100 Greatest One Hit Wonders Of The 80s: Read the List

VH1 is notorious for wrong information on their countdowns. Martika a one-hit wonder? Ummm, she hit the Top 10 with “Toy Soldiers” and “Love Thy Will be Done.” Will to Power? They had two Top 10 hits as well. Same with Information Society. And the countdown mentions how the lead singer of Red Rider hit the Top 10 in 1991. Actually, it was the summer of 1992. And some of these acts I don’t even consider as having even one hit. XTC? Really? Come on VH1, let’s be a little more professional with your research. Even Wikipedia is more accurate than you are.

Midnight Oil, Vixen, The Church, JJ Fad, Martika, and The Outfield should all be higher.

If Big Country doesn’t land in the Top 10, this list is bogus.

I agree with the previous comments that question the definition of “one-hit wonder.”

Vixen had two top 40 hits: “Edge Of A Broken Heart” and “Cryin’” — so they shouldn’t be on this list. Neneh Cherry had a second top 10 hit with “Kisses On The Wind.” So again, how did they define “one” hit?

Also, offhand I noticed a couple of songs that did not chart in the 1980s decade, but they somehow made this list: L.A. Guns’ “The Ballad Of Jayne” hit the Billboard charts in April 1990, so it shouldn’t be on an ’80s list. “Video Killed The Radio Star” is widely believed to be an ’80s song (because of the MTV launch in 1981), but it actually charted in 1979.

Appreciate the list, VH-1, but you need to narrow your definition of “one-hit wonder” and “1980s.”

I’m not sure what VH1′s formula is in determining what is a “One Hit Wonder”. Is it only top 10 hits or does it qualify if it’s in the top 40? In any case I agree that much of the information was off. Take Nu Shooz for instance, they had another hit “Point Of No Return” which reach #28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986.

I realize that VH1 is more concerned with D-celebrity love lives than music anymore but still you would think they could get something right.

Eliminate: Eddie Murphy, Don Johnson, LS Guns, Rappin Rodney, and Pac-man fever.

And just from the cut list: Falco, Katrina and the waves, Spandau Ballet, Young MC, and Scritti Politti.

Always helps to have people who lived through the 80′s when making a list like this.

I think part of the reason for the inclusion of many “two-hit wonders” is that there aren’t 100 one-hit wonders from the 80′s. A true “one hit wonder” is rare since the band’s follow up record usually generates enough interest to get it to crack the charts or (as in the case of some acts) they have a successful career in the UK with numerous hits. So putting together 100 for a TV show is going to be nearly impossible as is evidenced by some of their inclusions.

If Benny Mardones’s “Into the Night” doesn’t make this list, this has been a total waste! The song made the charts TWICE in the 80s (1980 and 1989)! No other single song has made the top 20 twice in the same decade! What an amazing love song it is….

What about Rumours by the timex social club!

It’s completely my opinion, but what about “Don’t you forget about me” by Simple Minds seemed like it should of been on the top 100?

Once again, VH1 takes a good idea for a show, then makes it into a suckfest. First of all, where did they get that Dr. Dorkenstein of a host. Also, there was no need for a bunch of unfunny so-called comedians with their inane and idiotic commentary. Especially those who look too young to have actually experienced the 80s.

Why do you people get so bent out of shape over a countdown list on VH1?

I have an exercise for you:

1) Stand up.
2) Walk to the nearest exit of the building you are in.
3) Go the f*ck outside

A decent list…although while “Come on Eileen” is a great 80′s song, I don’t know if it deserved #1. John Waite, The Outfield, or Modern English should’ve been #1 to me. And where’s Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over”? And Men At Work’s “Down Under”? Those song were big in the 80′s and that should’ve been in the top 10 at least if not #1. I was happy to see Big Country make the list…that’s pretty awesome ;-)

The people at VH1 are idiots. “Dear God” didn’t even chart and yet they consider that XTC’s only hit?

Or ‘Images of Heaven’ by The Metro…

It appears the vote for the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders was a joke.
From the voting site that didn’t work half the time right down to announcing the # 1 One Hit Wonder.
Where exactly, on that list, wss Benny Mardones? Oh yeah, that’s right, he wasn’t.
Benny was told he was disqualified because no one was able to obtain the original video for “Into The Night”. But then you folks at VH1 were aware of that from the beginning and requested a copy of his documentary and even approached a friend of mine for photos. Why would you do that if you had no intention of including him in the countdown?
There were a number of artists who did not have videos posted on the voting site. They, for whatever reason, managed to rank among the 100 artists. Why would that be?
I know for a fact that there were people all over the U.S. and Canada voting for Benny. I would be interested in knowing how many votes he received because I feel confident that he would have been #1. No contest.
Do you have any idea what you’ve done here?
This is ridiculous…but then Benny Mardones is not really just a “One Hit Wonder”. He is a lot more talented than that and deserves to be known as way more than that.
Benny Mardones deserves an apology, as do his fans who are fiercely loyal and dedicated and who LOVE him.
Why would you exclude Benny from the countdown? Why would you do such a cruel thing?
This is not acceptable and, I guarantee, this isn’t the last you’ll hear about this.
I, personally, am not letting it go…not now, not ever until an apology to Benny and his fans is made.
You also might want to consider doing an entire show about Benny. His life story is fascinating and “Into The Night” is the greatest song ever.
Benny Mardones is a classy guy and deserves respect.
But, as I told Benny – because he is a dear friend of mine – forget VH1 (but in stronger words), who cares what they think anyway? No one I know…anymore.

No offense, but judging by some of these posts, I can tell that VH-1 really dumbed-down this countdown for the casual music listener. Seriously, I don’t mean to sound patronizing, but some of you need to do more research.

For example, Crowded House had two top 10 singles: “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and “Something So Strong.” Men At Work had two No. 1 hits: “Down Under” and “Who Can It Be Now.” Rick Astley also had two No. 1s with “Never Gonna Give You Up” and “Together Forever.”

VH-1 was right to exclude acts like Rick Springfield and Simple Minds because while they might be remembered for a lone No. 1 single, each of these artists actually hit the top 10 again.

Now before some of you jump on me, OK, I get it. The only song most people remember from A-ha is “Take On Me,” even though they had a top 20 hit with “The Sun Always Shines On TV.” Katrina & The Waves is best known for “Walking On Sunshine,” even though they had a top 20 song with “That’s The Way” a few years later. And yes, I get that “Your Love” is probably the only song many people remember from The Outfield. However…

Check out _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980s_One-hit_wonders_in_the_United_States and then tell me you don’t think VH-1′s list is completely ridiculous. I mean, there are numerous ’80s songs that could’ve been placed on VH-1′s countdown, in place of several NON-one-hit wonders like Men Without Hats and Dead Or Alive.

One of the beauties of this list is the debate that it causes. All I know is I spent the last four nights watching this countdown, re-living the best decade ever, and singing along with the songs. I hope they put out a CD or DVD with all the songs and/or videos.

While the show is entertaining, it is definitely not a source of accurate info, like so many posters have said. Some groups even had 5 or 6 top 40′s and fans of those groups DO remember. Was this list picked from only what they remember, or only what those boring Clear Channel stations will play from the 80′s?

I also had loads of fun with the bad info with a Joel Whitburn book of Billboard Top 100 singles from 1955-99 in front of me. If I can do this simple research, certainly the producers of the show could do the same. Still better than “Rock of Love” though.

Sorry, ‘Sanctify Yourself’ was a top 15 hit, ‘Alive and Kicking’ was Simple Minds other top 5 hit.

But either way…

I love (I Ran) by flock of seagulls and I am only 9 I LOVE IT i wish flock of seagulls will write back .

I agree with Jack, no “Jesse’s Girl” by Rick Springfield, WTF? You have Don Johnson’s and Rodney Dangerfield instead. These were not big hits, not even close. Who came up with this list?

Rick Springfield had 5 top 10 hits, so everyone can quit complaining about ‘Jessie’s Girl’ not being on the list…

I was a little disapointed at the end because my all time favorite 80′s song did not make the list (when in rome-the promise), in my opinion they should have at least been top 20. why didnt they make the list?

Peter, EXCELLENT call on When In Rome “The Promise”. One of my favorite songs of all time.

I’ll raise you a Pseudo Echo ‘Funkytown” also.

Double “Captain of her Heart” could be included.

On the ’30 that missed the cut’ they have Robert Plant’s ‘Ship of Fools’, which peaked at #84, as his ‘one hit’.

He only had 7 songs that charted higher, including 4 in the top 40…

this list is pretty much exactly right except for #59. how did the outfield make this list? your love is not their only hit.

People need to relax about whether or not someone technically had more than one hit. Bobby McFerrin is one of the most accomplished musicians of our generation but it was still cool to see him on here.

Am I the only one who noticed that the lead singer of Pretty Poison has become staggeringly beautiful? Holy cow I about fell out of my chair. She looks amazing.

The list was interesting. However I was bummed not to see Ray Parker Jr’s “Ghostbusters”. That song was a huge hit and I don’t believe he had any other hits. The list can be argued over and over but I just wanted to throw that out there.

About half the items on this list should be disqualified. Crowded House, Midnight Oil, Aha, Madness, The Church, Nik Kershaw, XTC, Devo, Gary Neuman, Frankie Goes to Hollywood all had multiple albums and multiple top 100 chart hits in the 80′s and 90′s across the world. Three of Australia’s greatest bands on the list of one hit wonders????? I’m floored at such an ignorant list.

what is the name of the song in the commercial for the One hit wonders series that is played before the song “the safety dance”?

Spandau Ballet = 3 top 40 hits

Do you people know how to look up things on the internet, or just post complaints?

I’m surprised New Order didn’t make the list.

John Parr actually not only had more than one ‘hit’, he had 3 #1 hits (Naughty Naughty, St Elmo’s Fire, and Blame it on the Radio).

As far as Rick Springfield goes, he had 16 top 40 hits (5 in the top 10) in the 80s. That would be a bit of a stretch to ignore, even for VH1…

“Whip It” by Devo should be #1 without a doubt. 99 Luft Balloons could also be boosted up into the top 10, in my humble opinion.

The 80′s were so kick A$$!!!

