"When the Lovelight...", The Supremes (1963)

A charming rough draft of a legendary career

Peak: #2 on the R&B chart (#23 on the Hot 100)
Streams: 3.1 million

The Supremes were almost a flop. Their first seven singles, released from 1961 to 1963, all missed the top 40 of the Hot 100. Only one of them made the top 40 on the R&B chart. Their fellow Motown artists called them The No Hit Supremes.

Obviously, it all worked out in the end, but the group needed a warm-up hit before they began dominating the charts, the radio, and the culture at large.