An analysis of pop music’s greatest two-hit wonders. “Pop stars are remembered because they are very famous. One-hit wonders are remembered for the opposite. Two-hit wonders are stuck in the middle.”
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This is fascinating. That list of two hit wonders is completely unexpected! Dido feels like the only "true" two-hit wonder when I look at that list.
Yeah, this is a list of "cult" bands or genre dominators who have a long and popular career, just not quite popular enough to keep breaking into the mainstream Billboard top 30.
Dido had multiple top singles on the UK chart.
The problem with this list is that it's looking at the wrong chart, or rather it's not looking at enough charts. It would count Led Zeppelin as one-hit wonders, if even that. Which is just insane: I don't know which band was the most successful, globally, in the 1970s but they were up there. Similarly Pink Floyd: Dark Side of The Moon is apparently the fourth highest-selling album ever.
Neither of these bands were one- or two-hit wonders in anything but some silly technical sense.
I think he should refactor his query towards artists that had two hits but no longevity or extensive discography. The real two-hit wonders. Pink Floyd and 38 Special shouldn't really count.
Also, super bummed that Extreme (two hits, a #1 and and a #4) didn't make the popularity cut.
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