History Main / TwoHitWonder

* '''Music/VanillaIce''': After "Ice Ice Baby" became the first rap single to top the Hot 100, Vanilla Ice sent a remake of "Play That Funky Music" into the Top 5. Despite the success, "Play That Funky Music" is almost completely forgotten today, and "Ice Ice Baby" is usually one of the first songs people associate with the tag "one-hit wonder."

* '''Melanie''': Another folk-pop songstress, she had a hit in 1970 with "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)," featuring the Edwin Hawkins singers, and topped the charts on her own in 1971 with "Brand New Key." She hasn't hit the top 30 since, but had four other hits in the Top 40.

* '''Robbie Dupree''': His 1980 top 10 hit "Steal Away" and its top 20 follow-up "Hot Rod Hearts" are the only songs fans remember today.
** Dupree would make a brief comeback in 1987 when he recorded the song "Girls in Cars" for the WWF's music album, "Piledriver II: The Wrestling Album," and an instrumental version was used as the entrance theme for the the tag team Strike Force (Wrestling/TitoSantana and Wrestling/RickMartel), but the song failed to chart on the Hot 100.

* '''The [=McCoys=]''': In 1965, this up-and-coming rock band from Indiana topped the charts with their first entry "Hang On Sloopy." The follow-up "Fever," a cover of the Peggy Lee classic that sounds almost exactly like "Sloopy", was their only other big hit.
* '''The Mindbenders''': Fronted by Wayne Fontana, this Manchester-based pop-rock band topped the charts in 1965 with "Game of Love." Exactly one year later, the Mindbenders, sans Fontana, reached the number-two spot with "A Groovy Kind of Love." Eric Stewart, the band's guitarist, would later have success with 10cc.

* '''Sophie B. Hawkins''': American pop-rock singer Hawkins had two top 10 hits: 1992's "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover" and 1995's "As I Lay Me Down." Nothing else ever hit the top 40 for her.
* '''Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds''': A soft-rock trio from the early- to mid-1970s, who hit No. 4 on the Hot 100 in July 1971 with "Don't Pull Your Love." After several years of failing to hit the top 40, they released the single "Fallin' in Love" in June 1975 (Ironically, Reynolds had left by that time), and two months later had their only No. 1 hit. While they had another top 25 hit after that, only those first two songs are remembered today.

* '''Tracy Chapman''': Adult-alternative's other big female pioneer also saw mainstream success with two songs. First, "Fast Car" became a surprise hit in the summer of 1988. Then, for eight years, she remained a one-hit wonder. However, in 1996, her song "Give Me One Reason" became an even bigger hit than "Fast Car" was. That was the last time Tracy Chapman ever had pop radio success.
* '''Paula Cole''': The Grammy winner for Best New Artist burst onto the scene in 1997 with "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?" which hit No. 8. The follow up "I Don't Want To Wait" just missed the top 10, but is probably better remembered today thanks to ''Series/DawsonsCreek.''
* '''Naked Eyes''': This duo's 1983 cover of the beloved Burt Bacharach/Hal David standard "Always Something There to Remind Me" set the blueprint for their smooth brand of weepy synthpop. Unfortunately, the competition for running-mascara hits was pretty stiff in 1983, and after barely missing the Top Ten with the more maudlin original "Promises, Promises," the Brits sulked off into eternity.
* '''Rupert Holmes''': After "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" topped the charts in 1979, he followed it up with a second top 10 hit, "Him." No more hits followed.
* '''Tara Kemp''': This pop singer from California had a No. 3 hit with "Hold You Tight" and a No. 7 hit with "Piece Of My Heart," but after one follow up barely made it onto the Hot 100, her career was over in a flash.
* '''Neneh Cherry''': Swedish pop-rap musician Cherry had two major 1989 hits in the U.S., "Buffalo Stance" and "Kisses on the Wind," the latter of which became a minor hit for Lumidee in 2007. She's had significantly more success in other countries.

