Songs that could have been a hit, if released as a single

[stopnswop2]

Songs so good that I can't believe they were not released as a single and made it big

I'll start

The Parade - Kinda Wasted WIthout You (1967)
They were a one hit wonder band with the song Sunshine GIrl, and I feel like this would have charted if it was also released as a single.

[Willie108]

Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder (Songs In The Key of Life)
More Than A Woman by The Bee Gees (Saturday Night Fever)

[Bobbert]

I was listening to the 1976 Wings at the Speed of Sound album recently, and this song jumped out as a good single in the easy listening 70s:

[matt1]

British singer David Parton did Stevie's "Isn't She Lovely" in April 1977 on Private Stock Records BUT went to # 105 (Billboard Bubbling Under). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7_H7P077Tk

[ftballfan]

Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder (Songs In The Key of Life)
More Than A Woman by The Bee Gees (Saturday Night Fever)

Both of these songs, despite never being released as singles, still get airplay on some classic hits stations

[Willie108]

Was Pinball Wizard by Elton John ever released as a single? I remember it getting a lot of airplay in the 70's.

[matt1]

NO it wasn't released on Polydor or MCA.

[CD 94.7]

This screams single.

[Bobbert]

A lot of Beatles songs would probably qualify, but one that jumps out is "If I Needed Someone," written and sung in 1965 by George Harrison.

Several things probably worked against it:

• The release of other Beatles singles around the same time (We Can Work It Out, Michelle, Nowhere Man).

• The preference for John and Paul songs as singles during the Beatles years.

• The release of a version by the Hollies in late 1965 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_I_Need ... es_version).

[Ben Zonia]

A lot of songs come from albums at the peak of an artist's popularity and quality track productivity. Labels are unlikely to release more than three of them as A side singles. A lot of them are those are released as B sides.

In some cases, over the years, that has resulted in a double sided hit. In others, a track thought to be unlikely to be a hit is put on a B side. When separate chart positions were assigned, the B side was often underrated. When the same chart position was assigned, the B side is still often virtually forgotten. Whitburn recognized this in a listing of all B sides and album cuts unreleased as singles for many artists. However, these are often incomplete except for certain preferred artists.

"Michelle" was a single in the UK.

[Bobbert]

A lot of songs come from albums at the peak of an artist's popularity and quality track productivity.

A great example of this is "Got to Get You into My Life," by the Beatles, which was released as a single in 1976, 10 years after it first appeared on the album Revolver, which many people consider to be their greatest album.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Got_to_Ge ... kly_charts

[stopnswop2]

Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder (Songs In The Key of Life)
More Than A Woman by The Bee Gees (Saturday Night Fever)

Both of these songs, despite never being released as singles, still get airplay on some classic hits stations

WCBS-FM plays Isn't She Lovely

[Ben Zonia]

Whitburn's Top Pop Singles more recently have a list of non Hot 100 airplay hits for many artists. This includes Bubbling Under singles in some versions, and non single album cuts.

Sign up for ARSA, which a huqe collection of radio station music surveys, which shows well over 100,000 released single sides that didn't hit the Hot 100. The B sides are shown for each single. But there are also many A sides which were played over the years on Regional charts. Many reached near the top of Local charts, some locally #1 for several weeks. It has the Label and Catalog numbers.

You could blame Payola in some instances, but it may also be that many were not well marketed by the Labels. Many are excellent, and have become favorites of many. Many were Regional hits, by "garage bands" in the 1960s, tapering off later with increased nationalization of programming playlists, and reduced input by local DJs and PDs. Compared to the 1960s, many less singles hit the Hot 100 each year.

Some singles just hit Cash Box and Record World charts. You can find those charts on worldradiohistory.com.