Is Their Most Popular Song Even Good? 

In the UK, Rihanna's biggest song is definitely Umbrella with 10 weeks at number 1 and I think it ticks all 3 boxes

Tame Impala is a pretty good example of most popular songs being among the best imo. He's really good at making singles that are just as creative as they are catchy

This really needs a part 2

I agree so much with Taylor swift. While I do actually like shake it off, I hate that it is the only song that represents her to locals who despise her. She has songs like all too well, my tears ricochet, Lavender Haze, champagne problems, tolerate it, and so many others that people ignore.

Lady Gaga's most streamed song is Shallow but her most popular song is probably Bad Romance or Poker Face

I'm amazed that "Levitating" or "Don't Start Now" aren't Dua Lipa's top songs. If they were, I think we could all agree that they would strike the green tier in every category

Umm, to be honest I wouldn't consider "Shallow" as Lady Gaga's biggest song. I'm pretty sure that most people if asked they would tell that "Bad Romance" is her biggest song :v

The gateway idea reminds me of how Kendrick became my favorite artist. I used to not like Kendrick in middle school bc the only songs I knew were DNA and Humble (and his voice sounded weird to me lol), but when I matured a few years later and listened to TPAB and GKMC I was blown away. A lot of my friends who I've gotten into Kendrick haven't listened to him because they don't like DAMN., which if it's your only exposure to Kendrick and you never get to Sing About Me, Wesley's, Untitled 01, etc. its like ur seeing the Wizards version of Michael Jordan.

i recently got into an argument with a friend over taylor swift, i mentioned how much i liked her music and my friend immediately shot me down, i tried to explain how some of her hits like shake it off and me aren’t good representations of the rest of her work and some of her best songs are wayyyy different and my friend said ‘well if they’re actually as good as you say they are why aren’t THOSE the hits’ like 😭 that’s not how music works 😭 something being really good doesn’t automatically mean it’s going to make a world wide hit

"It's a cover of a black soul singer, yes"

I feel like deathbed being beabadoobees most popular song doesnt show how good they are as an artist when they have songs like sunny day, the perfect pair, only if you want to, i can list songs for hours.

This made me think of artists like The Cardigans with "Love Me" They literally made the song to be a stupid catchy tune that wasn't at all like their other music, and ended up hating the song because people loved it so much, and ended up being thier biggest hit. No joke, The Cardigans rule and I highly suggest listening to their other music if you've never heard it.

Alfo media went from "idk what videos to make" to making the best videos hes made so far lmao

can i just say how amazing this new intro is! i love it!

I feel like Umbrella was the bigger hit for Rihanna, and represented her a’lot better. The same applies to Lady Gaga, as I feel like Bad Romance was the bigger hit and represented her way better. And I might feel that the Happy slander is a lil too much. It’s not good, it’s not his best, but it’s not the worst thing I ever heard from him. (That honor goes to blurred lines lol) But other than that, nice video.

I kind of laugh at the representative category because for artists like Bowie, Kanye, and even the Beatles, there is no 'representative' of what their sound is, which is what made them such great artists, because they constantly evolved beyond their initial sound, to the point where there is no 'representative'

“Smells Like Teen Spirit” would be all greens imo

Number wise, Billie Jean is Michael‘s biggest song. Then Beat It, followed by Thriller.

This topic was made for Radiohead, Nirvana and Oasis

Pls make a part 2 of this! I love this

Blank Space is Taylor's most popular. If we forgot streaming Shake it off has more views on RU-vid bcoz it was the lead single. The gap is closing tho And having thinking out loud instead of shape of you and the wedding song..

Very well done video- and I pretty much agree with all of your takes!

the As and Living for the City shoutouts touched my heart :3

Everything you said about Creep is how I feel about all of Pablo Honey. Its a good 90's alt rock album! It gets unfair slander because the band would go on to make some of the best rock albums of all time.

Very interesting essay, globally on point for all the artists in question!

I would love to see another of these. Not only is the topic just interesting, it also gives me new music recommendations based on what you think is better.

I'm loving the new videos!

amazing stuff Alfo!

another banger from Alfo Media 👌🏼

I’ve been thinking about that recently, specifically about Switchfoot. Thinking about their deeper tracks that are somewhat hit or miss, I go back to Dare You to Move and it really is well written and encapsulates their message and feel.

