History Main / TheRunnerUpTakesItAll

* ''Film/Venom2018'' and ''Film/AStarIsBorn2018'' opened on the same weekend in October 2018, and ''Venom'' easily topped the North American box office with an $80 million opening, while ''A Star Is Born'' opened with $43 million (an impressive figure for a musical). In the long run though, ''A Star Is Born'' managed to gross more-$215 million compared to ''Venom'''s $213 million.

** The 2001 award went to El Hombre Sin Nombre from CMLL. While he had previous minor success under the names [=Rayman=] and El Hijo del Rayo de Jalisco Jr., he never became an international superstar compared to those he beat, which included names like Wrestling/RandyOrton, Wrestling/BrockLesnar, Wrestling/JohnCena (who went by the ring name of The Prototype at the time), and Wrestling/AlbertoDelRio (then known as Dos Caras Jr.)

** Petey Williams, who won in 2004, has always been an EnsembleDarkhorse in [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]], and his Canadian Destroyer finisher was one of the most popular wrestling moves of his day, but the fifth place finishe would go on to become one of the biggest stars in the company's history: Wrestling/AustinAries.

** The late Atsushi Aoki, who won in 2006, was never well-known outside Japan, and several years after his death in June 2009, the second-place finisher, Wrestling/CodyRhodes, had gone on to launch Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, a promotion that would become the biggest threat WWE had faced in a generation.

* At the 2008 Usefulnotes/OlympicGames in Beijing, the Women's judo 70g tournament was won by Masae Ueno. While most Americans won't recognize that name, they'll certainly know the athlete who finished in third: Creator/RondaRousey.

* Between 1991 and 1998, Usefulnotes/MichaelJordan played six full seasons and only lost Most Valuable Player twice. And both times he smoked the winner in the Finals (Charles Barkley in 1993 and Karl Malone in 1997) to show he did not take lightly on being passed over.
* The Golden Ball for the best player of Usefulnotes/TheWorldCup is chosen before the final. Which four times resulted in a title for the second place that won the Silver Ball, 1990 (Lothar Matthaus of Germany, while the Italy of top player and top scorer Salvatore Schillaci fell in the semifinal), 2002 (Ronaldo scored both goals over Oliver Kahn), 2006 (Fabio Cannavaro lifted the trophy after penalty shootouts, which Zinedine Zidane did not take part in after headbutting another player and getting expelled), and 2014 (Thomas Muller's Germany beat Lionel Messi's Argentina).

* The ''Billboard'' Year-End charts rank the most popular songs of each year for the pop, R&B, and country charts. On four occasions, the top song of the year has been one that did not reach #1 on the weekly charts: "Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs in 1965, "Breathe" by Music/FaithHill in 2000, "Hanging by a Moment" by Music/{{Lifehouse}} in 2001, and "Levitating" by Music/DuaLipa in 2021. All four songs only got to #2 on the weekly charts.
** This is also true on the country music year-end charts Music/LeeBrice pulled off this feat ''twice'' with "Love Like Crazy" and "Drinking Class" being named the top hits of 2010 and 2015 respectively despite only getting to #3 and #2 on their initial chart runs. In between, Josh Turner did the same in 2012 when "Time Is Love" was named the top country hit despite also peaking at #2.

** 1991 was won by Music/MCHammer, who was hugely popular for a brief period of time but faded away quickly. Music/MariahCarey, meanwhile, became arguably the biggest musical star of the entire decade. Technically Hammmer still kind of won in a way, since you could argue his signature hit "U Can't Touch This" is more iconic and recognizable than any individual Carey hit, with the possible exception of "All I Want For Christmas Is You".

** Music/AvengedSevenfold, who won in 2006, are HouseholdNames to metal fans. But to the general public, they aren't nearly as well-known as Music/PanicAtTheDisco, Music/ChrisBrown, or ''especially'' Music/{{Rihanna}}.

** In 1985, it was topped by the anti-apartheid CharityMotivationSong "Sun City" by Artists United Against Apartheid, which it won by a landslide with 101 list mentions, close to twice what the second place song received. While it was critically-acclaimed at the time, and it's fusion of rock, rap and R&B pre-dated the mainstream popularity of RapRock and NuMetal, it's not exactly memorable, and has faded into obscurity. Among the songs it beat to the top? Music/DireStraits' "Money for Nothing", Music/TearsForFears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", Music/KateBush's "Running Up That Hill", and Music/TheSmiths' "How Soon is Now?", all of which are considered among the most iconic songs of the '80s; with "Running Up That Hill" in particular being notable because it re-entered several charts a decade later in 2022 after being featured in the fourth season of ''Series/StrangerThings''.

