Greatest one hit wonders

Probably because historically a record in Top 40 would get enough radio play to be recognizable. Outside that range you're not getting enough popular recognition to break into the mainstream.

 

I think "Incense" earns it just on the basis that the lead wasn't even sung by a member of the band - he was a friend from another band! (Cliff Nobles, are you reading this?)
And of course, their followup, "Patchouli and Life Savers", never made a dent in the charts.

 

Not a one hit wonder. The Boomtown Rats had twelve Top 40 singles in the UK and zero in the U.S.

 

Tommy Tutone: 867-5309/Jenny

Yes, I am aware they had an earlier song that barely cracked the top 40, but if this isn't a "one hit wonder" then nothing is.

 

Not a one hit wonder. Three Top 40 singles each in the U.S. and UK.

 

Well, sole remembered hit!

 

Isn't cliff nobles the horse 1968 ?
That's a one hit wonder

 

Only technically. He wasn't even in the room when they recorded it! They laid down an instrumental version for the b-side, and nobody wanted to hear Cliff sing!

 

Katrina and the Waves came roaring back with a Eurovision song over a decade later

 

Ridgway is one of the great cult music figures. Truly brilliant guy

 

McFadden & Whitehead - "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now"

They wrote a lot of hits performed by other artists (e.g. "Wake Up Everybody" by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes), but AFAICT this was they only hit that they performed themselves.

 

Two charting singles: "What She Does to Me," #61 US; "She Sheila," #48 US.

 

Interesting. The vid was played to death for months on MTV here in the U.S.

 

Ringo by Lorne greene
Who will answer ed ames

 

I wondered about that as I had the CD Best of the Boomtown Rats and didn't know any of the other songs

 

I think I remember reading that they were bigger in the UK than the US.

 

Huh?

 

Also "Old Rivers" by Walter Brennan!

 

The Boomtown Rats had many hits in Europe including at least 2 UK Number Ones and about 10 top 10 hits.
Katrina and the Waves had many hits in Europe.

12 top 40 hits in the UK including 2 Number 1's. Where did you get 4 from?

 

Gangnam Style - Psy ....................................... was everywhere for a while. And the other day some first graders at my school started dancing/singing it....


and that "I have a pen, I have an apple" ditty...........

 

My first thought...

 

People are really stretching the criteria, including music acts who clearly had two or more chart successes. At some point you've got to use some common sense.

I choose "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" by "Paul & Linda McCartney."

 

Strange
When I was a kid I heard one track mind on the radio
Way more then lies
I never new lies was even a hit
Until I read it on nuggets.

 

Not a one hit wonder. Three Top 40 hits in the US, two in the UK. "Gentleman" was #5 in the US and #10 in the UK.