One-hit wonder


A one-hit wonder is any person that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music performers with only one hit single that overshadows their other work. Some artists dubbed "one-hit wonders" in a particular country had achieved success in other countries. Music artists with subsequent popular albums and hit listings are not properly considered a one-hit wonder, although artists with multiple hits have sometimes been erroneously labelled as "one-hit wonders" if one particular hit has become much more well-remembered years or decades later than their other hits. One-hit wonders usually see their popularity decreasing after their hit listing, and most often never return to hit listings with other songs or albums.

Music industry

In The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, music journalist Wayne Jancik defines a one-hit wonder as "an act that has won a position on national, pop, Top 40 record chart just once." Billboard magazine defines a U.S. one-hit wonder as an "artist that cracks the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and never makes it back to that position."
This formal definition can include acts with greater success outside their lone pop hit and who are not typically considered one-hit wonders, while at the same time excluding acts who have multiple hits which have been overshadowed by one signature song, or those performers who never hit the top 40, but had exactly one song achieve mainstream popularity in some other fashion.

Lists of one-hit wonders

Australia

"20 to 1: One Hit Wonders"

In 2006, the Australian series 20 to 1 aired the episode "20 to 1: One Hit Wonders", a list of songs that had been the only one by that artist to have success in Australia.
#TitlePerformerYear
1"My Sharona"The Knack1979
2"Born to Be Alive"Patrick Hernandez1979
3"Video Killed the Radio Star"The Buggles1979
4"Turning Japanese"The Vapors1980
5"Funkytown"Lipps Inc.1980
6"Dancing in the Moonlight"King Harvest1972
7"Spirit in the Sky"Norman Greenbaum1969
8"99 Luftballons"Nena1983
9"Don't Worry, Be Happy"Bobby McFerrin1988
10"Pass the Dutchie"Musical Youth1982
11"Rockin' Robin"Bobby Day1958
12"Slice of Heaven"Dave Dobbyn and Herbs1986
13"Counting the Beat"The Swingers1981
14"Tubthumping"Chumbawamba1997
15"I'll Be Gone"Spectrum1971
16"Mickey"Toni Basil1982
17"Achy Breaky Heart"Billy Ray Cyrus1992
18"Venus"Shocking Blue1969
19"Mambo No. 5 "Lou Bega1999
20"Tainted Love"Soft Cell1981

Ireland

New Zealand

C4's ''UChoose40'': One Hit Wonders

In September 2006, New Zealand's terrestrial music channel, C4, aired an episode dedicated to "One Hit Wonders" on the weekly theme-based chart show, UChoose40, where the chart was ranked entirely by viewer's votes from the website.
The top ten songs were ranked as follows:
#TitlePerformerYear
1"Teenage Dirtbag"Wheatus2000
2"How Bizarre"OMC1996
3"Because I Got High"Afroman2001
4"Ice Ice Baby"Vanilla Ice1990
5"Eye of the Tiger"Survivor1982
6"Tubthumping"Chumbawamba1997
7"My Sharona"The Knack1979
8"Video Killed the Radio Star"The Buggles1979
9"Who Let the Dogs Out?"Baha Men2000
10"I Touch Myself"Divinyls1991

United Kingdom

The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles contains a list of ‘one hit wonders’ from 1979 to 2001 which comprises acts with their only Top 75 charting record being a number one hit.

One-Hit Wonders from the 1980s

Classic Pop magazine's list only includes acts who made the UK's Top 40 once only in their careers and does not include acts which feature members from other successful bands from the 1980s. The top ten is as follows:

One-Hit Wonders from the 1990s

In 2020, Absolute Radio 90s compiled a list of 'the 20 greatest one-hit wonders of the 1990s' as part of their 10th birthday celebrations; the list was as follows :
In addition to these one-hit wonders, the NME also recognised the following hits in their one-hit wonders feature from 2014:
From the BBC in March 2017 :
From the BBC Radio 2 show One Hit Wonders with OJ Borg which started on 2 November 2020...:
The Official Charts Company's list of the biggest one-hit wonder releases of the 2010s, is based on sales and streams. Like the Classic Pop list it uses the UK singles Top 40 chart as the cut-off point. The top ten is as follows:

United States