L.A. Guns and Twisted Sister are not one hit wonders

I think it’s a pretty good list, even though it might be inaccurate.

I certainly don’t think “I Ran” would have been rated so high if this list was produced in 1989 (ignoring the fact that “Photograph” was another hit single for Flock of Seagulls). But, the song/video has gained popularity in recent years, for the lead-singer’s hair more than anything.

There were several “two-hit wonders” on the list, and several artists who didn’t make the Top 40 at all, but were big “club” hits and still continue to be big in rotation in clubs.

Despite any inaccuracies (and not including Scritti Politti!), I think this list is a great representation of a lot of different genres, and the decade as a whole.

I was a little disappointed in the countdown. Some songs should have been higher on the list and some should have been lowered. A few songs were left off the list such as Murray Head’s One Night in Bangkok. Johnny Hates Jazz’s Shattered Dreams. I didnt like Dexy Midnight Runners Come on Eileen being number one. A-Ha’s Take on Me should have been number one before that one. It was an ok list. Got to love the 80′s though.

The Violent Femmes are not a “one hit wonder”. What about Add it up or Kiss Off? Both great songs and hits!

Who determined this list, cause this is a very bad list of One Hit Wonders of the 80′s! How can Falco NOT be #1! It was the number 1 song for 1986 and number on the charts for over 6 weeks! Besides that, what “in your eyes” determines “one-hit wonder?” The Outfield had several Top 40 hits in the 80′s… so did INformation Society, Robbie Nevil, John Waite, Matthew Wilder, Rob Base & DJ EZ-Rock, Men Without Hats and the list goes on and on. If you can’t get it right, don’t do it! PLEASE!

According to Billboard, (A) Flock Of Seagulls had THREE top 40 hits!
1. I ran 7/82 #9
2. Space age love song 11/82 #30
3. Wishing 5/84 #26

The was a fourth hit but it only made it to #56 8/84
The More You Live, The More You Love.
SO, how can they be a one hit wonder!?!?

John Parr? What about Naughty Naughty? No he’s not a one hit wonder!

I questioned Twisted Sister too, but when I looked it up they only had one ‘hit’.

The had 3 songs that charted:

‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ #21

and the non-’hits’

‘I Wanna Rock’ only made it to #68
‘Leader of the Pack’ only made it to #53

I think you all need to step back and take a breath. The show was NOT named “top 100 one top 40 hit wonders.” I think what they mean by “one hit wonder” is a group that had one defineable hit that they are mainly known for. A flock of seagulls for instance had several other great hits in 1982 called “Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)” and “Space Age Love Song”. But the ONE song that they are defined by is “I ran (so far away)” and when most people talk of them, thats the song they remember. Same with Neneh Cherry though she did have another hit, What she was really known for was “Buffalo Stance” so people step back and breathe I agree most of these bands had more than one hit. But I also say they all had only one defineable hit.

Falco isn’t going to make the list because I believe he also charted with “Vienna Calling”

Quarterflash also shouldn’t be on this list because “Find Another Fool” was a hit for them.

Chilliwack had more than one hit (“I Believe” and “My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone)”.

Philip Bailey is stretching it a bit because he had hits as the lead singer for Earth, Wind & Fire.

Spandau Ballet had hits with “True”, “Gold”, “Communication” and (I think) “Only When You Leave”

Now, as for these bands:

On The Loose (Saga)
Whirly Girl (Oxo)
Just Got Lucky (JoBoxers)
Run Runaway (Slade)
What About Me? (Moving Pictures)
Goin’ Down (Greg Guidry)
Joey Scarbury (Believe It Or Not)

There may only be one Top 40 hit from each of them.

Tough to put a list like this together, though.

This list is missing “Shiny Shiny” by Haysi Fantayzee.

SPLIT ENZ — “I GOT YOU” — 1980

TECHNOTRONIC — “PUMP UP THE JAM” — 1989

Missed these:

1. “One night in Bankok” – Murray Head, Huge miss here, how can they missed a song that sports lyrics like “I get my kicks above the waist-line”?

2. “Bang” – Gorky Park, say Da Da Da-da Da.

3. “Smooth Up In Ya” – Bullet Boys,

4. “House of Pain” – Faster @_%^$!^~$~+)+$*%` cat

5. “Beleive it or Not” – Joe Scarbury – This song reached #2, and it’s the theme song to Greatest American Hero. Come on, you can’t get much more 80′s
than this.

6. “Miami Vice Theme” – Jan Hammer – This song should easily replace Don Johnson’s “Heartbeat” that song is horrible and they would still get to talk about Don Johnson and Tubbs.

The 100 list was probably adjusted by producers of the show to have interesting sound bites in each hour. Each hour has at least one actor/TV personality with some crappy song in each hour. Rondney Dangerfield & Eddy Murphy(Hr One), Jack Wagner (Hr 2), Don Johnson (Hr 3), Bruce Willis (Hr 4), They didn’t put one in the top 20 because that hour sells itself. The only actor of the 5 I mentioned that probably deserves a spot on the list is actually Jack Wagner, the rest were bad picks based on the music.

PS – For all of you that have kids, I just noticed that the guy in the “Don’t Worry Be Happy” video (not Bobby McFerrin or Robin William, the third guy) plays Mr. Noodle on Elmo’s World from Seasame Street.

I just got done watching the list on tv and over all i think it was pretty good though some notable misses. Just in my opinion its missing patrick swayzes “shes like the wind” and when in romes “the promise”. two of my favorite songs over any decade. I mean if your gonna put bruce willis and rodney dangerfield on here, than patrick swayze is definitely deserving. it was nice to hear songs that i have forgotten about. the 80s were my fave decade so even if they got the list wrong it was still fun to watch.

Dream Academy and Murray Head are both in the list of ’30 that missed the cut’, which also has it’s share of ‘one hit wonders’ that weren’t…

Um – where’s Luka?

Luke probably isn’t there because Suzanne Vega had another hit with ‘Tom’s Diner’.

i don’t think number 21 was a one-hit wonder. twisted sister also did, “i wanna rock” and “burn in hell” which were also big hits…so…yeah…i’m not saying that twisted sister sucks because that is TOTALLY not true because they rock to the point where i pee my pants but my point is that that wasn’t a one-hit wonder. i also think that “tainted love” should be number 1. that song is just SOOOOOO creepy, but yet, i love it. it strangely attracts the audience. same with “puttin on the ritz”. that should be number 2. lastly, number 1, in my opinion, isn’t really all that great. the chorus repeats a bit too much for my taste. i apologize if i insulted any of you by putting down that song or any others i may not have realized i was putting down because that wasn’t what i wrote this to do. i wrote this to express my opinion.

Come One Eileen was a great choice for number one :]
<3

I just wanna say
AWESOME SHOW!

the good ol’ days…

Anyone remember the good old days when MTV and VH1 actually played music videos, instead of showing lame reality TV shows?

a-ha???????, they had more than one or two hits (cry wolf, sun always shine on tv, move to memphis, touchy, etc.). Neneh Cherry?????, Who the hell did this ranking???, Why twister sisters (i wanna rock, were not gonna take it and the price), Martika (love thy will be done and feel the earth move), Eddie Grant (gimme hop joanna, romancing the stone)Eddie brickel and Devo. They also had a lot of other hits. Remember “pop goes the world” of men without hats.

I’m just going to go ahead and guess the last couple posters are from Europe, because while there are PLENTY of inaccurate choices, the ones being mentioned lately aren’t among them as far as the US charts are concerned.

And whether you like it or not, this is a US only countdown…

I read through a lot of the posts and was on my soapbox with a list from the ones that didn’t make it. However, I must state something;Just because you never heard of the other songs the “one hit wonder” bands released, does not mean that those who have are from overseas… I take offense to that. It is sad that there are still musically challenge people in this world… Just because it wasn’t top 40 with Casey Kasem, doesn’t mean others in the US of Awere not singing out with these bands and referring them to others… sometimes it is better not to “fit in” with the norm… when it comes to music…THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

‘Pop Goes the World’ by Men Without Hats and ‘The Sun Always Shines On TV’ by A-Ha both went to #20 on the US singles charts, so those two should obviously be disqualified (along with the other 48 errors on the countdown).

Hey Karen, just because people may have been ‘singing out to them’ does NOT make them ‘hits’.

And since VH1 did not specify what defines a song as a ‘hit’, being a top 40 single is as good as any.

There are plenty of songs I was into and aware of in the 80s that weren’t ‘hits’, but I am aware of that fact and don’t get wound up over the fact like some people apparently do…

A song it either a ‘hit’ or it is not a ‘hit’, and just because Karen (or anyone else) was aware of a song, doesn’t make it a ‘hit’.

mmm no se muy bien el tema del programa,es algo de un solo exito conocido por grupo?si es asi por q sale a-ha tiene mas temas conocidos unos 8 por lo menos?

Terrible list !!!
So inaccurate it’s untrue !

Even it is a great list, there were some other songs missing from the 80′s decade.

I do agree with OrioleGirl that there should be a review of the greatest songs of the 80′s but going from 1980 all the way through 1989.

There’s also some songs that don’t really belong to this list.

Ps. Do not forget “Electric blue” by Icehouse

what’s up friends, where are suzanne vega with luka, patrick swayze with she’s like the wind, glenn frey with the heat is on, murray head with one night in bangkok, matt bianco with dont blame it on that girl, missing persons with words, george thorogood with bad to the bone, corey hart with sunglasses at night, split mirrors with the right time, desireless with voyage voyage, a cause de garcons (french song but dont remember the singer),etc.
By the way, general public released ill take you there by the movie treesome in 1994, and was a top 20 in usa, animotion had i engineer, and flock of seagulls had a lot of other hit like space love song.

bahhh, i forget a few more like gtr with the heart rules the mind, videokids with woodpeckers on space, autograph with turn up the radio, double with the captain of your heart, m with pop muzik, benni mardones with into the night, baltimora with tarzan boy, kix with dont close your eyes, jan hammer with miami vice theme, joe scarbury with believe it or not, firehouse with when i look into your eyes, greg kihn band with jeopardy, diesel with sausalito summer night, and if you can inclued a song of the 1979 you can put patrick hernandez with born to be alive

hi friends, i want to put in the list of missed ohw loverboy with working for the weekend, berlin with take my breath away, paul young with every time you go away, real life with send me an angel, limahl with neverending story, yazz and the plastic population with the only way is up, boy meets girl with waiting for a star to fall, soulsister with the way to your heart, etc.

