The 1990s seem like ages ago. (Spoiler alert: They were.) Thankfully, we can still enjoy a taste of what that glorious decade was like with some well-aged and always delightful one-hit wonders from the 1990s era. Let’s take a look at just a handful of classics that have stood the test of time!
“Closing Time” by Semisonic (1998)
Remember this alt-rock ballad? “Closing Time” by Semisonic first dropped in early 1998 and shot up the charts. The tune hit No. 1 on the Alternative Airplay chart in the US and No. 25 in the UK. This post-grunge classic even scored a Grammy nom the following year. And it has been used in everything from Friends With Benefits to The Office. Despite the band’s popularity, “Closing Time” would be their only Top 10 hit on the Alternative Airplay chart and their only song to make it to the Billboard Radio Songs chart, where it peaked at No. 11.
Videos by American Songwriter
“I Swear” by All-4-One (1993)
If you’re a country fan, you probably remember this song as a John Michael Montgomery classic from 1993. However, the underrated R&B band All-4-One covered it just a few years later, and it was a great song to cover in such a different style. Fans at the time certainly agreed. All-4-One’s version of “I Swear” made it all the way to No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart, among others.
This group would technically be considered two-hit wonders. Their 1995 follow-up “I Can Love You Like That” made it to No. 5 on the Hot 100. However, considering the vast majority of people out there remember All-4-One for their JMM cover (and I personally don’t even remember “I Can Love You Like That”), I’ll go ahead and include them on this list. If anything, I want to draw attention to the boy band that could have (and should have) been bigger than they were.
“Barbie Girl” by Aqua (1997)
Real fans of this bubblegum pop electronic band from the 1990s know that Aqua would never be considered one-hit wonders in Europe. In the States, though, Aqua only scored one major hit with “Barbie Girl”. This legendary song got a breath of new life in 2023 when it was sampled in “Barbie World”. That song by Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice was produced for the Barbie film soundtrack. But outside of Aqua’s 1997 No. 7 hit and the No. 7 hit from 2023 that sampled it, the Danish eurodance band never reached the Top 20 in the US again.
Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images