12:55 All of this is true but it was the video for Billie Jean, not Thriller

You should talk about Porter Robinson. His most popular song is probably Shelter, and it's definitely really good, representative of his music and some of his best.

happy is just a fun catchy song and people shouldn’t overthink about it same thing with shake it off

love ur videos!!

bro i love gaga and ive never even heard of shallow

Shallow who 💀 Bad Romance, Poker Face, Americano, Judas, Alejandro, Born This Way, Applause even Telephone - these I know. Never heard of Shallow

Shape Of You is definitely Ed's biggest song. Almost all these modern pop artists & their big hits always feel pretty insincere to me, always immediately 25% less enjoyable than most timeless tracks from the 90's or earlier.

I think what can also make for a hit song is both for one, using ideas like hooks, a singable chorus, and just over all catchiness. But also people will love a song for the experience they get and them being so addicted to that experience, they listen to it over and over again. Take nine inch nails closer, all my friends by lcd Soundsystem, bohemian rhapsody, stairway to heaven by led Zeppelin, and comfortably numb by pink Floyd. They have elements of catchiness and hooks you could say. But there most know for the experience they brought to the listener. And people have just grown so addicted to the experience they brought to us. Me including, the day I write this comment, the night before I listened to sounds of silver by lcd Soundsystem for the first time in my life and all my friends is gonna be my addiction for a while now. In a bit of credit to alfo media for make his lcd Soundsystem video to get me into them.☺️

Shake it off purposely had fun lyrics and fun stupid melody. It’s pop classic. It’s not representative, but it’s not bad track.

I love Stevie Wonder. What a great discography to deep dive. I'm jealous of people who listen to Songs In The Key of Life for the first time.

amazing video!!!

I think shake it off is her second best song behind I knew you were trouble

As for Happy - couldn't stand it at its peak popularity, once the hype wore off and I actually listened to it I grew to like it. Still only yellow for "is it good", but definitely red for "one of their best." As for "representative" you can hear some of the retro sound he was going with sprinkled around 2013-2016, especially producing the Hidden Figures soundtrack, so maybe it's closer to yellow for me

Hey Jude is way overplayed in the UK. Every time Paul appears at any sort of event, you're guaranteed to hear an extended version that rapidly outstays its welcome. Come Together is a hundred times better.

Great vid my boy you stay dropping heat

If I can dream by Elvis is great that’s definitely my favorite song of his also I’ve like never heard of half of these songs.

Can you add Lorde’s Royals for your part 2 please. She paved the way for Billie to get the dark edgy alternative music go into the mainstream.

Shake it Off never really kept me away from giving Taylor a fair shot, and I gave all her best projects (evermore, folklore) a listen and still don't get it. Her songwriting isn't particularly interesting to me and her vocal ability limits her to a certain sound that I just don't enjoy. That being said, she's still an iconic pop star and a major figure in pop culture, I just think her stuff is not for me.

im curious what you think about glass animals, heat waves is by far their most popular, but as a long time fan i have almost grown to hate that song, feeling like it covers up their first 2 albums which i find 10x better. being at their concert and having noone know any other songs besides that one definitely didnt help change my opinion

I think in most cases, the biggest hit is rarely going to be the artist's most interesting or challenging work. Hey Jude is a classic example of that. 6 minutes of that song is just "Na Na Na Na Na Na Na" over and over again, whereas something like A Day In The Life is far more complex and musically interesting with time and style changes. It's equally beloved by fans, perhaps even more so, but it was never going to be a single, it probably would have still been a hit if it were but only because The Beatles were that big at the time, and I doubt it'd have been the monster hit that Hey Jude was. David Bowie would be another classic example with Let's Dance being one of his biggest, yet this was the same artist who created songs like DJ, Look Back In Anger, The Hearts Filthy Lesson, Breaking Glass, all of which were released as singles but were nowhere near as big but (at least in my opinion) were far superior songs, but they weren't typical dance floor fodder which is what most pop music is.

Part 2 needed 🫡🫡

Request for a part 2 of this

How is MJ's biggest song Thriller and not Billie Jean, also Maroon 5's biggest is Sugar/Girls Like You, Moves Like Jagger not even top 5 biggest by them

The outro to Bad Guy is the only pop song I can think of with a break down.

Came here for the All Too Well shout out, was not disappointed.

I paused at 1:11. Once you started explaining the point of the vid, I immediately thought of Radiohead's Creep and Talk Show Host (the former being their most popular song, the latter being their best song). I literally laughed out loud when I saw Radiohead was the first artist up for discussion. Now I'm going to unpause and see what you think.

Idk about Rihannas, it feels more like a Calvin Harris song then a Rihanna song.

