Top 10 Pop Stars Who Fell Off the Map

La Roux’s self-titled debut album won the Grammy for Best Electronic/Dance Album at the 53rd Annual ceremony in 2011. A year later, the band was a shadow of its former self. The name La Roux was still around, but what was once the duo of Elly Jackson and Ben Langmaid became just Jackson when Langmaid left the group in 2012. The latter had been a songwriter and producer for the group, while Jackson also served as a songwriter but also its lead singer. The new La Roux, with Jackson as the sole member, put out two albums after 2012. While the projects received generally positive critical acclaim, neither one had the impact of that first record.

Did you know this rapper released albums in 2018, 2020 and 2022? Most audiences didn’t notice — which is something that would’ve seemed like an impossibility when B.o.B’s career first took off. In 2010, he put out his first studio album and hit the top of the US Billboard 200 chart, and saw three singles reach the top ten as well. Fueled by commercial success and media buzz, he released two more LPs in the next three years. But as fast as he was everywhere, he just as quickly disappeared from pop music relevance. Since 2016, B.o.B’s belief that the Earth is flat has made more waves in the culture than his tunes.

Between 1995 and 2008, Jewel released six studio albums (not including her holiday collection). Every one of them reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart. While mostly a folk artist, Jewel did depart from her genre of choice with her turn towards pop in 2003’s “0304” and the country project “Perfectly Clear” in 2008. After that period of success, she continued working and making music, including another holiday album, two records for children, and several studio albums. But none of those later projects have found the broad acclaim she enjoyed at the turn of the century.

After her multi-platinum debut album “Left of the Middle,” Natalie Imbruglia shot into pop stardom on the rocket ship that was “Torn.” The releases earned Imbruglia multiple Grammy nominations — but it wouldn’t sustain her for very long. While that first album sold more than seven million copies, her next five records combined sold just three million copies globally. However, Imbruglia popped back onto the scene across the pond after a winning stint on the UK version of “The Masked Singer.” Her triumph as Panda may have contributed to the relative success of her 2021 album, “Firebird.”

Doctors are always telling us to take Vitamin C. But for a few years in the late 90s and early 2000s we couldn’t avoid the stuff — even if we wanted to. Colleen Ann Fitzpatrick was relatively unknown until 1998, when she took on the stage name Vitamin C and released her self-titled album the next year. It went platinum and she wasn’t unknown anymore. In 2001 she released a second, less successful album, and that was that. But while C disappeared from pop's public view, she moved behind the scenes. She’s written and produced songs, worked as VP of Music at Nickelodeon, and joined Netflix as a music executive.

For a time in the 2000s and 2010s, it felt like CeeLo Green was the map. As one half of Gnarls Barkley, Green saw mega-success with the 2006 song “Crazy.” A few years later, he released his third solo album as a solo artist, “The Lady Killer.” The first single off that record may have had a crude title, but that didn’t stop it from going seven times platinum in the US. Green left his very visible gig as a coach on “The Voice” at the end of 2013, and since then has stayed mostly out of the charts. Although he’s continued to release music, his reputation has also suffered due to allegations of abuse and legal issues.

This talented singer-songwriter had a brief moment of pop music stardom at the turn of the 21st century. In 2001 and 2003, Michelle Branch released two platinum-selling albums: “The Spirit Room” and “Hotel Paper.” The latter rose as high as second on the Billboard 200. But as “everywhere” as she was for those few years, the pop rock version of Branch that rose to popularity practically vanished for over a decade. Yes, she did have a Grammy-nominated song in 2006 as part of the country duo The Wreckers. But it would take another 11 years for Branch to release her fourth album as a solo artist, and five more years to release her fifth.

Here’s one artist that has definitely experienced the highs and lows of the music world. While Taio Cruz’s first album did alright, his sophomore effort “Rokstarr” took Cruz to the peak of pop. The record made it to eighth place on the Billboard 200 and spawned two top 5 singles, “Break Your Heart" and "Dynamite." In subsequent years, he recorded “Telling the World” for the animated film “Rio” and was credited as a co-writer on David Guetta’s hit track “Without You.” During his peak popularity, Cruz made a couple attempts at starting a fashion brand, but years later the business appeared dead. His music releases have been similarly sparse.

At age 13, LeAnn Rimes jumped onto the pop star map with “Blue.” The album not only hit number one on the country album charts but rose to three on the Billboard 200. Her next three albums all broke the top 10 and Rimes held her own in terms of sales in the 90s. But she wasn’t done — in 2005 and 2007, two more of her albums cracked the top five. Although she continued to see success on the country charts into the 2010s, her impact on a wider audience wasn’t the same. Instead, most of the pop culture talk surrounding Rimes in that time was in regards to her affair with — and subsequent marriage to — actor Eddie Cibrian.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Magic!
We’re Not Being Rude, but This Group Hasn’t Had a U.S. Charting Song since That No. 1 Hit

Natasha Bedingfield
Bedingfield’s Last Single to Crack the Billboard 100 Came Out in 2010

Vanessa Carlton
These Days, Carlton’s Pop Relevance Feels about a Thousand Miles Away

Travie McCoy
Doesn’t Look Like McCoy Will Be a Billionaire, No Matter How Bad He Wants It

Sheryl Crow
She Might Not Be on the Map Anymore, but She Is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Back in the mid-90s, if you had one hand in your pocket, the other one was probably holding an Alanis Morissette CD. The Canadian singer-songwriter released two albums in the early 90s, but it was her 1995 record “Jagged Little Pill” that became a pop music phenomenon. The album was nominated for nine Grammys, taking home five. After “Jagged Little Pill” sold over 33 million copies around the world, her next two releases weren’t as big. But they still both found themselves atop the Billboard 200 chart. But you oughta know that Morissette only released three albums from 2012 to 2022, with diminishing commercial returns.

Have you continued to follow any of these artists? Let us know in the comments.