One-hit wonder

In the music industry, a one-hit wonder is an artist who is generally known for only one hit single.

Trivia

• The phenomenon of one-hit wonders was celebrated in Tom Hanks's film That Thing You Do!, which featured a fictional 1960s band called The Wonders that broke up shortly after their one and only hit single. Ironically, while the movie was in theaters, the soundtrack hit #26 on the charts, recorded under the name "The Wonders." "The Wonders" never made it to the charts again, so they were, essentially, both a real and fictitious one-hit wonder band.
• In a stand-up routine on the Dr. Demento basement tapes, comedian Rob Paravonian humorously noted that Johann Pachelbel was the original one-hit wonder. See Pachelbel's canon.
• Norman Greenbaum is a double one-hit wonder. In 1968, under the name Dr. West's Medicine Show and Junk Band, he had a semi-hit with the novelty song "The Eggplant That Ate Chicago" and, two years later, score a hit under his own name "Spirit In The Sky". Ironically, another group, Doctor and the Medics, became a one-hit wonder with their version of "Spirit In The Sky" in 1986. British television stars The Kumars also became one-hit wonders when they reached no.1 with Gareth Gates with the same song in 2003.