And just one example for torsten:

Loverboy had NINE top 40 hits. Even VH1 only included artist with FIVE hits as ‘one hit’ wonders on their list…

‘Turn Me Loose’ #35
‘Working for the Weekend’ #29
‘When It’s Over’ #26
‘Hot Girls in Love’ #11
‘Queen of the Broken Hearts’ #34
‘Lovin’ Every Minute of It’ #9
‘This Could Be The Night’ #10
‘Heaven In Your Eyes’ #12
‘Notorious’ #38

mr. ixnay, thanks for the answer, but in my country only knew loverboy for this song. Same thing happens with Betty Davis eyes (Kim Carnes), Kids in America (kim Wilde), tears run rings (Marc Almond), the model (Kraftwerk) and Katrina and the waves with walking on sunshine. I dont know if there was the only hit of them. By the way, spandau ballet and falco never will be a one hit wonder!!!!

torsten,

I knew from your previous post you had to be outside the US, but this list is obviously from a US only perspective.

Who is and isn’t a one hit wonder will vary depending on where you live.

However, even having said that, VH1 doesn’t appear to know what a ‘one hit wonder’ is in the first place considering the list has 13 ‘no hit wonders’ and 37 ‘more than one hit wonders’ (in the US), as has been covered ad nauseum by now…

Berlin had TWO top 40 hits. ‘No More Words’ (#23) and ‘Take My Breath Away’ (#1). Surprised ‘The Metro’ wasn’t top 40 as much as it got played on MTV, but it peaked at #58

Human League had SIX top 40 hits in the US, so that’s one more than VH1 allowed for anyone else in the countdown.

Foreigner. You’ve got to be kidding me. NINE top 40 hits in the 80s, and EIGHT in the 70s. Putting them on a one hit wonders list would be REALLY reaching, don’t you think?

What Tv Show was that were they come some presentations of the songs?. That one it says AB on the stage.

I also think A Flock of Seagulls, Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Twisted Sister are not One Hit Wonders, and I miss in the list Bronski Beat’s “Smalltown Boy” or Murray Head’s “One Night at Bangkok”. It’s not a perfect list but it was great to know something else about awesome songs like Toni Basil’s Mickey, ‘Til Tuesday’s “Voices Carry” (I didn`t know Aimee Mann was the voice behind that awesome song and the video was delightful), the incredible Haircut 100′s “Love Plus One”, and the strange Yello’s “Oh Yeah”.

Bronski Beat is missing for a reason: They had no hits in the US. ‘Smalltown Boy’ only peaked at #48 in the US and was their biggest ‘hit’ here.

The ‘strange’ “Oh Yeah” by Yello is strange in its inclusion in the list. It peaked at #51 and was never a ‘hit’ either.

‘Til Tuesday should also not be on the list as they had a second hit with ‘What About Love’ that peaked at #26.

Next…

How can they say Information Society was a one hit wonder when they had 2 top 10 songs on their 1st album and 2 top 40′s on their 2nd album and a #1 on their 3rd album. 5 songs in total that reached top 40… One hit wonders I think not stupid VH1 all you have to do is “Google” the band next time and get the facts….

Why was Europe not on the list. “The final countdown” was a damn big song but that’s all they had in America and everyone remembers that song. I think it deserved to be there.

I think it is a great list, but there are some mistakes on it, like think that groups like Frankie Goes To Hollywood get just Relax as a hit, remember Two Tribes. Swing Out Sister Breakout was not the only single on the top list, Surrender, and the next album “Kaleidoscope World” got The Waiting Game. Twisted Sister??? come on… The Outfield??? remember ALl The Love In The World?… Please… XTC was a gerat group, not just for singles like Dear God, what about King For A Day, The Ballad Of Peter Pumpking Head, The Disapointed and The Mayor Of Simpleton???

Now what do you think … Jonhnny Hates Jazz – Shattered Dreams, X – Motel Room In My Bed, When In Rome – A Little Respect, Wax – Right Between The Eyes, Was Not Was – Walk The Dinosaur,Waterfront – Cry, Deon Estus – Heaven Help Me, Trio – Da-da-da, Timex Social Club – Rumours, Silver Pozzoli – Around My Dream, Gerardo – Rico Suave, Lisette Melendez – Together Forever…. it is…???

Greetings form Mexico

could be notably absent

- herbie hanckok – rock it
- peter cetera – glory of love
- trans x – living on video

Hugo needs to go read the rest of the posts since most of what he posted has already been covered to death…

¿ DEVO, one hit wonder ?
¿ Are you kidding me ?

Murray Head went to # 14 in 1971 with “superstar”, so not a One Hit Wonder.
Peter Cetera went to #1 in 1986 along with Amy Grant With “The Next Time I fall”, Hardly a One Hit Wonder.

are you kidding me? Jeff Healy is NOT a one hit wonder….that is not true at all. How dare you call him aone hit wonder…That is so mesed up. I am so upset. Jeff has many hits…not just agel eyes even though it is a great song
he is not a one hit wonder…:@

As much as I hate to agree with the list, I’m not finding any evidence of Jeff Healey having any other US top 40 hits.

Just because someone remembers more than one song from an artist doesn’t make those songs ‘hits’…

I have 46 yrs-old and all the comments
about this video compilation could to
implicate several opinions very
differents each to other but, it is
respectable the vh1 desicion to make
this 80 list. Totally only can be to
matched 100 (one hundred) wonderful
themes. At 80′s there were more of
one thousand (1000) one hit wonders
songs. Therefore only rest to accept
this astonishing rôle.
I’d wish to watch included my favorite
one hit wonder of 80′s:
PROPAGANDA: “Duel” (1985)

My best regards and faithfully yours.
P_E_D_R_O
****************************************

‘Duel’ by Propaganda????

One more time people….I realize there is a whole world out there beyond the USA, but this is a list of AMERICAN One Hit Wonders, not One Hit Wonders from ** insert other country here **

And even in the big scheme of things, ‘Duel’ was hardly a big hit ANYWHERE. #21 in the UK, #30 in Germany, and #5 in the Netherlands. That’s it. So I guess if you’re Dutch, you may have fond memories of this mega-hit…

Faltan muchos temas, como fra lippo lippi – shouldn’t have to be like that, william pitt – city lights, when in rome – the promise,fine young cannibals – she’s drive me crazy, debut de soire – nuit de folie, restless heart, etc!!

y a-ha no fue un solo hit! aca cuentan solo los temas que ingresaron al ranking americano!

y la cancion numero 1 es la peor! la numero uno tendria que ser buggles!!!!

chau!

What is it about people outside of the US that makes them want to comment on songs in this list?

It is obvious that it is a US list, so who cares what bands had songs in Europe/Asia/South America/Australia/etc. that were hits or not hits in the 80s??

What’s the point? Seriously?

Step 1: Think of a song that should or shouldn’t be on the list.

Step 2: Go to wikipedia.org, or somewhere similar, and look up your idea from Step 1.

Step 3: Verify that you are right or wrong in Step 1.

Step 3a: If you are right, make a post.
Step 3b: If you are wrong, don’t waste your time.

Sounds so simple it makes you wonder why almost no one that has posted here has been right….

PARA QUE TODOS ESTEMOS CONTENTO CON LA LISTA QUE SEAN 1000 ONE HIT WONDERS OF THE 80S

Whats up with the Group Pretty poison?When is their comeback CD coming out?Also When is singer Johnny Kemps comeback CD coming?

You should all go here for your 80s One Hit Wonder questions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980s_One-hit_wonders_in_the_United_States ^*__+%$&()$(*$* uming most of this list is correct, there were about 260 REAL 80s One Hit Wonders that VH1 should have used for the original list that was available for voting.

It is a little sad that the people employed by VH1 couldn’t be bothered to do the research that was put into the list on wikipedia.

This was a good list overall, but then again there’s so many other one hit wonders from the 80′s out there, that it would need more than 100 spaces to fill, and would probably take a whole day going through each and every single song on vh1. But still, pretty good.

Just out of curiosity, has vh1 done a one hit wonders list for the 90′s. I, for one, would definitely watch that, if it were to come out….

Sorry, apparently the VH1 censorship software will not allow me to spell the Quiet Riot song correctly.

Pathetic…

I’m sorry but where’s Tarzan Boy? or mister mister’s ‘take these broken wings’?

You get 50% correct, just like the countdown.

‘Tarzan Boy’ was the one hit by Baltimora.

But Mr Mister’s ‘Broken Wings’???? You’ve got to be kidding…

Mr Mister had 4 top 40 hits, including TWO #1s (‘Broken Wings’ and ‘Kyrie’), which disqualifies them as a ONE hit wonder I would say….

Well, after a little research I found out that Take my breath away was a number 1 not only in the U.S. charts, but also many other countries, and was not in the list. And please, somebody tell me what else did Berlin ever had that could be considered as a hit. They were known worldwide thanks to top gun and they disappeared.

Some of these bands actually had a second and even a third hit. The Monroes song “What do all the People Know”. That is such a one hit wonder they never recorded another song. In fact it’s the only song they ever recorded.

adooorO sthee pprooGramaa nO mee Lo peerdii por nadaahhh!!! jajaja i?vh1 jaja !

Cuuuideenzee

beeesOs

i Loveee VH1

The taco guy scared me. . . Twisted sister did also. Also the drag queen guy whos lips exploded. . . but they were all still good

I can’t believe i was excited to maybe see artists i’ve never heard of before as it is “one hit wonders” but i see some really popular 80′s artists in this list The Outfield who had 5 top 40 hits not one, john waite, cutting crew, twisted sister, flock of seagulls and men without hats these guys should not be on the list

I don’t think Twisted Sister belongs under One Hit Wonders. They had more than one hit song. They also had Come On Feel The Noise, and I wanna Rock. Both are very famous.

