Best One-Hit Wonders
A one-hit wonder is an act with exactly one song that charted widely, which is a fact about charts rather than a judgement about the band. "Take On Me", "Somebody That I Used to Know", "Tainted Love" and "Come On Eileen" are the definitive cases.
Several of these acts have long careers sitting behind the one song, and that is the interesting part. The reason next to each pick says what else they did.
If you only play one
a-ha - Take On Me (1985)
The definitive case, and a good demonstration that the label is about charts rather than bands: a-ha kept charting in Europe for decades.
Filter
Clean and explicit are Spotify's own markings on the track, not our judgement, so the flag matches what a school or club system will see.
- 01
a-ha - Take On Me
1985
A one-hit wonder only in America. In Europe they have had ten albums and are still touring arenas, which makes this the most misapplied label on the list.
Clean - 02
Gotye - Somebody That I Used to Know
2011
Number one in more than twenty countries, then a deliberate retreat. Gotye has released essentially nothing since and has said the scale of it was the reason.
Clean - 03
Soft Cell - Tainted Love
1981
A cover of a 1964 Gloria Jones northern soul record that flopped first time out. Soft Cell had six other UK top twenty singles, none of which crossed the Atlantic.
Clean - 04
Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
1982
Knocked "Billie Jean" off number one in the US. In Britain they had a second number one three years earlier, which is why nobody there recognises the label.
Clean - 05
Chumbawamba - Tubthumping
1997
An anarchist collective fifteen years and eight albums into a career when the biggest pop chorus of 1997 arrived by accident. They gave much of the money away.
Clean - 06
Los del Río - Macarena
1993
Two Spanish flamenco musicians in their fifties with a thirty-year career behind them, then a Miami remix they had no part in made it the biggest single of 1996.
Clean - 07
Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the Sky
1969
A Jewish songwriter writing a Christian rock song after watching a country TV special, on a fuzz box he wired himself. Two million copies and nothing since.
Clean - 08
The Knack - My Sharona
1979
The fastest-selling debut single of its year and then a backlash so severe that "Knuke the Knack" badges were sold. The riff has outlived all of it.
Clean - 09
Toni Basil - Mickey
1981
Basil was a choreographer first, and had already staged sequences for American Graffiti and Bette Midler. The song is a rewrite of a UK B-side called "Kitty".
Clean - 10
Blind Melon - No Rain
1992
The bee girl video did the work, and the band spent the rest of their short career resenting it. The album around it is nothing like this song.
Clean - 11
Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles
2002
A classically trained pianist writing a piano hook big enough to become a meme twenty years later. She has released six albums, all of which sank quietly.
Clean - 12
Deep Blue Something - Breakfast at Tiffany's
1995
The lyric is about a couple with nothing in common finding one thing they agree on, which the songwriter has admitted was actually Roman Holiday.
Clean - 13
Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta
1997
A self-funded record that got picked up by radio by accident, and then became the theme to a British sitcom a decade later, which is a rare second life.
Clean - 14
Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy
1991
Written in a gym as a joke, refused by every label, self-released, then number one in thirty countries. Sampled by Taylor Swift in 2017, which made it chart again.
Explicit - 15
Fountains of Wayne - Stacy's Mom
2003
A power-pop band with four albums of very good songwriting behind them, remembered for the one that sounds most like a Cars pastiche, which was the joke.
Clean
Settle it properly
Lists are one person's opinion. Put the same question to your friends instead. Everyone submits their answer to
"Song by a One-Hit Wonder Who Deserved More"
and the room votes blind on whose pick was best. Free, no account, about four minutes.
Start the BattleWhat counts as a one-hit wonder
The usual definition is one song in the top forty and nothing else. That is a chart measurement, and it is territory-specific, which is where most arguments start. a-ha and Dexys are one-hit wonders in America and established acts everywhere else.
It also says nothing about how much music the act made. Chumbawamba had eight albums out before "Tubthumping", Los del Río had thirty years behind them, and Fountains of Wayne were on their third record. The label describes reach, not output.
The genuinely rare case is the act with one song and nothing else at all, and those tend to be novelty records rather than the ones people still play. Almost everything on this list has a career hiding behind it.
Why the one hit is usually not their best song
The hit is the song that fit the format: right tempo, right length, right amount of strangeness for radio. That is a filter for suitability rather than quality, so it rarely selects the strongest track an act ever made.
The mismatch is why so many of these bands ended up resenting the song. Blind Melon spent their remaining time trying to prove they were not the band in the bee costume, and the attempt is audible on the records.
It also makes this the most useful prompt category in a music game. Everyone can name the hit, so the round is won by whoever knows what the act did next, which is a much better argument than naming the obvious song.
Best One-Hit Wonders, answered
What is the biggest one-hit wonder of all time?
By sales, Los del Río's "Macarena" (via the 1995 Bayside Boys remix) is the biggest, followed by "Somebody That I Used to Know" and "Tainted Love". "Take On Me" is the most streamed of the group today.
Is a-ha a one-hit wonder?
Only in the United States. a-ha have had ten UK top ten singles, dozens of hits across Europe, and are still filling arenas in Scandinavia. The label is a chart artefact of one market rather than a description of the band.
What is the difference between a one-hit wonder and a novelty song?
A novelty song is a hit built on a gimmick, and its act usually never intended a career. A one-hit wonder is an act with a real catalogue and one song that broke through. "Macarena" is both; "Tubthumping" is only the second.
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