What do you consider a one hit wonder?

[thegame415]

Is it a musical act with only one hit, or one with only one big pop hit?

I ask this because SiriusXM has a one hit wonders station and I heard The Reason by Hoobastank on it. I got into a debate with my fiancee about if they fir the category.

Never thought I'd defend Hoobastank in 2017, but hey.

[BrodietheSlayer]

I think mainly just one big pop hit. Although, I am sure there are One Hit Wonders in specific genres as well.

[DiBiase is Good]

One top ten single, nothing else ever in the Top 40.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

It's a nebulous category.

Many of the things people qualify as one hit wonders did have second hits even if they aren't remembered nearly as well as their first big one.

Men Without Hats fit this category.

It gets even more convoluted when you add like well according to what? Mr. Big only had one hit in America but got REALLY huge in Japan.

The Darkness only had one American hit but I believe had a bunch in the UK.

Billy Ray Cyrus only had Achy Breaky Heart as a pop hit... but he wasn't a pop artist he was a country artist and he was HUGE on the country charts for a few years.


I generally define it as an artist that is known for only one song even if they had other hits... the majority of people never mention them... but even that has problems.

[Eunös ✈]

A band/Singer that has one huge hit but is never able to repeat that success again with other tunes they may release afterwords.

[Fundertaker]

One really well known song that charted really high. The fact that it may have other charting songs is meaningless if no one remembers them. See: Swede, Blue.

[The 1Watcher Experience]

A band or a solo act that only had one memorable hit. I'll use Frida as an example for a solo act. "I Know There's Something Going On" is her one and only solo hit, yet when she was part of ABBA she had plenty of hits. Frida as a solo act is definitely a one hit wonder to me.

[Knailsic From Now On]

Honestly I go with Wikipedia's definition of only one top 40 hit. Yeah this lumps great artists like Lou Reed, Jimi Hendrix, and (until last year) Daft Punk with all but completely forgotten acts I just view it as a term that only says something about an artists single sales and not their total artistry.

[mrtuesday]

Jun 5, 2017 1:58:09 GMT -5 DiBiase is Good said:

One top ten single, nothing else ever in the Top 40.

By that definition, the following are One-Hit Wonders

The Greatful Dead - Touch of Grey, 1987

Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower, 1968

Legends in music, but only had one Top 40 hit.

[willywonka666]

I don't like the phrase myself, some are arguable and it shouldn't be the case, but often times songs are ignored, so a lot of people are unaware and that's not the artist's fault

[Alice Syndrome]

I think one that had one definitive hit and spent the rest of their career trying to chase it or faded away.

Hoobastank I don't think falls into that because Crawling in the Dark was a big hit on rock charts and still has airplay too.

I think All Star is a more obvious one. Nothing Smash Mouth has done since still plays.

[Allie Kitsune]

Jun 5, 2017 7:00:13 GMT -5 Alice Syndrome said:

I think one that had one definitive hit and spent the rest of their career trying to chase it or faded away.

Hoobastank I don't think falls into that because Crawling in the Dark was a big hit on rock charts and still has airplay too.

I think All Star is a more obvious one. Nothing Smash Mouth has done since still plays.

As much as I'm not a fan of their, I'd say they were around long enough to not fit in that category (Also, "Walking on the Sun" was pretty big for a while, at least in the US anyway). All-Star just kind of endured because it turned into this memetic "Oh man, you can really annoy the shit out of people with this!" monstrosity.

That aside, to get back to the broader topic of the thread, I would say that it's an act that had one major big song and then pretty much completely dropped out of the public consciousness (except for when people get all 'member berries about that one song).

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

Jun 5, 2017 7:00:13 GMT -5 Alice Syndrome said:

I think one that had one definitive hit and spent the rest of their career trying to chase it or faded away.

Hoobastank I don't think falls into that because Crawling in the Dark was a big hit on rock charts and still has airplay too.

I think All Star is a more obvious one. Nothing Smash Mouth has done since still plays.

