{"id":784361,"date":"2026-05-09T13:53:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T13:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/784361\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T13:53:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T13:53:18","slug":"5-iconic-rock-songs-that-stalled-at-no-2-and-the-songs-that-kept-them-from-the-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/784361\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Iconic Rock Songs That Stalled at No. 2 (And the Songs That Kept Them From the Top)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an industry as oversaturated as the music business, managing to score a Top 10 hit is a major accomplishment in its own right, even for the one-hit wonders who only reach this pinnacle once. Nevertheless, we would imagine it must be difficult to watch a song get excruciatingly close to topping the charts, only to stall out at No. 2<\/a>. Second best.<\/p>\n

These five rock songs are so ubiquitous even decades after their release that it\u2019s hard to imagine them ever being considered \u201crunner-up\u201d to the top. But runners-up they were, peaking at the second spot, never quite able to beat out the No. 1 track at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cProud Mary\u201d by Credence Clearwater Revival<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kicking off this list of iconic No. 2 rock songs is a track by Creedence Clearwater Revival, which boasts the somewhat frustrating record of having the most tracks peak at the second spot on the Billboard Hot 100. \u201cProud Mary\u201d<\/a> is an instantly recognizable track, even today. But in 1969, Credence Clearwater Revival just wasn\u2019t able to dethrone Sly and the Family Stone\u2019s track, \u201cEveryday People\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Generation\u201d by The Who<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Who\u2019s youthful anthem \u201cMy Generation\u201d<\/a> is one of the band\u2019s best-known songs. Still, it stalled out at the No. 2 spot on the United Kingdom mainstream chart. The top spot at the time went to The Seekers\u2019 \u201cThe Carnival Is Over\u201d. But considering \u201cMy Generation\u201d was one of The Who\u2019s highest-charting singles in their home country, we\u2019d say their No. 2 spot wasn\u2019t all that bad.<\/p>\n

\u201cHurts So Good\u201d by John Cougar<\/strong><\/p>\n

As much as he might dislike the term \u201cheartland rock,\u201d John Cougar helped define this subgenre of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll with his 1982 track \u201cHurts So Good\u201d<\/a>. Objectively, the song was a great success. But Survivor\u2019s \u201cEye Of The Tiger\u201d dominated the charts, besting \u201cHurts So Good\u201d for the top spot. And in a way, wouldn\u2019t you expect a song like \u201cEye Of The Tiger\u201d to do that?<\/p>\n

\u201cStart Me Up\u201d by The Rolling Stones<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Rolling Stones released \u201cStart Me Up\u201d<\/a> on their sixteenth studio album, Tattoo You, in 1981. The track remains a crowd-pleaser at Stones concerts and other large gatherings, like sporting events, even decades later. However, the general public seemed to favor Hall & Oates\u2019 \u201cPrivate Eye\u201d and Christopher Cross\u2019 \u201cArthur\u2019s Theme (Best That You Can Do)\u201d, with both songs keeping \u201cStart Me Up\u201d at No. 2.<\/p>\n

\u201cWaiting For A Girl Like You\u201d by Foreigner<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yet another rock song bested by Hall & Oates, Foreigner\u2019s 1981 power ballad<\/a>, \u201cWaiting For A Girl Like You\u201d, set the record for most weeks spent at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The songs that kept the single from moving up one rung? Olivia Newton-John\u2019s \u201cPhysical\u201d and Daryl Hall and John Oates\u2019 \u201cI Can\u2019t Go For That (No Can Do)\u201d.<\/p>\n

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an industry as oversaturated as the music business, managing to score a Top 10 hit is a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":784362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[171,975,4185,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-784361","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-rock-music","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116544956760627147","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=784361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/784362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}