
One-hit wonder

A one-hit wonder is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music performers with only one hit single that overshadows their other work. Sometimes, artists dubbed "one-hit wonders" in a particular country have had great success in other countries. Music artists with subsequent popular albums and hit listings are typically not considered a one-hit wonder. One-hit wonders usually see their popularity decreasing after their hit listing and most often don't ever return to hit listings with other songs or albums.
Music industry.
In "The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders," music journalist Wayne Jancik defines a one-hit wonder as "an act that has won a position on [the] national, pop, Top 40 record chart just once."
This formal definition can include acts with greater success outside their lone pop hit and who are not typically considered one-hit wonders, while at the same time excluding acts who have multiple hits which have been overshadowed by one signature song, or those performers who never hit the top 40, but had exactly one song achieve mainstream popularity in some other fashion (that is, a "turntable hit" or a song that was ineligible for the top-40 charts). One-hit wonders are usually exclusive to a specific market, either a country or a genre; a performer may be a one-hit wonder in one such arena, but have multiple hits (or no hits) in another.
"20 to 1: One Hit Wonders".
In 2006, the Australian series "20 to 1" aired the episode "20 to 1: One Hit Wonders", a list of songs that had been the only one by that artist to have success in Australia.
C4's "UChoose40": One Hit Wonders.
In September 2006, New Zealand's terrestrial music channel, C4, aired an episode dedicated to "One Hit Wonders" on the weekly theme-based chart show, "UChoose40", where the chart was ranked entirely by viewer's votes from the website.
The top ten ranking are as follows:
Lists of one-hit wonders.
United Kingdom.
Note: not to be confused with the The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles list from 1979 to 2001 which lists acts with their only Top 75 charting record being a one number hit.
The Nation's Favourite One Hit Wonders (2016).
A UK poll of 2,000 music fans compiled by marketing research company OnePoll.
One-Hit Wonders from the 1980s.
Classic Pop magazine's list only includes acts who made the UK’s Top 40 (as compiled by Gallup) once only in their careers and does not include acts which feature members from other successful bands from the 1980s. The top ten is as follows...
One-Hit Wonders from the 1990s.
In 2020, Absolute Radio 90s compiled a list of 'the 20 greatest one-hit wonders of the 1990s' as part of their 10th birthday celebrations, the list was as follows...(listed in alphabetical order): 
In addition to these one-hit wonders, the "NME" also recognised the following hits in their one-hit wonders feature from 2014 (also in alphabetical order): 
One-Hit Wonders from the 2000s.
From the BBC in March 2017 (based on a combination of chart position and sales)
From the BBC Radio 2 show "One Hit Wonders with OJ Borg" which started on 2 November 2020...(in alphabetical order):
One-Hit Wonders from the 2010s.
The Official Charts Company's list of the biggest one-hit wonder releases of the 2010s, is based on sales and streams. Like the Classic Pop list it uses the UK singles Top 40 chart as the cut-off point. The top ten is as follows...