3 One-Hit Wonders From the 1990s That Listeners Loved To Hate, but Charted High for a Reason

One-hit wonders were in abundance throughout the 1990s, and some of those chart-topping, solitary hits have aged not so well in retrospect. Some modern-day, younger listeners might find these songs to be cheesy or annoying. You might feel the same way, even if you were around back then to witness them hit the charts for the first time. Still, there’s a reason why these songs are so famous. They were perfect for their time. Let’s take a look!

Videos by American Songwriter

“Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice (1990)

Well, this one was inevitable. “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice might just be the most famous one-hit wonder of the 1990s. It hit No. 1 on quite a few global charts, from the Billboard Hot 100 to the UK Singles chart to mainstream charts in Australia, Belgium, and the whole of Europe (Eurochart Hot 100). And yet, it hasn’t aged particularly well. Some might say that this song is annoying, while others might point out that Vanilla Ice nicked Queen and David Bowie’s bassline from “Under Pressure”. Honestly, I still think this song is catchy, despite the drama surrounding it.

“Achy Breaky Heart” by Billy Ray Cyrus (1992)

This song gets dunked on occasionally nowadays, as it’s very of its time and might be seen as “cheesy” to younger listeners. However, any country fan who was alive to see this song debut knows just how big a deal it was back in the day. How many songs out there have singlehandedly brought back a dance craze? “Achy Breaky Heart” brought back the line dancing craze and basically changed our timeline. Considering this song reached the Top 10 globally and hit No. 1 on the US Country charts and elsewhere, some respect should probably be put on Cyrus’ name for this song.

“Cotton Eye Joe” by Rednex (1994)

This repetitive, catchy electronic song by a band of Swedes cosplaying as American rednecks was a surprise hit in 1994 to just about everyone. “Cotton Eye Joe” might get grating after a while, but I absolutely get why people loved this song. It’s a Eurodance classic, and one of the most enduring one-hit wonders of the 1990s. Personally, I totally killed this song on Dance Dance Revolution, so I’ve got some fondness for it. Consider me biased.

“Cotton Eye Joe” by Rednex dropped in 1994 and topped over a dozen charts across Europe. It also made it to No. 1 on the UK Singles chart and No. 25 on the Hot 100.

Photo by Stephanie Pilick/picture alliance via Getty Images