Several songs have substantially been more popular in a remixed version than as an original. I'm thinking specifically of R Kelly's "Remix to Ignition", Fatboy Slim's remix of Cornershop's "Brimful of Asha" and the chart topping LVX remix of Elvis' "A Little Less Conversation".
What is the top charting remix to outperform its original?
If a remix by the same band would count, then Frankie Goes to Hollywood - 'Relax' might take some beating.
The original recording did almost nothing on either side of the Atlantic, yet the remix became the 7th best-selling single in UK history.
Apparently, the only remaining 'samples' from the original in the remix are some vocals & a 'splash' sample.
Original -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVJMMT9nXRI
More famous Remix -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCp2h5jslKY
At the risk of trying to answer my own question, here's one candidate I had forgotten about, Simon and Garfunkel's The Sound of Silence.
The album was a commercial failure and led to the duo breaking apart, with Simon returning to England and Garfunkel to his studies at Columbia University. In spring 1965, the song began to attract airplay at radio stations in Boston, Massachusetts and throughout Florida. The growing airplay led Tom Wilson, the song's producer, to remix the track, overdubbing electric instrumentation with the same musicians who backed Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone. Simon & Garfunkel were not informed of the song's remix until after its release. The single was released in September 1965 and immediately began climbing the charts.
The song hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1965, leading the duo to reunite and hastily record their second album, which CBS titled Sounds of Silence in an attempt to capitalize on the song's success. ... The song hit number one on the Hot 100 on December 4, 1965. It spent 12 weeks on the chart. By January, it had sold one million copies.
Just as a side note, most people don't realize that the success of Simon and Garfunkel, the quintessential folk-pop-rock act, was launched by their African-American producer, Tom Wilson.
The Beatles album, Let it Be… Naked from 2003 could arguably be considered the 'original' of the Let It Be album, recorded in 1969 & then shelved; later remixed & added to by Phil Spector in 1970, after the band's split.
The unqualified claim is that Paul McCartney didn't like the 'over-produced' Spector version & wanted to release it in its original form, without the choirs, orchestras & 'wall-of-sound' trademark that Spector had added to the 1969 original.
…though I cannot resist adding this quote from John Lennon, in defence of the Spector version…
"He was given the shittiest load of badly recorded shit with a lousy feeling to it ever, and he made something of it... When I heard it, I didn't puke."
This could actually be, by a quirk of the way Gold & Platinum record awards have changed over the years, the only case where the lesser-known version [...Naked] strictly went Platinum before the main version…
...Gold & Platinum records were first awarded in 1973, after the Beatles had split up, so none of their original releases qualified. There was a rule change in 2013 that allowed sales from 1994 onwards to count towards gold or platinum status. 13 Beatles albums qualified on that data alone, 25+ years after their original sale. [ref: BBC - Beatles albums finally go platinum
An unqualified statement1 in the Liverpool City Portal claims
The Let It Be LP reportedly shipped 3.2 million copies in 13 days representing a gross retail value of nearly $26 million (Billboard article, June 6, 1970).
1 cited, but no link - possibly due to the citation date.
Sticking with a Fayboy Slim theme I thought of 'DJ Wildchild's - Renegade Master' released in 1995 it reached the 11th spot in the the UK charts and later remixed in 1997 by Norman Cook and peeked at number 3 in the UK charts.
The tunes - Orginal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJR_dX8i0ww Remix - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJMUkLTBXEk
