Mason Williams is a one-hit wonder (as far as I know), with Classical Gas. But I’m not sure if it meets the OP’s standard of being a “song”, as it was an instrumental.
IMNSHO, it does meet the OP’s standard of being a really good piece of music.
While I agree with you regarding Macarthur Park, little else on his list is musically compelling.
Nor-man
Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo
Nor-man
Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo
Nor-man
Nor-man my love!
Complex. Schoenberg could hardly have done better.
T. Rex probably fits the U.S. definition of a one-hit wonder. I can’t recall anything else approaching Get It On, which was a classic.
Did I totally miss it or is Del Shannon’s “Runaway” not mentioned at all. I would score it as “pretty good”.
Alls I have to say is: it’s a good thing I don’t share the hate for “In the Year 2525,” because it’s been stuck in my head ever since I read the OP this morning.
Seriously, what’s so all-fired unappealing about it? This one song is somehow worse than any of Olivia Newton-John’s hits? Such apparently widespread dislike seems strangely arbitrary. I suspect an internet meme.
On the other hand, I personally have an unrelenting antipathy for “Spirit in the Sky.” So it’s a good thing that I have this Zager and Evans number lodged in my skull to keep it at bay, I suppose.
Some seem to hate it with a fiery passion but as far as I know Joan Osbourne qualifies as a one hit wonder with “One of Us”. I’ve always liked that song, and I’m not religious, noither.
How about Suzanne Vega. Not really a one hit wonder, looking at her Wikipedia entry she’s had a number of international hits in the top 40 but only one in the top 40 “Luka.” However the remix of “Tom’s Diner” hit #5 in the US, but it was an unauthorized remix and therefore does not count.
Yoshimi charted? I never heard it on the radio or anything. I thought “She Don’t Use Jelly” was their most commercially successful track.
I was totally obsessed with “The Way” when it came out. I was in 7th or 8th grade. Sadly, it just doesn’t stand up today. I hate when that happens.
Sorry, but if I’ve never heard of it, it ain’t a hit. That’s a little know rule in the Hoyle Rules of determining One Hit Wonders.
You didn’t miss it - it’s just that Del Shannon had 17 songs in the top 100 and 3 in the top 10. So hardly a one-hit wonder.
It was authorized when it was released as a commercial single. After DNA released an unauthorized limited edition remix for club use, A&M Records, Vega’s record company of the time, decided to buy the remix and release it themselves as a single. And that’s the single that charted — with Vega’s and A&M’s approval.
Surpirsed no one has mentioned My Sharona by The Knack.
That’s 'cause, in the U.S., Good Girls Don’t got to #11 and Baby Talks Dirty reached #38.
Young MC - Bust a Move
House of Pain - Jump Around
Both great, fun songs.
Well … at iTunes, the Status Quo original of “Pictures of Matchstick Men” has outsold the CVB version by about 3-to-1.
I’m No Saint, I’m with you on the Final Countdown. I love that trumpet intro - my wife and I walked in to that at our wedding (by my choice).
Chief Scott:
Survivor is not a one-hit wonder. High on You, The Search is Over…a few others as well.
Isn’t Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl) a one-hit wonder song? I always felt that had a sad beauty to it.
Which could mean that it’s 3 times more popular. Or it could mean that so many people already own the CVB version they have no need to download it. 
I have no dog here, I like both versions 
There are trumpets in The Final Countdown?? I always thought those were cheesy 80s synth keyboards.
(No disrespect intended to your wedding, I’m sure it was lovely).
I don’t approve. I can’t stand that song. She still gets an asterisk in my book.
I thought of another I don’t recall anyone else mentioning Eddie Brickell & The New Bohemians with “What I Am” which is a song I do not hate from a certified one hit wonder.
Others I was going to mention that just squeaked by after I did a little prying. Tori Amos charted with “Silent All These Years” ironically 5 years after it had been released, and again in 2002 with “A Sorta Fairytale” which looks like it peaked at #38 for two weeks. You got lucky there, Tori.
Also, 10,000 Maniacs charted at #11 with their cover of “Because the Night” and then again after Natalie Merchant left the band with “More Than This” at #25 at its peak. Practically two different bands without Ms. Merchant. She wrote most of the songs for the band.
So, in conclusion. I got nothing. Except Eddie Brickell.
That was Looking Glass. I do believe they had another Top 40, “Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne” but it only hit #33.
Somebody mentioned Frank Sinatra, but he had a long trail of top 40 hits. Remarkably, in the mid-60s, when the top was all rock ‘n’ roll, he hit the charts with That’s Life, My Way, Summer Wind, and Somethin’ Stupid.
The Stripper, as far as I know, was the only hit for the David Rose band. Even today, tv and movies will quote a few bars to evoke that feeling.
ShadowFacts:
Maybe it’s just a synth, but that intro always put in my mind a majestic image of a row of trumpeters lowing a fanfare in front of a castle just as the king is about to emerge.
I love that bit.