This is very normal in the music industry. Labels spend millions upon millions TRYING to get a moderate hit, imagine pushing a song to the top 20. It costs a lot for an artist to breakthrough, especially if they're not smart when it comes to the business side or have something completely unique to offer. Some have millions spent on them without a single hit.
G.R.L. sold 140k in UK and Australia before Simone commited suicide. So they are pretty big there, but US other than the Pitbull song, didn't make any big impact :/ and Becky G was really pushed down our throats with that generic bathroom song