![]() | This redirect does not require a rating on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||
|
Since I just removed Rush and Grateful Dead from this list again, I think I will explain my reasoning.
My definition of a "one hit wonder" is something like this:
This is a somewhat fuzzy meaning, and a stricter meaning is needed to minimize edit wars. However, this proposed meaning does not convey the essence of the above meaing:
This is not a reasonable translation of the above definition of "one hit wonder". For example, what comes to mind when you think of "Jimi Hendrix"? You proably start thinking about his masterful guitar playing, his contributions to rock and roll, his untimely death...you're probably not thinking about his one song that happened to become a Billboard hit, "All along the Watchtower". What comes to mind when you hear "That singer Tiffany" or "That band Men Without Hats"; in both cases, the one hit those two bands had ("I Think We're Alone Now" and "Safety Dance") comes to mind. It's a somewhat insulting term; it implies that the artist in question has made no contributions to music beyond their one hit. This is why I have remapped the term to something which more reflect's an average person's internal definition of "one hit wonder":
A "one hit wonder" is someone who only had one top 40 Billboard hit, and who has had less than three top 40 albums in their musical career.
This is a better heuristic (Plain English: "This works a lot better") for determining what is and is not a "one hit wonder", since it better reflects the reality that a lot of very notable artists, who are more album-oriented than single oriented, and hence have few (sometimes only one) hit singles, are not one hit wonders.
To support my argument, from the article One-hit wonder:
Samboy 06:44, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
I agree completely with Samboy and I think many of the entries in this article are ridiculous. Artists like the Grateful Dead and Frank Zappa had huge and enduring critical success/cult followings throughout their careers, and treating them as "one-hit wonders" completely misrepresents them. This also goes for artists like Roger Daltrey and Donald Fagen, who had numerous hits with the Who and Steely Dan, respectively. The fact that they only actually had one top 40 hit is a technicality. Westknife ( talk) 09:22, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
The problem with this page is that it redefines the term ‘hit’. A song does not need to be in the Billboard Top 40 Pop chart to be a hit. It's a ridiculous stretch which would suggest that countless artists who topped other charts regularly never had hits. The issue here is that the page title needs to be changed to reflect its actual content, which is a list of artists with a single entry on the Billboard Top 40 Pop chart, not a list of one-hit wonders. Skyhawk0 ( talk) 09:23, 26 February 2010 (UTC)
I must chime in to agree with those who call this list or at least some of the entries ridiculous. Emmylou Harris for instance. 12 Grammys is not indicative of a "one hit wonder". not to mention the Country Music Hall of Fame,the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee College of Music. Why not end the debate and eliminate the italicized artists? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.72.244.157 ( talk) 03:12, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
Perment Waves made it to number 4, before Moving Pictures made it to number 3. Exit...Stage Left, Signals, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, all made it to number 10. Roll The Bones hit number 3, and Counterparts made it to number 2. The band has had 15 top 40 Billboard albums, albums, not singles mind you.
Here are their 16 RIAA platinum certifications:
Plus they had 8 more additional GOLD album cetifications.
"Take Off" was done as a weekend joke, like Major League Baseball players doing a commercial, or a off-season softball charity event. It, like the movie, wasn't meant to be too serious.
RUSH, and for that matter the Greatful Dead don't belong on any one-hit wonder list. WikiDon 20:49, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Technically they can. Lists of one-hit wonders of the 1960s in the USA often include acts who were huge worldwide but who only had one hit in the US. For example, the Easybeats were the most popular Australian rock band of the 1960s and were huge in the rest of the English speaking world but only had one hit in the USA. Likewise, the Small Faces were an extremely important band in rock history and a huge selling band in the UK and Australia but a one-hit wonder in America. The opposite applies as well - acts like Paul Revere and the Raiders, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and Bob Seger were one hit wonders in the UK.
