Talk:List of 1970s one-hit wonders in the United States

Untitled
I believe Mike Nesmith had a second hit "Silver Moon". The song charted #42 Billboard/#28 Cashbox in 1970. —Preceding unsigned comment added by AldousHuxleysCat (talk • contribs) 00:25, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

I don't think T. Rex belongs on this list (due to "Telegram Sam"

And there are artists who I would not consider one hit wonders, such as Merle Haggard. If he's going to be on here, Led Zeppelin (who only had one hit single in the U.S., "The Immigrant Song" - it may not have even made the top 40) should be on here too.

T. Rex is techincally a one-hit wonder, as is Merle Haggard. Led Zeppelin are not in any way, though. They had 12 Top 40 albums and 6 Top 40 singles in the US. Carolaman 03:16, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Unchecked list?
I don't know about the US, but over here in Europe these are *not* one-hit wonders: Lou Reed, Roxy Music, Randy Newman, Boney M, ... Is the list unchecked? Btw, I understand I should read the title not as "1970 one hit wonders"??, but "One-hit-wonders with their hit in 1970".

This is a list of one-hit wonders in the US, not Europe. Note that Lou Reed isn't a one-hit wonder here in the US, but the rest are. Surprising, but true. Carolaman 19:02, 15 October 2005 (UTC)

Lou Reed, believe it or not IS a One-Hit Wonder here in the states. The Velvets never had any Top 100 hits at all in their lifespan (shame too considering they are one of the most influential bands of all time). This list should read "List of 1970's One Hit Wonders" because it covers the entire decade of years 1970-1979, not just 1970. Doc Strange 12:30, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Chevy Van
That song is on this list. I'm not stupid or lazy but I'm wondering if someone could start an article for me and I'll do some improvements?--HistoricalPisces 19:07, 5 September 2005 (UTC)
 * I started Chevy Van and I need some help in categorizing it.--HistoricalPisces 17:36, 29 September 2005 (UTC)

Dan Fogelberg?
Are you crazy? Anyone who puts Dan Fogelberg on a one-hit wonders list wasn't around in the 70s. Or the 80s, for that matter.

He isn't, and it has been noted. Carolaman 19:03, 15 October 2005 (UTC)

Warren Zevon
Removed Warren Zevon... had 3 albums that were top 40 album sales (Excitable Boy, Bad Luck In Dancing School, The Wind)

Kraftwerk & Mike Oldfield
I removed Kraftwerk from the list. They may not have sold that many records in the US but they still are one of the most influential electronic acts ever, on both sides of the pacific. I don't know any One-hit wonder who could claim that. ;)

Does Mike Oldfield belong to this list? Like Kraftwerk he's a very influential artist, despite not selling much records in the US. Velour 17:40, 22 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Well, Kraftwerk are STILL one hit wonders in the US as only one of their songs ("Autobahn" - a ridiculously shortened version of it anyways) hit the Top 40. In similar lists, there is a seperate list for this. I've added italics around such artists as Ted Nugent, Patti Smith and Kraftwerk who are "artists with one charting hit who are not one-hit wonders", also known as the "Grateful Dead Syndrome" (popular bands and musical artists who have become very influential through SEVERAL albums or hits on genre specific charts or many hits abroad, but only have one top 40 single) Doc Strange 21:13, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Novelty Records (Convention '72 by The Delegates)
A Dickie-Goodman-like "break-in" record called "Convention '72" made it to number eight in November of 1972; it was done by a Tampa DJ named Bob DeCarlo and two others. It's not listed here; is this an oversite, or is there an aversion to including novelty records? (I see Disco Duck, but then again that's actually musical.) Free-world 18:40, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Sex Pistols
where should we put the Sex Pistols, they only had one entry into the US Top 100 - 1977's "Pretty Vacant" only hit #93. Doc Strange 17:05, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

One hit wonders are either one hit wonders, or they aren't.
There's a section called "One Hit Wonders Who Don't Fit The Rule." Huh? A good example is Bo Donaldson and the Haywoods, who, in addition to "Billy Don't Be a Hero", also had, in the Top 40, "Who Do You Think You Are," which was the follow-up to to "Billy Don't Be a Hero", and some other song, which hit number 39, which is, of course, still in the Top 40.

How ould a song that was in the top 20 ("Who Do You Think You Are") with a very un-shabby number 15 on the Billboard charts, make the artist a "one-hit-wonder," whether it fits "the rule" or not? By the way, what IS this so-called "rule?"

Plus, one-hit wonders include or not include, for that matter, someone such as Warren Zevon based on how many albums he sold or didn't sell? The term "one hit wonder" is pertaining to top 40 radio and not album sales. So album sales are irrelevent.

