Has a B-side unexpectedly become more popular than A-side?

Question

When released for the first time, a single usually suppose to have a hit on the A-side, and a secondary song not supposed to be a hit, on the B-side. That song was basically used to fill the B-side, and producers didn't give hight hopes on it.

The scope of my question doesn't include singles that knowingly featured two hits (sometimes called double A-side) like The Beatles' We Can Work It Out / Day Tripper or where the letter A or B doesn't appear on the label.

I'm focussing in singles where the B-side became a massive hit, and A-side almost forgotten.

Has a B-side unexpectedly overtake a A-side, in terms of success, popularity?

Answer 1

After a little research (A sides in parentheses):

• “Rock Around the Clock” (“Thirteen Women (And Only One Man in Town)”)– Bill Haley and His Comets in 1954.

• “Tequila” (“Train to Nowhere") – The Champs

• "Unchained Melody” ( “Hung on You.”) – The Righteous Brothers 1965.

• "Ruby Tuesday”* (“Let’s Spend the Night Together”) – The Rolling Stones

• “I Will Survive” (“Substitute”) - Gloria Gaynor

• “Push It” (“Tramp”) - Salt-N-Pepa

• "Dear God" ("Grass") - XTC

This only includes songs where the B side was substantially more popular than the A. I'm sure there are others, but these are some big ones.

* = became a hit after being re-released

Answer 2

I've turned up a few more .. with notes as to which were officially turned over or re-released

• I Am the Walrus (Hello Goodbye) - Beatles 1967
  Never turned over

• Green Onions (Behave Yourself) - Booker T & The MGs 1962
  Re-released 1962.

• Half The World Away (Whatever) - Oasis 1994
  [afaik] Never turned over

• Suffragette City (Starman) - David Bowie 1972
  Released to promote ChangesOneBowie in 1976, was never a hit in its own right]

• How Soon Is Now (William, It Was Really Nothing) - Smiths 1984
  Re-released 1985

• God Only Knows (Wouln't It Be Nice) - Beach Boys 1966
  Released as the A-side in some countries, but as a B-side only, in the US.

• Maggie May (Reason To Believe) - Rod Stewart 1971
  Never turned over

• Into the Groove (Angel) - Madonna 1985
  Released as an A-side worldwide, but not in the US

• Always on my Mind (Separate Ways) - Elvis Presley
  US possibly later changed to double-A [wikipedia unclear], UK A-side

• The Model (Computer Love) - Kraftwerk 1978
  Re-issued 1981 with A&B reversed.

• Rock'n'Roll Part 2 (Rock'n'Roll Part 1) - Gary Glitter 1972
  Unclear as to whether it was ever turned over - probably not.

• You Can't Always Get What You Want (Honky Tonk Women) - Rolling Stones 1969
  Re-released 1973

Records purportedly bought for the B-Side, yet could not be played on the radio

• There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards (Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick) Ian Dury & the Blockheads 1978

• Magic Roundabout (Funky Moped) Jasper Carrott 1975

Near misses...

• Mustang Sally (Good Lovin) - The Young Rascals
  Never a hit for them, the Wilson Pickett cover beat them to it.

Answer 3

Ritchie Valens' "La Bamba" was the B-side of "Donna". While Donna reached #2 and "La Bamba" only #22 on Billboard Hot 100, I think "La Bamba" could be considered "more popular" in the long term. Valens was credited with a #1 hit when the Los Lobos version reached #1. Also "La Bamba" ranked No. 98 in VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Rock and Roll in 1999.

However, I don't think "Donna" was "almost forgotten".

Answer 4

Ice Ice Baby was initially released as the B-side to Vanilla Ice's cover of Play That Funky Music.
_{Source from Wikipedia.}

Answer 5

Green Day's Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) initially appeared as a B-side on their Brain Stew / Jaded single from their album Insomniac.

It eventually was re-released as the second single on Nimrod and became a massive hit.

Answer 6

Its actually kind of tough to tell for sure, at least from sales figures, since a B side was (obviously) sold as an inseparable package with its A side. Probably the best way to tell would be from the imperfect measure of radio airplay time.

My personal favorite instance of a B side getting more airplay is Led Zepplin's Hey, Hey, What Can I Do?. It was a B-side for the released single of The Immigrant Song. That song got no little airplay itself, but there was definitely a period in the early 80's when I was hearing Hey, Hey on the radio way more. Also, since Immigrant Song was originally on Led Zeppelin II, its a fair bet that rather a lot of the sales of the single to your typical hardcore Zeppelin fan were to acquire the B side, not the A side.

But even more interestingly, Public Enemy wrote a (freaking great) song about B-sides doing better than A-sides: B Side Wins Again.

You roll in your ride, the DJ decides to play it on the radio; the A side. He gives it a try, but never gives it a try and the people request the best on the B side.

That song itself sampled several B-sides.

Answer 7

Already mentioned in another answer, but I wanted to add a little more detail: Dear God by XTC was originally a B-side-only release on the single Grass, and became so popular so quickly that it supplanted an original album track, Mermaid Smiled, on the US release of the album Skylarking:

• The original release of the album Skylarking has Mermaid Smiled in track 12.
  
• The US release of Skylarking in 1986 has Dear God in track 12.
  _{Other source: Wikipedia.}

Then Dear God was released as A-side.

Answer 8

Some additional ones to supplement @Briller and @ChrisSunami's answers:

• "Wipe Out" by the Surfaris, original A-Side was "Surfer Joe"
• "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart, original A-Side was "Reason To Believe"
• "Rock and Roll Part 2" by Gary Glitter, original A-Side was "Rock and Roll Part 1"
• "Fingertips - Part 2" by Little Stevie Wonder, original A-Side was "Fingertips - Part 1"

More surprise hit B-Sides can be found in these links.

Answer 9

Pearl Jam's "Yellow Ledbetter" was the B-side to Jeremy, and it went on to be one of the band's biggest songs