12 musicians whose biggest songs became a burden

Louis PeitzmanThu, August 27, 2026 at 9:14 PM UTC

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Elton John; Lady Gaga; Blink-182Credit: Amy Sussman/WireImage; Kevin Mazur/Getty; Natasha Moustache/Getty

When you’re a diehard fan of an artist, you can list their catalog front to back, including the deepest cuts. Most people, however, will know them solely by their biggest hits: the tracks whose crossover appeal earned them mainstream radio play. And while many musicians strive for that kind of success, these tunes can be both a blessing and a curse.

These are the songs that fans incessantly shout for at live shows. The songs that pull focus from any number of equally worthy tracks. The songs that can get an artist who never finds the same level of attention for subsequent releases labeled a “one-hit wonder.”

And in many cases, they’re songs that occupy a complicated place in the performers’ hearts. Consider Paramore and their pop-punk anthem “Misery Business,” which the group temporarily stopped playing in 2018 amid criticism of lyrics deemed misogynistic. Paramore has since made peace with their hit, returning it to their set lists in 2022, but many artists never get over the bad feelings attached to their most requested tracks.

Read on to discover 12 musicians who came to resent their biggest songs — and whether they still perform them.

01 of 12

Blink-182, “All the Small Things”

Blink-182 performing during Lollapalooza in Chicago on Aug. 4, 2024Credit: Natasha Moustache/Getty

As the artists on this list have come to realize, popularity is a double-edged sword. Playing the same song over and over again is a recipe for madness, which Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker expressed back in 2017.

“There was a point where Mark [Hoppus], Tom [DeLonge], and I were like, ‘We can’t play ‘All The Small Things’ one more f---ing time,’” Barker told NME (via Far Out Magazine). “We were gonna go crazy.”

DeLonge has also acknowledged a distaste for the fan-favorite track, telling NME in 2014, “It came on the radio the other day, and I was like, ‘I sound like I’m f---ing 11.’ It’s still played everywhere, but I don’t know why.”

Despite their personal feelings, however, Blink-182 has never taken “All the Small Things” off their set list, performing it most recently at a May 19, 2026 show. As Barker acknowledged, not playing the song “would be like going to see Jay-Z and he doesn’t play ‘99 Problems.’ For your fans, it’s their favorite song and they’re waiting all night to finally hear it.”

02 of 12

Vanessa Carlton, “A Thousand Miles”

Vanessa Carlton performing at Coachella on April 10, 2026Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty

Vanessa Carlton has long been synonymous with her 2002 hit “A Thousand Miles,” whether she likes it or not. And for a long time, she didn’t.

The track was the lead single on her debut studio album, Be Not Nobody, accompanied by an iconic music video that helped propel it to massive success. The song was featured in Legally Blonde (2001) and White Chicks (2004), the latter of which helped turn the hit into an enduring cultural phenomenon.

For Carlton, who struggled under the pressures of the music industry, the song’s success prompted bittersweet feelings, especially as it pulled focus from everything else she was doing.

“I think the biggest challenge for someone in my position would be to not look at the power and success of that song, to not be squashed by it,” Carlton told Vice in 2021. “Don’t get me wrong, I hated this song. I hated this song.”

Carlton has since made peace with “A Thousand Miles.” In April 2026, she told PEOPLE that she now appreciates how much joy the song brings listeners, calling it “the people’s song.” She also continues to regularly include it on her set lists in 2026.

03 of 12

Miley Cyrus, “Party in the U.S.A.”

Miley Cyrus performing on ‘SNL50: The Homecoming Concert’ on Feb. 14, 2025Credit: Kevin Mazur/Peacock/Getty

Pop stars often sing songs they didn’t write themselves, but they can at least hope for lyrics that resonate with them. Sadly, that was not the case with Miley Cyrus and “Party in the U.S.A.”