@Alfo Media One thing I don't like about the video is that you don't take a break between the different numbers. It doesn't feel at all like it's supposed to be different numbers.

I love that songs that goes: "cats and boots" for 3 minute !!

Great content as always.

I mean this discussion is kinda pointless since measuring popularity is actually objectively possible whereas judging quality is up to the listener. But cool video nonetheless.

Taylor always chooses the worst singles, she is such a great lyricist, and always chooses the most boring, bland, repetitive songs

This might make me an NPC but Shake It Off is a top 3 song on 1989 and in her top 20 tracks

people genuinely hate on creep? i hate music nerds man i swear

Mate roar is really good it’s probably really popular for the fun jungle theme music video

Blank Space is her biggest hit, not shake it off. Blank Space's longevity is much better than Shake It Off that was a timely hit back then.

Alfo managed to make a dove crying joke when talking about Prince xD

I love hound dog, one of the first songs I heard as a kid

Give me love is Ed’s Best song and I’m STANDING ON IT

the subliminal elvis diss had me absolutely non stop laughing.

Could you do one on bands not so “mainstream”??

Where's Ariana? Miley? P!nk? Mariah?

Bro shape of you the second most streamed song of all time I feel like it’s his biggest hit

This is fun to watch and what not but, seriously speaking, under what criteria can songs be qualified as "good" or "bad". No matter how much anyone is willing to argue, it's entirely subjective and there is no right answer. At the end of the day, a piece of music will only have the value that the person listening to it gives it, which is why classifying music like this can do more harm than good.

Ah yes, all-time great inspirational lyrics such as "na na na nananana, nananana, hey Jude"

If only blank space could replace shake it off in representative song status cuz at least that one has the writing chops as well as perfect pop song status! Shake it off is fun as hell tho

banger vid

Not totally surprising that some of the songs that are least representative are from movie soundtracks - Shallow, Happy, and Boom Clap.

Can you please make a video on this band called material issue? They’re a 90’s Powerpop band and I find them to be pretty good

Intro is hella clean ✨

9:00 well put my guy

would’ve loved to have seen a look at HUMBLE in comparison to Kendrick’s discography

You need one more category...has Weird Al created a parody.

My personal favorite example is of one hit wonder Chumbawamba. Tubthumping is a good song but isn’t exactly the greatest representation of the artist and their sound as they did Anarcho-punk and folk music for a lot of their career. Also, El Fusilado and Give the Anarchist a Cigarette eclipses the greatness of the song by a landslide.

Why is rihannas biggest song not allowed cus its a feature but bruno mars biggest is? They are both features

I adore we found love . The 2010s sound is nostalgic as hell but like in the best way possible

cant believe you put thinking out loud for ed sheeran. Shape of you has more views and went number 1 while thinking out loud didn't. Like how did you decide on that fr

Plz do the rock charts next

Creep is amazing but no it’s not representative. It is barely in my top 50 but yeah it’s not really representative of them

Aren't Halo and Hello more popular than crazy in love and someone like you?

Re Adele: Rolling in the Deep is the single most unique & original chart topper of the 2010s IMO. I thought it was going to lead to a genre shift toward increased musicality, but instead of a movement, it was only a moment. I had the same reaction to Missy Eliot's get up freak on in the 2000s, and Prince's when doves cry in the 80s.

Rammstein's Du Hast is like the only one many ppl know. its an absolute banger, definitely representative of their sound, but slightly above the middle interns of their songs. deuschland, Sonne, engel, Zick Zack, are some better ones from the German shock rockers

There are very few artists who can display a wide range of good and successful songs.

Some artists who are primarily pop artists usually tend to release their best songs as singles to hit the top of the pop charts. However, a lot of artists, particularly rock and hip-hop artists, tend to release their most accessible songs as singles, knowing that their best tracks tend to be deep cuts from their album that usually doesn't play well on pop radio.

Imagine picking We Found Love over Umbrella for a staple Rihanna song...That song literally put her on the map.

Radiohead doesn't even like creep, hell the grinding sound on the gutar is him trying to mess up the recording

What about something like “one hit wonder bands where their most popular song caused them to be one-hit wonders because it’s nothing like the rest of their stuff” 😂 Cause I nominate Marcy Playground with “Sex and Candy”, and their self-title album is pure magic and should be more appreciated than the one sore thumb song that was popular.

Is elvis' biggest song not cant help falling in love with you?

It’s crazy for Pharrell that he has another song called happy that is 20x better

You know what else broke the color barrier in the last example?