As for the Dead, I could see them being included, as they only had one top 40 nationwide hit ("Truckin'" in 1970 was top 40 in California but nowhere else in the US). Even though the appearance of a veteran well-established act like the Dead (or Frank Zappa) on a one hit wonder list seems incongrouous, technically it could be defended. (This was written by User:4.231.178.142)
- The Grateful Dead (1971/11)
- Europe '72 (1972/12) 2x (1981/08)
- American Beauty (1974/07) P (1986/10) 2x (2001/08)
- Workingman's Dead (1974/07) P (1986/10)
- Terrapin Station (1987/09)
- Shakedown (1987/09)
- Built To Last (1990/01)
- Without A Net (1990/11)
- Hundred Year Hall (1997/01)
- Aoxomoxoa (1997/05)
- Dozin' At The Knick (2000/03)
- Live/Dead (2001/08)
- The Golden Road (2001/11)
- Ladies & Gentlemen... The Grateful Dead (2002/01)
- Skeletons From The Closet (The Best Of The Grateful Dead) P (1986/12) 2x (1994/06) 3x (1995/01)
- In The Dark (1987/09) 2x (1995/08)
- What A Long Strange Trip It's Been - The Best Of The Grateful Dead (2001/08)
Here's another one-hit wonder item worth noting with regard to the Dead: Can a band that's enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame really qualify as a one-hit wonder??? I think not.
-Sam
Yes. The both band's only have 'one' Top-40 singles: Rush's "New World Man" and Grateful Dead's "Touch of Grey". Sadly these were the only songs by either to hit the Top 40. Hey, the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Frank Zappa are in the Hall of Fame and both only have one Top 40 hit (Zappa's is more interesting, as he had a hit with a satirical novelty song that appealed to the exact people that he was spoofing ("Valley Girl")) Doc Strange 18:57, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
Zappa had TWO hits. "Valley Girl" and "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.176.204.146 ( talk) 04:52, 20 August 2013 (UTC)
I wouldn't call Dennis DeYoung a one-hit wonder either. He was the main man, along with Tommy Shaw, behind STYX. Tommy wrote the blue-collar songs like Renegade, Miss America, Too Much Time On My Hands, and Blue Collar Man
The group had 12 gold albums, including 5 go plantinum.
As solo artists, yes (although this is questionable in terms of Ferry). In terms of their overall output, neither one could be considered a "one-hit wonder". The same would go for Robin Zander.
Roxy Music had their only hit in the US with "Love Is The Drug" in 1976. TheFountainhead 23:52, 7 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Modern English never had a hit; "I Melt With You" flopped everytime it was released. Carolaman 23:08, 22 January 2006 (UTC)
Revert war between Romeo Void and Mel. Let's start the discussion and iron this thing out. The List is titled "List of 1980s one-hit wonders in the United States". Therefore this list does not concern any country other than the United States. I believe a paragraph could be added to the top mentioning that artist contained on the list may have other hits and more success in foreign countries. The list should not be cluttered with tons of foreign country info, as that is not it's intent. BabuBhatt 08:29, 11 April 2006 (UTC)
The notion of a "one-hit wonder" as used in this and other articles is, as pointed out by User:Samboy above, very misleading and non-standard. Given that we seem to be stuck with it, though, the article should at least make its use (and deviation from normal usage) clear, and give relevant information. For example, when a person or band has in fact had other hits, but in different charts, that should be mentioned; when a person or act has had other hits under different names, or in different bands, that should be mentioned. This is all relevant to the "on-hit wonder" tag.
Other details of single or musicians aren't relevant, and can be found in the specific articles; that someone is well-known in another field, for example, is irrelevant to their being a one-hit wonder. -- Mel Etitis ( Μελ Ετητης) 10:32, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
What about Men Without Hats with their one major hit "Safety Dance"? They did have a minor hit with "Pop Goes the World", but it may have not made it to the Top 40.
First of all, I'd like to object to two of the bands/artists form this list. Midnight Oil, which is was very well known both in australia and in progressive rock circles worldwide, produced over 10 albums and made a clear contribution to punk and mainstream rock. Also, David Foster has worked to produce and help write hit songs for so many famous artists (click his link for more info) and contributed so much to pop music. Neither of them are true one hit wonders.
