Biggest No. 2 Hits Ever: The Top 40 Hot 100 Tunes To Not Hit No. 1
This fall, PSY’s “Gangnam Style” quickly became one of the most watched No. 2 Hot 100 hits ever as fans wondered if it make it to the top. As the Korean sensation’s horse-dancey smash drops to No. 5 after a seven week residency in the second slot, we’re paying tribute to it with this chart of the top 40 tunes that peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100. From Lady Gaga and Destiny’s Child to Shania Twain and Green Day — and even Elvis Presley — sometimes it doesn’t take a charttopper to make a huge hit.
Missy’s early millennium hip-hop jam, complete with bawdy rhymes, a Run-D.M.C. break, and a hook literally sung backwards, took over airwaves in 2002 and sat in the runner-up spot on the chart for an entire season.
“Waiting For A Girl Like You”
Foreigner
Peak Date: Nov. 28, 1981
6 Weeks At No. 2
“Payphone”
Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa
Peak Date: May 26, 2012
Maroon 5’s current reign at No. 1 with “One More Night” may have kept PSY from the top in recent weeks, but Adam Levine and the boys also had their own taste of “so close, but not quite” this year as M5’s collab with Wiz Khalifa rang up a month and a half at No. 2.
“With You”
Chris Brown
Peak Date: Feb. 16, 2008
“Party Like A Rock Star”
Shop Boyz
Peak Date: June 9, 2007
“Shake It Off”
Mariah Carey
Peak Date: Sept. 10, 2005
“All I Wanna Do”
Sheryl Crow
Peak Date: Oct. 8, 1994
Sheryl Crow’s easygoing rocker about partying “until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Blvd” didn’t quite hit the chart’s jackpot but almost two decades later, the song stands as perhaps her most famous.
“Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough”
Patty Smyth
Peak Date: Sept. 26, 1992
“Baby – Baby – Baby”
TLC
Peak Date: Aug. 15, 1992
“Open Arms”
Journey
Peak Date: Feb. 27, 1982
“Baker Street”
Gerry Rafferty
Peak Date: June 24, 1978
“Louie Louie”
The Kingsman
Peak Date: Dec. 14, 1963
5 Weeks At No. 2
“Dead And Gone”
T.I. feat. Justin Timberlake
Peak Date: Feb. 28, 2009
“Smack That”
Akon feat. Eminem
Peak Date: Nov. 4, 2006
“Hate It Or Love It”
The Game feat. 50 Cent
Peak Date: April 16, 2005
“Boulevard of Broken Dreams”
Green Day
Peak Date: March 5, 2005
More than a decade into its career at this point, Green Day’s nihilistic-but-emotional hit, from the very nihilistic-yet-emotional “American Idiot” concept album, rocked hearts and minds all the way to No. 2 for over a month.