“I’ve never heard a Jay-Z song. I don’t listen to pop music,” she told her fan website MileyWorld in a 2009 interview (via American Songwriter). “[‘Party in the U.S.A.’] is not even my style of music … I didn’t write it [and] I didn’t expect it to be popular, originally. It was just something that I wanted to do and I needed some songs and it turned out for the best.”

“Turned out for the best” is an understatement, given that the single became an enormous success that elevated Cyrus to a new level of pop stardom. Even a decade later, however, she still had mixed feelings about it. When her then-husband Liam Hemsworth sang “Party in the U.S.A.” in a 2019 Instagram video, Cyrus shared, “I hate it, but for some reason the people love it.”

The singer doesn’t perform live often these days. She last included “Party in the U.S.A.” in her set list at Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party in Miami on Dec. 31, 2022.

04 of 12

Lady Gaga, “Telephone”

Lady Gaga during the Mayhem Ball tour in Las Vegas on July 16, 2025Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty

“Telephone” may not be the most famous song in Lady Gaga’s repertoire, but the collaboration with Beyoncé has an iconic video that helped give the track real staying power. Surprisingly, Gaga is not necessarily a fan of the song or its music video.

“I hate ‘Telephone,’” she told Pop Justice back in 2011. “Is that terrible to say? It’s the song I have the most difficult time listening to.”

As for the video, Gaga told Time Out (via NME) that same year, “I hate it so much. Beyoncé and I are great together. But there are so many f---ing ideas in that video.”

Nevertheless, Gaga has insisted that the long-teased sequel to “Telephone” is still coming. In a February 2025 Vanity Fair video, the pop star took a lie-detector test and confirmed that the video would eventually be continued, though she couldn’t say when. When asked if Beyoncé would be a part of it, Gaga said only, “Maybe.”

Gaga also continued performing “Telephone” for years despite her complicated feelings about it. She last performed the song during the Chromatica Ball in September 2022, though it was absent from the regular set list for her subsequent Mayhem Ball tour.

05 of 12

Lorde, “Royals”

Lorde performing at Glastonbury Festival on June 27, 2025Credit: Kieran Frost/Redferns/Getty

Given how young Lorde was when she started out, it’s not surprising that she’s not as enthused about some of her early work as critics and fans were at the time.

In a 2014 interview with Australian magazine The Music, the singer shared that her Grammy-winning song “Royals” — which she wrote when she was just 15 — wasn’t something she was particularly proud of.

“I understand why it worked and why it was kind of a hit,” Lorde said (via Seventeen). “I can see those qualities in it, but at the same time there’s part of me that’s like… ‘These melodies are just not as good as something I could have written now,’ or like, ‘I definitely wouldn’t have written this lyric this way if I [had] written it now.’ It definitely feels like a bit of a relic now.”

The artist has come a long way since then, releasing 2017’s Melodrama, 2021’s Solar Power, and 2025’s Virgin, all of which reflect an impressive musical evolution and feature tracks that are a far cry from the song that made her famous.

No matter how she feels about the maturity of the song, Lorde still performs “Royals.” A shortened version of the track appeared on her set list at Edinburgh Summer Sessions on Aug. 25, 2026, but she also featured it during the Ultrasound World Tour in 2025.

06 of 12

Billy Joel, “We Didn’t Start the Fire”

Billy Joel performing in Las Vegas on Nov. 9, 2024Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty

Have you ever tried to nail the Billy Joel classic “We Didn’t Start the Fire” at karaoke? Even with lyrics on the screen, you’re in for a challenge. As it turns out, the song’s writer sometimes struggles with it, too.

During his encore at a concert in 2014, Joel notably messed up the words mid-verse, prompting him to stop the band and unleash his feelings about the song. “Wait a minute,” he said. “That ain’t right. All you gotta do is f--- up one word in that song and it’s a train wreck.”

The music legend continued, “It’s the same thing verse after verse. Just the words change. It’s one of the worst melodies I ever wrote.”

