matter who the artist is. If a high profile artist has a song peak in the teens, I'd call it a disappointment. I'd reserve the term "bomb" for when a ton of promotion is put behind a song and it completely misses the top 30 or top 40. "Bomb" and "flop" are too strong to apply to every song that misses the top ten.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

I think flop is misused and overused. I don't think an artist's first single, for example, can be called a flop unless they already have a following and tons of promotion, like coming out of American Idol.
If you're new to the charts and just put out your first album with a bit of promotion but you aren't all over and your single doesn't do that well, it's not a flop, imo. I'd just call it a single, i think.

[Hervard]

Just put an "S" at the beginning of the word in question and you got it!

[FreakyFlyBry]

A stiff?

[BFMR]

radio filler...

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Bengino said:

radio filler...

I'd be more inclined to save that term for a song that gets 150 spins a week on a station.

[DuckHead]

The term "hit" came from the term "hitting the charts". Technically, anything that hits the chart is a "hit".

[Radiorocks]

Here are perfect examples...

Huge Hit=Complicated, Beautiful. A Huge smash that gets to #1 by a new artist, or an established artist, and is known by the public.

Hit=Senorita, There's Gotta Be More To Life. 2nd, 3rd, 4th single by an established artist that do well on the charts, or a song that does well by a no name artist.

Dissapointment=Dirrty. There is only one way to discribe this, a dissapointing release.

Flop=Losing Grip

Bomb=Loverboy

This sounds weird but i think a "dissapointment" is worse than a "Flop".

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

I think it's all relative based on the artist.

[Adonis the DemiGod!]

Well I dont think so.

I think a dissappointment is a hit that did well but wasn't as big of a hit as some/most people would think it was. A flop is a song that does terrible on the charts.

[Unexpected]

Moo said:

I think it's all relative based on the artist.

Agreed.

[DuckHead]

Not only is it relative based on the artist, but it's also relative based on the point in the artists' career. Two examples of what I'm talking about: Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" and U2's "Beautiful Day". Both made Top 20 on Pop, but each artist had many more higher peaking singles in the peak of their careers in the 80s. However, anyone would tell you that "It's My Life" and "Beautiful Day" are among each artists' 5 biggest hits, even if the numbers don't support that.

[Hervard]

FreakyFlyBry said:

A stiff?

Uhh, where did you get that? I didn't see the word "tiff" anywhere - the word in question is "hit" (and "a" doesn't precede it).

[Radiorocks]

I really think it's hard to categorize songs if you are talking about things in general and not just airplay. For example, "Dirrty" is a dissapointment when it comes to radio airplay, but i hate it when people call this single a big flop, because it's not. I bet the mainstream audience doesn't even know that this song did bad on radio and would probably tell you it's one of her biggest hits she ever released. This song was the least played song she ever released, yet it still gets the most attention, even more than "Beautiful" and "Genie In A Bottle". Christina put that extra R in Dirty.

[Bob]

i think everything that's released is either a hit or a flop. it's divided roughy like this:

mega hit: #1 on multiple formats, gold/platinum, cultural phenomenon
huge hit: #1 on more than one format, top 10 at others
big hit: #1 on one format, top 10 on at least one other
hit: top 10 on at least one format
small hit: top 20 on at least one format
disappointment: top 20 anywhere
flop: misses top 40 anywhere

[j]

"Dirrty" was a flop And a disappointment no matter how you look at it.

[DuckHead]

okletthisworksvp said:

i think everything that's released is either a hit or a flop. it's divided roughy like this:

mega hit: #1 on multiple formats, gold/platinum, cultural phenomenon
huge hit: #1 on more than one format, top 10 at others
big hit: #1 on one format, top 10 on at least one other
hit: top 10 on at least one format
small hit: top 20 on at least one format
disappointment: top 20 anywhere
flop: misses top 40 anywhere

I don't agree with this at all. Say I released a single and it hit # 41 on Pop, I would be super excited and happy with it's performance. I certainly wouldn't call it a flop! You underestimate how many artists would be happy just to make ANY chart.

[Adonis the DemiGod!]

DuckHead said:

I don't agree with this at all. Say I released a single and it hit # 41 on Pop, I would be super excited and happy with it's performance. I certainly wouldn't call it a flop! You underestimate how many artists would be happy just to make ANY chart.

I agree with you on this...I think there are major and minor hits then there are flops. Dirrty was not a flop.

[Edf85]

Smash!
Flop!
Hit!
Hot Hit!
Super Hit!
Super Smash Hit!

