Information

[Sandi770]

I was listening to the radio the other day and they played "With You" by Tony Terry. I used to love that song, so I got it on itunes. Can you think of any other "one-hit-wonders" or something like that - I'm looking for more!

[Grandma Flowers]

96 Tears by Question Mark and the Mysterians.

[letumom]

Sorry, I couldn't tell you who wrote what if my life depended on it! LOL!

[ScrapGoo]

Sir Mix-a-Lot "Baby Got Back"

[AnnOminous]

Sir Mix-a-Lot "Baby Got Back"

Sir was only a one hit wonder on the whitebread charts. He was also a very sucessful rap producer. Baby Got Back was selected by VH1 as one of the top 10 greatest hits of the 90's (I think it was either #9 or #6)

[Sandi770]

I know I'm a pop song "geek" - but I loved "Ice Ice Baby" ... LOL

[PezKat]

"Come On, Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners

"Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia
(it was the only song on her album she didn't write!)

Gah, I know tons more but of course they don't come when you want them!

[Wheeliegirl]

Mickey by Toni Basil
Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell

Electric Avenue by Eddy Grant

Don't Worry Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin

Let the Music Play by Shannon

867-5309/Jenny by Tommy Tutone

Sweet Baby by Stanley Clark and George Duke

Shake You Down by Gregory Abbott

Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners

[Wheeliegirl]

Our House by Madness

Break My Stride by Matthew Wilder

It's Raining Men by the Weather Girls

Maniac by Michael Sembello

I Ran (So Far Away) by Flock of Seagulls “

Take On Me by A-Ha

[jody01]

1. Right Said Fred - "I'm Too Sexy"
2. Los Del Rio - "Macarena"

3 Starland Vocal Band - "Afternoon Delight"

4. Lipps, Inc. - "Funkytown"

5. Taco - "Puttin' On the Ritz"(

6. Carl Douglas - "Kung Fu Fighting"

7. Vicki Lawrence - "The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia"

and for my son Who let the dogs out lol by Baha Men

[LyndaKay]

One of my favs - Norman Greenbaum singing "Spirit in the Sky" from the '70s.

[LyndaKay]

I'm dating myself here, but from some year in the 60's was Don & Juan singing "What's Your Name"....is it Mary or Sue...


Loved it. Can't think of any other song they sang, maybe it was a one hit wonder. I'm sure it's older than most of you cherries! ha

[scrapaholic]

You light up my Life - Debby Boone

[Art_Teacher]

The 80's were full of one-hit wonders!


Radar Love by Golden Earring

She Blinded Me With Science by Thomas Dolby

I Love the Night Life by Alicia Bridges (70's)

Turn Up the Radio by Autograph

Venus by Bananarama

Into the Night by Benny Mardones

In a Big Country by Big Country

Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler

Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles

I Ran by Flock of Seagulls

I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor

Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves

Pop Muzik by M

Escape (the Pina Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes

[IreneP]

Rick Dees Disco Duck

In the Summertime - Mungo Jerry

Seasons in the Sun - Terry Jacks


The Night Chicago Died - Paper Lace
Tubular Bells - [color=#297ccf !important][color=#297ccf !important]Mike [color=#297ccf !important]Oldfield[/color][/color][/color] Made famous by the horror flick "The Exorcist"
The Entertainer - Marvin Hamlisch Made famous in the Newman/Redford movie "the Sting"
Kung Fu Fighting - Carl Douglas

[Northern Brat]

I am so bad at this sort of stuff, but reading through the list brings back some memories!!!

[PezKat]

The 80's were full of one-hit wonders!

...
Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler

Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves

Escape (the Pina Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes

Bonnie Tyler had several other songs on the radio, the biggest two being "It's a Heartache" and "Holding Out for a Hero" from Footloose. (According to Wiki she had 4 songs in the Top 40.)

I"m pretty sure Katrina & the Waves had something else though looking over their song list nothing jumps out at me.

And Rupert Holmes won a Tony award for a musical score! (I know, that's not on the radio, but he's certainly done other music of value.)

[pawprints]

The 80's were full of one-hit wonders!