This list is so poorly constructed considering many artists on this list had multiple hit singles charted in the US. How does Red Rider become a one hit wonder when another song from their album charted to the same position on the chart? Another one is John Parr being on here for St. Elmo’s Fire’s theme when he had a massive hit with Naughty Naughty the same year.

I can continue to deconstruct this list Nik Kershaw, The Church, Chris Deburgh, Jeff Healey Band, The Outfield, A Flock Of Seagulls…The criteria is pretty loosely based for this listing or the researcher are complete moron’s with very little musical knowledge. It’s like the producers just really wanted to make a show to fill time and threw this listing of artists together.

Come on guys… Instead of ragging about who should or should not be on the list, why not just enjoy some tunes from days gone by. I’m sure we can all come up with our own version of who should or should not be there, I’m just glad they did it. Thanks VH-1 Great memories revived.

Erm….where is The La’s with ‘There She Goes’?

By no means, A-Ha can be considered a one hit wonder..

What genius put this list together? Do you know what “ONE HIT WONDERS” mean? Apparently not. Just a quick glance I see a few artist the had a number hits so right of I can say it’s BULL. Perhaps you should change the to… “ONE HITS WONDERS ACCORDING TO ….” YOU whoever put this list together.

thinks that list is wrong bout two things twisted sister has 2 hits the other one being “i wanna rock” and safety dance should be number 1.

You guys are dumb-asses if you consider Ziggy Marley a “one hit wonder.” He has produced numerous albums since singing “Tomorrow People” and his name is synonymous with reggae music. So, were you guys purposely trying to upset Ziggy’s fans, or what? I’ll _%!*&%+**^&&`~! ume that whomever put this list together doesn’t listen to reggae very often!

Unreal….

How many of you idiots are going to keep bringing up ‘I Wanna Rock’ by Twisted Sister?

ONE MORE TIME, here are Twisted Sister’s chart position peaks:

“We’re Not Gonna Take It” #21 their ONLY ‘hit’
“I Wanna Rock” #68 NOT a ‘hit’
“Leader of the Pack” #53 charted higher than ‘I Wanna Rock’, but still not a ‘hit’.

Those are their ONLY singles that charted and there is ONLY ONE ‘hit’.

whip it and oh yea aren’t one hit wonders

VH1 should put out collections of some of their programs. Like One Hit Wonders 80′s, I would buy a
CD of the 100 songs chosen. VH1 Classic… BEST!!!

Jeff Healy had both ‘Angel Eyes’ and ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ remake as hits. What about Katrina and the Waves with ‘Walking on Sunshine’. Monster hit and a song that almost symbolizes the 80′s

Quite a few people had more than the one hit.

FGTH- Two Tribes, Neneh Cherry-Manchild, T’Pau -China In Your Hand (Come on Now), Eddy Grant- I Don’t Wanna Dance, A-Ha-Sun Always Shines T.V, Mary Jane Girls-All Night Long. Also What about Falco- Rock Me Amadeus, Aneka-Japanese Boy

Niiiice shoooooow!!!!!! Niiiiiiiice songs! (some of them annoy me)

Did the person that made this list live through the the 90s because this sucks. VH1 Fire him!

Remember Charlie Dore?

‘mindy’ would have a point except for the following:

Neither A-ha or LA Guns should be on this list.

As has already been pointed out before, A-ha had more than one ‘hit’ and LA Guns ‘Ballad of Jane’ charted in the 90s.

Black Velvet and It Takes Two came out in 1990 and 1992 not the ’80s, making this list a joke. Where is Promises Promises? Ridiculous!

where can you get a cd or two with all these songs on it?

i love all these songs i grew up listening to these on tape and even vinyl i would love to have them all on a cd collection how about yall put these on a couple of them and sell them to me

BLEH! I wear my sunglasses at night FOREVER! …wasn’t included on the list and neither was many others mentioned in the comments :P It still helped me make an all 80′s CD that I’ve been working on through limewire.

I’ll *`_@!+`*(!(+$+@ ume the comment about Journey was some kind of joke or the poster has no clue what kind of list this is…

As for ‘Sunglasses at Night’ by Corey Hart, let’s see how many ‘hits’ Corey had…

‘Sunglasses At Night’ #7
‘It Ain’t Enough’ #17
‘Never Surrender’ #3
‘Boy in the Box’ #26
‘Everything in My Heart’ #30
‘I Am By Your Side’ #18
‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ #24
‘In Your Soul’ #38

I’d say EIGHT ‘hits’ would even be too much for this list…

Good Morning – is this available on CD?? (100 One hit wonders of the 80′s)

Anybody else remember the one-hit “There ain’t no Age for Rock & Roll” by The Veterans? Last seen on Countdown.

A-ha are not one hit wonders lol…

Chris DeBurgh? I’d have thought his one-hit was “Don’t Pay the Ferryman”.

After hearing that song, I was disappointed to discover that most of his other stuff was cheesy ballads like “Lady in Red”.

And then the Ferryman said: “There is trouble ahead. You must pay me now.” (Don’t do it!) “You must pay me now” (Don’t do it!) Too many men have failed befoooooooore! Don’t pay the ferryman! Don’t even fix a price. Don’t pay the ferryman! Until he gets you to the other siiiiiiide.

Brilliant observation ‘Bart’, and if you read many of the other posts you will see that not only ‘many’ had more than one hit, but 37 had more than one hit, and although you didn’t mention it, 13 had NO hits in the 80s.

La verdad que las lista esta buenisima estan las que tenian que estar,para los que vivimos recordando esta gran decada.
Deberian hacer un programa con otras rolas que permanecieron en lista y que no fueron numero 1y que siguen siendo buenisimas.
Felicitaciones por esta lista y por los buenos programas que hacen sobre musica de los 80′S.

this by far is the coolest vh1 countdown some songs were on the regular 80′s countdown,some of the graetest one hit wonders of all time,some maybe even on both,but ther were some i never heard of that were so cool

can someone help me. I’m trying to remember a song from the 80′s with the words ” take it all back ” in the chorus. the video clip was of 2 guys singing and the main singer was gorgeous ! these are the only 4 words that i can think of. i know it’s not much help but maybe it rings a bell with someone. please help me, it’s driving me insane !

please review numbers 57, 93,and 97.thank you for your atention

Who sings the song and what is the exact %(^_&~$#`*^)()` le of the one hit wonder in the 80′s that went something like this?
Keree a laison (spelling) on the road that I must travel
Keree a laison on that highway in the night
Keree a laison that I go and with you travel(?)
Keree a laison in the darkness of the night
something like that, a nice upbeat song…please help

Mr. Mister (Kyrie Eleison from latin means “Lord have mercy”)
They are also know for the song “broken wings”

what about michael jackson? he’s not even on the list

Good one hit wonders of the 80s.

I think music can be viewed as a novel.

Everything for the past few thousand years was like the part where the story and the intensity build. Then you hit the late 60′s and you think that’s the peak because the excitement was followed by the relatively tame 70′s…

But then BAM! Along came the music of the 1980′S!!

Everything before was old, and anything that came after just couldn’t live up to it.

Nirvana? Mariah Carey? The Jonas Brothers? Yeah…almost any single artist on this list just crushes them all, and these aren’t even the huge-selling ones!!

patrick swayze – “She’s Like the Wind” should be on here. No doubt about it!!!

when is this going to be on tv again?

Alright everybody. Stop. Think.

I’ve read all the ranting from the music buffs (being one myself), about all the inaccuracies on this list of 80s One-Hit Wonders. I’m not saying I disagree. There are lots of artists on this list that were NOT one-hit wonders, but that’s not my point.

My point is, chill out. How can you reasonably expect accuracy in any music countdown like this, from a station that USED to be about music and musicians, with shows like “Behind the Music” and “Where Are They Now?”, and has turned into a network largely devoted to “reality” shows?

VH1 should change their name from “Video Hits 1″ to “Very Horrible 1″. And while they’re at it, why not change the name of Mtv From “Music Television” to “Moronic Television”. It would be more fitting, considering what these networks have become.

well, where is Whitney?!?!? Micheal?!@?! lol ,bad top of greatest 100……..

The 100 1 hit wonders are the best,i havent heard some of those songs in years,i just wish you guys would put these songs and vedios on a dvd so i can just put it in my dvd player and rock out that would be sweet. I wish you could do the vedios in box sets or something,people would buy these i know i would love to have my own collection of all of them the 90s 2000s i just love watching the music vedios can you help me out here i really need them. is there a place that sells music vedios?

omg, why isn’t Prince on this list? I loved Little Red Corvette?!?!?!?! That was a huge #1 hit in Burkina Faso.

I’ve been having fun imagining ixnay’s head finally exploding after responding repeatedly to all these posts about Twisted Sister. Thank you, ixnay. Your diligent service here is appreciated.

Let’s face it, this list and show isn’t about one-hit wonders, but more about nostalgia and the footage that VH-1 could dig up for a particular song. Did a-ha have more than one US top-forty hit? Absolutely. Does the average person on the street – even those of us who grew up in the 80s – know that? Probably not. Using a strict criteria means VH-1 wouldn’t be able to use possibly the most iconic music video of the 80s.

Does it piss off those of us who know all these bands and remember these songs intimately? Well, as Robbie Nevil would say, “C’est la vie!”

twisted sister isnt a one hit wonder they also have i wanna rock

Songs that should have been included are the producers.What she got doug and the slugs Ylash in the pan

Songs that should have been on this list (one hit wonders right) The Producers Whats she got that aint got. Doug and the slugs and maybe Flash in the pan.

Songs that should have been on this list (one hit wonders right) The Producers Whats she got that aint got. Doug and the slugs and maybe Flash in the pan. Also Tony Carey. I wont be home tonight.

Since when Midnight Oil is a one hit wonder? Americans …. puff … the bellybutton of the world.

um yea these are the hits the you will never forget and the one that live forever…lalalala..yea.

Like most everyone else, ‘Tony Perez’ has issues with his ‘facts’.

Don Johnson had one ‘hit’ with ‘Heartbeat’, which peaked at #5. There are 13 entries on the list that had NO hits in the 80s, but Don Johnson isn’t one of them.