Walking on the Sun gets some play... granted that's from BEFORE All Star but still.

[arrogantmodel]

Mambo #5

/thread.

But seriously, I think it has a broader definition.

[SmashTV]

My own interpretation is a band with one huge hit that always goes down well...with possible other songs that didn't do as well in the chart.

Martha and the Muffins - Echo Beach
Deee-Lite - Groove is in the Heart
House of Pain - Jump Around

Those are my staple one hit wonders.

[eDemento2099]

Jun 5, 2017 7:00:13 GMT -5 Alice Syndrome said:

I think one that had one definitive hit and spent the rest of their career trying to chase it or faded away.

Hoobastank I don't think falls into that because Crawling in the Dark was a big hit on rock charts and still has airplay too.

I think All Star is a more obvious one. Nothing Smash Mouth has done since still plays.

Smash Mouth's "Walking on the Sun" was a huge hit, and that was when the band first started, as far as I know. "All Star" came years later.

[Gopher Mod]

Jun 5, 2017 12:17:27 GMT -5 eDemento2099 said:

Jun 5, 2017 7:00:13 GMT -5 Alice Syndrome said:

I think one that had one definitive hit and spent the rest of their career trying to chase it or faded away.

Hoobastank I don't think falls into that because Crawling in the Dark was a big hit on rock charts and still has airplay too.

I think All Star is a more obvious one. Nothing Smash Mouth has done since still plays.

Smash Mouth's "Walking on the Sun" was a huge hit, and that was when the band first started, as far as I know. "All Star" came years later.

Not to mention their rendition of "I'm a Believer" from the Shrek soundtrack.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

Jun 5, 2017 12:17:27 GMT -5 eDemento2099 said:

Jun 5, 2017 7:00:13 GMT -5 Alice Syndrome said:

I think one that had one definitive hit and spent the rest of their career trying to chase it or faded away.

Hoobastank I don't think falls into that because Crawling in the Dark was a big hit on rock charts and still has airplay too.

I think All Star is a more obvious one. Nothing Smash Mouth has done since still plays.

Smash Mouth's "Walking on the Sun" was a huge hit, and that was when the band first started, as far as I know. "All Star" came years later.

I remember Then the Morning comes being relatively big as well.

And their cover of why can't we be friends reaching 28 on the American Alternative Charts.

Not to mention their cover of I'm a believer was number 4 on the US Adult 40 and 25 on the hot 100.

Smash Mouth are not a 1 hit wonder.

[Gopher Mod]

Jun 5, 2017 12:22:32 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave is Correct said:

Jun 5, 2017 12:17:27 GMT -5 eDemento2099 said:

Smash Mouth's "Walking on the Sun" was a huge hit, and that was when the band first started, as far as I know. "All Star" came years later.

I remember Then the Morning comes being relatively big as well.

And their cover of why can't we be friends reaching 28 on the American Alternative Charts.

Not to mention their cover of I'm a believer was number 4 on the US Adult 40 and 25 on the hot 100.

Smash Mouth are not a 1 hit wonder.

They're in the same boat as Hanson- everybody thinks they're a one-hit wonder when both bands are about a five-hit wonder.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

Jun 5, 2017 12:28:56 GMT -5 Gopher Mod said:

Jun 5, 2017 12:22:32 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave is Correct said:

I remember Then the Morning comes being relatively big as well.

And their cover of why can't we be friends reaching 28 on the American Alternative Charts.

Not to mention their cover of I'm a believer was number 4 on the US Adult 40 and 25 on the hot 100.

Smash Mouth are not a 1 hit wonder.

They're in the same boat as Hanson- everybody thinks they're a one-hit wonder when both bands are about a five-hit wonder.

There's a pretty big number of bands that people consider 1 hit wonders that had more than 1 hit. As I said earlier the term is pretty nebulous on at best... and mostly worthless at worst.

Hell I've seen people try and claim Vanilla Ice was a one hit wonder. when he wasn't... outside of only having one Album that did anything it took America multiple hits to realize what they had done