Joel has not been shy about his negative feelings toward “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” including in a 2010 appearance on The Howard Stern Show. “I don’t hate the song,” he explained. “I just don’t think it’s very good musically.”

But as he shared at the time, he will continue playing it at live performances — even if he occasionally stumbles on the barrage of challenging lyrics. Joel included “We Didn’t Start the Fire” on the set list throughout his last tour, which ended in February 2025.

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07 of 12

Elton John, “Crocodile Rock”

Elton John performing during the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Nov. 8, 2025, in Los AngelesCredit: Amy Sussman/WireImage

“My gift is my song,” Elton John famously sang, and he has countless indelible classics to be thankful for. As far as he’s concerned, however, not every gift is worth keeping.

In a December 2024 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the legendary performer was asked to list his top five Elton John songs — a challenging task for anyone, let alone the man who helped write them.

“I would say anything off the Captain Fantastic album: ‘Someone Saved My Life Tonight,’ ‘We All Fall in Love Sometimes,’ ‘Curtains,’” John shared. He also name-checked “Your Song” and a deeper cut from his 1995 LP Made in England, “Blessed.”

But as the singer reflected further on his catalog, he threw out one track that would never make his list: “Not f---ing ‘Crocodile Rock.’ I know that.”

That wasn’t the first time John had denigrated the single, which was included on his 1973 album Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player. On a 2021 episode of the Deeney Talks podcast, he revealed, “The last time I have to sing ‘Crocodile Rock,’ I will probably throw a party. It was written as a kind of a joke, like a pastiche.” He went on to vow that once his farewell tour was over, he would “never ever sing that song again.”

And yet, he’s still playing it. John retired from touring in 2023, but he has performed live occasionally in the years since. He most recently included “Crocodile Rock” on his set list at the Silver & Black Gala on May 17, 2026.

08 of 12

Robert Plant, “Stairway to Heaven”

Robert Plant performing in New Orleans on April 28, 2023Credit: Erika Goldring/Getty

If there’s a beloved song a group hates playing, they can at least hope it’s short. That’s definitely not true of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” which famously runs just over eight minutes. Performed live, the band would even extend the song to 10 minutes, thanks in part to an extended Jimmy Page guitar solo.

Eventually, frontman Robert Plant had enough. In a 1988 interview with the Los Angeles Times, he explained why he would no longer play “Stairway to Heaven” on tour.

“I’d break out in hives if I had to sing that song in every show,” Plant said. “I wrote those lyrics and found that song to be of some importance and consequence in 1971, but 17 years later, I don’t know. It’s just not for me.”

That same year, he told Q magazine (via MusicRadar), “If you absolutely hated ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ nobody can blame you for that because it was so pompous.”

After a 16-year hiatus, Plant performed the song again at a 2023 Cancer Awareness Trust benefit. It hasn’t popped up on his set list at any more recent shows, but we’ve still come a long way from the time he pledged money to a Portland radio station that promised never to play “Stairway to Heaven” again.

09 of 12

Oasis, “Wonderwall”

Liam Gallagher of Oasis performing in Mexico City on Sept. 12, 2025Credit: Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty

With a band as outspoken and infamously cranky as Oasis, you don’t need to look hard to find disparaging comments about their biggest hit, “Wonderwall.”

“I can’t f---ing stand that f---ing song! Every time I have to sing it, I want to gag,” lead singer Liam Gallagher said in 2008 (via Far Out Magazine). “Problem is, it was a big, big tune for us. You go to America, and they’re like, ‘Are you Mr. Wonderwall?’ You want to chin someone.”

But Liam’s hatred has lessened over time, as evidenced by the fact that he reconciled with his bandmate and brother Noel Gallagher, with the two embarking on an Oasis reunion tour in 2025. He’s also learned to appreciate “Wonderwall.”

In a 2022 interview with LADBible (via NME), he said of the song, “That used to do my head in, that tune! I’ve only started to come around to it again as I’ve got older.”