** 1990 winner Michael Penn didn't have a very long career, choosing to marry the lead singer of '85 winners 'Til Tuesday, and largely faded into the shadows of fellow nominees Music/TheBlackCrowes and Music/LennyKravitz.

** Music/AvengedSevenfold, who won in 2006, are household names to metal fans. But to the general public, they aren't nearly as well-known as Music/PanicAtTheDisco, Music/ChrisBrown, or ''especially'' Music/{{Rihanna}}.

** The inaugural award in 1988 went to Terence Trent D'Arby, a pop artist who only ever had two hits to his name. Amongst the runner-ups were two of the most legendary acts in hip-hop music -- the Music/BeastieBoys and Music/LLCoolJ -- as well as a name hugely successful outside the world of music -- Creator/BruceWillis.

** Likewise with fellow Gleester Amber Riley. She was rejected on ''Series/AmericanIdol'' (in fact, she didn't even get to appear on TV) and now she has probably gotten more fame and exposure than some ''Idol'' winners thanks to her role of Mercedes.

* Speaking of ''Glee'', they had their own case in the first season of ''Series/TheGleeProject''. Of the four finalists, Damian [=McGinty=] and Samuel Larsen were awarded seven-episode arcs on the show while runner-ups Lindsay Pierce and Alex Newell received two-episode appearances. Alex's character Unique was so well-received that they returned in the fourth season, were promoted to series regular in season five, and even after the show starred in the revival of ''Theatre/OnceOnThisIsland'' on Broadway and ''Series/ZoeysExtraordinaryPlaylist'' on tv. The other three contestants have done well for themselves in their fields, but their roles on the show proper petered out after their initial appearances and they haven't reached the acclaim that Alex has.
** That being said, after her brief stint on the show Lindsay returned to broadway for a variety of headline roles including Elphaba in ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}''.

** From season 2, Ali Stroker made history as the first wheelchair user to star on Broadway, and later won a Tony for ''Theatre/{{Oklahoma}}''. Tyler Ford made a name for themselves as a writer and activist for transgender and nonbinary rights, and often rubs shoulders with the likes of Music/ArianaGrande and Music/MileyCyrus.

** Fantasia Barrino of Season 3 ended up a TwoHitWonder – and her career is a blip on the radar compared to that of [[{{Theatre/Dreamgirls}} Oscar-winning]], Super-Bowl-anthem-singing, talk-show-hosting, [[UsefulNotes/TheEGOTs EGOTer]] Music/JenniferHudson, who finished ''seventh''.

** Not even the junior contest is immune to this. Jack Garratt fared poorly in the 2005 UK preselection, but became a respected vocalist in adulthood during TheNewTens and is well on his way to eclipsing all the other JESC stars in popularity.
*** A French entry in the JESC in 2019 called Bim Bam Toi went viral on [=TikTok=] despite placing only 5th. France would go on to win that level the next year with a new song written by the same people, one of whom was modern Chanson singer Barbara Pravi, who placed 2nd to Maneskin in the subsequent main contest.

* Colby Donaldson, who was the runner-up of ''Series/{{Survivor}}: The Australian Outback'', came close. The winner, Tina Wesson, won $1,000,000. Colby won $100,000 and two cars, and also went on to a modest acting career (including razor ads, which was sad because he was gorgeous with stubble.) as well as a career as TV host (working on reality {{Game Show}}s such as Creator/TheHistoryChannel's ''Series/TopShot'' and ''Series/TheButcher2019''). He also was asked back for the ''All-Stars'' and ''Heroes vs Villains'' seasons and was a finalist for ''All-Stars''' "favorite survivor" poll, which would have earned him a million.

* Colby Donaldson was the runner-up of ''Series/{{Survivor}}: The Australian Outback'' came close. The winner, Tina Wesson, won $1,000,000. Colby won $100,000 and two cars, and also went on to a modest acting career (including razor ads, which was sad because he was gorgeous with stubble.) as well as a career as TV host (working on reality {{Game Show}}s such as Creator/TheHistoryChannel's ''Series/TopShot'' and ''Series/TheButcher2019''). He also was asked back for the ''All-Stars'' and ''Heroes vs Villains'' seasons and was a finalist for ''All-Stars''' "favorite survivor" poll, which would have earned him a million.

