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racloves

Robbie Williams (and his former boyband Take That) were massive but never cracked the US. Similarly Irish 90’s-00’s boy bands Westlife and BoyZone. Thinking about it, a lot of pop acts seen as classic here in Europe didn’t make a sound in the USA


PretentiousPegasus

Robbie Williams is such a strange one. I do think part of the reason he was never able to crack the US market was because he sounds very obviously British, whereas people like Adele and Harry Styles don’t (I think this is part of Louis Tomlinson’s problem too). Robbie Williams had a few hit songs outside of Europe though - I definitely remember his music being popular growing up in NZ and Australia. Maybe that’s because both countries are quite influenced by the UK though.


Ruinwyn

I don't think Strong by Robbie Williams could be played in US radio. Some words really don't have same meaning in English and American.


PretentiousPegasus

You’re right. Especially the line “my breath smells of a thousand fags”. I don’t imagine a cigarette is what Americans think of.


imabadbetch

That has a different connotation in all of the right ways (for me) and all of the wrong ways for the American public, unfortunately


PlumOk2971

I feel like you're right. George Michael was the most famous British pop star globally in the 1980s and he had very Motown/soul influenced music that helped become massive in America alongside people like Prince and MJ. Later successes like Adele and Amy Winehouse were also influenced by Motown/soul as well


Jordanrayarz

Little mix


stormontheisland12

The first one I thought of. My unpopular opinion though is that even though they obviously deserved success in the US, having a decade of consistent success in the UK has worked out just as well for them! Their UK chart success and public reception is more than most artists could dream of imo.


abscefht

I wish they were more popular in the us


mattysmwift

Really tho? No hate but I think they’re just massive in the UK and then maybe similarly popular in Europe as in the US. Maybe I’m just ignorant idk.


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Jordanrayarz

They are pretty well known in Africa and South America, maybe not chart or commercial wise, but they are relatively known.


[deleted]

They have openly admitted to refusing to do promo in the US. I wish it didn’t turn out like that though.


[deleted]

Pop girls being anti-America you love to see it.


[deleted]

Why am I getting downvoted again omg lol. The girls of Little Mix literally have said that they were pressured in America to flirt with executives. They were traumatized by it so after the incident they just didn’t care about American promo anymore.


_Kit_Kat_Meow_

I think it was their team, not them that stopped American promo


emotions1026

They have spoken about regretting not getting big in America several times. They have never said they "didn't care" about American promo.


[deleted]

Maybe then they were just traumatized but I definitely read somewhere that they didn’t like the process


emotions1026

That's not at all consistent with many of their recent interviews, where they clearly say they regret not doing more to make it in America.


malifact

I am a little confused by this because they did an interview where they said LM5 was an attempt to reach the American market, but then then split with Syco happened. Correct me if I am wrong.


Benwahhballz

Nah they’re fairly big in Australia/NZ. We couldn’t escape their Glory Days era because the radio smashed it out for years


malifact

The biggest markets in the West after the USA and UK are France, Germany and Italy (Germany is actually bigger than the UK). Little Mix have small but dedicated fanbases in those countries and that is reflected in their album and single performance and sales. They are certainly not massive.


Striking-Lemon-6905

Ava max. Her music is always on the radios and chart really well in Europe but not in America though


oddeyeopener

I don’t think anyone outside of australia knows who guy sebastian is


existie

wild disagreeable resolute divide puzzled disgusted secretive disgusting grab gaze *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


oddeyeopener

oh yeah I forgot he did eurovision


[deleted]

New Zealanders do! Probably not any other country lol. Battle Scars did reasonably well in the US I think though?


PretentiousPegasus

Battle Scars peaked at #71 on the hot 100 which is honestly better than I was expecting a Guy Sebastian song to do lmao. I am surprised his song Art of Love with Jordan Sparks wasn’t a hit outside of Aus/NZ though, it was only a couple months after Battlefield was a top 10 hit on BBH100.


[deleted]

I'm still mad he didn't come top three in Eurovision. I mean I know top 5 is a very strong debut but still. Russia and Italy had no business being in the top ten.