* '''Blaque''': A girl-group similar to TLC, Blaque had a pair of hits in 1999 and 2000, the R. Kelly-penned "808" and the JC Chasez collaboration "Bring It All To Me."
* '''Maxine Nightingale''': She is yet another example of an artist whose two hits are greatly spaced apart. Her first hit, the 1976 No. 2 "Right Back Where We Started From" has been used in countless movies, while the slow ballad "Lead Me On" was written by future one-hit wonder David Lasley.

* '''Bad English''': The John Waite-fronted supergroup of the late '80s had two top 10 hits with the power ballads "When I See You Smile" and "Price of Love."
** Waite's first group, The Babys, also had only two successful songs: "Isn't It Time" and "Every Time I Think of You," both of which hit No. 13 on the Hot 100.
* '''The Motels''': Fronted by Martha Davis, the California-based rock band had two No. 9 hits on the Hot 100, 1982's "Only The Lonely" and 1983's "Suddenly Last Summer."

* '''The Power Station''': Robert Palmer collaborated with John and Andy Taylor from Duran Duran and Chic's Tony Thompson to score two big hits in 1985, the dance-rock original "Some Like It Hot" and a cove of T. Rex's "Bang A Gong." They didn't have any more hits afterwards, but it did lead to Robert Palmer's career explosion the following year.

* '''The Troggs''': In 1966, this relatively unknown garage-rock band topped the U.S. charts on their first try with the now-classic "Wild Thing," Nearly two years later, they would have their only other major hit there with the softer "Love Is All Around." It would later become a hit for Scottish band Wet Wet Wet in 1994, spending 15 weeks on top of the British charts.

** Dupree would make a brief comeback in 1987 when he recorded the song "Girls in Cars" for the WWF's music album, "Piledriver II: The Wrestling Album," and an instrumental version was used as the entrance theme for the the tag team Strike Force (Tito Santana and Rick Martel), but the song failed to chart on the Hot 100.

* '''Tammy Wynette''': When the mainstream Hot 100 charts are considered, she's placed two top 20 hits and never had anything else come close to the top 40: Her iconic "Stand By Your Man" in 1968, and with the KLF "Justified and Ancient" in 1991. Of course, on the country chart, she's had dozens of hits.

* '''Sisqo''': Dru Hill's frontman is another interesting case, in that he had two big hits but is usually considered a one-hit wonder, ''for the song that had the lower chart peak!'' His signature "Thong Song" hit number 3, while his follow up "Incomplete" is almost completely forgotten despite the fact that it ''topped the Billboard Hot 100.''

* '''Paula Cole''': The Grammy winner for Best New Artist burst onto the scene in 1997 with "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?" which hit No. 8. The follow up "I Don't Want To Wait" just missed the top 10, but is better remembered today thanks to "Series/DawsonsCreek."

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* '''Sugarloaf": The Denver-based pop-rock band had a major hit in 1970 with "Green-Eyed Lady" before completely vanishing off the face of this earth. However, five years later, they made an unexpected comeback with "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You," which proved to be another top 10 hit.
* '''The McCoys''': In 1965, this up-and-coming rock band from Indiana topped the charts with their first entry "Hang On Sloopy." The follow-up "Fever," a cover of the Peggy Lee classic that sounds almost exactly like "Sloopy", was their only other big hit.

* '''Robbie Dupree''': His 1980 top 10 hits "Steal Away" and "Hot Rod Hearts" are the only songs fans remember today.

* '''Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds''': A soft-rock trio from the early- to mid-1970s, who hit No. 4 on the Hot 100 in July 1971 with "Don't Pull Your Love." After several years of failing to hit the top 40, they released the single "Fallin' in Love" in June 1975, and two months later had their only No. 1 hit. While they had another top 25 hit after that, only those first two songs are remembered today.

* ''''Jimmy Jones''': The Alabama-born Jones had a massive hit in 1960 with "Handy Man", which hit No. 2 on the Hot 100. He followed up with "Good Timin'" which made it to No. 3. However, after that, his career went nowhere and he faded back into obscurity.

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* '''Steve Holy''': He's had a bunch of songs reach the top 30 of the Hot Country Singles chart -- but only two that are truly hits. Those two are his No. 1 hits: the incredibly sexy ballad "Good Morning Beautiful" (2002, a five-week No. 1) and the good-timin' "Brand New Girlfriend (2006, one week). Both those songs get a good amount of recurrent airplay today; his other songs are completely forgotten.

