One-hit Wonder - Questions of Definition

Questions of Definition

In the U.S., a "pure" one-hit wonder is an artist that manages only one song on the Billboard Hot 100, regardless of the song's peak position. However, most American music industry insiders consider a song in the top forty positions of the Billboard Hot 100 to be a hit. Thus, any performer who recorded only one song that reached the Top 40 is, technically, a one-hit wonder, regardless whether another song peaks in the "bottom 60." However, the term is more generally applied to musicians best known for only one song.

Wayne Jancik's book The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders (Billboard Books, 1998) defines a one-hit wonder rather strictly, as "an act that has won a position on Billboard's national, pop, Top 40 just once." He therefore includes such performers as Janis Joplin (for "Me and Bobby McGee") or Jimi Hendrix (for "All Along the Watchtower"), solely on the basis of their Top 40 performance. In his definition of an "act", Jancik distinguishes between a solo performer and any group he or she may have performed in; thus Roger Daltrey is distinguished from The Who. He restricts his reporting time to the period from the start of the "rock-and-roll era" (defined by the author as 1 January 1955 to 31 December 1992). The latter date was picked to allow a five-year "lag time" before publication for a listed one-hit wonder to produce a second hit; this does not allow for a longer hiatus between hits for a particular performer. For example, Lenny Kravitz is listed for "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over" (No. 2, August 1991); the book therefore misses subsequent hits, such as "Fly Away", which peaked at #12 in 1999, and "Again", which peaked at #4 in 2001, on the Hot 100.

Below is a list of some criteria that also affect a performer's status as a one-hit wonder:

