Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of one-hit wonders in Canada


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. Tone 13:54, 21 September 2018 (UTC)

List of one-hit wonders in Canada

 * – ( View AfD View log  Stats )

Unsourced list that's been subject to far, far too much point-of-view editwarring over whether certain artists were actually "one-hit wonders" or not. (There was one footnote present in the article until a few minutes ago, but I had to strip it because it completely failed to verify even the basic existence, let alone the actual "hitness", of the purported one-hit wonder it was footnoting.) The reason this is problematic, while the comparable list for the United States is not, is that the US list actually cites sources to properly support the "one-hit wonder" designation -- but this one doesn't, so instead it sees constant editwarring over personal opinions: Canadian Idol winners having their winner anthems discounted, for "not really their own song" reasons, so that their followup singles become their "only" hits; bands that had only one hit in Canada (e.g. Ultravox) being removed from the list on the basis of having had other hits outside of Canada; bands that have had several hits in Canada (e.g. Martha and the Muffins) being added to the list on the basis of having had only one major hit internationally; arguments about whether radio airplay of other non-charting singles negates one-hit status or not; one-off supergroup charity singles like the Haitian earthquake version of "Wavin' Flag" get warred over by people who disagree about whether it counts or not; and on, and so forth. And, in fact, not every song present in this list, even the ones that aren't getting editwarred over, is necessarily verifiable as having been a hit at all (Organized Rhyme's "Check the O.R.", frex, never charted at all in RPM, but only on the MuchMusic video countdown — which, while it supports notability under a criterion other than the charting one, is not Canada's hitmaking singles chart for the purposes of establishing somebody as a "one-hit wonder".) As in so many other areas, Canada doesn't automatically have to have one of these just because the US has one: the US has adequate sources to properly support one, while Canada does not. Bearcat (talk) 22:46, 14 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Albums and songs-related deletion discussions. North America1000 23:36, 14 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Lists-related deletion discussions. North America1000 23:36, 14 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Canada-related deletion discussions. North America1000 23:36, 14 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Popular culture-related deletion discussions. North America1000 23:36, 14 September 2018 (UTC)


 * Delete due to the lack of criteria as to what constitutes a one-hit wonder by Canadian standards and the lack of sourcing. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 00:20, 16 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete. Without a clear inclusion criteria, the article serves as an arena for edit warring. Binksternet (talk) 01:09, 16 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Weak Keep the problems mentioned above are valid concerns, but this is a notable topic; note this CBC Music article. power~enwiki ( π, ν ) 21:00, 17 September 2018 (UTC)
 * One listicle with just 25 songs on it is not enough sourcing to support something like this all by itself. Especially given that it's wrong about some of its own entries: Carly Rae Jepsen never replicated the international ubiquity of "Call Me Maybe", for example, but she has had six other songs make the Top 40 in Canada and is thus not a one-hit wonder here; Organized Rhyme and TBTBT appear in the list even though their named "hits" never actually cracked any Top 40 chart at all; while "Eyes of a Stranger" was undeniably Payolas' biggest and most enduring "still gets played on Jack FM today" hit, it was neither their only Top 40 hit (they had five others) nor even their only Top 10 hit; Bedouin Soundclash had two Top 10 hits at CHR, not just "When the Night Feels My Song", and four other songs that charted at modern rock even if they didn't cross over to pop; the only way "Bye Bye Mon Cowboy" could ever be considered Mitsou's only hit is if you deprecate the Quebec palmarès and count only Anglo-Canadian crossover as making a song a hit (and even then, "Dis-moi dis-moi" still puts the lie to "her only anglo crossover hit" anyway); and on and so forth. And besides that, there's still no adequate source support for any other song in this list besides whatever portion of that listicle isn't wrong. So no, that single source isn't good enough to save this all by itself. Bearcat (talk) 16:52, 18 September 2018 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.