You only noticed Martika as having more than one hit? 37 entries on the list have more than one hit, some have as many as FIVE.

‘Tainted Love’ was #5 and you’re complaining? The order was voted on by viewers, so you get what you get when the order is based on random voting. Same with Frankie Goes to Hollywood, they were #10, close enough.

So yes, you should be complaining about the list, just not what you are complaining about…

And for the record Tony, Martika had three hits in the 80s, not two.

1988:
‘More Than You Know’ #18

1989:
‘Toy Soldiers’ #1
‘I Feel the Earth Move’ #25

Hie… ahmm I juust wanna know abOut onee littlee videO i’ve seen on vh1… i think it’s a video-comercial because is really short I don’t know the name but the video is about a guy who’s walking and suddenly a couple that is getting married runs out of a church with peoplee behiind… if you could tell me please…

Most of these aren’t one-hitters at all. How the hell can you call Frankie Goes to Hollywood a one-hit wonder?!? They were an 80s phenomenon!!! Not to mention Madness, who single-handedly defined an entire genre… What’s next, Michael Jackson’s Thriller? Even flippin’ Bruce Willis had 2 or 3!

Who writes this ^*)~#++_&#+_&()*

There was this black girl who was named “billy” who had one dance hit back in the 80s. I remembered that she was tall, and wore this long black gown/dress in her video. But I remembered that she spelled her name like a dude but I cannot find her, the song, or nothing. Bad thing was the song received a lot of rotation at the clubs and on video if i remember correctly. CAN ANYONE HELP ME PLEASE? BEFORE I DIE? LOL

I’ll !*~(!)`(&!+`#_` ume ’80s Freak’ and ‘K’ both from outside the US, as well as being unable/too lazy to read the countless other posts that covered just about everything they had to say, but since I’m bored:

Midnight Oil had ONE hit: ‘Beds Are Burning’ #17 in 1987
The Church had ONE hit: ‘Under the Milky Way’ #24 in 1988

This list IS a farce, but you managed to complain about two artists that actually DO belong.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood had ONE hit: ‘Relax’ #10 in 1983
Madness did have two hits: ‘It Must Be Love’ #33 in 1981 and ‘Our House’ #7 in 1982, but if they ‘single-handedly defined a whole genre’, they didn’t do it in the US.
Bruce Willis also only had ONE hit: ‘Respect Yourself’ #5 in 1987

Once again people, this is a US ONLY LIST, so it DOES NOT matter if some of these artists had 50 hits in Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, South America, Africa, the old USSR, Antarctica, etc.

Wonder that such one exists ..such a hottie.

need some help one more and i get pics unlocked

I need a Riddle ASAP! i know this sounds extreamly werid but i need a riddle. Dont ask why just give me something!! thanks!

the day the earth stood still

“Midnight Oil…one hit wonders??? are you frikken serious! Maybe in this effed country where its all pop and sweet crap, but The Oils are huge where it matters….back home in Australia!!!!”

Well, since the criteria for being a ‘hit’ seems to be whether is reached the top 40 of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, which is a ‘Pop’ chart, I guess they are competing with ‘pop and sweet crap’ in this ‘effed up coutry’.

As far as Australia goes, to whom exactly does Australia matter? I don’t think anyone in this ‘effed up country’ has given Australia much of a thought since ‘Crocodile Dundee’ or ‘Yahoo Serious’.

And whether you like it or not, Midnight Oil IS a one-hit wonder where it matters.

hi, where can I buy the 100 videos listed above? you show on TV super….loved..thank you

what is the name of the song that is playing in the background when the host is talking -(after tommy tutone) or what were the last 3 or 4 songs playing in the background between the countdown to the top 5?

thanks for any help on this…

Great, ‘adolpho’ is clearly ANOTHER brain surgeon that can’t be bothered to read the countless other posts that already covered his list of grievances, so here we go AGAIN:

Katrina and the Waves had a 2nd minor ‘hit’ with “Do You Want Crying” #37

You are correct that NO ONE remembers “The Sun Always Shines On TV”, however it was a 2nd ‘hit’ at #20. “You Are the One” didn’t even crack the Top 100.

And has been covered AT LEAST 10 times now, Twisted Sister ONLY HAD ONE HIT:

“I Wanna Rock” only reached #68. Even “Leader of the Pack” charted higher for them at #53, but still not a ‘hit’.

This list is full of HOLES! The Church were NOT 1 hit wonders, they also had a hit with “Unguarded Moment”. Midnight Oil were definitely NOT OHW’s as they had multiple hits throughout their career. Alannah Myles was NOT a OHW, as “Love Is” was ALSO a hit for her! Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Dead Or Alive, Martika ALL had multiple hits. This is NOT a “Biggest Hits Of The 80s” list, it’s a “One Hit Wonders Of The 80s” list and as such, it’s full of holes and WRONG entries. 25 years in radio – that started in the 80s – so I KNOW my 80s music!

Great hit’s but they forgot ” Tracey Ulman ” she did have ONE hit

OMG I LUV THE 80′s!

I think ‘Nikki’ missed the point that this is a ONE HIT WONDER countdown, or at least it could have been if VH1 knew how to fact-check their list…

But as for Tiffany, she had FIVE hits, including 2 number ones, so I’m thinking she probably doesn’t belong on the list. Although, she wouldn’t be the only ‘one-hit wonder’ on the list with FIVE hits, but I think we’ve beat that horse to death already…

Good God, Kravitz… What about “The Politics of Dancing” by Re-Flex?

well i wish people could create great music like that now a days

It looks like ‘Rynjor’ is the one that needs to do his homework.

While he IS correct that this list is a joke, his reasoning is extremely flawed.

A ‘one-hit wonder’ is a one-hit wonder because they had one ‘hit’. A ‘hit’, for the purposes of this discussion and list, is defined as a top 40 single on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Only ‘hits’ in the USA count as well. So whether they had any smooth jazz hits, r&b hits, country hits, alternative hits, adult contemporary hits, etc., or hits in England, France, Australia, !@!!&^&**%_!&%_ an, Istanbul, Iran, etc., is completely irrelevant here.

And I seriously doubt any of the artists ‘Rynjor’ mentioned would be ‘insulted’ by being listed here. They would probably be ecstatic that anyone knows who they are these days…

There are 50 songs out of 100 on this list that are not ’80s one-hit wonders’, and people still keep complaining for the wrong reasons… Just for the record, the three artist you complained about actually are among the 50 on this list that ARE one-hit wonders.

Another wrong answer, this time from ‘Lucario’.

Devo had ONLY ONE ‘HIT’.

Thanks for playing though…

Well Rynjor, it is not what I ‘think’, it is a fact.

Your artists listed did only have one ‘hit’, and that’s a fact whether you like it or not…

Using your argument, no one would be a ‘one-hit wonder’ since they all released additional material that SOMEONE is aware of… But if it wasn’t a ‘hit’, it doesn’t count and like your list, they get to be ‘one-hit wonders’ whether your opinion agrees with the facts or not…

‘I’m sorry, but Gary Numan, A-Ha, Madness and a few others clearly weren’t one hit wonders? no doubt they’re classic songs, but not in anyway one hit wonders’

Joe gets 2 out of 3 correct, which is better than most so far… However, FIFTY if more than ‘a few others’ that weren’t 80s one-hit wonders.

However, to the masses, A-Ha only had one hit. No one remembers their other ‘hit’, ‘The Sun Always Shines on TV’ – #20, and it was only a ‘hit’ due to it being a follow up to their real ‘hit’. Had it been released on it’s own, it probably would have been as obscure as the rest of their catalog.

Pretty much the same scenario with Madness. For all intents and purposed, they had one ‘hit’. Their other ‘hit’, “It Must Be Love’, is pretty obscure and unknown to just about everybody.

I would love to hear what you think Gary Numan’s other ‘hit’ was. I can’t find any evidence that he had more than one.

Of course, based on your response I’m guessing you are in Europe somewhere, and these artists had more than one ‘hit’ there, but that is completely irrelevant to this list which is for the US only…

I can’t believe that they left “It’s My Life” by Talk Talk off of the list. That was one of the best songs of the ’80s.

Looks like my first reply to this got deleted for no good reason, so I’ll try again…

“tamara Says:
MARCH 26TH, 2010 AT 12:19 PM
i watched this show and that first song that you have isnt the one that came out in the show it was ‘’smells like teen spirit ” by nirvana . So get it straight and fix it please oh and when will you put a show but with 70’s songs?”

Tamara thinks they should ‘get it straight’, so let me help her out:

1. ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was in the 90s
2. Nirvana was not a ‘one-hit wonder’ (in the 80s or 90s)
3. The show she watched that had that song as #1 was probably the ‘Greatest Hits of the 90s’ countdown, but she somehow got lost and ended up here.

As for a countdown for 70s songs, that may be difficult to do in a video countdown since a lot of bands did not start making videos until the early 80s.

would like to purchase the one hit wonders of the 80.s collection. please send information immediatly please. thank you deborah haynes

“RVA Says:
APRIL 7TH, 2010 AT 9:13 PM
Dear GOd, XTC”

What about it?

If you meant to say, “‘Dear God’ by XTC was never a hit, it actually never even cracked the top 100, and therefore doesn’t belong on the list”, then you are correct.

‘The Mayor of Simpleton’ #72 and ‘Generals and Majors’ #104 were the only two songs by XTC that ever charted and neither qualify to be a hit, let alone ‘Dear God’ that didn’t even chart at all…

who picked these “top 100″ one hit wonders from the eighties. lots of very lame songs were in the top 20. does anyone remember the best song of the 80′s, which i also believe was a one hit wonder…ANYTHING BY DRAMARAMA… DUH

well in 1985 the song by dramarama called anything anything (i’ll give you)was what they call an “almost” hit. KROQ is the station in los angeles that played all the new wave alternative and punk for 30 years now. this song is the most requested song in their history. haven’t you heard it before?

I’m proud to say I was NOT only born in the 8o’s but I was also lucky enough to experience it =) N.K.O.T.B., The Two Corey’s, Kids Incorporated etc..

LOVESHACK!!!! b52s!!

excelente seleccion de canciones realmente los ochentas reunieron a lo mejor de la musica gracias vh1

I didn’t see Dream Academy’s “Life in a Northern Town.”