1. A small number of artists have the distinction of being regarded as one-hit wonders in both the US and UK, but with different songs.
   1. American husband and wife duo Art and Dotty Todd scored a hit in the UK with "Broken Wings" in 1953, but did not make it to the top forty in their homeland until "Chanson D'Amour (Song of Love)" in 1958
   2. Rock band The Icicle Works' sole UK top 50 hit was 1983's "Love Is a Wonderful Colour"; however, in North America, their only top 40 entry was "Whisper to a Scream (Birds Fly)" in 1984
   3. Another group, After the Fire, had their sole UK Top 40 hit with their debut single, 1979's "One Rule for You" and their sole US Top 40 hit with one of their final singles, 1983's "Der Kommissar" (an English-language cover of a German-language hit by Falco).
   4. The Wiseguys had a #2 hit in the UK with “Ooh La La” in 1998 but their only US hit was “Start the Commotion” at #31 in 2001.
      1. Ten Years After, not ordinarily classified as a one-hit wonder due to their album sales (see below), had their only UK Top 40 hit with “Love like a Man” in 1970, but their only US Top 40 hit was “I’d Love to Change the World”, which peaked at #40 in 1971.
2. Prominent members of popular groups who have only one solo hit typically are not seen as one-hit wonders. Steely Dan's Donald Fagen, The Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian, The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, The Who's Roger Daltrey, Chad Kroeger of Nickelback, and Michael Nesmith of The Monkees each achieved chart success only once as solo artists, but are all well known for their contributions to music through their respective bands. Nesmith is also famous for creating Pop Clips, a concept that others would eventually turn into MTV.
3. Conversely, groups led by popular solo artists are usually not called one-hit wonders. Derek and the Dominos' sole hit "Layla" is associated with group leader Eric Clapton, who had great success and fame before and after the Dominos. Another example is Fort Minor ("Where’d You Go"), which featured Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda.
4. Many popular British artists like Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Right Said Fred, The Verve, BBMak, James Blunt, All Saints, Billie Piper, and Take That are considered one-hit wonders in the US, although they have many hits in their native UK. (Clearly, this is a matter of perspective, since while only one Frankie Goes To Hollywood track, "Relax," hit the U.S. top 40, "Two Tribes" did hit the Hot 100.) Similarly, American bands such as Lonestar, Styx, Blue Öyster Cult and Isaac Hayes (whose lone hit in the UK, "Chocolate Salty Balls," was in the "Chef" persona from South Park) are one-hit wonders in the UK but not in their respective native countries. Conversely, other British acts such as Wang Chung, Breathe and Murray Head, as well as the Anglo-Australian duo Air Supply, are one-hit wonders in the UK but not in the US, and the American group 3T, best known in their homeland as being the three sons of Tito Jackson of The Jackson 5, along with other bands such as Blind Melon and Deep Blue Something, are one-hit wonders in the US but not in the UK. Similarly, M was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. with the 1979 #1 pop hit "Pop Muzik," but in the UK, where the original "Pop Muzik" hit #2, the improbably titled "Moonlight & Muzak" made it to #33, a re-mix of "Pop Muzik" hit #15 in 1989 and two other singles ("That's the Way the Money Goes" and "Official Secrets") charted, albeit missing the UK top 40. (Sources for M reference: "British Hit Singles," 8th ed., by Paul Gambaccini, Jonathan Rice and Tim Rice; NY: Billboard Books; London: Guinness Publishing/GRR Publications, 1991; and the computer program "British Top 40 Hits.")
   1. Performers who have consistent success in one part of the world but who are known for only one song outside that region are usually considered one-hit wonders in the latter. Austria's Falco and Germany’s Nena were very successful in German-speaking countries, and Canada's Tom Cochrane and Default has had similar success in their homeland, but all are considered one-hit wonders in the US and UK (except for Default, who never had a hit in the UK).
   2. Pilot, a 1970s band out of Scotland scored a major hit in the U.S., with "Magic" reaching #5 on the charts. While "Magic" was the band's only American top 40 hit, a later single from the band, "January" became a much bigger hit than "Magic" in the U.K., claiming the number 1 spot ("Magic" did not even make the U.K. top ten).
5. There are many acts who earned a single Billboard Top 40 hit, but who are not typically classified as one-hit wonders due to other successes. Jancik, however, includes many of these artists, as they fall within his strict definition as a single act with a single top-40 placement. For example:
   1. album or even concert ticket sales: e.g. Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Rush, and Garth Brooks (whose only Billboard Top 40 hit was in his Chris Gaines persona)
   2. success on other, genre-specific charts: e.g. Snow Patrol, Incubus, The Lightning Seeds, KoRn, Queen Latifah, The Prodigy, Garth Brooks, Randy Travis, blink-182, Muse, Breaking Benjamin, and Shinedown
   3. critical acclaim: e.g. Spirit, Randy Newman, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The White Stripes, The Church, Amy Winehouse, Beck, and Marshall Crenshaw
   4. strong fan followings: e.g. Rush, Gorillaz, Frank Zappa, Grateful Dead, Faith No More, Devo, and Queensrÿche
   5. influence on other musicians: e.g. Jimi Hendrix, Rush, Lou Reed, Janis Joplin, Devo, Iggy Pop, and Bo Diddley
   6. success as a songwriter or producer: e.g. Buffy Sainte-Marie, Mickey Newbury, J. J. Cale, Jim Steinman, Norman Smith, and McFadden & Whitehead
   7. how the song was released: Cyndi Grecco, Pratt & McClain, Joey Scarbury, David Naughton, and MFSB, for instance, were all technically one-hit wonders, but their hits were solely popularized by their use as themes to television shows (Laverne & Shirley, Happy Days, The Greatest American Hero, Makin' It, and Soul Train respectively), although Naughton's hit did also appear on the soundtrack to the film, Meatballs, from the same year the song was released (1979). As such, over time, they have almost been completely forgotten as if they had never had a hit at all.
6. Some artists, including Livin' Joy, Wall of Voodoo, Crossfade, Head East, Yello, Modern English, and The Weather Girls, never had a top-40 pop hit, but did have a song that received considerable airplay, even long after its day of release.
7. Performers who are successful in specific genres, but produce only one crossover hit, are generally considered one-hit wonders by the public at large, but not by fans of their respective genres. Celtic music singer Loreena McKennitt, hard rock group Saving Abel, Christian rock groups Jars of Clay and dc Talk, R&B/Old school hip hop band Force MDs, R&B/electro-soul band The System, and jazz artist Grover Washington, Jr. are popular within their respective genres, but known to the greater public for a single song each. Similar situations are common among crossover country artists and glam metal/mainstream metal groups.
