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Sep 20, 2020 · So, in honor of those artists who captured lightning in a bottle, we went back to the late 1950s all the way through the early 2000s to find the best one-hit wonders of all time. We dare you not to hum along with the songs that brought them their fleeting 15 minutes of fame.
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- Corey Irwin
- The Buggles, "Video Killed the Radio Star" English new wave group the Buggles was active for only five years, from 1977 to 1982. Made up of singer and bassist Trevor Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes, the duo experimented with rapidly changing studio technology.
- A-ha, "Take On Me" Oddly enough, when a-ha released "Take On Me" as a single in the U.K. in 1984, it flopped, reaching only No. 137. (For what it's worth, it did make it to No. 3 in the band's home country of Norway.)
- Frankie Goes to Hollywood, "Relax" Decades after its 1983 release, kids in their teens and 20s are still buying T-shirts that read "Frankie Say Relax."
- Soft Cell, "Tainted Love" British soul singer Gloria Jones originally released “Tainted Love” in 1965. The song wasn't a hit and was largely forgotten until Soft Cell got their hands on it.
- Mercy: Love
- The Church: Under The Milky Way
- M: Pop Muzik
- The Knickerbockers: Lies
- The Floaters: Float on
- Macy Gray: I Try
- Matthews Southern Comfort: Woodstock
- Sinéad O’Connor: Nothing Compares 2 U
- The Grateful Dead: Touch of Grey
- Lou Bega: Mambo No. 5
There’s a very strange beauty about this record, whose funereal pace and spooky harmonies are out of sync with the feel-good mood of the lyric. It’s gorgeous but also quite unearthly, and it makes perfect sense that the group vanished afterward (though for a mundane reason; the leader was drafted).
A gorgeous record, this one found a longtime cult band getting serious about getting a hit. Working with a pair of L.A. producers for their Starfishalbum, Aussie quartet The Church rolled everything appealing about their dreamy, neo-psych sound into four enticing minutes. The follow-up single “Metropolis” was only an FM hit, and they returned to cu...
The New Wave/synth-pop era was full of exuberant one-hit wonders and “Pop Muzik” was one of the inescapable ones: It was silly, repetitive, and pretty much irresistible. For those who bought the single, the rockier B-side “M Factor” was nifty too. Later, it was revived by U2as the opening music of the PopMart tour.
“Lies” was the greatest thing the pre-psychedelic Beatlesnever did, a record that was understandably mistaken for the real Fabs when it hit the airwaves in 1966. We’d defy you to name a song that does more with a hook consisting of a one-syllable word and a one-note guitar lick.
This Detroit smooth-soul group worked their one moment of glory for all it was worth; the album version of “Float On” runs a full 12 minutes. And by the time the group disappeared, we all knew their names, their zodiac signs, and their favorite types of ladies.
Downright strange that this distinctive neo-soul vocalist made a splash with her second single – which went to the Top 10, got three Grammy nominations, and won one – and never charted again. Macy Gray went on to record several critically-acclaimed follow-up albums and remains active, so there’s always time.
It’s no small feat tackling a song that already had an iconic cover version and giving it a whole new slant, but Matthews Southern Comfort’s version turns the idealism of the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s original into a wistful look back. The golden-voiced Ian Matthews thus became the first and only member of Fairport Convention ever to be the fe...
Arguably one of the best ever Princecovers. The loving care Sinéad O’Connor poured into this ballad established her as a major vocal talent, though it gave no hint of the twists her career would take.
This may be the clearest case where a bands’ importance can’t be measured in hit singles. But the fact remains that none of the iconic 60s and 70s Grateful Dead songs came anywhere near the Top 40, even though many were singles (“Truckin’” got closest at No.64). So the planets shook a little when “Touch of Grey” – a singable and meaningful Jerry Ga...
No respectable wedding, BBQ or dance party would have been without this record for at least five years after its release – which would surely have pleased Perez Prado, whose Latin band recorded the sampled original version a half-century earlier. For all the liberties it takes, the version by Bega is spiritually true to the original.
- Brett Milano
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Jul 24, 2023 · One of the most prominent skiffle hits in the history of popular music, Mungo Jerry’s one-hit wonder status is well-earned—and there are few songs that are so unequivocally beloved across...
Top 100 One Hit Wonders. One-hit wonders have etched their mark in the music industry, defined by their singular chart-topping hits that remain beloved across generations. This comprehensive list, derived from record sales, radio airplay, and surveys from over 1,000 radio stations, spans Rock, Pop, AC, and Top 40 genres from 1955 to the present.
Famous One Hit Wonder Songs of All Time - Top One Hit Wonders Everyone Knows Playlist Find our playlist with these keywords: famous one hit wonders music, to...
This article contains artists known primarily for one hit song in the United States, who are regarded as one-hit wonders by at least two sources in media even though the artist may have had multiple hits abroad.