Oasis included “Wonderwall” as part of their encore throughout the reunion tour, culminating with a performance at the tour’s final show in São Paulo, Brazil, on Nov. 23, 2025.

10 of 12

Radiohead, “Creep”

Thom Yorke of Radiohead performing during TRNSMT Festival in Glasgow on July 7, 2017Credit: Roberto Ricciuti/WireImage

The overexposure of any hit can easily turn people off, and that also goes for the ones performing it. That’s certainly the case with “Creep,” which has earned notoriety as a song Radiohead famously grew to resent.

In fact, frontman Thom Yorke was never terribly fond of the track. In a 1993 Rolling Stone interview, he admitted, “I wasn’t very happy with the lyrics; I thought they were pretty crap.”

Despite initially being treated as something of a throwaway, “Creep” quickly became an enormous success, leading to fans attending Radiohead shows just to hear it played. Resentment grew among band members, and Yorke became increasingly hostile toward audience members requesting it. “F--- off, we’re tired of it!” he once yelled at a crowd.

Radiohead eventually softened somewhat on “Creep.” “It’s a good song,” guitarist Ed O’Brien told Rolling Stone in 2017. “It’s nice to play for the right reasons. People like it and want to hear it. We do err towards not playing it because you don’t want it to feel like show business. But we started throwing it in last year.”

The band last performed “Creep” live at the Soundhearts Festival in Colombia in 2018, and notably left it out of the sets on their 2025 comeback tour. Yorke also debuted a very slowed-down remix of the track in 2021.

11 of 12

The Rolling Stones, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”

The Rolling Stones during the final night of the Hackney Diamonds ‘24 Tour on July 21, 2024, in Ridgedale, MoCredit: Gary Miller/Getty

It may be a bit of a stretch to say that Mick Jagger hates “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” one of the most famous songs from the Rolling Stones’ six-decade-plus career. But he’s never been able to shake one of his most famous quotes from a 1975 interview with PEOPLE (via Time): “I’d rather be dead than sing ‘Satisfaction’ when I’m 45.”

At the time, it might have been hard for Jagger to believe that he would still be performing well into his 80s, and that “Satisfaction” would remain a set list standard, which the band most recently played as part of their Hackney Diamonds tour in 2024.

But even as the Rolling Stones continue to release acclaimed new music, like the July 2026 album Foreign Tongues, their fans clamor for the classic hits to be performed alongside the more recent tracks.

Jagger’s younger self might be horrified that “Satisfaction” is being played almost 40 years after his proposed cut-off point — or he might be glad to learn that the song, like the band itself, has stood the test of time.

12 of 12

Ed Sheeran, “Shape of You”

Ed Sheeran performing in New York City on Dec. 12, 2025Credit: Mike Coppola/Getty

Sometimes it takes years of overexposure for a track to sour for an artist. In other cases, the musician is never entirely on board. Just ask Ed Sheeran, who tried hard to keep “Shape of You” off his 2017 album Divide.

“‘Shape Of You’ was actually the only song that I was like ‘this isn’t me at all,’” Sheeran revealed at a Spotify event ahead of the album’s release. “It took Johnny [McDaid] and Steve [Mac], the guys I wrote it with, probably about a month or two to convince me that it should even be on the album, and probably took them another month to convince me that it should be a single.”

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At this point, it’s hard to imagine anyone but Sheeran performing “Shape of You,” but back when he and his co-songwriters were crafting the song, they envisioned it working for a very different kind of pop star: Rihanna. That may help explain why Sheeran struggled to see the track as something that fit his album.

Despite the singer’s early reservations, “Shape of You” ended up being a massive success, becoming Sheeran’s best-selling single in the U.K. That may soften the blow of the fact that it also found its place on worst songs of the year lists.

Naturally, it remains a staple of Sheeran’s set lists.

on Entertainment Weekly

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