What are the most unusual chart hits of all time?

Oh man, 1966 was the year I started listening to top 40 radio. All I wanted to hear was Monkees and Paul Revere and the Raiders, and then “Green Berets” would keep popping up.

Sparks - This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us (UK #2 1974). their Top Of The Pops appearances were talk of the town, with people of all ages (especially kids) loving Ron’s strange demeanour. un-rockstar look, moustache, serious face, shifty/darting eyes.
they were seen almost as comic silent film stars like Laurel & Hardy, who were undergoing a mid-70s UK revival.

One of my favourite novelty hits is "Car 67" by Driver 67, which was a top ten hit in 1979:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKm_GNOiu1A

I always think about this one from 30ish years ago, which for a while seemed inescapable

"Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" is a song by Canadian rock band Crash Test Dummies, and written by its singer Brad Roberts. It was released in October 1993 by Arista and BMG as the band's lead single from their second album, God Shuffled His Feet (1993). The song received positive critical reviews upon its release, though retrospective reviews have been more negative. The song reached number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and topped the national charts of Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden. In the band's native Canada, it stalled at number 14 on the RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart

We Canadians had already had our fill of Crash Test Dummies by that point, we weren't going to send them any higher on the charts than that.

XXP - I remember reading that Jeff Lynne is the voice of the controller, certainly could be him.

We Canadians had already had our fill of Crash Test Dummies by that point, we weren't going to send them any higher on the charts than that.

Sadly that isn’t true, this is prob the weirdest/worst/flimsiest top 10 (CAN) single I can call to mind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCKoub_8Y48

You're right, that was the fifth of five subsequent top ten hits!
One of the saddest interviews I ever read was keyboard player and singer Ellen Reid talking about how she had invested six figures worth of savings in recording and promoting a solo album - not that I assumed it would be bad, but that I couldn't see how that risk could possibly pay off.

Sparks - This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us (UK #2 1974). their Top Of The Pops appearances were talk of the town, with people of all ages (especially kids) loving Ron’s strange demeanour. un-rockstar look, moustache, serious face, shifty/darting eyes.
they were seen almost as comic silent film stars like Laurel & Hardy, who were undergoing a mid-70s UK revival.

― Paul, Wednesday, January 24, 2024 8:06 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is a cool example because the song itself I don't think is all that odd for a hit - I mean, it's an undeniably great tune - but yeah all accounts of the era point out that it wasn't so much the music as it was their bizarre stage presence. a lot of the talking heads in the documentary say something to the effect of "I didn't know if they were a real band or something just invented for TV"

Was anybody else on the UK charts singing complicated arpeggi in falsetto with such wordy lyrics? Even by glam standards, it must have stood out.

the song that comes to mind for me is "Push th' Little Daisies" by Ween, though I guess here it only got as high as 21 on the Modern Rock chart. it was a bona fide hit in Australia for whatever reason. maybe the fact that my generation was raised on Beavis and Butthead re-runs convinced us the song was more popular than it actually was. but yeah kind of funny situation, Electra signs this band with basically no commercial potential and are essentially forced to come up with **something** as the single

(xp) 70s charts in the UK were full of weird (mostly terrible) one-offs - not that Sparks were a one-off, of course (or terrible).

this was the moment my brain broke in half

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=askJED2-_l4

No Weenin' the Juice

Thsi Town Ain't Big Enough is definitely a weird song

Friends and I still quote this shreds of Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm years later....cannot resist to post

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IhhdsKXAQ