“Ron Says:
APRIL 29TH, 2010 AT 12:04 AM
I didn’t see Dream Academy’s “Life in a Northern Town.”

I was ready to agree with this one until I looked it up.

They had a second ‘hit’ in ’86 with ‘The Love Parade’ at #36.

Of course, 37 songs on the list are by artists with more than one hit, so I guess they’re as qualified as any of them…

Guys, clearly this is an April Fool’s joke because many of the artists listed here (although not all) had more than 1 hit unless you’re referring only to their video placement (which doesn’t count–Billboard should ultimately be the arbitrator on “One Hit Wonders”). Your intern that did the research here should have dug a little deeper.

It’s inaccurate.

“Wayne Klein Says:
MAY 2ND, 2010 AT 10:17 PM
Guys, clearly this is an April Fool’s joke because many of the artists listed here (although not all) had more than 1 hit unless you’re referring only to their video placement (which doesn’t count–Billboard should ultimately be the arbitrator on “One Hit Wonders”). Your intern that did the research here should have dug a little deeper.It’s inaccurate.”

If you go back to the first page or two of comments, someone did a pretty thorough list of who belongs and who doesn’t.

Final tally was 50 one hit wonders, 37 multi-hit artists, and 13 had no hit or their hit was in the 70s or 90s.

Pretty sad when there was already a wikipedia page of 80s one-hit wonders they could have used and been more accurate…

There are a few artists you have listed that had second hits. #23 Eddie Grant also charted with “Romancing the Stone” in 1984, #43 Shannon also charted with “Give Me Tonight” in 1984 and #45 Robbie Nevil also charted with “Dominoes” and “Wot’s It To Ya” in 1986.

Having lived in the GREAT 80′s, I love this type of trivia stuff!!!

“stephen Says:
MAY 6TH, 2010 AT 5:53 PM
There are a few artists you have listed that had second hits. #23 Eddie Grant also charted with “Romancing the Stone” in 1984, #43 Shannon also charted with “Give Me Tonight” in 1984 and #45 Robbie Nevil also charted with “Dominoes” and “Wot’s It To Ya” in 1986. Having lived in the GREAT 80’s, I love this type of trivia stuff!!!stephen”

If ‘Romancing the Stone’ only hit #43, it wasn’t a ‘hit’. ‘Hits’ are to 40 Billboard Hot 100 Singles hits only.

As for ‘a few’ artists having second hits goes; there were THIRTY SEVEN on the list that had 2 hits or more. Bands like the Outfield had as many as FIVE. There were also 13 more that had ZERO hits in the 80s.

The list is a joke as far as accuracy goes…

“stephen Says:
MAY 6TH, 2010 AT 5:56 PM
OHHH! “Video Killed the Radio Star” HAS to be listed on the greatest almost hits. Do you remember the first video aired on MTV? I do!”

That one is on the list at #40, but since it came out in 1979, it’s a little too early for an 80s list.

i dont care if these are one hits wonders, theyre still amazing without them the 80s would suck! my top 3 favorites are swing out sister “breakout”, aha “take on me”, and quaterflash- harden my heart.

This list is a huge FAIL. Half the people on this list had 2 or more top 40 hits in the US in the 80′s. I usually love these type of lists, but at least do a little frikkin research. There’s this site called Wikipedia, maybe next time you should look up some of the artists and actually check to see if they had more than one hit. I think the biggest fail is The Outfield, they had 4 top 40 songs on the US Hot 100, and 8 if you look at the US Mainstream Rock charts. They also had another top 20 hit in 1990, seriously, do some research before compiling something like this. Anyone that had 2 or more top 10 hits in the 80′s doesn’t belong on this list.

where is THE HUMAN LEAGUE? and Twisted Sister was NOT a one-hit wonder. They had I Wanna Rock on the same album.

I gotta agree with whoever asked What about DramaRama’s Anything Anything???

How could that have been left off?! Sh*t you couldn’t listen to KROQ in LA for an hour without hearing it. I don’t know about the rest of the country but, out West, that was THE song at the time.

“kenny Says:
MAY 21ST, 2010 AT 7:58 PM
How about Agnetha Faltskog – “Can’t Shake Loose” or Frida – “Something’s Going On”. Two awesome 80 one hit wonders!”

Both were technically 80s one hit wonders, and I’d agree with you on the Frida song since it almost hit the top 10, but the Agnetha song only peaked at #29 and was only a minor ‘hit’ in the first place…

But either song should replace any of the 50 songs on the list that don’t belong…

“reese Says:
MAY 21ST, 2010 AT 10:29 PM
how could they leave out “Something About You” by Level 42?”

They had a second hit with “Lessons in Love” – #12 in 1986

“BILL Says:
MAY 23RD, 2010 AT 3:18 PM
Ok. I’m going to say it. When I was a senior in high school back in 83. I HATED “Come on Eileen”. I still do. I remember rocking out to Lunatic Fringe. DEVO was NOT a one hit wonder. Remember “Beautiful World” and “Satisfaction”?”

Sorry, DEVO was a one hit wonder. I do remember ‘Beautiful World’, but it peaked at #102, and ‘Satisfaction’ didn’t even chart (and being from 1977 isn’t even from the 80s anyway. ‘Working in the Coal Mine’ at #43 was as close as they came to a second hit.

I’m afraid you’ve made some mistakes;

Counting Crows was definitely NOT a one hit wonder,
Midnight oil isn’t either, and is and was very popular in Australia,
The Boomtown Rats also were not one hit wonders, they had another, more minor hit called Joey’s on the Street Again,
XTC was definitely, definitely, NOT NOT NOT a one hit wonder, and had many other hits besides Dear God, although that is their most popular songs.
and Madness… They wrote so much more than our house, some of which were hits

Rant over,
Max

I believe, if you will take a moment to look, that VH1 isn’t going by Billboard chartings, but rather the video chartings in the US. Granted a lot of these artists had more than one hit and some of them even had hits in the 90′s from the videos featured, but if they were going to go by the Billboard charts, they wouldn’t be showing videos, now would they?

Cars is from 1979, not the 80s and Gary Numan was big at the time. He had many hits with songs like Are Friends Electric? and M.E. Cars is the only one that’s really remembered, but he was not a one hit wonder.
And don’t even get me started on Madness. Baggy Trousers, House of Fun, It Must Be Love to name a few.

“Moonie Says:
May 25th, 2010 at 1:35 pm

I believe, if you will take a moment to look, that VH1 isn’t going by Billboard chartings, but rather the video chartings in the US. Granted a lot of these artists had more than one hit and some of them even had hits in the 90’s from the videos featured, but if they were going to go by the Billboard charts, they wouldn’t be showing videos, now would they?”

If that is the case, then there are a LOT more errors. I’d bet at least 75% of these artists had more than one ‘video’ hit.

But I guess that would be an hard thing to prove since ‘vidio hits’ are not now, or were they ever ‘official’ in any way, and should never be used as criteria for something like this.

Don’t make excuses for VH1, this list is pathetic in too many ways to defend, no matter what criteria you want to use.

Why do people keep saying “Sailing” by Christopher Cross is a one-hit wonder? What about “Ride with the Wind”, “Say You’ll Be Mine”, “Never be the Same”, “Alright” and “Think of Laura”.

Hi!
My name is Arpad, i’m from Romania. I’m new on this site, and would like to ask some help.
I watched “Final Countdown Best First Hit” on VH1 on the 22th of May. I would like to know from where can i get this top, because i missed who was number 1.
Can anyone help me with a link?
Or can anyone give me the top 10?
Thanks in advance!
Arpad

With all due respect miss debbie harry unsurpassed in company with his hits such eighties CALL ME a success

“hsreid89 Says:
JUNE 7TH, 2010 AT 3:57 PM
Red Rider – Lunatic Fringe – One hit wonder?????? What about Don’t Fight It, Napoleon Sheds his Skin, Boy Inside the Man, Big League, and All of the Tom Cochrane solo stuff???Sheesh – where do they get this from?”

I’m going to guess Canadian, because that is the only place he had any success.

Actually ‘Lunatic Fringe’ never charted on the US Singles chart, let alone achieve top 40 status, so Red Rider doesn’t belong on the list because they had NO hits in the 80s. Of course almost everyone remembers the song being played to death on MTV, but you have to remember there weren’t a whole lot of videos at the time (1981), so they played what they had. Lots of early MTV heavy rotation videos were never ‘hits’.

None of the other songs you mentioned were hits either, except maybe in Canada, which is kinda irrelevant to this list…

Solo stuff doesn’t count, but I’m sure if they ever to a 90s one-hit wonder countdown, ‘Life is a Highway’ will be on it.

“Craig Says:
JUNE 9TH, 2010 AT 12:28 PM
HOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW is PATRICE RUSHEN in the one hit wonders list? She has many hits that i guess were only played on the black radio stations. PATRICE RUSHEN SHOULD NOT BE ON THIS LIST.”

You’re kidding, right? I doubt if 99% of the US population even knows who she is…

One hit only, and only three songs total that even charted. Bunch of songs of varying degrees of success on the R&B/Rap and Dance charts, but like all other sub-genre charts, they don’t count when tallying ‘hits’.

“Aaron Says:
JUNE 15TH, 2010 AT 12:35 PM
What The Hell About TARZAN BOY.”

What about it?

It was actually the only 80s hit for Baltimora, so it qualifies. I think it was actually on their ‘list of songs that missed the cut’, but that appears to be gone now.

And of course, they probably would have made the cut if there weren’t so many non-one hit wonders to vote for in the first place…

“Kimberlee Says:
JUNE 19TH, 2010 AT 6:16 PM
When will you be doing a one-hit wonders of the 90’s?”

I think they should go back and do an 80s list that doesn’t have 50 errors in it first, then use the research skills they learned and apply it to doing the 90s list right the first time…

Where is “She’s Like the Wind” by Patrick Swayze?

eh heh heh…you said bang-kok…eh heh heh. Sorry I was channeling butthead there for a minute. Seriously though “One Night in Bangkok” should definitely be on the list. And another I just thought of, “Word Up” by Cameo.

