Lost Factor’s Top One-Hit Wonders

They may have been the one-hit wonders with the highest Lost Factors, but many were instrumental in pop music history.

In honor of One-Hit Wonder Day, we broke out our Lost Factor rankings of those songs that had the highest Billboard year-end chart points at the time, but the least airplay now, according to BDSradio. (Technically, One-Hit Wonder Day was Sept. 25, but as noted here before, every day is One-Hit Wonder Day at Ross on Radio.) 

When you look at all songs that made the year-end Top 100 between 1960-2000, the list (like the overall list) is dominated by instrumental acts from the ’60s, particularly the pre-Beatles 1960s, so I also did separate rankings for the 1970s and 1980s. 

One-Hit Wonders Day always results in playlists and special programming weekends that get it wrong by any definition. Some attempt to define “one-hit wonder” as one enduring song, but the whole point of Lost Factor is that it often claimed songs (or entire hit streaks) by acts who had significant careers at the time. Major acts like Daryl Hall & John Oates, Madonna, and Barbra Streisand are well represented for Lost Factor titles. Teen acts often had short shelf lives, but usually managed to score a few hits in a year’s time. And Lost Factor artist leader Donny Osmond’s chart career was nearly 20 years.

For the most part, I found top 20 to be a pretty good dividing line of whether an act actually managed a follow-up. Being a follow-up usually gave a song a certain amount of juice, but those second chart singles that peaked between No. 21-40 generally did not read as “hits” then or now. As usual, there’ll be things to argue over. There will also be acts that managed careers on the album charts or elsewhere without a second true hit single, beginning with the act that leads off the list. 

Here are the top 15 one-hit wonders, ranked by their highest Lost Factor song. That song’s Lost Factor is shown in parentheses, after the year.

1. Percy Faith, “Theme From ‘A Summer Place’” (1960, LF 100)
2. Paul Mauriat, “Love Is Blue” (1968, 99)
3. Hugh Montenegro, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” (1968, 93)
4. Sensations, “Let Me In” (1962, 93)
5. String-A-Longs, “Wheels” (1961, 93)
6. S/Sgt. Barry Sadler, “Ballad of the Green Berets” (1966, 91)
7. Brothers Four, “Greenfields” (1960, 88)
8. Mar-Keys, “Last Night” (1961, 84)
9. Rebels, “Wild Weekend” (1963, 85)
10. Inez & Charlie Foxx, “Mockingbird” (1963, 82)
11. Ray Charles Singers, “Love Me With All Your Heart” (1964. 82)
12. Chantays, “Pipeline” (1963, 80)
13. Sounds Orchestral, “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” (1965, 75)
14. Divine, “Lately” (1999, 70)
15. Natural Selection, “Do Anything” (1991, 69)

Because the bulk of the biggest Lost Factor numbers come from the early ’60s (or are instrumentals from later in the decade), with a few lost ’90s titles, here’s a separate list of the top one-hit wonders of the ’70s.

1. Bobby “Boris” Pickett, “Monster Mash” (1973, 63)—Ironically, the top song of the ’70s is from the ’60s as well. While Pickett’s one-hit-wonder status isn’t in dispute, the Lost Factor ranking is, because of the song’s annual resurgence. So this list will go to 11 for anybody who doesn’t include him.
2. Chakachas, “Jungle Fever” (1972, 50)
3. Bazuka, “Dynomite” (1975, 49)
4. Clint Holmes, “Playground in My Mind” (1973, 45)
5. Bells, “Stay Awhile” (1971, 44)
6. Daddy Dewdrop, “Chick-a-Boom (Don’t Ya Jes’ Love It)” (1971, 34)
7. Wing and a Prayer Fife and Drum Corps, “Baby Face” (1976, 33)
8. Dean Friedman, “Ariel” (1977, 32)
9. Silver, “Wham Bam Shang-a-Lang” (1976, 30)
10. Mac & Katie Kissoon, “Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep” (1971, 30)
11. Dennis Coffey, “Scorpio” (1972, 29) — follow-up “Taurus” went to No. 18, but I feel OK about declaring it “not a hit” (especially since this is the bonus song)

Here are the top 10 Lost Factor songs and artists from the 1980s:

1. Buckner & Garcia, “Pac-Man Fever” (1982, 59)
2. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, “Hooked on Classics” (1982, 45)
3. Charlene, “I’ve Never Been to Me” (1983, 31) – if it had been a hit upon its initial 1977 release, “I’ve Never Been to Me” would have just made the ’70s list
4. Vangelis, “Chariots of Fire (Titles)” (1982, 30)
5. Stars on 45, “Stars on 45 Medley” (1981, 26)
6. John Schneider, “It’s Now or Never” (1981, 19)
7. Boys Club, “I Remember Holding You” (1989, 16)
8. Arcadia, “Election Day” (1986, 15) — Some will be reluctant to include a Duran spinoff, so I’ve extended this list as well
9. Jan Hammer, “Miami Vice Theme” (1985, 12)
10. Charlie Dore, “Pilot of the Airwaves” (1980, 12)
11. Frank Stallone, “Far From Over” (1983, 8)— technically tied with Ray, Goodman & Brown’s “Special Lady,” but as the hitmaking Moments of the 1970s under another name, they technically count even less than Arcadia.

Finally, here are the top five overperformers from one-hit wonders. I was surprised how deep I had to dig on the list to come up with five songs, but the depth of artists’ catalog seems to impact their durability at radio, even if radio then chooses only one song by, say, Survivor. I think we can all agree not to include the Beastie Boys, even though “Intergalactic” only made No. 28, but “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party)” would otherwise be No. 1.

1. Haddaway, “What Is Love” (1994)
2. Spandau Ballet, “True” (1983)—Follow-up “Gold” felt a lot bigger than its No. 29 peak at the time. In the U.K., where Spandau Ballet had a longer hit streak, it’s heard regularly
3. Thin Lizzy, “The Boys Are Back in Town” (1976)
4. Ratt, “Round and Round” (1984)
5. Peter Schilling, “Major Tom (Coming Home)” (1983)