🎵 50 One-Hit Wonders Still Worth Listening To

50 One-Hit Wonders

#	Artist	One-Hit Wonder	Year
1	The Knack	“My Sharona”	1979
2	Dexys Midnight Runners	“Come On Eileen”	1982
3	A-ha	“Take On Me”	1985
4	Men Without Hats	“The Safety Dance”	1982
5	Soft Cell	“Tainted Love”	1981
6	The Vapors	“Turning Japanese”	1980
7	Nena	“99 Luftballons”	1983
8	Toni Basil	“Mickey”	1981
9	Thomas Dolby	“She Blinded Me with Science”	1982
10	The Buggles	“Video Killed the Radio Star”	1979
11	Modern English	“I Melt with You”	1982
12	The Weather Girls	“It’s Raining Men”	1982
13	The Proclaimers	“I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”	1988
14	Falco	“Rock Me Amadeus”	1985
15	Baltimora	“Tarzan Boy”	1985
16	Murray Head	“One Night in Bangkok”	1984
17	Animotion	“Obsession”	1984
18	Nu Shooz	“I Can’t Wait”	1985
19	The Waitresses	“I Know What Boys Like”	1982
20	Wall of Voodoo	“Mexican Radio”	1982
21	The J. Geils Band	“Centerfold”	1981
22	Quarterflash	“Harden My Heart”	1981
23	The Escape Club	“Wild, Wild West”	1988
24	Til Tuesday	“Voices Carry”	1985
25	The Waitresses	“Christmas Wrapping”	1981
26	Eddy Grant	“Electric Avenue”	1982
27	Rockwell	“Somebody’s Watching Me”	1984
28	Looking Glass	“Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)”	1972
29	Blue Swede	“Hooked on a Feeling”	1974
30	Norman Greenbaum	“Spirit in the Sky”	1969
31	The Champs	“Tequila”	1958
32	The Surfaris	“Wipe Out”	1963
33	The Tornados	“Telstar”	1962
34	The Edgar Winter Group	“Frankenstein”	1972
35	The Buoys	“Timothy”	1971
36	M	“Pop Muzik”	1979
37	The Vapors	“Turning Japanese”	1980
38	The Romantics	“What I Like About You”	1979
39	The Outfield	“Your Love”	1985
40	The B-52’s	“Love Shack”	1989
41	The Human League	“Don’t You Want Me”	1981
42	Men at Work	“Who Can It Be Now?”	1981
43	Peter Schilling	“Major Tom (Coming Home)”	1983
44	Animotion	“Obsession”	1984
45	Dead or Alive	“You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)”	1984
46	Kajagoogoo	“Too Shy”	1983
47	The Vapors	“Turning Japanese”	1980
48	Harold Faltermeyer	“Axel F”	1984
49	Sigue Sigue Sputnik	“Love Missile F1-11”	1986
50	The Rembrandts	“I’ll Be There for You”	1995

A few I would put at the very top for a “still sounds great today” playlist:
“Take On Me,” “My Sharona,” “Come On Eileen,” “Tainted Love,” “Brandy,” “Spirit in the Sky,” “Harden My Heart,” “I Melt with You,” “99 Luftballons,” and “Your Love.”

Note: “one-hit wonder” is subjective. Some of these artists had additional hits in particular countries, on other charts, or as part of a broader career, so the term is best understood here as “artists chiefly remembered for one major mainstream hit.”