two-hit wonders

Ugly Kid Joe - "Everything About You" & "Cat's in the Cradle"

So, turns out Wilbert Harrison actually had exactly two Top 40 singles, ten years apart -- "Kansas City" (#1 in 1959) and "Let's Work Together (Part 1)" (#32 in 1969.) Good for him!

Mr. Mister: Kyrie, Broken Wings

...and "Is It Love"

Two that I thought of immediately (from a North American perspective) are Chumbawamba and Right Said Fred. I'm technically wrong on one, accidentally right on the other. "Amnesia," the follow-up to "Tubthumping," only made it to #101 according to some site called "Lost in the '90s" (though to #19 on Billboard's Top 40 Mainstream Chart). Right Said Fred did have exactly two hits, but the second was "Don't Talk, Just Kiss," not "Deeply Dippy" as I had in mind. The reason I thought of them in the first place was that in both cases, I liked the famous hit but liked "Amnesia" and "Deeply Dippy" even more.

I haven't heard "Wishing" but I kinda love "Space age love song" which I assumed was their 2nd most popular song ...

Also BOC "Godzilla" still gets radio spins in 2010

Wallflowers - One Headlight, Heroes
Eagle Eye Cherry - Save Tonight, Falling In Love Again
Semisonic - Secret Smile, Closing Tome

fischer-z - so long, the perfect day

altho they were hits in australia only

dj unk

Pretty o_0 at anyone suggesting Kylie is a fucking 2 hit wonder.

2 many hit wonder more like it amirite.

in the US, she pretty much is!

She's had about 2 dozen hits everywhere else in the universe afaik

Panjabi MC is a bit of a two hit wonder SO FAR

― stevem (blueski), Friday, November 14, 2003 7:59 AM (6 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

looool

ha

two hits are SEVERAL YEARS APART, not to mention...TOP 15, AT LEAST. Which is necessity for REAL two-hit wonders.

Okay, but Dwight Twilley still belongs here, I just realized. Two hits, and two hits only, both peaking as close to Top 15 as you can get without getting there: "I'm On Fire" #16 pop in 1975, then "Girls" #16 pop in 1984. Amazed nobody's mentioned him here before.

http://www.onehitwondercenter.com/two/twohit_tz.htm

Rick Astley, "Never Gonna Give You Up", "Together Forever", at least in the USA.

Nope -- three other top tens! "It Would Take a Strong, Strong Man," "She Wants to Dance With Me" and the DOA "Cry For Help," which got a lot of airplay in spring '91. "Giving Up on Love" barely made the top 40.

Never realized til now that Janis Ian actually had a third Hot 100 hit, six years after "At Seventeen" -- "Under The Covers," which apparently got to #71 in 1981. Not quite a real hit (also not very good), but it's still cool how she hit the Hot 100 exactly once each in three different decades.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIEfjAHfV5c

I guess her Moroder collab wasn't a hit, but it should have been, as it's awesome!

Apparently Tiffany had two other Top 10 hits after "I Think We're Alone Now" and "Could've Been", which both went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Pretty sure most people only remember "I Think We're Alone Now" though.

I sure remember "I Saw Him Standing There"! That was her best.

Very close, at least, depending on the definition: The r&b band Skyy. Exactly two Hot 100 hits: "Call Me" #26 1982; "Real Love" #47 1990. Eight years apart.

If we're talking about world-wide hits, I think Evelyn "Champagne" King would qualify with "Shame" and "Love Come Down". Besides them, she had a couple of minor charting songs in the US ("I Don't Know If It's Right" reached #23 and "I'm in Love" #40), but I'm pretty sure the big two hits are the only ones people remember now.

Didn't Evelyn King do "I'm In Love" as well?

oh sorry, read that wrong.

although I'm In Love is the only song I recognise by her.

For right now, that "Good Time" song has a chance to generate 2 one hit wonders! Obviously, too early to tell for both Owl City and CRJ but that's the way it is to date.

er, 2 two hit wonders, of course.

Andrew W.K. - "Party Hard" and "She is Beautiful"
Dschingis Khan - "Moskau" and "Dschingis Khan"
Fatboy Slim - "The Rockefeller Skank" and "Praise You"; I know he's had other singles but they weren't big like those two were they?
Gary Numan - "Are Friends Electric?", "Cards"
The Presidents of the United States of America - "Lump" and "Peaches"
Soul Coughing - "Circles and "Super Bon Bon"

"Are Friends Electric?" was by Tubeway Army

"Cards" was by Snap

Tubeway Army and Numan were basically one and the same though. The same band played on TPP didn't they?

In popular memory, though not chart performance, Fine Young Cannibals qualify in the US. I see from Wikipedia that "Don't Look Back" hit #11, but I don't think I've ever heard it whereas "She Drives Me Crazy" and "Good Thing" are both pretty universal.

oh def. "Don't Look Back" is so awesome though. I'd trade "Good Thing" for it any day.

I thought Crazy Frog would be this, but he's had at least three hits.

Everyhit says five.

Does anyone remember "We are the Champions" ? I don't!

I think it went ring ding ding ding ring ding ding

five hit singles, one top ten album, another lower down and that difficult third album!

Fatboy Slim - "The Rockefeller Skank" and "Praise You"; I know he's had other singles but they weren't big like those two were they?

"Right Here, Right Now" was just as big a hit as the other two, and still gets played today. I think it's pretty popular in sports events, for example, because of the anthemic sound; it was one of the two songs he played in his London Olympics performance. ("Gangster Trippin'" was also a big hit after "Rockafeller Skank", but that one seems to get less play these days.)

Also, before Fatboy Slim Norman Cook had already had two hits under other pseudonyms: "Dub Be Good to Me" (#1 on the UK singles chart), and "Magic Carpet Ride" (#24).

Fatboy Slim has a lot more well-known songs in the UK than just those two.

In popular memory, though not chart performance, Fine Young Cannibals qualify in the US. I see from Wikipedia that "Don't Look Back" hit #11, but I don't think I've ever heard it whereas "She Drives Me Crazy" and "Good Thing" are both pretty universal.

― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Monday, 22 October 2012 16:24 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No Johnny Come Home?

Also, before Fatboy Slim Norman Cook had already had two hits under other pseudonyms: "Dub Be Good to Me" (#1 on the UK singles chart), and "Magic Carpet Ride" (#24).

he had another #1 in 1986 too yo

had no idea about "Right Here, Right Now", kinda thought that had become famous after the fact - as for "Gangster Trippin" I know the video played quite a bit here but I don't think anyone recognizes it now

No Johnny Come Home?

Not a hit in the US (#76).

in the UK, "Rockafeller Skank" was the lowest-charting single off of You've Come A Long Way, Baby (of those that made the charts; one didn't)

also because I am old, I always default to "Everybody Needs a 303" and "Going Out Of My Head" as the go-to FS singles even though they weren't as massive

Also, FBS remixes like Brimful Of Asha and Body Movin' charted on their own.

Yeah no way FBS is a 2 hit wonder.

his "Renegade Master" remix charted too, right?

I can't remember gangster tripping at all

maybe not in UK. in US I don't think anyone remembers much outside those two unless you count stuff like "Brimful of Asha".

I like "Gangster Trippin'" a LOT more than "Rockafeller Skank"