Obviously this whole discussion leads to the talk about definitions. Not that I completly disagree with Samboy's definition, but it leaves out that they may have been famous in certain genres or made important contribution to music, or gained popularity after the band has broken up. Also, on one of the other pages relating to one hit wonders, possibly the main article I have seen other definitions. I believe that Samboy had the right idea talking about associating bands with songs and vice versa. However, there must be a consistent policy throughout Wikipedia even if it allows for exceptions or is not based on hard facts. Random89 00:51, 30 August 2006 (UTC)
I removed this song from the list. Utopia was a band founded by Todd Rundgren who had a number of top albums and even classic songs before starting this band. His classic songs, including "Hello, Its Me" and " Can We Still Be Friends", have been covered by a number of artists including Robert Palmer and Rod Stewart. As for the actual band Utopia - at that time, top 40 was not considered a good barameter of a band's or song's worth since AOR was much more en vogue. Utopia got a lot of airplay on Album oriented rock stations with their songs "Caravan" and "Love is the Answer". Now it could be that Utopia didn't get a lot of airplay in all AOR stations because that market was so stratified. It just so happened that I grew up in one of the five largest AOR markets. "Love is the Answer" was covered later by England Dan & John Ford Coley and was a top 40 hit.-- 10stone5 22:04, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
Well, "Set Me Free" is Utopia's only Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 to date. So they stay. A sidenote has been added to discuss that it was formed and fronted by Todd Rundgren; hence Utopia is itacilized. Holiday56 ( talk) 13:40, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
Same general concept as above. Caveliere was previously a member of The Young Rascals who, of course, had one of the top, top 40 hits of all time, Good Lovin', in 1966. Cavaliere also wrote the hit People Got to Be Free.-- 10stone5 00:06, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
Gone. Same as above. Steely Dan, co-writer on "Do It Again" - 6, "My Old School" - 63, "Reelin' in the Years" - 11, "Rikki Don't Lose that Number" - 4 and many more hits.-- 10stone5 00:28, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
Same thing. Pretenders, short list - "Stop Your Sobbing" #65, "Brass in Pocket" #14, "Back on the Chain Gang" #5, "2000 Miles" - - - #15, "Don't Get Me Wrong" #10 -- 10stone5 00:28, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
Solo songs - "Something to Grab For" #47, "Jimmy Jimmy" # 25, "Emotion in Motion" #15 - and of course he wrote all those songs for The Cars.-- 10stone5 00:33, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
This list is downright bad. Someone keeps re-adding obviously flawed entries, including: Sheila E, Steve Perry, and Arcadia, all of whom had multiple top 40 hits.
It's DepressedPer who keeps adding the erroneuous additions. And on Ocasek, Felix and the others: "Those in italics are artists with only one Top 40 hit, but either had other songs chart on genre-specific charts or have had success and influence within their genre or the annals of popular music." They are technically one-hit wonders as solo artists. Don't let your opinions of them motivate you to remove. ۞ ░ 00:22, 18 August 2007 (UTC)
Every artist on this list should now have an entry, unless I missed any that weren't properly disambiguated. Chubbles 03:12, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
With such a massive list, are there any referrences that say they were a "one hit wonder"? I mean for example, one hit wonders usually fade away quickly, hence the "one" part of it but there are some on this list who have an established and still strong fanbase (and I mean an actual one, not a fanbase of like 50, I mean millions). Now of course I know that its based on chart positions as we all know for example that The Grateful Dead became massive and still are to this day but what I'm basically asking is are there referrences that call them "one hit wonders"? Stabby Joe ( talk) 23:23, 26 July 2008 (UTC)
Weren't "Truckin'", "Casey Jones", "Mexicali Blues", "Sugar Magnolia", "Uncle John's Band", and "Friend of the Devil" hits for the Dead years before "Touch of Grey"? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.176.204.146 ( talk) 04:55, 20 August 2013 (UTC)
Jim Capaldi needs a "C8" note in his entry, since his singles "It's All Up to You" and " Love Hurts" were both Top 40 hits in the UK. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to add the coding for the "C8" without messing up something else on the page. Help?-- Martin IIIa ( talk) 16:43, 8 December 2013 (UTC)
So this is what qualifies as a one hit wonder? So somebody who's had a No.40 hit is a one hit wonder as long as they've had no other top 40 entries? What happens if thay also had a No.41? The latter may even outsell the former, thus actually being their biggest hit. Who decided this as being the criteria anyway- do we have a source for this whole thing?-- Tuzapicabit ( talk) 23:22, 10 March 2014 (UTC)
Conforming to List of 1970s one-hit wonders in the United States, I added a bunch of asterisk information. With this one edit all of that content was wiped out. There is a lot of controversy as to what constitutes a "one hit wonder" and these asterisks can help serve key borderline situations; people who had made appearances in the top 40 in other guises, people who were successful in other arenas but had the one technical appearance on the top 40 and personal relationships with others with the same achievement. So rather than getting into an edit war, lets hear some discussion. Does this belong, or should we be deleting this content? Trackinfo ( talk) 09:21, 1 February 2015 (UTC)
