The 5 Most Overplayed One-Hit Wonders of All Time

Some one-hit wonders make it big and stay a while, and we’re thankful for it. Others, though, were played so often on radio and spread across social media so much that listeners got really sick of them really fast. That’s what happened with these five overplayed one-hit wonders, and it’s kind of a shame.

1. “Somebody That I Used To Know” by Gotye (feat. Kimbra)

Gotye and Kimbra deserved better. This hit 2011 song is beautifully produced and well-written. It was a huge no. 1 hit across the globe, and understandably, it was played on repeat for a while. Sadly, even the best songs can get annoying if you hear them over and over again. Despite the success of “Somebody That I Used To Know”, neither Gotye nor Kimbra had as big of a hit again.

2. “Gangnam Style” by Psy

Psy dominated the mid-2010s charts for a hot minute with “Gangnam Style”. This overplayed entry on our list of one-hit wonders is a fun song, but man did it get old fast. You’d be hard-pressed to go anywhere without it blasting through a speaker in the distance. Psy deserved his fame and should be credited with giving K-pop a boost in the West, but radio stations really needed to cool it with this track.

3. “The Fox (What Does The Fox Say?)” by Ylvis

This hit got big during an era where if your song became an internet meme, you were doing something right. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean the song in question is good. We’re not trying to hate on this Norwegian comedy-pop duo, but the song “The Fox (What Does The Fox Say?)” became quite grating in a short amount of time.

Ylvis really didn’t capitalize on this song, either. They had one song (“Trucker’s Hitch”) chart to no. 10 in Norway. None of their other singles charted anywhere, at all.

4. “Achy Breaky Heart” by Billy Ray Cyrus

“Achy Breaky Heart” by Billy Ray Cyrus took the country world by storm in the 1990s. We get why; it’s a ridiculously catchy song. However, after hearing it on jukeboxes at local bars for the 500th time, listeners started to really hate it. Though, we have to give Cyrus credit for giving line-dancing a cultural boost with this hit track.

5. “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice

“Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice is basically the poster child of overplayed one-hit wonders. Though the song did help bring hip-hop into pop culture to a degree back in the early 1990s, this song started to get annoying after a while. Despite its success, Vanilla Ice never had as big of a hit again.

Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images for MTV

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