All (well, most) of our faves have them… singles that don't wind up on an album, and often never end up on any larger project at all. And often they're pretty big hits. Many below have reached the Top 40 or even Top 10 on the Hot 100.

 

Rihanna - FourFiveSeconds, ***** Better Have My Money, American Oxygen

Lady Gaga - The Cure

Chappell Roan - Good Luck Babe, The Subway

Cardi B - Money, Press, Enough (Miami)

Nicki Minaj - Megatron, Yikes

Ariana Grande - Boyfriend, Focus, Monopoly

 

And the list goes on. What are some of your favorites? Did they deserve to be on an album?

What are your thoughts on this kind of single? Personally, I feel like more often than not, they should be included on a parent album in some form, but in rare cases they truly belong as orphaned singles. 

 

Edited September 16, 2025Sep 16 by collin

8 minutes ago, collin said:

Rihanna - FourFiveSeconds, ***** Better Have My Money, American Oxygen

Well, these were supposed to be on ANTI when they were originally released but...

Edited September 16, 2025Sep 16 by durrss

Work It Out isn't a loose single it's on a soundtrack album.

Just now, durrss said:

Well, these were supposed to be on ANTI but...

And they should have been…! There's no reason why they couldn't fit on that record, I really hope they eventually find a home on an anniversary deluxe alongside other singles and outtakes from the era.

I don't really care for standalone singles as long as the artist doesn't leave their fans hanging by saying "oh yes this IS my the new single for my new album" and just vanish for months

Just now, swissman said:

Work It Out isn't a loose single it's on a soundtrack album.

Right, so I will delete Beyonce off the list altogether.  

5 minutes ago, collin said:

And they should have been…!

absolutely, I remember having them tagged under ANTI on my iTunes library 

9 minutes ago, collin said:

Right, so I will delete Beyonce off the list altogether.  

Well she does have standalone singles:

• Wishing on a Star
• Perfect (Duet)
• Mi Gente (Remix)
• Savage (Remix)
• Be Alive
• MY HOUSE (as you stated before removing her from the list)

 

 

Edited September 16, 2025Sep 16 by swissman

1 minute ago, durrss said:

absolutely, I remember having them tagged under ANTI on my iTunes library 

If others have done it I think Anti could benefit from a second disc edition.

 

Those 3 songs, Nothing is Promised, Lemon, TIWYCF, perhaps some outtakes that we know she loves but had to scrap. I'm manifesting it for 2026!

i used to get mad at them when i was younger because i wanted everything to fit neatly under a project when i looked at an artist's discography page on wikipedia, but now i just don't care

My only thought is that Selena is the best with them. 

5 minutes ago, Selegend said:

My only thought is that Selena is the best with them. 

All of those could have and should have been tacked on to Rare IMO!

Can't stand them, I like collecting albums

30 minutes ago, swissman said:

Work It Out isn't a loose single it's on a soundtrack album.

It's on my Dangerously in Love CD (European edition) as track 15!

I think there's nothing worse than an album having a few more obvious singles and the artist just moving onto random other songs that will never end up on an album (Boyfriend and Monopoly I'm looking at you). If it's very firmly between eras then I think it's ok.

27 minutes ago, collin said:

All of those could have and should have been tacked on to Rare IMO!

"rare: god tier version" exists! 

 

https://www.discogs.com/release/14659162-Selena-Gomez-Rare

38 minutes ago, Selegend said:

My only thought is that Selena is the best with them. 

idk what stopped her from collecting them on some ep, weird career move

I am down for them generally.  
 

If you want to try something new/different but not a full album of it, it works well.  
 

Also if you have a good song that is sonically from your prior era, I say release it!  I think Billie did this with Everything I wanted.  
 

I don't really support artists just releasing standalone singles forever though.  Like at some point you need a body of work. 

Annoying af, like don't screw up my scrobbles?

I don't like it. It's okay if they're big collabs I guess. 

A lot of them aren't intended to be stand alone singles, they just flop and they scramble to come up with another lead single for a project. 

I don't mind them. A good song is a good song. Orphan or not.

They are cool and fun.

they should be a collab or for a sountrack or something. 

otherwise it just interfere with the actual singles from albums.

normally stand alone tracks are just for fun for the fans 

 

 

then ends up being their favourite song!

 

even demi lovato Body Say and Selena Gomez fetish   the girls always end up making better songs when they are stand along singles or tracks