List of one-hit wonders on the UK Singles Chart
This is a list of artists who have achieved one number-one hit on the UK Singles Chart and no other entry whatsoever on the chart (top 75). The list uses the strict The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles definition of "one-hit wonder", a term also commonly used more loosely to refer to any act known primarily for one major hit.
Methodology
A hit is attributed to the main artist given credit. If a single is released by two artists with the conjunction 'and' or 'versus' then both artists have equal billing (e.g. Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg) and are both counted as having a number one (in this case "Je t'aime... moi non plus") whereas if the conjunction between two artists is 'featuring' or 'with' (or similar) then the first artist is considered the main artist for that hit, with the other artist listed being given a lesser billing (traditionally in these cases they would be additional vocalists or contributing instrumentalists, although in the 21st century it became common for the lead vocalist to be a 'featured' artist). For reasons of clarity (and brevity), the lower billed artists are not considered a one-hit wonder here even if it is their only hit.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a sovereign state in the European Union. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, it includes the island of "Great Britain" (a term also applied loosely to refer to the whole country), the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands.Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to its east, the English Channel to its south and the Celtic Sea to its south-southwest. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of 93,800 square miles (243,000 km2), the UK is the 80th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also is the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 64.5 million inhabitants.
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. Its capital city is London, an important global city and financial centre with an urban population of 10,310,000, the fourth-largest in Europe and second-largest in the European Union. The current monarch—since 6 February 1952—is Queen Elizabeth II. The UK consists of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The latter three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast, respectively. The nearby Isle of Man, Bailiwick of Guernsey and Bailiwick of Jersey are not part of the United Kingdom, being Crown dependencies with the British Government responsible for defence and international representation.
One-hit wonder
The term one-hit wonder is most often used to describe music performers with only one top-40 hit single that overshadows their other work.
However, the term is used as well to describe other, related phenomena such as a software company which only has one widely successful release, or for an athlete, known for only one major career event.
Music industry
Music journalist Wayne Jancik, whose book, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, published in 1997 and covering the period from the start of the rock and roll era in 1955 to 1992, defines a one-hit wonder objectively as "an act that has won a position on [the] national, pop, Top 40 just once."
Jancik's The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, because of the publisher's limitation on size, only includes the top twenty One-Hit Wonders, or roughly half of the one-hit wonders that made the Top 40 from 1955 through 1992, and (because it was officially licensed by Billboard magazine) used the Billboard Hot 100 as its reference chart. The author has published a website "One-Hit Wonders," The Book, which now includes all the one-hit wonders profiles he had originally written for the book.
One-Hit Wonders (VH1 TV series)
One-Hit Wonders is a television series airing on VH1 featuring unsuccessful pop stars and those who were unable to get a big break into popular music. The series began airing on July 29, 2002.
External links
One Hit Wonders (TV series)
One Hit Wonders is a television program aired on Canadian music video TV station MuchMusic. The show plays videos by artists widely considered one hit wonders, and also features a set of three hit videos that can be voted for online.
The theme song of One Hit Wonders is meant to resemble an old-school video game from the 1980s, a reference to once very popular, but now forgotten fads, hence the show's name.
