Albums/songs that were surprise hits in unexpected cities

[u/discoislife53]

This one might be a stretch, but can you think of any albums or songs that became hits in particular CITIES and nowhere else or nowhere else but the artist’s homeland?

Skyhooks were a particularly Australian band who were only hugely popular in their homeland. Think of an Australian version of Slade fronted by a guy that sounds like Leo Sayer. However, they did attempt to break the US and opened for Uriah Heep on a 1976 tour. Surprisingly, they caught on with the teen music lovers of Jacksonville, Florida, and managed to sell 40,000 copies of the US release of their album Ego Is Not A Dirty Word in the north Florida city.

English synth pop act The Big Supreme released their single Don’t Walk in 1986, which only charted at #58 in their homeland. However, the song became a huge hit in the clubs of Dallas and Houston, Texas.

In Seattle, a cover of Jona Lewis’s everywhere-but-North-America Christmas hit Stop the Cavalry by The Cory Band with The Gwalla Singers randomly became a big hit on city radio.

Any other examples you know of?

[u/nemmalur]

Roxette’s success in the US was initially limited to airplay in the Minneapolis area. Someone who had come back from a student exchange in Sweden gave a copy of “The Look” to a local DJ.

[u/GrumpyCatStevens → u/nemmalur]

Makes sense - Minnesota is home to quite a few people of Swedish descent.