Five classic songs that took years to become hits

Posted On May 10, 2025May 10, 2025

What is it that makes a hit? According to science, listeners desire a contradictory mix of predictability and unpredictability. They want songs to feel somewhat like home, but also give them something different they weren’t expecting. Of course, you can’t always listen to science with these things. When Queen wrote ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, they tapped into a form of music that had never been explored, and that became a classic. Similar feats were achieved by the likes of The Beatles, Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix. The truth is, we have no idea what makes a hit.

The unpredictability of what the public will and won’t connect with is a frustrating mystery that has continued to perplex the musical world. Labels have constantly been scratching their heads about what songs they should prioritise, which have the potential to sell, only for their frontrunners to fall by the wayside and their underdogs to climb the charts.

This unpredictability means many songs we now consider classics didn’t chart initially. You would be surprised how many songs there are which failed to gain any traction when they were initially written, but then, after a reissue or inclusion on a compilation album, some years later, completely took the world by storm. Some of your favourite songs were originally brushed aside by the public as if they were nothing.

Plenty of classics fall into that category, as the unpredictability of the music industry prevails above all else. However, this is Far Out’s definitive list of five songs that we consider classics but took years to become hits.

Five songs that took years to officially chart:

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