This American Songwriter feature argues that the true story of a musical year lies below the chart summit, and it uses 1988 to make the case. The article highlights four songs that failed to reach the Top 40 despite their quality, spanning artists from Sting to R.E.M., suggesting that commercial performance is a poor measure of a track's lasting worth.

Each selection came with its own backstory: Sting's jazz-tinged "Englishman In New York", featuring Branford Marsalis on saxophone, peaked at No. 84, while Robert Plant's atmospheric ballad "Ship Of Fools", from the Jimmy Page-assisted album Now And Zen, reached only No. 83. 10,000 Maniacs' "What's The Matter Here?", a song about child abuse sung by Natalie Merchant, stalled at No. 80, possibly because of its difficult subject matter. R.E.M.'s now-celebrated "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" managed only No. 69, as radio programmers were reportedly baffled by its rapid-fire, cryptic lyrics.