4 One-Hit Wonders That Topped the Hot 100

It’s one thing to write a song that makes the charts. That’s truly admirable. But it’s another thing all together to write a song that climbs all the way up to the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100. That’s darn near impossible when you consider all of the people trying to achieve that feat at this very moment. Nevertheless, some surely have hit the mark.

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Here below, we wanted to explore four examples of when people did it but then never were able to achieve success like that ever again. Indeed, these are four one-hit wonders that topped the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

[RELATED: 3 Two-Hit Wonder, Foreign-Born Bands that Ruled the 1970s]

“Come On Eileen” by Dexys Midnight Runners and the Emerald Express from Too-Rye-Ay (1982)

A song about rebellion and departure. A song where the singer is trying to get his love interest to kick off the shackles of this deadbeat town and all its claustrophobic traditions and find something new, something better to sink his teeth into. There must be a better way to live! And if there isn’t, at least there will be a different way to be. So, let’s move! That is the message of the track, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Indeed you can hear it in the words,

These people ’round here
Wear beaten-down eyes sunk in smoke-dried faces
They’re so resigned to what their fate is

But not us (no, never)
No, not us (no, never)
We are far too young and clever
Remember

Too-ra-loo-ra, too-ra-loo-rye, aye
Eileen I’ll hum this tune forever

Come on Eileen
Oh, I swear what (what he means)
Ah, come on let’s take off everything
Pretty red dress
Eileen (tell him yes)
Ah, come on let’s
Ah, come on Eileen

“I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred from Up (1991)

If you’re ever feeling unattractive, put this song and just start dancing around your living room. Suddenly you’ll remember how smart and lovely you are. It’s the top track to help rebuild your confidence as Right Said Fred just reminds you over and over that you’re sexy—that is, if you sing along to the number, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Hey, try it right now. Push play on the video below and tell yourself how great you are, singing along with the group,

I’m too sexy for my love
Too sexy for my love
Love’s going to leave me

I’m too sexy for my shirt
Too sexy for my shirt
So sexy it hurts

And I’m too sexy for Milan
Too sexy for Milan,
New York and Japan

And I’m too sexy for your party
Too sexy for your party
No way I’m disco dancing

“Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice from To the Extreme (1990)

This song is both good and laughable. It’s the strange balance Vanilla Ice was able to strike in the early 1990s. Part talent, part cartoon. Nevertheless, this song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and it’s still known widely today some 35 years after its release. It’s also one of those songs you can start to rap along with and all of a sudden you realize you know every word. Incredible stuff. And on it, Vanilla Ice offers,

All right stop, collaborate and listen
Ice is back with the brand-new invention
Something, grabs a hold of me tightly
Flow like a harpoon daily and nightly
Will it ever stop? Yo, I don’t know
Turn off the lights and I’ll glow
To the extreme I rock a mic like a vandal
Light up a stage and wax a chump like a candle
Dance go rush to the speaker that booms

“Hey Mickey” by Toni Basil from Word of Mouth (1982)

This might be perhaps the catchiest songs ever. It’s one of those that when you begin singing it, you’re done for. It’s going to be in your head and in the heads of everyone around you. The beat, the vocal performance from Toni Basil, the repetitive chorus. All of it makes it super memorable, which is certainly one of the reasons why the song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. On it, Basil sings,

Hey Mickey
You’ve been around all night and that’s a little long
You think you’ve got the right, but I think you’ve got it wrong
Why can’t you say goodnight? So you can take me home Mickey?

‘Cause when you say you will, it always means you won’t
You’re givin’ me the chills, baby, please, baby don’t
Every night you still leave me alone Mickey

Photo by Brian Cooke/Redferns