I saw the bunch of 1950s one-hit wonders, 1960s one-hit wonders and 1970s one-hit wonders lists that it looks like irrelevant and trivial as well as info on each artist's career. For example, 1970s one-hit wonder Dave Loggins is being Kenny Loggins's cousin have any relation to him having only one Top 40 hit. Both three articles are not yet ready to clean-up. Can articles on 1950s one-hit wonders, 1960s one-hit wonders and 1970s one-hit wonders remove completely unreferenced and trivial section, change to 'sortable' and clean-up? TheSkinsAdded ( talk) 04:40, 20 February 2015 (UTC)
Can David Bowie and Mick Jagger's cover of "Dancing in the Street" count? Like I know David Bowie had at least 2 other hits with different people, but the problem is that they weren't duets, they were groups Bowie was working with. David Bowie did a duet with Tina Turner but it failed to reach the top 40. Mick Jagger had another hit with a group (like Bowie) which was The Jacksons, but not a duet of course. In 1976, Elton John and Kiki Dee (despite Elton John being a worldwide sensation and still is, and Kiki Dee being a two-hit wonder) were a one-hit wonder with their only hit that had them together as duet, that hit was "Don't Go Breaking My Heart". "Dancing in the Street" was both David Bowie's and Mick Jagger's only hit together as a duet (and duets entirely, despite working with groups that have gained hits together, but as duets, "Dancing In the Street" was their only hit duet). I don't know if this should count, is there anything that contradicts this? -- 73.240.105.185 ( talk) 11:46, 10 April 2016 (UTC)
Please take part in the discussion about inclusion criteria which is underway at Talk:List of 2010s one-hit wonders in the United States#Inclusion criteria. Thank you. Binksternet ( talk) 04:14, 6 September 2017 (UTC)
If you're interested in the topic, your comments would be appreciated at Talk:List of 2010s one-hit wonders in the United States#Inclusion criteria where there is a discussion with sweeping ramifications about whether the "one-hit wonder" articles will be based on charting songs or on artists described in sources. Binksternet ( talk) 15:27, 18 October 2017 (UTC)
![]() | This redirect does not require a rating on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||
|
Since I just removed Rush and Grateful Dead from this list again, I think I will explain my reasoning.
My definition of a "one hit wonder" is something like this:
This is a somewhat fuzzy meaning, and a stricter meaning is needed to minimize edit wars. However, this proposed meaning does not convey the essence of the above meaing:
This is not a reasonable translation of the above definition of "one hit wonder". For example, what comes to mind when you think of "Jimi Hendrix"? You proably start thinking about his masterful guitar playing, his contributions to rock and roll, his untimely death...you're probably not thinking about his one song that happened to become a Billboard hit, "All along the Watchtower". What comes to mind when you hear "That singer Tiffany" or "That band Men Without Hats"; in both cases, the one hit those two bands had ("I Think We're Alone Now" and "Safety Dance") comes to mind. It's a somewhat insulting term; it implies that the artist in question has made no contributions to music beyond their one hit. This is why I have remapped the term to something which more reflect's an average person's internal definition of "one hit wonder":
A "one hit wonder" is someone who only had one top 40 Billboard hit, and who has had less than three top 40 albums in their musical career.
This is a better heuristic (Plain English: "This works a lot better") for determining what is and is not a "one hit wonder", since it better reflects the reality that a lot of very notable artists, who are more album-oriented than single oriented, and hence have few (sometimes only one) hit singles, are not one hit wonders.
To support my argument, from the article One-hit wonder:
Samboy 06:44, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
I agree completely with Samboy and I think many of the entries in this article are ridiculous. Artists like the Grateful Dead and Frank Zappa had huge and enduring critical success/cult followings throughout their careers, and treating them as "one-hit wonders" completely misrepresents them. This also goes for artists like Roger Daltrey and Donald Fagen, who had numerous hits with the Who and Steely Dan, respectively. The fact that they only actually had one top 40 hit is a technicality. Westknife ( talk) 09:22, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
The problem with this page is that it redefines the term ‘hit’. A song does not need to be in the Billboard Top 40 Pop chart to be a hit. It's a ridiculous stretch which would suggest that countless artists who topped other charts regularly never had hits. The issue here is that the page title needs to be changed to reflect its actual content, which is a list of artists with a single entry on the Billboard Top 40 Pop chart, not a list of one-hit wonders. Skyhawk0 ( talk) 09:23, 26 February 2010 (UTC)
I must chime in to agree with those who call this list or at least some of the entries ridiculous. Emmylou Harris for instance. 12 Grammys is not indicative of a "one hit wonder". not to mention the Country Music Hall of Fame,the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee College of Music. Why not end the debate and eliminate the italicized artists? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.72.244.157 ( talk) 03:12, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
Perment Waves made it to number 4, before Moving Pictures made it to number 3. Exit...Stage Left, Signals, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, all made it to number 10. Roll The Bones hit number 3, and Counterparts made it to number 2. The band has had 15 top 40 Billboard albums, albums, not singles mind you.
