Are They A One-Hit Wonder?

[Channel98]

How would you define "one-hit wonder"? I could say it's someone with only one top-40 hit – but that would include many artists whose songs are pretty much forgotten today. Among them are Dave Gardner, Sunny Gale, Tommy Dee, Johnny Ferguson, Barry Young, Monty Kelly, Sam Harris, James Gilreath, Kenny O'Dell, Aquatones, Mashmakhan, New England, Nu Tornados, Romeo Void, Tuxedo Junction, Don Shirley Trio and Clefs Of Lavender Hill.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

We have had this discussion. Ask yourself are the Grateful Dead a OHW? By your definition they are. One top 40. Also Dexys Midnight Runners had many hits in UK including 2 #1s. Only 1 top 40 in USA. A OHW? Canadian charts also different as are rock charts.

 

[scotchandcigar]

Thin Lizzy "The Boys Are Back In Town" peaked at #12. Their only other Hot 100 entry is "Cowboy Song" at #77. One hit wonder?

The other song often played is "Jailbreak", which didn't make the top 40. But as a classic rock band, they probably play Jailbreak after every 3rd play of Boys.

 

[scotchandcigar]

How would you define "one-hit wonder"? I could say it's someone with only one top-40 hit – but that would include many artists whose songs are pretty much forgotten today. Among them are Dave Gardner, Sunny Gale, Tommy Dee, Johnny Ferguson, Barry Young, Monty Kelly, Sam Harris, James Gilreath, Kenny O'Dell, Aquatones, Mashmakhan, New England, Nu Tornados, Romeo Void, Tuxedo Junction, Don Shirley Trio and Clefs Of Lavender Hill.

A OHW is a band with either a #1 or top 10 hit. Hitting 40 or 39 doesn't qualify, because the very definition requires them to have a single smash hit. Where it gets hazy is with bands of other genres, like rock, R&B, AC, Alt Rock, etc. So a band like Rush may technically be a OHW, because they only topped the pop charts once. But nobody gives a shit about how Rush did on the pop charts.

In other words, a OHW should only apply to pop bands. Bands who may have many top hits on other charts don't qualify. The whole idea is to have just 1 hit on the pop charts, and no hits on any other chart.

 

[Channel98]

How do we define a "hit"? Solely by chart position? Perhaps songs that made the national top 30? There are many songs such as The Isley Brothers' Shout, the Romantics' What I Like About You, the Beatles' All My Loving, the Rolling Stones' Let's Spend The Night Together, Journey's Lights and Modern English's I Melt With You that were not top-40 hits but have been played on oldies stations and classic-hits stations for decades. Are they hits now – even though they were not hits originally?

By the way, the aforementioned The Boys Are Back In Town peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 but got to #10 on the July 24 1976 Cash Box Top 100.

 

[Listener]

I would call a song a hit if it is still being played on the radio many years after it came out.

 

[scotchandcigar]

the Romantics' What I Like About You and Modern English's I Melt With You were not top-40 hits but have been played on oldies stations and classic-hits stations for decades. Are they hits now – even though they were not hits originally?

These 2 are easy. They were top rock hits. Melt With You was #7. The Romantics hit was not on the rock chart, because it didn't exist yet.

So now, you'll hear both on First Wave or Classic Rewind or Alt Nation or Spectrum; which are all rock/ Alt/ AC channels, not top 40 pop channels.

I would consider Modern English OHWs. Because they only have one hit across all charts.

 

[sadchild]

If I remember right, it was concluded here a while ago that, while not perfect, we'd define a OHW as 'one top 40 hit'. It's strict. It's not totally accurate. But it's not subjective. It's very strict.

That's why I started this "they have two top 40s but, subjectively, currently, are they only remembered for one of those top 40s". Because there's a difference between "officially" and "how it feels".

 

[scotchandcigar]

If I remember right, it was concluded here a while ago that, while not perfect, we'd define a OHW as 'one top 40 hit'. It's strict. It's not totally accurate. But it's not subjective. It's very strict.