Katrina & The Waves – “Walking on Sunshine” should definitely have made this list.

“Michael Says:
JULY 15TH, 2010 AT 11:37 PM
A-ha is not even a one hit wonder. “The sun always shines on TV” hit number 20 on the american charts and was on the same album. Nor is Dead or Alive as “brand new lover” made it to 15, also on the American chart. This list is just about idiotic as many people are naming off more songs that were certainly bigger and better than many listed.”

Yep. Those two and the other 48 artists on the list that don’t belong…

Of course all this proves is that VH1 knows nothing about music, or at least 80s one-hit wonder music. How hard would it have been for the idiot(s) that put this list together to verify whether they were actually one-hit wonders or not?

But I’m sure if they ever do a countdown of pointless reality shows, the list will be dead perfect since that seems to be VH1′s focus these days….

did you consider Taylor Dayne’s Tell to My Heart?

and i also only watch it for two reasons.( the greatest shows. no pun intended.) 1; to see and recognize songs i already know, and 2; to learn new songs that i like.

Umm…if you’re going to put links, atleast have them work!

“karen Says:
JULY 30TH, 2010 AT 12:54 AM
did you consider Taylor Dayne’s Tell to My Heart?”

Let’s see if Taylor Dayne qualifies as a one-hit wonder:

“Tell it to My Heart” #7
“Prove Your Love” #7
“I’ll Always Love You” #3
“Don’t Rush Me” #2
“With Every Beat of My Heart” #5

and that is just in the 80s, she had 5 more in the 90s.

I LOVE All of the 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80s. I am A HUGE fan of 80s Music, TV Shows, and Movies. I consider the 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80s, The 100 Greatest Songs of The 80s, and I LOVE THE 80S/I LOVE THE 80S STRIKES BACK/I LOVE THE 80 3-D To be The Greatest Specials VH1 has ever done!!!!!!!!!

If The Kings song “This Beat Goes On/Switchin To Glide” didn’t make the list, then there is no “100 Greatest One Hit Wonders Of The 80s” show IMHO!!!!

Where the heck did they get this list from…..Red Rider come on they had a string of hits. Plus Jeff Healy as well a great guitarist with a few great hits as well. Also i would like to mention Twisted Sister as well, they weren’t the greatest band, but they had a couple of hits.
Last but not least the song Funkytown, is a 70′S tune, performed by Lipps Inc. Which was later done by the one hit wonder band in the 80′s called Pseudo Echo.
Come on people do your research before posting such garbage.

“Matt Says:
AUGUST 2ND, 2010 AT 3:46 PM
If The Kings song “This Beat Goes On/Switchin To Glide” didn’t make the list, then there is no “100 Greatest One Hit Wonders Of The 80s” show IMHO!!!!”

That song was a very minor ‘hit’, but I can’t find any evidence of it making the top 40. It was also more of a regional hit, and at different times in different regions. Depending on where you lived and when you lived there, it may seems like it was a big hit to you, or you may have never heard of it.

“Matt Says:
AUGUST 2ND, 2010 AT 4:00 PM
Didn’t Til Tuesday have another hit with “What about love”?”

Yep, that one hit #26. But as far as mistakes in this list go, it is pretty minor.

I’m trying to figure out how Twisted Sister is on this list at all.

“Jenna Says:
AUGUST 4TH, 2010 AT 12:12 PM
I’m trying to figure out how Twisted Sister is on this list at all.”

I’m trying to figure out why people keep talking about Twisted Sister when it has been explained dozens of times already.

One more time slowly, just for you:

Twisted Sister ONLY HAD ONE HIT.

Their second highest charting song was “Leader of the Pack” that peaked at #53. NOT A HIT.

“I Wanna Rock” only hit #68. NOT A HIT.

That was it. Just because you may remember songs by bands form the 80s, doesn’t mean those songs were ‘hits’.

@Morley: I think it’s _you_ that needs to do your research.

Funkytown by Lipps Inc. was released and charted in 1980. It wasn’t a 70s song.

I’m not sure what your point about Twisted Sister is, but they’re on the list at #21, and that was their only top 40s pop hit.

What about Saga and “On the Loose”?

“IceCypher Says:
AUGUST 6TH, 2010 AT 5:50 AM
I Agree with most of it overall these are the most played during its time but the rank? Jon Waite and the outfield should be hire up some of these songs didn’t even make the top 10 national play and sale list and there higher up the list. someone needs to check the math or somethin”

So you completely missed the fact that this is supposed to be a list of ’80s one-hit wonders’? The Outfield that you mentioned should be ‘hire up’ had FIVE hits in the 80s, so they should actually NOT be on the list in the first place.

THIRTY-SEVEN of these artists had more than one hit

THIRTEEN of these artists had NO hits, or their hit(s) were in the 70s or 90s.

Missing FIFTY out of 100 is pretty bad no matter what math is used…

“mike Says:
AUGUST 10TH, 2010 AT 10:53 PM
Your #86 is wrong.”

No, it isn’t.

She only had two other songs that even charted, and the highest was ‘Haven’t You Heard’ at #42.

“Foxy Says:
AUGUST 19TH, 2010 AT 12:02 PM
What about The Final Countdown by Europe?!!! I guess Europe had more than one “hit” but no one (at least not me) really knows any of their other songs….totally should be on there!”

Europe had 4 hits, and ‘The Final Countdown’ wasn’t even their biggest hit.

‘The Final Countdown” #8
‘Rock the Night’ #30
‘Carrie’ #3
‘Superstitious’ #31

“unemaria Says:
AUGUST 29TH, 2010 AT 9:30 AM
MADNESS a one hit wonder? More like 10 hit wonder, they were one of the biggest 80’s UK bands…”

If this was a “100 Greatest UK One Hit Wonders” list, you’d have a point.

But it isn’t, so you don’t.

No Rock me Amadeus – Falco WTF?

there was a song in this list in which Michael Jackson did the background voices, which is the name of that song?

“Tutty Says:
SEPTEMBER 2ND, 2010 AT 9:36 PM
No Rock me Amadeus – Falco WTF?”

“Vienna Calling” #18
“The Sound of Musik” #13

That would be ‘WTF’.

Hello. There seems an issue with the 1st url you provided : it returns an error

“Troy Says:
SEPTEMBER 4TH, 2010 AT 9:09 PM
Chris Deburgh and Red Rider do not qualify as one hit wonders. Both have a vast collection of quality music.”

“Don’t Pay the Ferryman” was barely a hit at #34, so Chris DeBurgh is actually one of the 50 artists on this list that don’t belong.

Red Rider had ZERO hits, so they shouldn’t be on this list either, but not for the reason you gave. “Lunatic Fringe” may have gotten a lot of play on early MTV, but the song never even charted as a single.

Whether anyone on this list has a ‘vast collection of quality music’ is irrelevant to whether they had any actual ‘hits’ or not.

I have to say I am an 80′s geek and I have to say you made a few error. No Falco Robert Hazzard or Buster Poindexeter. Top 80′s songs.

“dvbll Says:
SEPTEMBER 5TH, 2010 AT 8:07 PM
I have to say I am an 80’s geek and I have to say you made a few error. No Falco Robert Hazzard or Buster Poindexeter. Top 80’s songs.”

I would say 50 errors is more than a few.

Falco is not an error and was just covered about 5-6 posts above yours.

Robert Hazard had NO hits.

Buster Poindexter would probably be on the list if they eliminated the 50 mistakes.

So you’re 1 out of 3, which is better than most I guess. Sad as that may be…

And these songs?

- Maria Magdalena by Sandra
- Everybody Have Fun Tonight by Wang Chung
- Working for the Weekend by Loverboy
- Don’t You Forget About Me by Simple Minds
- Walk Like a Egyptian by The Bangles

“We’re Not Gonna Take It” by Twisted Sister an ONE HIT WONDER? and “I Wanna Rock”? “Burn in Hell”?

“lonnie Says:
SEPTEMBER 8TH, 2010 AT 1:13 AM
cant agree with #52 mary jane girls best song was candy man, but they also had a slow song hurting on the inside all super classics”

Whether you can agree with it or not is irrelevant, that was their only hit.

“Candy Man” peaked at #101 and there is no record of a single called “Hurting on the Inside” at all.

What about Timothy?

There are lots of one-hitters that obviously couldn’t make this list since they had to pick only 100, but I guess it might also have to do with what might be considered a “hit” versus just a popular song from the decade. There are tons of great songs from the 80s that didn’t reach #1 or maybe top 10 (in the U.S.) — and then, some artists are given the title “One Hit Wonder” even though they have other songs that had regular club/party play, but maybe not enough radio or video play to unseat the artist from the “One Hit Wonder” label. Here are a few examples of alternative “hits” from a “One Hit Wonder”:

A Flock Of Seagulls: Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)
Madness: One Step Beyond
Mary Jane Girls: All Night Long
Mary Jane Gilrs: Candy Man
Men Without Hats: Antarctica
Soft Cell: Sex Dwarf
Soft Cell: Where Did Our Love Go

Here are just a few I think at least could garner an honorable mention if just for the appeal of the song (this list only includes some of the more popular one-hitters from the 80s on my playlists) — yes, I’m sure there are artists on this list that might have more than one “hit” in actuality, but they only have one “hit” on MY list:

