Let's Talk About (And Call It) Long-Tail Pop!

You know that thing where old people can’t figure out how a random song from a large discography is now the biggest thing since sliced bread? Sometimes you can blame a movie placement. Sometimes you can credit the algorithm, or a meme. But sometimes you can’t! I came up with a name for it. Long-tail pop. As in, “forget it, Jake. It’s long-tail pop.” And this post exists so I can hopefully get credit if it catches on. Maybe even a link in a paid thinkpiece.

While we can blame it for so much pain, the internet didn’t create this phenomenon. The Righteous Brothers had two number-one hits, and neither was “Unchained Melody.” On Spotify, “Unchained Melody” has about four times as many spins as “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” (you know, from Top Gun!) and about forty times as much as “(You’re My) Soul And Inspiration” (you might not know). The Righteous Brothers version of “Unchained Melody” wasn’t even the most famous "Unchained Melody" upon release, Les Baxter scoring a #1 in 1955, several others placing in the Top 10 that year. But after Ghost? Les who? His version doesn’t even make “(You’re My) Soul And Inspiration” numbers now. Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World” didn’t make the US Top 40 until Good Morning, Vietnam. A lot of people would be shocked to realize Frank Sinatra’s “Theme From New York, New York” first arrived in 1980, reaching no. 32 with a bullet, now bigger than at least 90% of his massive hit parade. And you can thank the Yankees.

What the internet did do is let us easily quantify the phenomenon. It’s a beloved pastime today among aging music nerds to find songs on a Most Played chart that have no goddamn right being there. But the thing is, overwhelmingly, they do have a right. Because just about every example of long-tail pop - a song with an oversized stature in a music act's catalog today, compared to the time of release - is feel-good. It appeals to the young, perhaps to an almost generic degree. Part of how songs get into trailers and TV shows is by inspiring emotion without distracting from the content. You have to be a real nerd to hear “Tick Tick Boom” in an action movie trailer and think about the Hives, instead of something exploding. And you don’t have to be deeply aware of the Steve Perry oeuvre to grasp the allure of a song as dramatic as “Don’t Stop Believin’,” even if the Journey singles immediately before and after charted higher. 

Here’s a few more examples of the long-tail pop canon!

Whitney Houston, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody Who Loves Me"
Spins on Spotify: ~1.6 billion
RIAA status: 8x platinum

Granted, “I Wanna Dance” was a number one single when it came out. But so were the three Whitney Houston singles before it, and the three singles after. Of those seven pre-Bodyguard number ones, the second biggest is “How Will I Know,” with a relatively modest 400 million spins on Spotify. If you’re forty or younger, this is likely no big surprise. “I Wanna Dance” is a jam, not a transparent rewrite of “How Will I Know,” Houston’s first uptempo hit. By long-tail pop logic, it makes perfect sense that a song so yearning, so ecstatic about wanting to be loved, is bigger than the one expressing uncertainty to the listener (and weirdly suggesting the listener is more sexually experienced?). But if you were there in the '80s, “Dance” - platinum until 2019, and eight times platinum today - was but a part of the cultural deluge, and so not that a big deal.

The Beatles, "Here Comes The Sun"
Spins on Spotify: ~1.8 billion
RIAA status: The Beatles don’t need no stinkin’ RIAA trophies, but it’s 4x platinum in England.

One of the funniest aspects of watching 1995’s The Beatles Anthology on Disney Plus last year was that the Beatles’ biggest song today doesn’t come up. Proof that nobody thirty years ago had the slightest idea that “Here Comes The Sun” would be almost twice as popular as any other Beatles song on a streaming service (not that we’d know what a “streaming service” was). “Something,” another George song and Abbey Road’s first single, has less than a third of the plays today. “Sun,” while on 1967-1970, wasn’t even a single! “Let It Be” and “Come Together” (the love theme from Rock Band) are approaching a billion plays, earning silver and bronze spots on the podium. But, as far as long-tail pop is concerned, with “Sun”’s journey starting as far back as the George McGovern campaign, nothing beats waking up hopeful.

Pavement, “Harness Your Hopes”
Spins on Spotify: ~250 million
RIAA status: Gold

I had the Spit On A Stranger EP when it came out! I even remember a Matador Records blog contest in the ‘00s about Pavement songs where “Harness” got a lot more attention than I expected. So I wouldn’t say Spotify’s algorithm created the enthusiasm for this late ‘90s B-side. But I do think somebody (or some robot) there picked up - intentionally or not - that it’s a jolly song (even has “hopes” in the title) that can be seen as cute and charming even if you don’t like sardonic references to Geddy Lee’s voice (“Stereo” approaching 15m spins) or cool haircuts (“Cut Your Hair” now over 50m spins). A Pavement B-side going gold might be long tail pop’s greatest accomplishment.

Billy Joel, “Vienna”
Spins on Spotify: ~1 billion
RIAA status: 3x platinum

“Piano Man,” Joel’s second biggest song on streaming, technically qualifies as long-tail pop as well, only reaching #24 in 1974, but earning Gold by 2005 and now sitting at 8x platinum. But I’m calling out bronze medalist “Vienna” because five of the nine songs on 1977’s The Stranger are also on Billy’s Greatest Hits, Vol. I & II, released in 1985, but not “Vienna.” So how the hell is it now a bigger hit than almost every actual “hit”? 

Where many of his real charters were about the need to have sex with Billy Joel or the need to get off his dick, so many boomers sympathizing, “Vienna” is a winning, lovely ditty advising the young to appreciate life. It was in an episode of Taxi, and in the movie 13 Going On 30. It’s long been a concert favorite. Mac Miller covered it in 2015! “Vienna” finally went gold in 2018, not coincidentally the year where subscription streaming began holding a lot more weight. And now it’s one of just three billion-play songs Billy has on Spotify, “She’s Always A Woman” is the second biggest from The Stranger, with 600 million. His number one streaming song? “Uptown Girl.” Not every huge old song today is a long-tail phenomenon. 

Sting, “Shape of My Heart”
Spins on Spotify: ~500 million
RIAA status: Sting is far too busy enjoying life to request his streaming-era sales awards.

The big 3 on Spotify for The Artist Who Hates To Be Called Gordon Sumner are “Fields Of Gold,” “Shape Of My Heart,” and “Englishman In New York.” Yes, they’re even bigger than “All For Love,” which appears on Bryan Adams’ countdown with about 250 million spins. “Gold” is a big inescapable “duh” from 1993, and “Englishman” is reportedly long beloved in the countries where Sting considers buying estates and wineries. But “Shape Of My Heart” has earned its outsized stature from movies (capping 1994’s Leon: The Professional) and hip-hop, everyone from Nas to Juice WRLD sampling that guitar lick over the last thirty years. “If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free,” his highest charting US single (not featuring Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart), the one I remember being unavoidable on VH1 even years later, hasn’t a tenth of the plays. 

Of course, there’s more! “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)” has more than twice the spins of “Burning Down The House.” “Solsbury Hill” has twice as many as “Sledgehammer”! “You Make My Dreams Come True” hit #5 in 1981, and now has a billion more plays than the bracketing #1s “Kiss On My List” and “Private Eyes” combined! Is it because they’re better? Because they were in a movie? Because they’re so damn sweet? Keyboard cat? No matter what you credit the success to, this all adds up to long-tail pop. Credit me for that term, please. It’s all I have.

If you want to suggest other songs for the canon, I’ll be happy to judge their merit and report a pile in a future post. Those and all other comments - maybe you have a better name for this nonsense? - can go to anthonyisright at gmail dot com.