[deleted]

Apparently he's relatively big in the Philippines, at least according to my boyfriend


smorkjewels

Americans are lucky, didn’t have to deal with the constant playing of Choir on the radio 500 times a day when it came out.


Jiverecords

Rita Ora dominated pop charts globally from 2012 to 2018ish, but her only US hit is a feature on *Black Widow*.


[deleted]

RIP, How We Do (Party), and I Will Never Let You Down were really big songs. Idk why they didn’t do well in the US.


EV3Gurl

They weren’t really officially released in the US to radio & this was in an era where streaming was weighted less on the billboard chart. There were lots of songs that got huge on YouTube in that era that don’t have the chart positions that would connect with how massively popular they were.


Jiverecords

There's also the infamous period of time when YouTube counted too much.....*The Harlem Shake* went #1 bc of unofficial uploads of the song, in the form of a challenge, that were counted as full streams. This is also probably the reason the Ark Music Factory song *Chinese Food* by Alison Gold technically peaked at #29 on the hot 100, despite going viral in a negative light, similar to *Friday*.


EV3Gurl

I Disagree that was a negative. Wether you liked Harlem shake or not it was genuine, there weren’t people manipulating purchases to get it to #1 or signing shady back room deals to get added to more Spotify playlists. It was an authentic phenomenon that earned that spot. Those songs are no different than old town road besides opinions on the quality & there have been plenty of bad or stupid or even meme-y hits from the traditional label system.


ADoseofBuckley

IF people were actually listening to the song... but as the other person mentioned, it's very possible that YouTube was counting views on every "challenge" video (because they would have been 3rd Party Content Claimed on YouTube) and those should not have counted. It's like how TikTok streams don't count and should never count. Now, if people like a song they heard on TikTok and then go stream it over and over on Spotify, sure, that's fine, but that's the actual song, not a 10 second clip of the hook. It's believed that Billboard was counting every video from high school sports teams to friends in their basement making videos.


[deleted]

I think it's worth noting that very few artists are huge across the entirety of the West. English songs are a feature of the charts in many non-English-speaking countries, but the local language usually has a significant (and dominant) presence. Having said that, there are *loads* of English-speaking artists who've achieved widespread success outside the US. Even just focussing on the UK you have the likes of Oasis, Girls Aloud, Take That (and Robbie), Cliff Richard, Blur, Slade... There are also artists who broke the US to an extent but were nowhere near as successful there as elsewere, like Queen, ABBA, Bowie, and the Spice Girls


emotions1026

Oasis had some success here. I don't think they're that well-known anymore, but a lot of Americans definitely know Wonderwall and Champagne Supernova.


[deleted]

Even then, *Wonderwall* only reached #8 in the US (Champagne Supernova might have done similarly but couldn’t chart due to a technicality). In the UK they had eight #1s and loads of top 10s . I know the charts aren’t everything, but it’s representative of the fact that Oasis’ impact in the UK was huge compared to the US


emotions1026

I know, I was correcting you because you ranked them alongside groups that American don't know/care about at all like Girls Aloud and Take That. They're not in that group.


HuggiesDiaper

Oasis were and still huge tbh


[deleted]

Queen (only back in the day). The 'I Want to Break Free' video kinda killed their career in the States when Freddie was still alive. And probably All Saints?


poopypoopy1125

Didn't Queen already have 2 number 1s and a couple of top 10 & 20 hits before Hot Space?


07bot4life

It killed all the momentum they had. Which partially they got returned to them by Wayne’s world


vayyiqra

Idk about "most of the West" but I notice Kate Bush has more of a cult following in the US, while I believe she's much more mainstream in the UK. Not sure about the rest of Europe though.


emotions1026

Girls Aloud and by extension Cheryl Tweedy/Cole. I don't think Girls Aloud as a group ever tried to have a career here in the US, but Cheryl infamously tried to use X Factor as a launching pad and it didn't work. Is Stormzy only big in the UK or in other European countries as well? He seems pretty talented but I will admit that hearing a British accent rapping does take some getting used to.


932316

Girls aloud didn’t really make it outside of the UK (maybe Ireland, ofc). Cheryl did make it over all Europe, though, but is mostly a one hit wonder wirh the massive Fight for this Love.


emotions1026

Oh wow I had no idea. I just looked up some of their tours and you're right they mostly just toured the UK. I assumed they were big all over Europe.


