# What is the biggest what-if in music history?

> Albums abandoned, residencies cancelled, groups that walked away at the peak. Every entry here is a record that does not exist.

*By YPB Team · Published August 16, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-biggest-what-if-in-music-history*

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## Current results (0 votes)

1. **Michael Jackson's This Is It residency**
   Fifty sold-out O2 shows were due to open on 13 July 2009; he died eighteen days before.
2. **The Beach Boys' abandoned SMiLE**
   Brian Wilson shelved his 1967 follow-up to Pet Sounds and finished it only in 2004.
3. **Lauryn Hill's second solo album**
   The Miseducation sold millions in 1998 and no studio follow-up ever came.
4. **Prince's shelved Black Album**
   Pulled from release a week before it shipped in 1987 and bootlegged for seven years.
5. **A Beatles reunion**
   Every offer from 1970 onward was turned down, including Live Aid and a Lorne Michaels gag.
6. **Jeff Buckley's second album**
   He drowned in 1997 with My Sweetheart the Drunk unfinished in demo form.
7. **Amy Winehouse's third album**
   Back to Black swept the 2008 Grammys; the follow-up was never recorded.
8. **Led Zeppelin after John Bonham**
   The band dissolved in 1980 rather than replace their drummer.
9. **A Smiths reunion**
   Morrissey and Marr have turned down every offer since the 1987 split, reportedly including millions.
10. **David Bowie's Blackstar tour**
   He released the album on his 69th birthday in 2016 and died two days later, having planned more work.
11. **Jimi Hendrix's unfinished studio album**
   He was assembling a double album at his new Electric Lady Studios when he died in 1970.
12. **Nirvana's fourth album**
   In Utero was a year old when the band ended in 1994, with new songs only in demo form.
13. **Elvis never touring outside North America**
   He played three nights in Canada in 1957 and never performed anywhere else abroad.
14. **The Fugees' third album**
   The Score made them the biggest group in hip-hop in 1996, then they split within two years.
15. **ABBA's 1982 stop**
   They walked away at their commercial peak and waited thirty-nine years to record again.

Tags: music, rock, bands, legends