* Colby Donaldson was the runner-up of ''Series/{{Survivor}}: The Australian Outback'' came close. The winner, Tina Wesson, won $1,000,000. Colby won $100,000 and two cars, and also went on to a modest acting career (including razor ads, which was sad because he was gorgeous with stubble.) He also was asked back for the ''All-Stars'' and ''Heroes vs Villains'' seasons and was a finalist for ''All-Stars''' "favorite survivor" poll, which would have earned him a million.
** As of Jun 2010, he is the host of ''Series/TopShot'', a competitive reality show on the History channel that features marksmen and shooting challenges.

* The Heisman Trophy, awarded to the most outstanding college football player, might be the sport's equivalent of the "Best New Artist" Grammy. Since 2000, around half of winners have gone on to have disappointing or otherwise unremarkable professional careers, or have been stuck in the shadows of the more successful runners-up.

* The Heisman Trophy, awarded to the most outstanding college football player, might be the sport's equivalent of the "Best New Artist" Grammy. Since 2000, around half of winners have gone on to have disappointing or otherwise unremarkable professional careers.

* Creator/JenniferAniston was set to star in two shows in the 1994 pilot season: ''Muddling Through'' for CBS and ''Series/{{Friends}}'' for NBC. CBS wanted her to stay on ''Muddling Through'' because no one believed ''Friends'' would do well except for NBC executive Warren Littlefield, who wanted her to leave ''Muddling,'' and guess which show became one of the most popular shows of all time?

* Again in 1979, the duel between Gilles Villeneuve and René Arnoux during the French GP is one of the most famous actions in the history of F1, even if they ended 2nd and 3rd. Chances are that if you follow F1, you already know it because at some point it would have been mentioned or directly replayed. But, how many people know who won that race? Exactly. (if you don't want to Google it, the answer is Jean-Pierre Jabouille).
** Do you also know that France 1979 was the first win for a turbo-charged car, achieved by a French pilot on a French car with French tyres and French fuel? No? Well, who speaks of that when the duel between Villeneuve and Arnoux is replayed somewhere?

* Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s ''[[Wrestling/WWEToughEnough Tough Enough]]'' reality show created a minor lower-midcard star for a couple of years in the form of Maven. Much more success was found by fourth season runner-up Wrestling/TheMiz and third season co-winner Wrestling/JohnMorrison (a lone exception), who were later hired and ended up the top tag team in the company in early 2009.
** Morrison did pretty well as a singles wrestler too, picking up various midcard titles including the (theoretically World Title-level) Wrestling/{{ECW}} strap, and groomed to be one of the top stars on ''[[Wrestling/WWESmackDown SmackDown]]''.
** In 2011, Miz became the WWE Champion and successfully defended the title at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania'', while Morrison's career subsequently stalled in lower midcard hell thanks to snubbing Wrestling/TrishStratus during the road to said ''Mania''. Morrison later got released towards the end of the year, but ended up making a respectable career on the indies (especially in Mexico), so it's safe to say they're relatively equal in success (as Miz dropped to upper midcard after his first WWE Championship reign was over).

** To bring everything full circle, the aforementioned Miz replaced Wrestling/HulkHogan as one of the judges of season six.

* Wrestling/{{WWENXT}} either [[DoubleSubversion Double Subverts]] or plays this trope straight.

** [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]], then known as Rocky Maivia, finished in third place in 1996. Compared to the actual winner it's another downplayed example given that said winner was The Giant, now known as Wrestling/BigShow. Compared to the second-place finisher it's completely played straight, as that was ex-NFL player Steve "Mongo" [=McMichael=], who's pro wrestling career in WCW was not as successful as his American football career.
** Monty Brown, who won in 2004, is definitely not on the level of Wrestling/JohnMorrison, who finished in third.

** The 2011 award was won by Ace Hawkins, a wrestler so obscure he doesn't have a Wikipedia page. The third place finisher Leakee would become Wrestling/RomanReigns, a wrestler so famous that he literally has a Wikipedia page entirely dedicated to the poor reception of his run as a face.

** Chris Sabin, who won in 2003, had a decent and long-lasting career in Wrestling/ImpactWrestling and the independent circuit, but in the long run the winner was the third-placed Japanese rookie named Wrestling/ShinsukeNakamura.

When the person who comes second or worse in a RealityShow gets more out of it than the winner, be it in post-show popularity, sales, endorsement cash, or simply not looking like as much of a jackass on national television.

This trope is also common in awards shows such as the Oscars or the Grammys, where the winners can vanish almost as soon as they win, and then be completely overshadowed by at least one of the competitors they beat in a given category (the "Best New Artist" field is quite notorious for this).

* The Heisman Trophy, awarded to the most outstanding college football player, might be the sport's equivalent of the "Best New Artist" Grammy. Since 2000, around half of winners have gone on to have disappointing professional careers.