That's why I started this "they have two top 40s but, subjectively, currently, are they only remembered for one of those top 40s". Because there's a difference between "officially" and "how it feels".

Most of the artists in this thread have a hit in the top 10, plus another song in the top 40. So I'd say a OHW is more like an artist with a top 10 hit (on some chart), rather than just top 40.

 

[sadchild]

Ah. One song that was huge (somewhere somehow, like rock, rap, alternative, etc) and was a top 40 crossover to the Hot 100. And a second top 40 on the Hot 100 that may or may not be remembered anymore (like only made the top 40 because their name was hot at the time, due to the first top 40).

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

If I remember right, it was concluded here a while ago that, while not perfect, we'd define a OHW as 'one top 40 hit'. It's strict. It's not totally accurate. But it's not subjective. It's very strict.

I don't think anything on DRC is ever concluded. People just stop arguing.

 

[scotchandcigar]

I don't think anything on DRC is ever concluded. People just stop arguing.

If every thread reached its conclusion, we wouldn't have a forum anymore. Fortunately, Channel98 will never stop finding more 60s gold hits.

 

[Channel98]

I know what IRBS and Mister scotch are thinking of – but this is from 1972, not the 1960s.

 

[Channel98]

The Crows, a doo-wop quintet from Harlem, are a one-hit wonder. They released eight singles, 1953-55. (On one of them, Call A Doctor, they called themselves the Jewels.) Their only hit was Gee, which reached #2 on the R&B chart and #14 on the Top 100 in May 1954. Jan & Dean had a minor hit with the song in December 1960.

 

[Channel98]

Husband and wife Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., former members of the 5th Dimension, had two top-40 hits. You Don't Have To Be A Star went to number one on the Hot 100 in the first week of January 1977, seven weeks after topping the R&B chart. Your Love got to #9 on the R&B chart and #15 on rhe Hot 100 in May 1977. I remember You Don't Have To Be A Star. I don't remember Your Love. Surely somebody remembers it. ("Somebody does – and don't call me Shirley.")

 

[Aaron]

Husband and wife Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., former members of the 5th Dimension, had two top-40 hits. You Don't Have To Be A Star went to number one on the Hot 100 in the first week of January 1977, seven weeks after topping the R&B chart. Your Love got to #9 on the R&B chart and #15 on rhe Hot 100 in May 1977. I remember You Don't Have To Be A Star. I don't remember Your Love. Surely somebody remembers it. ("Somebody does – and don't call me Shirley.")

Same here. I like that song.

 

[sadchild]

I would define "one-hit wonder" as an artist or group who had a top-ten hit but no other songs in the top 40.

The Crows, a doo-wop quintet from Harlem, are a one-hit wonder. They released eight singles, 1953-55. (On one of them, Call A Doctor, they called themselves the Jewels.) Their only hit was Gee, which reached #2 on the R&B chart and #14 on the Top 100 in May 1954.

But..... are they a one hit wonder? They didn't have a top ten hit.

 

[scotchandcigar]

But..... are they a one hit wonder? They didn't have a top ten hit.

Well, according to my previous comment, I said that a top 10 on any chart would qualify, as long as their other hits were either out of the top 40, or (in this case) forgotten. That's how (for example) Modern English qualifies as a OHW.

 

[sadchild]

Digital Underground
#11 "The Humpty Dance"
#40 "Kiss You Back"

I definitely know both. Not a subjective one hit wonder to me, but I'm an old school rap fan. The mainstream may only know "Humpty"?

 

[Channel98]

Tommy Richman

Million Dollar Baby debuted at #2 on the May 11 2024 Hot 100 (behind Fortnight by Taylor Swift & Post Malone) and would be in the top ten for 17 consecutive weeks. Richman's follow-up, Devil Is A Lie, peaked at #32 on the July 13 2024 chart. His only other song to make the Hot 100 is Actin Up, which was on the chart for only one week, at #96, May 3 2025.