The Greatest Two-Hit Wonders
Sometimes one hit isn't enough
A few months ago, my coworker Brendan launched a newsletter called Good Stuff, where he recommends, well, good stuff. Many people think they have refined taste that they need to share with the world, but Brendan is a true cultural omnivore. His newsletter is worth a subscription.
Anyway, last week when I wrote about music in supermarkets, I mentioned the classic rockers 38 Special. Because of that, Brendan and I had an exchange in the comments that inspired this week’s newsletter:
Brendan: I would argue listening to 38 Special in a grocery store is a peak life experience
Chris: Both of their songs
Brendan: i need a deep dive into 2-hit wonders
Here’s your deep dive, Brendan.
The Greatest Two-Hit Wonders
By Chris Dalla Riva
One-hit wonders are unfairly maligned. From the Baha Men to Right Said Fred, these groups are often remembered for weird novelties that are annoying at best. But I think we should celebrate these groups. Most people who ever release music professionally will never have a hit. One hit is a miracle, especially if it’s a true smash.
But if one hit is a miracle, then two hits is a near impossibility. Two-hit artists sit in a weird space, though. Pop stars a remembered because they are very famous. One-hit wonders are remembered for the opposite. Their un-memorableness makes them great answers to bar trivia questions. Two-hit wonders are stuck in the middle. Some might be able to parlay those two hits into careers, but others are lost in a musical no man’s land, too many hits for trivia, not enough to be legends. Still, there’s got to be a greatest two-hit wonder.
To find these great two-hit artists, I decided to start with the band that inspired it, 38 Special. In my mind, 38 Special’s two hits are “Hold On Loosely” and “Caught Up in You,” both dynamite rock songs. Despite the ubiquity of those songs on classic rock radio, 38 Special isn’t technically a two-hit wonder. In fact, they had nine top 40 hits between 1981 and 1991. Still, they felt like a good band to establish a two-hit standard from.
“Hold On Loosely” peaked at number 27 in 1981. “Caught Up in You” peaked at number 10 a year later. Those aren’t their highest charting singles, but to be a two-hit wonder in this exercise, you had to have at least one top 30 hit and one top 10 hit. By that definition, there have been 324 two-hit wonders between the start of the Billboard Hot 100 and 2010 among the 3,271 artists who have had at least one top 30 hit and one top 10 hit in that period. That means about 10% of all artists who met that criteria are two-hit wonders.
When you look through this list, you see many interesting acts. Blues Traveler, for example, makes the cut. Though they have a very dedicated fanbase, they technically only have two hits: “Hook” and “Run-Around.” Bonnie Tyler is also a two-hit wonder. “It’s a Heartache” charted at number three in 1977, and “Total Eclipse of the Heart” charted at number one in 1983. But where is “Holding Out for a Hero,” you might ask? It peaked at 34 in 1984. By our 38 Special definition, we are only looking within the top 30. Quirks aside, who are the greatest two-hit wonders?
In this case, I am equating greatness with popularity. What I did was find every artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 that had exactly two top 30 hits, one of which had to be within the top 10. I then sorted those artists by their popularity score on Spotify.
This list is kind of shocking. Pink Floyd, one of the best-selling bands of all-time, is a two-hit wonder? By the definition, I just outlined, yes. Pink Floyd’s albums always did better than their singles, though. In fact, Pink Floyd might be the platonic form of artists on the list. They are mostly in the rock universe and sell more albums than singles.
There are also other artists on the list that are typically classed as one-hit wonders. a-ha is a good example of this. Most known for their 1984 smash “Take On Me,” they technically landed another hit in the top 30: “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.” Additionally, outside the U.S. they had many other hits, but the Billboard Hot 100 is focused on American sales and streams.
Maybe we can take this a step further, though. Rather than just looking for artists that had exactly two top 30 hits, one of which had to be within the top 10, we can look for artists that meet those criteria but also never had a top 10 album. Again, we will use Billboard’s charts, which are focused on American sales and streams.
This list feels a bit more two-hit wonder-y. Of course, some of these artists have more robust careers around the world (e.g., a-ha), but within the U.S., I’m pretty satisfied with the results. I hope my coworker Brendan is satisfied too.
The Glory (and Shame) of Being Number 2
As I was digging deep in these two-hit wonders, I naturally had the number “two” banging around in my brain. This got me thinking about artists that had the most number two hits. But I had a stipulation. Many number one hits sit at number two before they reach the top. I wanted songs that peaked at number two and never made it to number one. And I’m sad to report that a legendary artist wears this silver crown: Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Creedence Clearwater Revival has one of the most impressive careers in the history of American popular music. Between 1968 and 1972, the band released seven studio albums and 21 singles. Five of those albums peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. 16 of those singles peaked in the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Sadly, none of those singles got to number one. Seven got to number two, though. The only artists that come close to that high-water mark are Blood, Sweat & Tears and En Vogue. Both of those groups had three number two hits without ever reaching number one.
I’m sure Creedence Clearwater’s John Fogerty doesn’t lose sleep over this. The man wrote like 10 classics in a matter of four years. But that’s a ton of second place finishes. You have a gold medal in my mind, Mr. Fogerty.
A New One
"Relationships" by HAIM
2025 - Shimmery Indie Rock
Last week, my coworker Brendan recommended this song in his newsletter with an apt description:
The sisters are back. They can’t stand fucking relationships. Naturally, a cinematic experience. Can’t get it out of my head.
An Old One
"Baby, Now That I’ve Found You" by The Foundations
1967 - Motown Soul
As I searched through two-hit wonders, another group jumped out at me a bit further down the list: The Foundations. Best known for their eternal smash “Build Me Up Buttercup,” their other hit, “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You,” might deserve as much love. It’s got all of the core elements that make “Build Me Up Buttercup” hum, but you’ve probably heard it less often, which gives it a freshness.
Shout out to the paid subscribers who allow this newsletter to exist. Along with getting access to our entire archive, subscribers unlock biweekly interviews with people driving the music industry, monthly round-ups of the most important stories in music, and priority when submitting questions for our mailbag. Consider becoming a paid subscriber today!
Recent Paid Subscriber Interviews: Pitchfork’s Editor-in-Chief • Classical Pianist • Spotify’s Former Data Guru • Music Supervisor • John Legend Collaborator • Wedding DJ • What It’s Like to Go Viral • Adele Collaborator
Recent Newsletters: Supermarket Music • The Lostwave Story • Blockbuster Nostalgia • Weird Band Names • Recorded Music is a Hoax • A Frank Sinatra Mystery • The Pop Music Kill Rate
Want to hear the music that I make? Check out my latest single “Overloving” wherever you stream music.
Funny enough, the first artist I thought of when I saw this headline was A-ha. But then I thought, well, The Sun Always Shines... only went to 27 and I wondered if that counted. Obviously it does with your criteria.
In my head, I feel like two Top 10's is more of a "hit" than anything lower. Why? Well, I might not have felt tis way in the 80s or 90s, but now that 30 to 40 years have passed I am confident that a song from the 80s or 90s that didn't make the Billboard Top 10 is far less likely to be played on the radio these days. (FM or Satellite, etc.) Far less often any way, than something that went Top 10. Basically, the lower it placed on Billboard the less likely you are to hear it.
Finger Eleven should also be mentioned here. "One Thing" and "Paralyzer" both hit top 20 on the US Hot 100, and most people I talk to don't even realize it's the same band. I never heard any other songs from them on the radio or anywhere. 2 hits.