** 1997's winner Music/CelineDion's ''Falling into You'', while easily the biggest in terms of commercial success of all of the nominations, isn't nearly as popular nowadays compared to Music/SmashingPumpkins' ''Music/MellonCollieAndTheInfiniteSadness'', Music/TheFugees' ''Music/TheScore'', or Music/{{Beck}}'s ''Music/{{Odelay}}''.

** Music/{{Beck}} took home the award with ''Morning Phase'' in 2015. Again, it was largely seen as a ConsolationAward, given that Beck had been nominated for the Album of the Year two times prior and lost both times. Today, ''Morning Phase'' is seen as just another Beck album and is not quite as popular in or outside of his fandom as its follow-up ''Colors'', while the more heavily favored nominee, Music/{{Beyonce}}'s [[Music/Beyonce2013 self titled album]], is more iconic, being ranked 81st in ''Magazine/RollingStone'''s 2020 update of their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. This wasn't lost on Music/KanyeWest, who nearly interrupted Beck's acceptance speech in protest of the decision before deciding to sit back down. Not helping matters was that Beck had also beat out popular albums from Music/SamSmith and Music/EdSheeran.

** Season 16, the first post-revival season, was won by Maddie Poppe, whose closest thing to mainstream success post-''American Idol'' would be two songs ("Made You Miss" and "Not Losing You") not even reaching the Top 20 of Billboard's Adult Pop Airplay Chart, hitting #21 and #26 respectively. Meanwhile, third-placed Gabby Barrett achieved a [[invoked]]SleeperHit with "I Hope" in 2020, eventually reaching #3 on the Hot 100, and would reach #12 on ''Billboard'''s Year-End Hot 100, with the follow-up single "The Good Ones" reaching the Top 20 the following year.

** The Music/RobertPlant[=/=]Music/AlisonKrauss collaboration album ''Raising Sand'', which won in 2009, was seen as a ConsolationAward for both artists, as Plant was the lead singer of Music/LedZeppelin, one of the most legendary rock bands of all time, and they had ''never'' won a Grammy up to this point, while Krauss had been relegated to genre-specific categories (though was prominently featured on the ''O Brother'' soundtrack). It isn't exactly a household name today the way Music/{{Coldplay}}'s ''Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends'', Music/{{Radiohead}}'s ''Music/InRainbows'' or Music/LilWayne's ''Tha Carter III'' are seen.

** Season 3: Wrestling/{{Kaitlyn}} is an exception, having won the Divas Championship. However, both 2nd placer Wrestling/{{Naomi}} and 3rd-placer Wrestling/AJLee have won more championships than her; Naomi have been a two-time Women's champion and a Women's tag-team champion, while Lee been as a three-time Women's champion with her inaugural reign becoming the longest at the time, holding it for 295 days. Lee was involved in many major storylines.

** Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling Young Lion Katsuya Kitamura won in 2017. However, a cerebral concussion and a later leg injury sustained in a scooter accident cut his wrestling career short, and he later tragically passed away in 2022. Meanwhile, third place winner Wrestling/BiancaBelair is a multi-time women's champion in the WWE.

** The inaugural 1984 award was won by Music/TheCars' video for "You Might Think". While it was a pioneering video when it came to using [=CGI=] in music videos, today the video is only remembered by the band's fans and [=CGI=] enthusiasts. One of the losers? Music/MichaelJackson's iconic video for "Thriller". Two other iconic songs that lost that year were Music/CyndiLauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and Music/ThePolice's "Every Breath You Take".

** In 1989, the award was won by Music/NeilYoung's video for "This Note's for You", a satire of the trend of pop stars appearing in television commercials, with Music/MichaelJackson as it's main target. Its win was particularly noteworthy because MTV had banned the video after Jackson complanied, but the network reversed that decision after it made the news. Today, "This Note's for You" is barely remembered and the video itself is seen as HarsherInHindsight at best and completely tasteless at worst, while the videos for the Fine Young Cannibals' "She Drives Me Crazy", Jackson's "Leave Me Alone" and Music/{{Madonna}}'s "Like a Prayer" have become iconic in pop culture and have completely eclipsed it in the public eye. Not helping matters was that the album "This Note's for You" serves as the title track of is seen as part of Young's AudienceAlienatingEra by many, and it's mostly overshadowed by Young's much more iconic 1989 hit "Rockin' in the Free World" and it's associated album ''Freedom'', which [[WinBackTheCrowd fully won Young back his critical respect]] in comparison to ''This Note's for You''.