Here are their 16 RIAA platinum certifications:
Plus they had 8 more additional GOLD album cetifications.
"Take Off" was done as a weekend joke, like Major League Baseball players doing a commercial, or a off-season softball charity event. It, like the movie, wasn't meant to be too serious.
RUSH, and for that matter the Greatful Dead don't belong on any one-hit wonder list. WikiDon 20:49, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Technically they can. Lists of one-hit wonders of the 1960s in the USA often include acts who were huge worldwide but who only had one hit in the US. For example, the Easybeats were the most popular Australian rock band of the 1960s and were huge in the rest of the English speaking world but only had one hit in the USA. Likewise, the Small Faces were an extremely important band in rock history and a huge selling band in the UK and Australia but a one-hit wonder in America. The opposite applies as well - acts like Paul Revere and the Raiders, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and Bob Seger were one hit wonders in the UK.
As for the Dead, I could see them being included, as they only had one top 40 nationwide hit ("Truckin'" in 1970 was top 40 in California but nowhere else in the US). Even though the appearance of a veteran well-established act like the Dead (or Frank Zappa) on a one hit wonder list seems incongrouous, technically it could be defended. (This was written by User:4.231.178.142)
- The Grateful Dead (1971/11)
- Europe '72 (1972/12) 2x (1981/08)
- American Beauty (1974/07) P (1986/10) 2x (2001/08)
- Workingman's Dead (1974/07) P (1986/10)
- Terrapin Station (1987/09)
- Shakedown (1987/09)
- Built To Last (1990/01)
- Without A Net (1990/11)
- Hundred Year Hall (1997/01)
- Aoxomoxoa (1997/05)
- Dozin' At The Knick (2000/03)
- Live/Dead (2001/08)
- The Golden Road (2001/11)
- Ladies & Gentlemen... The Grateful Dead (2002/01)
- Skeletons From The Closet (The Best Of The Grateful Dead) P (1986/12) 2x (1994/06) 3x (1995/01)
- In The Dark (1987/09) 2x (1995/08)
- What A Long Strange Trip It's Been - The Best Of The Grateful Dead (2001/08)
Here's another one-hit wonder item worth noting with regard to the Dead: Can a band that's enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame really qualify as a one-hit wonder??? I think not.
-Sam
Yes. The both band's only have 'one' Top-40 singles: Rush's "New World Man" and Grateful Dead's "Touch of Grey". Sadly these were the only songs by either to hit the Top 40. Hey, the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Frank Zappa are in the Hall of Fame and both only have one Top 40 hit (Zappa's is more interesting, as he had a hit with a satirical novelty song that appealed to the exact people that he was spoofing ("Valley Girl")) Doc Strange 18:57, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
Zappa had TWO hits. "Valley Girl" and "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.176.204.146 ( talk) 04:52, 20 August 2013 (UTC)
I wouldn't call Dennis DeYoung a one-hit wonder either. He was the main man, along with Tommy Shaw, behind STYX. Tommy wrote the blue-collar songs like Renegade, Miss America, Too Much Time On My Hands, and Blue Collar Man
The group had 12 gold albums, including 5 go plantinum.
As solo artists, yes (although this is questionable in terms of Ferry). In terms of their overall output, neither one could be considered a "one-hit wonder". The same would go for Robin Zander.