2 In A Room: Wiggle It
Alexander O’Neal & Cherrelle: Saturday Love
Alisha: Do You Dream About Me
Apollonia 6: Sex Shooter
Baltimora: Tarzan Boy
Breakfast Club: Right On Track
Buster Poindexter: Hot Hot Hot
Carrie Lucas: Summer In The Streets
Company B: Fascinated (By Your Love)
Corey Hart: Sunglasses At Night
Cynthia: Change On Me
Desire: Crazy Over You
Dino: Summergirls
Divinyls: I Touch Myself
Dramarama: Anything, Anything (I’ll Give You)
Five Star: Love Take Over
Hashim: Al-Naafiysh (The Soul)
Heaven 17: Let Me Go
J. Geils Band: Centerfold
Jackson Browne: Somebody’s Baby (From ”Fast Times At Ridgemont High”)
Jane Child: Don’t Wanna Fall In Love
Jimmy Spicer: The Bubble Bunch
JoBOXERS: Just Got Lucky
Joe Jackson: Steppin’ Out
Johnny Hates Jazz: Shattered Dreams
Joy Division: Love Will Tear Us Apart
Julie Brown: Every Boy’s Got One
Kano: I’m Ready
Kon Kan: I Beg Your Pardon (I Never Promised You A Rose Garden)
Laidback: White Horse
Lina Santiago: Feels So Good (Show Me Your Love)
M: Pop Muzik
Magazine 60: Don Quichotte
Morrissey: Suedehead
Murray Head: One Night In Bangkok
Nocera: Summertime, Summertime
Nu Shooz: I Can’t Wait
Paul King: Love & Pride
Pretty Poison: Catch Me (I’m Falling)
Q-Feel: Dancing In Heaven (Orbital Be-Bop)
Ray Parker Jr.: Ghostbusters (Theme)
Ready For The World: Oh Sheila
Real Life: Send Me An Angel
Red Rockers: China
Re-Flex: The Politics Of Dancing
Right Said Fred: I’m Too Sexy
Samantha Fox: Touch Me
Split Enz: I Got You
Starpoint: Object Of My Desire
Stop: Wake Up
Swing Out Sister: Breakout
Teena Marie: Lovergirl
The English Beat: Save It For Later
The Escape Club: Wild, Wild West
The Icicle Works: Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream)
The Jam: Town Called Malice
The Nails: 88 Lines About 44 Women
The Plimsouls: A Million Miles Away
The Primitives: Crash
The Tubes: She’s A Beauty
Tiffany: I Think We’re Alone Now
Timex Social Club: Rumors
Tracey Ullman: They Don’t Know
Trans-X: Living On Video
Vanity 6: Nasty Girl
Was (Not Was): Walk The Dinosaur
When In Rome: The Promise
Young MC: Bust A Move

Ixnay…

First of all, none of what I wrote is “wrong” since it is all based on my personal opinion. Opinions are never wrong… I never said I was trying to refute the VH-1, Webster’s, or even the “according to Hoyle” definition of a “hit.”

If you didn’t understand my purpose, perhaps you should read a little slower. I made a list based on what I clearly stated as my purpose: songs that “I think at least could garner an honorable mention if just for the appeal of the song” that on MY list would be classified as a One-Hit Wonder — whether or not the term “technically” applies. Basically, I was tossing out a list of songs people could look up if they would like to discover/rediscover some more killer tunes from the ’80s by artists who weren’t really known for too much beyond the one listed. If nothing else, it could help someone reminisce while reducing the time spent digging through crates of albums searching for those little nuggets of gold.

I also clearly stated that any list definitely depends on your definition of the word “hit” versus what would only be considered “popular.” In my terms, a “hit” doesn’t only constitute a song that charted at #1. This is the reason I use the word surrounded by quotes — it refers to the use of the word based on a questionable definition.

If you choose to post a rebuttal, perhaps you could also choose what you say a little more wisely, and if you’re going to be negative, why not at least try to be constructive instead of destructive?! I was posting an alternative opinion, nothing more. My post did not attempt to state facts, other than those that apply to my opinion.

Damian some of those songs you listed were from the ’90s, like “I Touch Myself” for example. That is so definitively Gulf Wartime 1991. Jane Child’s “Don’t Want to Fall In Love” was as 1990 as “In Living Color” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos”.

red Ryder had lunatic fringe it did make the charts also after that song, tom chocran left red ryder and went onto do life is a highway…tom chocrane was in fact there lead singer in red Ryder lunatic fringe

“’80′s music freak Says:
OCTOBER 8TH, 2010 AT 1:58 PM
Four of the songs on this list weren’t released in the ’80’s!!! Video Killed the Radio Star (1979), and Toy Soldiers (1991), Black Velvet (1990), It Takes Two (1992). If the latter were from the ’80’s, I’m Too Sexy would have to be on this list as well. Those three songs are more ’90’s than grunge.”

‘Ballad of Jane’ by LA Guns charted in 1990 as well.

“IluvAT40 Says:
OCTOBER 9TH, 2010 AT 7:11 PM
Almost all of the groups you have on your list are NOT one hit wonders. They had other Top 40 or Hot 100 hit records. FLOCK OF SEAGULLS had a Top 40 hit with SPACE AGE LOVE SONG in 1983. Modern English’s “MELT WITH YOU” NEVER MADE THE TOP 40. What is your criteria of a ONE HIT WONDER? A ONE HIT WONDER is a act that hit the Billboard Hot 100 or other POP charts with only ONE record. Even if it hit #100 for one week, it’s a hit and takes you off the list. A-ha’s follow up to TAKE ON ME was a Top 20 hit as THE SUN ALWAYS SHINES ON TV peaked at 20.”

Flock of Seagulls also had a 3rd hit with ‘Wishing’ that hit #26.

Your criteria for ‘hit’ is not quite correct. A hit is a single that made the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Period. Not the top 100 and not ‘or other POP charts’.

But yeah, there are quite a few artists (37) on the list that had more than one ‘hit’.

What about Re-Flex, The Politics of Dancing?

In addition, Paul Lekakis was ALMOST a one-hit wonder “Boom Boom Boom Let’s Go Back to My Room” peaked at #43). Why couldn’t VH1 have included some ACTUAL one-hit wonders, like Talk Talk “It’s My Life” or Moving Pictures “What About Me”?

Neneh Cherry isn’t a one-hit wonder either; “Kisses on the Wind” went to #8.

IT’S LITERALLY THE BEST SONG EVER WRITTEN

Some good songs, deserving songs on this list. Some real…not so deserving songs. I mean Pac-Man Fever, Rappin’ Rodney, and Far From Over are better than Frida’s “I Know There’s Something Going On”?
Really? It was her only Top 40 hit in the US as a solo artist. She did have one other song that garnered some air play but it failed to reach the Top 100 and other artists on the list had one or two minor hits other than the song that got them on this list. Maybe her time with ABBA was held against her, I dunno. But that was a great 80s tune.

um Twisted sister is far fom a 1 hit wonder.I wanna rock, the price and stay hungry were all hits

I agree with all of these musicians; EXCEPT, for three.

Midnight Oil had a few top songs and remained large in the World, even the U.S. in the 80s-early 90s.

The Church had three top songs in the U.S. and is completely relevant and popular around the World (during the 80s-early 90s. Even today they sell out venues when they return to the US.

Devo? Honestly? They had plenty of video and song hits during a 5 year period in the early 80s.

I am sure most of these “top charts” are honestly fluff opinion anyways, so who cares.

Cheers

Amazing what you learn on these things.

I knew A-Ha wasn’t technically a one-hit wonder. But I was sure the song that would have disqualified them would have been the theme song to the James Bond movie “The Living Daylights.” Turns out that one didn’t even chart.

As for XTC, I was sure — if the band had even had a U.S. hit — that it would have been “The Mayor of Simpleton.” It wasn’t for lack of trying on MTV’s part, that’s for sure. I bet I saw that video 20-30 times.

“Andres Says:
DECEMBER 23RD, 2010 AT 11:03 AM
Hey, how about “Don´t you want me baby” by Human League? An unforgivable ommision in your list!”

VERY wrong. (and you spelled ‘omission’ wrong).

‘Mirror Man’ #30
‘(Keep Feeling) Fascination #8
‘Human’ #1

“Tattoo-X Says:
DECEMBER 23RD, 2010 AT 11:00 PM
What exactly is a “One Hit Wonder?” There are several songs that I like from Aldo Nova, Joe Jackson, and a few others on this list.”

Well, in spite of what many others seem to think, a ‘hit’ is NOT a song that an individual happens to remember and/or liked form the 80s.

To be an actual ‘hit’ the song had to chart in the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart.

Apparently researching that information was not a priority at VH1 since there are 37 songs on the list that had more than one ‘hit’ in the 80s, and 13 others that either had no 80s ‘hit’ or their ‘hit’ was in the late 70s or early 90s.

From the artists you named, I don’t even see Joe Jackson on the list, but he had three 80s hits (1 more in the 70s). Aldo Nova only had the one ‘hit’.

What about “Johnny Hates Jazz – Shattered Dreams”?

I genuinely the internet site, preserve it up. I come across this kind of stuff intriguing. Seems like an truthful mistake on the sales rep’s part, but it can be something that shouldn’t happen.

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Good list overall, but where’s Hipsway’s “The Honeythief”? Sounds fresh and infectiously catchy even today…

Two things I don’t understand.

How No. 57 made the list of 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of All Time, but No. 2 didn’t AND how come you mispelled Jeff Healey’s name.

Dont Dream its Over, by Crowded House didn’t make it? #2 on the US Billboard top 100?

you have to be kidding with outfield being a OHW… they may not have made top 10 with their other songs but I am pretty sure they make the top 100 with about 6 or 7 other songs.. I don’t think that is a One Hit Wonder.

Here are a few offerings as replacements for those who should be removed for being One plus a few follow-up hit wonders.
Ebn-Ozn: AEIOU sometimes Y -Replaces Midnight Oil
The Blow Monkeys: Digging Your Scene -Replaces Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Jan Hammer: Miami Vice Theme -Replaces Flock of Seagulls
Johnnie Hates Jazz: Shattered Dreams -Replaces Devo (Peek-a-Boo was my fav)
Reebie Jackson: Centipede -Replaces Quarterflash
Ollie & Jerry: Breakin’… There’s No Stoppin Us -Replaces the Outfield
Kid Creole and the Coconuts: Curiousity (For Tony Ziogas) Replaces XTC
Hopefully this 80′s record store clerk saved some of you from psychotic breaks.

Dexys, Frankie, Madness, Gary Newman….one hit wonders????

Theres quite a few in the top 30 here that were by no means one hit wonders….ridiculous list sorry…

I could go on….Nik Kershaw had more than 1 hit, as did Soft cell and Kajagoogoo…

Hello,
The list partial is good. By my opinion (if You interest, hahaha) must include:
Do The Rap / VIDEOKIDS
Okey / O.K.
************
MIDNIGHT OIL is serious band and do not have plase in list.
Bye