8. Performers who had more than one Top 40 hit are sometimes considered one-hit wonders, if one signature song greatly overshadows the rest of their repertoire, for example:
   1. Perhaps most controversially, Animotion is a group who have repeatedly been referred to as one-hit wonders (for their 1985 #6 hit, "Obsession"), despite the fact that they have actually had two top-ten hits. Following the departure of all of the group's founding members later in the 1980s, the remaining members scored a second American top-ten hit, "Room to Move," which was featured in the film, My Stepmother is an Alien. However, this oft-forgotten second hit did not prevent the group from being listed as part of VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80's series.
   2. Katrina and the Waves are generally considered one-hit wonders in the U.S. for their 1985 top ten hit, "Walking on Sunshine." However, they did have an oft-overlooked second hit that cracked the U.S. top 20 four years later, with "That's the Way" reaching number 16. Furthermore, they generated some interest in 1997 when they won the Eurovision Song Contest with their original song "Love Shine a Light." In fact, in the UK, this latter hit surpassed the success of "Walking on Sunshine," reaching number 3 on the charts, and they are often not regarded as a one-hit wonder there.
   3. a-ha’s "Take on Me" made the top 10 of VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders, even though the group had two Billboard Top 20 singles: "Take on Me" and "The Sun Always Shines on TV". However, "Take On Me" is much more remembered today, at least in the US (note that "The Sun Always Shines on TV" was a #1 hit in the UK: higher than "Take on Me")
   4. Great White is sometimes called a one-hit wonder for "Once Bitten Twice Shy", but "The Angel Song" was also a Top 40 hit. Furthermore, the band had several songs that charted under the Top 40 but did well on genre-specific charts that were quite popular among fans of the glam metal and hard rock genres.
   5. Tommy Tutone were best known for their 1982 #4 hit "867-5309/Jenny" but their first top 40 hit was the number #38 "Angel Say No".
   6. Strawberry Alarm Clock's #1 "Incense and Peppermints" so overshadowed their #23 "Tomorrow" that they are often considered a one-hit wonder
   7. Similar are Question Mark and the Mysterians whose oft-covered 1966 #1 standard "96 Tears" caused their subsequent #22 "I Need Somebody" to be quickly forgotten.
   8. The same applies for Falco in the US; his #1 "Rock Me Amadeus" greatly overshadowed its #18 follow-up single "Vienna Calling" in that country.
   9. The same is true for German singer Peter Schilling whose international hit "Major Tom (Coming Home)" vastly overshadowed his late-1980s hit, "Different Story (World of Lust and Crime)" (the title track of a compilation album also featuring "Major Tom").
   10. Further examples in this vein include Hinder, Edwin McCain, Vertical Horizon, and Vanessa Carlton.
   11. Billy Ray Cyrus reached #1 with "Achy Breaky Heart" in 1992; although he had many other country hits, he did not return to the Top 40 until 2008 with "Ready, Set, Don't Go"; by that time, he had become better-known as an actor and the father of Miley Cyrus, with whom he stars in the series Hannah Montana. The Archies are usually regarded as one hit wonders for "Sugar Sugar", but had three further top 40 entries on the Billboard top 40 ("Who's Your Baby?" at U.S. #40, "Bang-Shang-A-Lang" at U.S. #22, and "Jingle Jangle" at U.S. #10). Ray Parker, Jr. is frequently referred to as a one-hit wonder for his chart-topping theme from the movie Ghostbusters, even though he had several other top-ten hits on the pop charts (such as "The Other Woman"), in addition to his hits as the frontman for the disco group Raydio.
   12. The Rembrandts also fall into this category, but differ in that the song for which they are best known was not their biggest hit, at least not on the Hot 100. They are best known for "I'll Be There for You", the theme from the long-running sitcom Friends. Although the song topped three separate Billboard charts, it only reached #17 on the Hot 100. The duo's earlier song "Just the Way It Is, Baby" topped out at #14 on the Hot 100.
   13. Other examples of this kind of one-hit wonder are General Public, Vixen, and Sisqó (although Sisqó is also known for being a member of Dru Hill).
9. Some artists originally considered to be one-hit wonders come back with greater success years after their initial hit. Examples of this include Janis Ian, Tracy Chapman, Rick Springfield, Golden Earring, Lenny Kravitz, Sugar Ray, Kylie Minogue (although she did have a couple other minor hits at the beginning of her career in addition to her hugely successful cover of "The Loco-Motion"), Lifehouse, Jason Mraz, Train, Joe Jackson, Tyrese, INXS, Finger Eleven, Billy Ocean, Sara Bareilles and Enya.
10. Performers such as Golden Earring (mentioned above), The Foundations, Keith, Daniel Bedingfield, The Left Banke, Maxine Nightingale, Donna Fargo, A Taste of Honey, Johnny Logan, Vanessa Paradis, The Fat Boys, Dead or Alive, and Ugly Kid Joe, who produced two major hits before fading into obscurity, are sometimes called "two-hit wonders," but this term is not as common.
11. Deutsche Grammophon and Vox Records have both released albums of classical one-hit wonders. The de facto criterion common to the albums is composers who have a single work that has become popular outside classical circles as several of the composers on both albums are known for multiple works inside classical circles. The works on these albums (or fragments and variations) are frequently heard in movies, television shows and commercials.
12. Comedian Steve Martin is technically a one hit wonder for his novelty song King Tut, but was previously and subsequently far better known for his work as a comedy writer/stand-up comedian/actor.
13. Sometimes for a theme song for a TV show the main character sings the theme song for the show and never sings again (such as Jamie Lynn Spears from the TV show Zoey 101). An earlier example of this is actor David Naughton; Naughton starred in and sang the theme to the TV series Makin' It in 1978, and ironically, though the show flopped, the song "Makin' It" became a top-5 hit several months after the show was canceled.
14. Technicalities: Arlo Guthrie's lone top 40 hit was "The City of New Orleans," but he is more widely known for his 18-minute song "Alice's Restaurant," which did not qualify as a single on account of its length; sales of "Alice's Restaurant" were counted instead on the album charts. (With digital media, this technicality is no longer an issue, as singles are no longer confined to the roughly three-minute capacity of a 45 RPM record.)
15. Sometimes an artist is featured in a song by an artist who isn't a one-hit wonder and it becomes the featured artist's only top 40 (such as City Spud featured on Nelly's hit "Ride wit Me")