Roxy Music had their only hit in the US with "Love Is The Drug" in 1976. TheFountainhead 23:52, 7 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Modern English never had a hit; "I Melt With You" flopped everytime it was released. Carolaman 23:08, 22 January 2006 (UTC)
Revert war between Romeo Void and Mel. Let's start the discussion and iron this thing out. The List is titled "List of 1980s one-hit wonders in the United States". Therefore this list does not concern any country other than the United States. I believe a paragraph could be added to the top mentioning that artist contained on the list may have other hits and more success in foreign countries. The list should not be cluttered with tons of foreign country info, as that is not it's intent. BabuBhatt 08:29, 11 April 2006 (UTC)
The notion of a "one-hit wonder" as used in this and other articles is, as pointed out by User:Samboy above, very misleading and non-standard. Given that we seem to be stuck with it, though, the article should at least make its use (and deviation from normal usage) clear, and give relevant information. For example, when a person or band has in fact had other hits, but in different charts, that should be mentioned; when a person or act has had other hits under different names, or in different bands, that should be mentioned. This is all relevant to the "on-hit wonder" tag.
Other details of single or musicians aren't relevant, and can be found in the specific articles; that someone is well-known in another field, for example, is irrelevant to their being a one-hit wonder. -- Mel Etitis ( Μελ Ετητης) 10:32, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
What about Men Without Hats with their one major hit "Safety Dance"? They did have a minor hit with "Pop Goes the World", but it may have not made it to the Top 40.
First of all, I'd like to object to two of the bands/artists form this list. Midnight Oil, which is was very well known both in australia and in progressive rock circles worldwide, produced over 10 albums and made a clear contribution to punk and mainstream rock. Also, David Foster has worked to produce and help write hit songs for so many famous artists (click his link for more info) and contributed so much to pop music. Neither of them are true one hit wonders.
Obviously this whole discussion leads to the talk about definitions. Not that I completly disagree with Samboy's definition, but it leaves out that they may have been famous in certain genres or made important contribution to music, or gained popularity after the band has broken up. Also, on one of the other pages relating to one hit wonders, possibly the main article I have seen other definitions. I believe that Samboy had the right idea talking about associating bands with songs and vice versa. However, there must be a consistent policy throughout Wikipedia even if it allows for exceptions or is not based on hard facts. Random89 00:51, 30 August 2006 (UTC)
I removed this song from the list. Utopia was a band founded by Todd Rundgren who had a number of top albums and even classic songs before starting this band. His classic songs, including "Hello, Its Me" and " Can We Still Be Friends", have been covered by a number of artists including Robert Palmer and Rod Stewart. As for the actual band Utopia - at that time, top 40 was not considered a good barameter of a band's or song's worth since AOR was much more en vogue. Utopia got a lot of airplay on Album oriented rock stations with their songs "Caravan" and "Love is the Answer". Now it could be that Utopia didn't get a lot of airplay in all AOR stations because that market was so stratified. It just so happened that I grew up in one of the five largest AOR markets. "Love is the Answer" was covered later by England Dan & John Ford Coley and was a top 40 hit.-- 10stone5 22:04, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
Well, "Set Me Free" is Utopia's only Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 to date. So they stay. A sidenote has been added to discuss that it was formed and fronted by Todd Rundgren; hence Utopia is itacilized. Holiday56 ( talk) 13:40, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
Same general concept as above. Caveliere was previously a member of The Young Rascals who, of course, had one of the top, top 40 hits of all time, Good Lovin', in 1966. Cavaliere also wrote the hit People Got to Be Free.-- 10stone5 00:06, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
Gone. Same as above. Steely Dan, co-writer on "Do It Again" - 6, "My Old School" - 63, "Reelin' in the Years" - 11, "Rikki Don't Lose that Number" - 4 and many more hits.-- 10stone5 00:28, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
Same thing. Pretenders, short list - "Stop Your Sobbing" #65, "Brass in Pocket" #14, "Back on the Chain Gang" #5, "2000 Miles" - - - #15, "Don't Get Me Wrong" #10 -- 10stone5 00:28, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
Solo songs - "Something to Grab For" #47, "Jimmy Jimmy" # 25, "Emotion in Motion" #15 - and of course he wrote all those songs for The Cars.-- 10stone5 00:33, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
This list is downright bad. Someone keeps re-adding obviously flawed entries, including: Sheila E, Steve Perry, and Arcadia, all of whom had multiple top 40 hits.