One more thing. How can a country superstar, one of the most successful country singers in history such as Merle Haggard, even be THOUGHT to be a one-hit wonder??? It's silly. It's like saying that, because he's a country star, then he doesn't exist. Just ridiculous. In my opinion, country stars, and stars from other charts as well, should never be put on ANY "one-hit wonder" chart. Ringo Starr went high (singing along with Buck Owens) on a song that went very high in the country charts, but Ringo is not considered by country fans as a "one-hit-wonder." Same with Dean Martin. It's just plain ridiculous to even CONSIDER Merle Haggard to be a "one-hit-wonder" just because he "made" the pop charts only once or even twice. Just my opinion! Davemarshall70 01:08, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

Can someone other than me do all this formatting crap?
Just wondering... BlueLotas 00:07, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Candi Staton???
referenced for 28 August 1970. What about Young Hearts Run free? That HAD to have been a Top 20 at least in the USA (as well as several European countries where it went Top 5 in 1976). Plutonium27 22:09, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes..it was a hit. I removed her. :) ۝ ۞ ░ 04:47, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Removed Derek and the Dominos Layla
I removed this as the band was comprised of Eric Clapton, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, and Duane Allman who all obviously had many big hits.--10stone5 20:56, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

I would object to this removal -- just because the lead singer or guitarist or other persons in a band had later success as a solo act or in other bands, doesn't mean that THIS particular band isn't a one-hit wonder. If Paul McCartney stared a band called "Wonderful" and it had one hit single, that's a one-hit wonder (despite the famous participant). If Rob Halford's efforts called "Fight" or "Two" had generated hit singles -- same situation, despite his body of work. I would be open to the idea that such "bands fronted by famous people with lots of other success" might merit a separate category of explanation, however. Chesspride 66.19.84.2 (talk) 11:33, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

By that logic -- FREE (with their song "All Right Now") should be removed because Paul Rodgers became famous for Bad Company. Consider the impact on the entire list for such examples. Better to leave such things be. Chesspride 66.19.84.2 (talk) 11:34, 25 February 2015 (UTC)


 * The fact is, there are a lot of notes to get specific about many of these situations. This article has the notes.  I created a matching set of notes for List of 1980s one-hit wonders in the United States and they were removed as superfluous.  The above comment from 2007 shows these are longstanding issues that come up and need explanation. Trackinfo (talk) 16:55, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

Removed Emerson, Lake and Palmer From The Beginning
Removed this as ELP was a big hit maker in the 70s with songs like Lucky Man, Karn Evil 9 Welcome Back My Friends, Trilogy, Jerusalem, Brain Salad Surgery. Its just they were hits on AOR stations since their songs were too long to play on top 40.--10stone5 21:09, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
 * That's STILL only one song on the Billboard Hot 100. You don't understand the idea behind One Hit Wonders Doc StrangeMailbox Logbook 15:45, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

Finished
Okay, every artist on this list now has an entry unless not properly disambiguated. The one exception is Street People; there are two groups called Street People - one is the 1970 group, about which I can find virtually no information, and the other is a disco group who had hits between '74 and '77. Both deserve their own entry but for the sake of avoiding confusion I'm not writing either right now. Chubbles 09:12, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

Norman Greenbaum
Even though nobody remembers it, he technically had another song in the top 40 that reahced 20 called Canned Ham. Due to the odd criteria of the list, he shouldn't be included. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.18.144.131 (talk) 23:39, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Some questions
I thought Sugarhill Gang only had one top 40 hit. Also, ELP need to be added back to the list.75.142.54.211 (talk) 05:39, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

Disambiguation Needed
This heading is for links requiring disambiguation and will be edited as more are found.

Blue Haze points to the Miles Davis album.Dan ad nauseam (talk) 22:21, 25 December 2009 (UTC)

Recent edits
Are these recent changed to the list of 1970's one-hit wonders in the United States justified? I don't see any of those songs on the U.S. charts. WadeSimMiser (talk) 23:26, 9 July 2013 (UTC)

Mac and Katie Kissoon
i see two entries for this artist. That makes two hits…which, by the exceedingly technical criteria of this list, means they're gone. 2fs (talk) 16:17, 19 December 2013 (UTC)

Looking Glass
How about Looking Glass with their song Brandy? 2001:1890:1263:AFD:F81B:80A8:EDBD:853E (talk) 17:08, 25 May 2015 (UTC)
 * The also scored Top 40 with Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne and thus are not eligible. Trackinfo (talk) 03:01, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

Do You Want to Make Music Tonight?
I don't see Labelle on the list, & their discog has them (under that name) with only the one hit, "Lady Marmalade". TREKphiler  any time you're ready, Uhura  21:30, 13 September 2015 (UTC)

Elton John?
Why is Elton John on here as a "one-hit wonder" with the song "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"? I know it makes sense with Kiki Dee, but why Elton John? Elton scored multiple hits within the top 40 and is a best-selling artist. Is the reason that he is on here because of the duet (even though he had another duet with George Michael that was a Number One in both the US and the UK, which doesn't make sense now that I mentioned this) or am I missing something? --73.240.105.185 (talk) 14:07, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Corrected this so it now only lists her in the table and has a note that he was also on the song.72.68.7.45 (talk) 07:53, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

Inclusion criteria -- see 2010s discussion
Please take part in the discussion about inclusion criteria which is underway at Talk:List of 2010s one-hit wonders in the United States. Thank you. Binksternet (talk) 04:14, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

One-hit wonder inclusion criteria
If you're interested in the topic, your comments would be appreciated at Talk:List of 2010s one-hit wonders in the United States where there is a discussion with sweeping ramifications about whether the "one-hit wonder" articles will be based on charting songs or on artists described in sources. Binksternet (talk) 15:27, 18 October 2017 (UTC)