Do one hit wonders really only have one hit(depending on your meaning of hit)? Do they just stop recording, or never release singles again? Or do they release other tracks that stall at #40, never popular enough for it to be remembered as a hit?
I find it strange that their are a lot of one hit wonders, but you don’t hear of 2 or 3 hit wonders.
I’d think that it goes along like your second idea.
Well, there’s the bloke (Bobby McFerrin) that sung “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. He’s still recording and has an official website
The usual definition is a recording artist who has at least one top 10 song, and then doesn’t match that level of success again.
There are a lot of one hit wonders out there with subsequent recording careers-in fact, most of them record at least one subsequent album. As an FYI, there is a “documentary” on VH-1 about this very subject, detailing many of the wonders, their hits, and what happened after.
I know of a two-hit wonder, The Irish Rovers. They had a top-40 song in 1968 (“The Unicorn”, lyrics slightly modified from a poem by Shel Silverstein) and didn’t have another for thirteen years (“Wasn’t That a Party” in 1981, they called themselves “The Rovers” at the time). According to their website they still tour.
There’s also Murray Head, “Jesus Christ Superstar” in 1970 and “One Night in Bangkok” in 1985. Both of those were originally from musicals, but I found a discography and it looks as thought he’s had a fairly active recording career.
There are lots and lots of two-hit wonders, three-hit wonders, etc. Joel Whitburn’s Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits will list these by the score.* But these just don’t capture the imagination in the way that people are fascinated - and secretly pleased - by someone who has one fantastically huge hit but is never able to capture the magic again.
Although there have been numerous people and groups who have had even a number one hit but never charted again, the all-time champ of one-hit wonders is Zager & Evans. According to legend, they realized that the prospect of a career of singing “In the Year 2525” over and over again for the rest of their lives was so horrible that they broke up while the song was still number one.
BTW, it is a deplorable truth in the U.S. that we consider people who have had gigantic careers elsewhere to be one-hit wonders if they only had one hit in the states. Status Quo is the poster child for this. 22 top ten hits in the U.K. but they are a one-hit wonder here. Madness is also thought of this way, but they had a second top 40 hit in the states that no one even knows about. A lot of one-hit wonders are really two-hit wonders because of this.
*The usual definition is someone who had a Top 40 hit, not a Top 10, because of books like these.
I have THE book on the subject - “One Hit Wonders” - and their definition is what Exapno stated.
The Electric Prunes strictly speaking are NOT one hit wonders. They had their big hit with “Too Much Too Dream” and then had modest success with “Get Me To The World On Time”.
The group Essex (early 1960’s) is another good example. Their big hit was “Easier Said Than Done”. Their second hit “Walking Miracle” also did quite well BUT it sounded so much like “Easier Said Than Done” no one remembers it and oldies stations don’t even play it.
Some of the people in the book would REALLY surprise you - Bill Cosby, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin are strictly speaking “One Hit Wonders”.
McFerrin is actually a respected jazz singer and has recorded with many big names.