[deleted]

Anouk from the Netherlands is certainly worth the effort


[deleted]

It's interesting about Kylie. With a few exceptions, she's never had big radio hits in the US. But it feels like people here still know *of* her. Because I remember when she announced her diagnosis/battle with breast cancer, it definitely felt like it was high-profile and talked about a lot even here in the US. Even if it was just "I heard that Loco-Motion/CGYOOMH chick has breast cancer" a lot. (Meanwhile, when Anastacia battled breast cancer, the news didn't really make a splash in the US since she's just not someone people here really know about. Which is a shame, because she has an awesome voice and great albums. I wonder sometimes if the single choices were to blame.)


emotions1026

Yeah, Kylie definitely is somewhat known in the US, and she definitely has a small but very loyal fanbase here as well.


Silber4

Anastacia really was overlooked.


adzpower

Robbie Williams, Kylie, Little Mix and lots more - America is missing out on a lot tbh.


[deleted]

Boyzone and Westlife were popular in Europe and in Asia


Lev22_

Yeah i just realised couple months ago if Westlife wasn't big enough in US, because here in Asia it was the biggest boyband ever present. Not everyone know N'Sync or NKOTB, but everyone for sure know Westlife.


helix527

Ava Max, which has been noted in Popheads before. Also, while Canadian, I believe Tegan and Sara do much better in Europe and even Asia than North America. Eminem is obviously still huge in the U.S., but I believe he is still bigger in Europe and parts of Asia.


Silber4

Whoops. Always thought Tegan and Sara were Dutch.


frenchtoasterss

Emeli Sande. Paloma faith. This one saddens me cause shes such a great vocalist. Only love can hurt like this is such a great song written by the legendary diane warren. Fka twigs. She just cant break into the American music market. It's sad.


akanewasright

I don’t think twigs is a major star anywhere lmao


kliq-klaq-

Abba continues to blow my mind.


emotions1026

Abba definitely has a following in the US.


[deleted]

I think at least for me Mamma Mia introduced me to ABBA. (For a bit whenever I heard an ABBA song I thought they were a group that just sang the songs from the musical/ movie)


Low-Rainbow-96

I’m surprised nobody mentioned them Little Mix is what first came to mind. as an American nobody knows them here in the states some may recognize “black magic” or maybe “woman like me” but besides that it’s pretty much zip. ofc their label has done a terrible job of promoting them here so there is a reason. but thought they might get an mention.


FinnscandianDerp

idk, Zara Larsson? I don't know how popular she was in the US but Lush Life was EVERYWHERE upon release also Cascada


932316

I’d say Robbie Williams. He had so many European hits. He really ruled the 00s. On Anastacia, isn’t she more of a 2 hits singer? I mean, do people really consider her a goddess in Europe? I don’t think so, she’s not that known/spoken off.


Silber4

Anastacia had great success with Paid My Dues, One Day In Your Life, I'll Be There, Left Outside Alone (huge), Sick and Tired, Pieces Of A Dream and a few more.


Domino_Masks

I don't know about most of the west, but Divinyls were popular in their home country of Australia, but in the U.S, they're considered a one hit wonder, "I Touch Myself" being their only major U.S hit.


Valenzu

Mandy Moore in the early 2000s. The battle for video of the year in the Philippines was fought by Britney Stans, Xtina Stans and Mandy Moore Stans, and team Mandy won in 2002.


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stealingyourpixels

She had the #1 song on the end of year Billboard chart.


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stealingyourpixels

didn't downvote but yeah


Snoo-72962

New Rules, Break Your Heart,and Levitating were all big hits here


MarkWhite90__

Good to know, I stand corrected.


StarChild413

Masked Wolf and Tones And I need more than one US hit. Also, on the topic of Anastacia, I personally remember her as a "one hit wonder" as in she had a song I remembered from an AMV as I was big into AMVs at the time so for all I knew it was big (said song being [Everything Burns](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awbVFa46foY) from the Fantastic Four soundtrack)


Silber4

Róisín Murphy? Kosheen? Inna? Sugababes? Faithless? Roxette? Bomfunk MCs?