Non-1 Hit Wonders With 1 Song Way More Popular…

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

than anything else they did.

I passed by “Black Beatles” by Rae Sremmurd playing on TV yesterday and figured that would fit the bill.

Rae Sremmurd has had a bunch of hits, but so far nothing to close to the success of that song.

[DiBiase is Good]

Mungo Jerry actually had a second UK Number one single. Hardly anyone remembers it though (it’s called Baby Jump) as In The Summertime was such a gigantic hit.

Same for Dexys Midnight Runners. Geno topped the chart here two years before their second number one. But say their name to anyone and they’ll probably start singing Come on Eileen.

Carl Douglas has a couple of other minor chart hits in certain countries. But Kung Fu Fighting was a massive song in just about every country it was released in.

[ZERO]

The Cardigans.

"My Favourite Game" and "Burning Down the House", their duet with Tom Jones, were also big singles. But they're probably STILL best-known for "Lovefool" to most people.

[4real]

A-Ha

Yeah I know ‘The Living Daylights’ sure. But the only song anyone remembers by them is ‘Take On Me’. Except it didn’t go to number 1 in the U.K. ‘The Sun Always Shines On TV’ did though. And barely anyone remembers that.

The Verve & Blur may have been 1 hit wonders in the US but both had bigger hits in the U.K. that went to Number 1. ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ for The Verve & ‘Country House’ & ‘Beetlebum’ for Blur.

[bibboid]

A Flock of Seagulls

Everybody remembers “I Ran”

It wasn’t until the video for “Space Age Love Song” that we got to see THE HAIRSTYLE that we associate with the lead singer. The song still gets a decent amount of play on classic rock stations.

And I still even hear “Wishing” two or three times a year.

[King Boo]

Mar 24, 2022 12:07:22 GMT -5 ZERO said:

The Cardigans.

"My Favourite Game" and "Burning Down the House", their duet with Tom Jones, were also big singles. But they're probably STILL best-known for "Lovefool" to most people.

Erase/Rewind is *such* a good song.

[Cyno]

Jimmy Eat World's had quite a few hits between Sweetness, Bleed American, and Pain. But The Middle eclipses them all.

[karl100589]

Mar 24, 2022 12:55:30 GMT -5 4real said:

A-Ha

Yeah I know ‘The Living Daylights’ sure. But the only song anyone remembers by them is ‘Take On Me’. Except it didn’t go to number 1 in the U.K. ‘The Sun Always Shines On TV’ did though. And barely anyone remembers that.

The Verve & Blur may have been 1 hit wonders in the US but both had bigger hits in the U.K. that went to Number 1. ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ for The Verve & ‘Country House’ & ‘Beetlebum’ for Blur.

The Sun Always Shines is legit one of my favourite songs of the eighties

[karl100589]

Alphaville’s only chart hit in the UK was Big In Japan, but in recent years Forever Young has surpassed it in terms of popularity.

[EvenBaldobombHasAJob]

As a Canadian it always seems absurd to me that "One Week" is the Barenaked Ladies' biggest song. I was raised on Gordon, bitch. "Brian Wilson" is my jam

[Savage Gambino]

Definitely Rick Astley; he actually has a handful of number ones in the UK and abroad, but Never Gonna Give You Up is so damn popular that he almost feels like a one-hit wonder.

[chazraps]

Sir Mix-A-Lot had years of hits before "Baby Got Back," but since that was an absolutely monster crossover smash nothing else hits that level.

To a lesser extent, Biz Markie had multiple successful memorable singles outside of "Just a Friend."

Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock had "Joy and Pain" after "It Takes Two" that's been a sustainable hit.

[Lupin the Third]

I mean, Gordon Lightfoot has a number of great songs.

But they all seem to be overshadowed by The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

[noobeast]

Mar 24, 2022 14:37:15 GMT -5 EvenBaldobombHasAJob said:

As a Canadian it always seems absurd to me that "One Week" is the Barenaked Ladies' biggest song. I was raised on Gordon, bitch. "Brian Wilson" is my jam

"Old Apartment" is legitimately one of my top 5 favorite songs of all time.

[Deleted]

Mar 24, 2022 12:59:09 GMT -5 Cyno said:

Jimmy Eat World's had quite a few hits between Sweetness, Bleed American, and Pain. But The Middle eclipses them all.

I think a lot of indie/alternative bands fall into this for exactly that reason. "Sweetness," "Work," "Pain," "Lucky Denver Mint," "Bleed American,
etc...were all significant rock radio hits, but not pop hits like "The Middle" was.

The current biggest example of that is Portugal. The Man. I could sit here and list at least 10 PTM songs dating back to, like, 2006 that were pretty big alternative rock hits. Yet, only "Feel It Still" was ever a pop hit, and a lot of people would consider them 1 hit wonders.

[Jaws the Shark]

Mar 24, 2022 14:54:23 GMT -5 Lupin the Third said:

I mean, Gordon Lightfoot has a number of great songs.

But they all seem to be overshadowed by The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The one of his I always think of is "If You Could Read My Mind", largely because of its association with Trigger Happy TV.

[King Boo]

Mar 24, 2022 15:53:52 GMT -5 Jaws the Shark said:

Mar 24, 2022 14:54:23 GMT -5 Lupin the Third said:

I mean, Gordon Lightfoot has a number of great songs.

But they all seem to be overshadowed by The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The one of his I always think of is "If You Could Read My Mind", largely because of its association with Trigger Happy TV.

I was going to say that, for me, "If You Could Read My Mind" is the first song I think of for Gordon Lightfoot, though not for that reason.

[BorneAgain]

Warrant had plenty of solid hits; it's just that "Cherry Pie" ended up as the song that (unfortunately) seems most remembered from them.

[James Fabiano]

Don McLean? Then again, American Pie is like 3 hit songs in one.

Gloria Gaynor and I Will Survive.

Lulu has a couple well known songs. Here, it's just To Sir With Love.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Mar 24, 2022 14:37:15 GMT -5 EvenBaldobombHasAJob said:

As a Canadian it always seems absurd to me that "One Week" is the Barenaked Ladies' biggest song. I was raised on Gordon, bitch. "Brian Wilson" is my jam

The safety product store is exactly “If I Had a Million Dollars” away from work. Useless fact.

The whole album is awesome, only a few songs off it weren’t radio hits.