I think Photograph is also a pretty different case than Like I Can, though. Yeah, they're both 4th singles from huge albums, but Photograph is following what will likely end as the 2nd biggest single of the year and was also by far the biggest single from x, while Like I Can was basically DOA and got some life put into it as it was following Lay Me Down, the least successful single from ITLH.
"Lay Me Down" pretty much killed the era, let's be honest. He had to release "Like I Can" since it had too much demand, then he could close with LMD f/John