It's DepressedPer who keeps adding the erroneuous additions. And on Ocasek, Felix and the others: "Those in italics are artists with only one Top 40 hit, but either had other songs chart on genre-specific charts or have had success and influence within their genre or the annals of popular music." They are technically one-hit wonders as solo artists. Don't let your opinions of them motivate you to remove. ۞ ░ 00:22, 18 August 2007 (UTC)
Every artist on this list should now have an entry, unless I missed any that weren't properly disambiguated. Chubbles 03:12, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
With such a massive list, are there any referrences that say they were a "one hit wonder"? I mean for example, one hit wonders usually fade away quickly, hence the "one" part of it but there are some on this list who have an established and still strong fanbase (and I mean an actual one, not a fanbase of like 50, I mean millions). Now of course I know that its based on chart positions as we all know for example that The Grateful Dead became massive and still are to this day but what I'm basically asking is are there referrences that call them "one hit wonders"? Stabby Joe ( talk) 23:23, 26 July 2008 (UTC)
Weren't "Truckin'", "Casey Jones", "Mexicali Blues", "Sugar Magnolia", "Uncle John's Band", and "Friend of the Devil" hits for the Dead years before "Touch of Grey"? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.176.204.146 ( talk) 04:55, 20 August 2013 (UTC)
Jim Capaldi needs a "C8" note in his entry, since his singles "It's All Up to You" and " Love Hurts" were both Top 40 hits in the UK. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to add the coding for the "C8" without messing up something else on the page. Help?-- Martin IIIa ( talk) 16:43, 8 December 2013 (UTC)
So this is what qualifies as a one hit wonder? So somebody who's had a No.40 hit is a one hit wonder as long as they've had no other top 40 entries? What happens if thay also had a No.41? The latter may even outsell the former, thus actually being their biggest hit. Who decided this as being the criteria anyway- do we have a source for this whole thing?-- Tuzapicabit ( talk) 23:22, 10 March 2014 (UTC)
Conforming to List of 1970s one-hit wonders in the United States, I added a bunch of asterisk information. With this one edit all of that content was wiped out. There is a lot of controversy as to what constitutes a "one hit wonder" and these asterisks can help serve key borderline situations; people who had made appearances in the top 40 in other guises, people who were successful in other arenas but had the one technical appearance on the top 40 and personal relationships with others with the same achievement. So rather than getting into an edit war, lets hear some discussion. Does this belong, or should we be deleting this content? Trackinfo ( talk) 09:21, 1 February 2015 (UTC)
I saw the bunch of 1950s one-hit wonders, 1960s one-hit wonders and 1970s one-hit wonders lists that it looks like irrelevant and trivial as well as info on each artist's career. For example, 1970s one-hit wonder Dave Loggins is being Kenny Loggins's cousin have any relation to him having only one Top 40 hit. Both three articles are not yet ready to clean-up. Can articles on 1950s one-hit wonders, 1960s one-hit wonders and 1970s one-hit wonders remove completely unreferenced and trivial section, change to 'sortable' and clean-up? TheSkinsAdded ( talk) 04:40, 20 February 2015 (UTC)
Can David Bowie and Mick Jagger's cover of "Dancing in the Street" count? Like I know David Bowie had at least 2 other hits with different people, but the problem is that they weren't duets, they were groups Bowie was working with. David Bowie did a duet with Tina Turner but it failed to reach the top 40. Mick Jagger had another hit with a group (like Bowie) which was The Jacksons, but not a duet of course. In 1976, Elton John and Kiki Dee (despite Elton John being a worldwide sensation and still is, and Kiki Dee being a two-hit wonder) were a one-hit wonder with their only hit that had them together as duet, that hit was "Don't Go Breaking My Heart". "Dancing in the Street" was both David Bowie's and Mick Jagger's only hit together as a duet (and duets entirely, despite working with groups that have gained hits together, but as duets, "Dancing In the Street" was their only hit duet). I don't know if this should count, is there anything that contradicts this? -- 73.240.105.185 ( talk) 11:46, 10 April 2016 (UTC)
Please take part in the discussion about inclusion criteria which is underway at Talk:List of 2010s one-hit wonders in the United States#Inclusion criteria. Thank you. Binksternet ( talk) 04:14, 6 September 2017 (UTC)
If you're interested in the topic, your comments would be appreciated at Talk:List of 2010s one-hit wonders in the United States#Inclusion criteria where there is a discussion with sweeping ramifications about whether the "one-hit wonder" articles will be based on charting songs or on artists described in sources. Binksternet ( talk) 15:27, 18 October 2017 (UTC)