Biggest one-hit wonder ever?

Cafe Society
41

In case someone hasn’t yet mentioned it, people of all ages love “Happy Together” by the Turtles to this day.

Now someone’ll tell me they had 7 hits I’ve never heard of, or it never hit #1 but blahbitty blah blah blah.

42

I knew that looked wrong.

43

Nope, it never did hit #1, but it did set records for chart longevity.

44

Very well anticpated! :wink:

  • 1 (#8)…It Ain’t Me Babe-1965
  • 2 (#29)…Let Me Be-1965
  • 3 (#20)…You Baby-1966
  • 4 (#1)…Happy Together-1967
  • 5 (#3)…She’d Rather Be With Me-1967
  • 6 (#12)…You Know What I Mean-1967
  • 7 (#14)…She’s My Girl-1967
  • 8 (#6)…Elenore-1968
  • 9 (#6)…You Showed Me-1969

http://members.aol.com/oldies1/turtles.htm

Thanks, Earl Snake-Hips Tucker, I thought it had set some record, longevity wise.

45

Can’t this actually be a factual question? As in, there is a way to quantify “biggest” for records, and also to measure whether someone is a “one hit wonder”.

46

I remember hearing about five years ago that Toni Basil (“Mickey”)was the only one-hit-wonder from the 1980s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Don’t know how much that counts, though.

47

I almost had a heart attack thinking that Toni Basil was in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame until I googled and found out that it was just a temporary exhibit of one-hit wonders.

This Classic Rock page has some commentary about what constitutes a one-hit wonder, and the accompanying page has a long listing.

48

Is it just me, or do a lot of one-hit wonder songs get played at sporting events?

49

As a former DJ,I recall just TWO groups or solo artists w/a #one hit & Never reaching the top 100 again. Both were in 1958-the Elegants w/ "Little Star’- the well known Mozart nursery rhyme, & the Silhouettes “Get a Job.” Sha Na Na took their name from the refrain in the latter.

Lesley Gore was from 1963,not 50s.

50

How about Macarthur Park by Richard Harris?

It has the double whammy effect of also being the worst song ever recorded, IMO.

51

This has been tickling the back of my mind for the last 2 days and it finally came to the forefront.

What about Soeur Sourire a.k.a. the Singing Nun with her single hit “Dominique”? While I wasn’t even born at its release, apparently it was popular around the world.

The Master mentions her in this column.

52

Well, in the book “Hottest Hot 100 Hits,” Billboard lists the top-selling singles by “One Hit Wonders”:

  1. Zager & Evans: “In the Year 2525”
  2. Singing Nun: “Dominique”
  3. USA For Africa: “We Are the World”
  4. Jennifer Paige: “Crush”
  5. Elegants: “Little Star”
  6. Heights: “How Do You Talk to an Angel?”
  7. Silhouettes: “Get a Job”
53

Did Don Mclean sing anything but American Pie ?

54

:eek:
Albums full. I’m pretty sure Vincent was a hit as well in the USA.

55

What about Johann Pachelbel? Does he qualify as a one-hit wonder?

56

Or Franz Gruber of Silent Night fame?

57

Valley Girl - Frank Zappa

58

Frank Zappa? A one-hit wonder? Hardly.

Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow reached #4 in 1974
Dancin’ Fool reached #8 in 1979
Valley Girl reached #12 in 1982

Not to mention the albums that reached the charts plus his classical works.

59

A little something for the Don McLean crowd…

60

I know Frank was great, I saw him several times and I have many of his albums. I didn’t realize he had other “mainstream” hits though.