Speaking of flops

We did a thing a while back about how Katy Perry's third big single, "Thinking of You", flopped. It seemed to be irrefutable proof that Katy Perry's success was purely down to the songs she was releasing and not any star quality or 'personality' she may or may not possess. It was a nice enough song, with a rather good video and quite catchy chorus released by one of the hottest new acts on the planet.

And it flopped.

Well Katy Perry is not the only worldwide megastar currently flopping. It happens to established stars, it always has done and it always will do.

Let's have a look at some other big names with current flop singles.

P!nk
Having released the biggest single of her entire career ("So What") she followed it with haunting but hardly commercial power ballad "Sober". It wasn't the flop of her career but seeing how she's one of the biggest female stars in the world it hardly managed to set the charts alight. Here's some of its chart positions:

• USA - 15
• Ireland - 12

Beyoncé
Next we come to Beyoncé, who is another of the biggest female stars in the world, and especially popular in America. So how did her latest single "Diva" (which seemed tailor made for American chart success) chart?

• USA - 19
• Australia - 40
• New Zealand - 26

Lady GaGa
Even Lady GaGa who has had two of the biggest and most successful pop debuts in recent memory failed to make much of an impact with "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)":

• Australia - 15

Katy Perry
And of course, Katy Perry, with "Thinking of You":

• USA - 29
• UK - 27
• Australia - 34

Britney Spears
Strangest of all is how "Circus", by Britney Jean managed to be a bit of a flop in the United Kingdom:

• UK - 13

Of course this isn't the full picture. Many of these single have managed to go top 10 in other non-English speaking countries and some of them have sold by the bucketload despite not charting higher. This doesn't spell the end of any of these women's careers and most established bands are actually charting a LOT lower than these ladies but it's certainly curious.

The days of Madonna and Janet Jackson scoring 4 to 6 top 10 hits per album are certainly over.

The only act capable of sustaining that sort of success these days seems to be Rihanna... and even her winning streak is not guaranteed. We'll have to wait and see.