...
Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler

Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves

Escape (the Pina Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes

Bonnie Tyler had several other songs on the radio, the biggest two being "It's a Heartache" and "Holding Out for a Hero" from Footloose. (According to Wiki she had 4 songs in the Top 40.)

She also sang "Betty Davis Eyes".

[Art_Teacher]

My bad...I didn't know she had those other songs. Guess my definition of a one-hit wonder is someone who is only remembered for one main song. LOL! But, Kim Carnes sang "Bette Davis Eyes" originally.

[Art_Teacher]

Interesting! Here's what Wikipedia has to say on the subject...

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. 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 conservatively, 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 unfortunately 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);
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the book therefore misses subsequent hits, such as "Fly Away", which peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1999.
In the United Kingdom, the term one-hit wonder is used to describe a singer or band who had only one hit reach the Top 75 on the UK Singles Chart.^{[citation needed]} The term was first used by the Guinness Book of Hit Singles from the 1970s, and originally referred strictly to those artists whose first chart action was: "a number one hit, and then nothing else, ever." This is now commonly known as a "true" one hit wonder.
Below is a list of some criteria that also affect a performer's status as a one-hit wonder:

• 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:
  • album or even concert ticket sales: e.g. Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Rush
    
  • success on other, genre-specific charts: e.g. Snow Patrol, Incubus, The Lightning Seeds, KoRn, Queen Latifah, The Prodigy, Randy Travis, Weezer, blink-182, and System of a Down
    
  • critical acclaim: e.g. Spirit, Randy Newman, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The White Stripes, The Church, Amy Winehouse, Beck, and Marshall Crenshaw
    
  • strong fan followings: e.g. Rush, Frank Zappa, Jethro Tull, Grateful Dead, Faith No More, and Dream Theater
    
  • influence on other musicians: e.g. Jimi Hendrix, Rush, Lou Reed (with The Velvet Underground), Janis Joplin, Devo, Iggy Pop (with The Stooges), Bo Diddley
    
  • success as a songwriter or producer: e.g. Buffy Sainte-Marie, Mickey Newbury, J. J. Cale, Norman Smith or McFadden & Whitehead
• Some artists, including Livin' Joy, Wall of Voodoo, and Modern English, never had a top-40 pop hit, but did have a song that received considerable airplay, even long after its day of release.
  
• Many popular British artists like Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Robbie Williams, Right Said Fred, The Verve, Blur, BBMak, All Saints, Billie Piper, Busted, Take That, and Oasis are considered one-hit wonders in the US, although they have many hits in their native UK. Similarly, US bands They Might Be Giants and Blue Oyster Cult are one-hit wonders in the UK but not in their native US. Conversely, two British bands, Wang Chung and Breathe, as well as the Anglo-Australian duo Air Supply, are one-hit wonders in the UK but not in the US.
  
• 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, 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.
  
• Conversely, groups led by popular solo artists are usually not called one-hit wonders. Derek & the Dominos' sole hit "Layla" is associated with group leader Eric Clapton, who had great success and fame before and after the Dominos.
  
• 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 has had similar success in his homeland, but all are considered one-hit wonders in the US and UK.
  • 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. 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. 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. 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, 1982's "Der Kommissar".
• 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 and Christian rock group Jars of Clay 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 hair metal groups.
  
• 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. a-ha’s "Take on Me" made the top 10 of VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders,
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  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"). Similarly, 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 hair metal and hard rock genres. Strawberry Alarm Clock's #1 "Incense and Peppermints" so overshadowed their #23 "Tomorrow" that they are often considered a one-hit wonder. 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. The same is true for German singer Peter Schilling whose international hit "Major Tom (Coming Home)" vastly overshadowed the album it was released on and the titular single from it, "Different Story (World of Lust and Crime)". 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.
  
• Some artists had a number of hits chart quite high on Billboard's charts. Yet only one of their songs is remembered after the days of their popularity.
  
• Performers like Golden Earring, The Foundations, The Left Banke, Maxine Nightingale, Donna Fargo, A Taste of Honey, Mr. Mister, Jan Hammer, Johnny Logan, Vanessa Paradis, The Fat Boys, Pilot 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.
  
• 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.