[Keith3000]

What do you call something that's not a hit but not a flop?

A single.

[strong4PMB!]

Edf85 said:

Smash!
Flop!
Hit!
Hot Hit!
Super Hit!
Super Smash Hit!

Right.

[Ragin]

It is all relative. To me it's a hit if a lot of people know it. It doesn't have to make top40 or whatever to reach this status sometimes. As others have mentioned, for some artists just getting a song played on radio again can be a major accomplishment that exceeds expectations.

Those are hits though. So something that isn't a hit, but not a flop? Well, I guess for me either it is a hit or it's not. A song?

[Pet Shop Boy]

I usually term a song as either a big hit, a moderate hit, a slight flop or a total; disaster. There's no hard and fast formula though. As said earlier, if, say the next Jessica Simpson single peaks at #35 CHR pop, that's quite a disaster considering she's huge right now. If, however, the new Seal single peaks at #35, i'd say that's a minor hit and quite an achievement, considering pop radio is not receptive to veteren artists of his type at this time.

Just use your discretion. There's no easy, always applicable answer.

[Adonis the DemiGod!]

I say....

BOMB
FLOP
Minor Hit
Major Hit
Mega Hit

[Hybrid0NE]

Keith3000 said:

A single.

[Radiorocks]

okletthisworksvp said:

i think everything that's released is either a hit or a flop. it's divided roughy like this:

mega hit: #1 on multiple formats, gold/platinum, cultural phenomenon Crazy In Love
huge hit: #1 on more than one format, top 10 at others Beautiful
big hit: #1 on one format, top 10 on at least one other Miss Independent
hit: top 10 on at least one format With You
small hit: top 20 on at least one format The Voice Within
disappointment: top 20 anywhere Trouble
flop: misses top 40 anywhere ???

But that still doesn't answer the original question. Let's say a song peaks at #20 on Pop, Rhytmic, and Urban, what do you call that? That's in between and it needs a name. Peaking at #20 on the 3 formats is probably good enough to get you at least into the Billboard top 30.

[Deleted]

Like someone else said, a "hit" is anything that "hits" the chart. Anything else is your opinion.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

DuckHead said:

Not only is it relative based on the artist, but it's also relative based on the point in the artists' career. Two examples of what I'm talking about: Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" and U2's "Beautiful Day". Both made Top 20 on Pop, but each artist had many more higher peaking singles in the peak of their careers in the 80s. However, anyone would tell you that "It's My Life" and "Beautiful Day" are among each artists' 5 biggest hits, even if the numbers don't support that.

Definately true!

radiosucks-again said:

I really think it's hard to categorize songs if you are talking about things in general and not just airplay. For example, "Dirrty" is a dissapointment when it comes to radio airplay, but i hate it when people call this single a big flop, because it's not. I bet the mainstream audience doesn't even know that this song did bad on radio and would probably tell you it's one of her biggest hits she ever released. This song was the least played song she ever released, yet it still gets the most attention, even more than "Beautiful" and "Genie In A Bottle". Christina put that extra R in Dirty.

You've called it a flop on many occasions in the past.
I don't really think it's that hard to classify a song as a hit or not. The hardest part probably comes with where you're talking about. Is it a hit in one country and not another or one part of a country but not another. That's why it's so hard when comparing two different songs when deciding what a bigger hit is because there is so much to take into account so there's really no point in bothering.

[Bob]

radiosucks-again said:

okletthisworksvp said:

i think everything that's released is either a hit or a flop. it's divided roughy like this:

mega hit: #1 on multiple formats, gold/platinum, cultural phenomenon Crazy In Love
huge hit: #1 on more than one format, top 10 at others Beautiful
big hit: #1 on one format, top 10 on at least one other Miss Independent
hit: top 10 on at least one format With You
small hit: top 20 on at least one format The Voice Within
disappointment: top 20 anywhere Trouble
flop: misses top 40 anywhere ???

But that still doesn't answer the original question. Let's say a song peaks at #20 on Pop, Rhytmic, and Urban, what do you call that? That's in between and it needs a name. Peaking at #20 on the 3 formats is probably good enough to get you at least into the Billboard top 30.

if you can get onto top 40 on 3 different formats, thats probably a hit

as for the "if my grandma hit #41, its a hit" thats kinda lame. b/c this IS subjective you have to pick a frame of reference, and the frame of reference is the public/record company's point of view. even if your granny hits #41, they public wont see it as a hit nor would a rec exec.