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* '''Janis Ian''': In 1967, this folk-styled singer-songwriter recorded a hit called "Society's Child," and had a No. 14 hit with it. Nothing more seemed to come up for the New York City native, and she was even featured in a 1973 ''AmericanTop40'' special on [[OneHitWonder one-hit wonders]]. Ian would be one of the only artists featured in that special to have a follow-up hit, as it turned out ... and it came in 1975 with her memorable song about a shunned teen-ager who could only watch (she wasn't even so much as [[ThrowTheDogABone thrown a bone]]) as all her popular classmates got all the attention and accolades. "At Seventeen" would reach the top 10 of the Hot 100 and be a No. 1 adult contemporary hit, and even landed her the first episode of ''SaturdayNightLive''. Ian had a couple more top 25 AC chart hits, but never did reach even the mainstream Hot 100's top 40 again.
* '''Robbie Dupree''': His 1980 top 10 hits "Steal Away" and "Hot Rod Hearts" are the only songs fans remember today.
** Dupree would make a brief comeback in 1987 when he recorded the song "Girls in Cars" for the WWF's music album, "Piledriver II: The Wrestling Album," and an instrumental version was used as the entrance theme for the the tag team Strike Force (Tito Santana and Rick Martel), but the song failed to chart on the Hot 100.
* '''Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds''': A soft-rock trio from the early- to mid-1970s, who hit No. 4 on the Hot 100 in July 1971 with "Don't Pull Your Love." After several years of failing to hit the top 40, they released the single "Fallin' in Love" in June 1975, and two months later had their only No. 1 hit. While they had another top 25 hit after that, only those first two songs are remembered today.
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* '''The Manhattans''': While they have had considerably more success commercially on the Hot R&B Singles charts, this Jersey City, N.J.-based group has but two major hits on the Hot 100, and both are staples of classic hits/oldies radio: "Kiss and Say Goodbye" (a No. 1 hit from 1976) and "Shining Star," a top 5 hit from the summer of 1980.
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* '''Lindsey Buckingham''': The lead guitarist and male lead singer for the iconic Anglo-American blues-rock band FleetwoodMac, Buckingham has attempted a solo career. His only two notable solo efforts, at least from a Hot 100 standpoint, are "Trouble" (1982, his only top 10 hit) and "Go Insane" (a top 25 hit from 1984, although this was a top 5 hit on the Mainstream Rock charts).
** That said, a third single – "Holiday Road" – is well known, despite its low charting position (No. 82 on the Hot 100); it can be heard during the opening of the classic comedy film ''NationalLampoonsVacation'' starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo.
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!!Non-music examples:

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* '''Johnny Carson''': But oh, what hits they were – his game show stint, "Who Do You Trust" and, of course, "TheTonightShow."
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!!Fictional Examples:

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* '''Janis Ian''': In 1967, this folk-styled singer-songwriter recorded a hit called "Society's Child," and had a No. 14 hit with it. Nothing more seemed to come up for the New York City native, and she was even featured in a 1973 ''AmericanTop40'' special on [[OneHitWonder one-hit wonders]]. Ian would be one of the only artists featured in that special to have a follow-up hit, as it turned out ... and it came in 1975 with her memorable song about a shunned teen-ager who could only watch as all her popular classmates got the attention and accolades. "At Seventeen" would reach the top 10 of the Hot 100 and be a No. 1 adult contemporary hit, and even landed her the first episode of ''SaturdayNightLive''. Ian had a couple more top 25 AC chart hits, but never did reach even the mainstream Hot 100's top 40 again.

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For every artist that's a OneHitWonder – that is, an artist that is primarily known for one successful song and are never truly heard from again – there is the '''Two Hit Wonder'''. Those are the artists that have one really big single, and another song, often but not always the follow-up, is just as big, perhaps even a bigger smash hit as the first successful song. But like the one-hit wonder, success is fleeting and the artist is unable to keep up the momentum.

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