20 memorable one-hit wonders from the 2000s

For over a decade, Fountains of Wayne made infectious power pop, and band member Adam Schlesinger definitely knew how to craft an earworm. He wrote the title song for “That Thing You Do!” and wrote some killer pop-punk songs for other movies as well. Alas, Fountains of Wayne’s legacy may end up being their joke song “Stacy’s Mom,” which was definitely catchy but also pretty cheesy. Sadly, Schlesinger died from COVID-19 complications, leading the surviving members to reunite for a one-off show in his honor.

For a moment there, Gnarls Barkley was getting a lot of attention. Danger Mouse and Cee Lo’s project was visually oriented, and the two were always decked out in elaborate costumes. Of course, while donning those costumes, often on TV, they were almost invariably playing “Crazy.” It was a huge hit, but the only one they had before what always felt like a short-term thing ended.

Hey, remember rap rock? Sadly, so do we. One of the last vestiges of this lamentable era was Flobots’ hit single “Handlebars.” Finding a foothold on alt and modern rock stations in 2008 was a fleeting moment of prestige for a band that was working in an outdated milieu.

Feist has done excellent work with Broken Social Scene and solo. She has several catchy, delightful songs. Only one ever rose to be a hit, though, “1234.” Feist was one of those early musicians who rose to prominence thanks to her song being in an Apple ad, and it’s not hard to see why “1234” hooked people.

Here’s a rarity: A band whose one hit was a cover with all due respect to “Movies,” their top original, that never hit the Billboard Hot 100 and even topped out at 18 on the alternative charts. Their turn-of-the-millennium rock take on Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” somehow just clicked with people. It was a true hit and one of the weirder one-hit wonders.

D4L only released one album, so sustained success was just not going to happen. However, on that one album,” the hip-hop group dropped the single “Laffy Tāffy.” More popular than that bland, overly-chewy candy, the song actually topped the charts in 2005.

Afroman is still at it, but the gimmicky rapper is not really made for mainstream success. What’s weird is that his one hit is also kind of a surprise. “Because I Got High” is about Afroman failing to do a lot of stuff he intended because, well, he got high. Considering it would be years before the tide fully turned on marijuana use, its mainstream success was unexpected.

Have you heard the name Daniel Powter recently? Well, thank the Sacramento Kings for that. When the Kings made the playoffs for the first time since 2006, one of the talking points was that, back then, the top song in the country was Powter’s “Bad Day.” And now it’s stuck in your head and we can only apologize.

Even if you have a high tolerance for pop punk – and personally, our tolerance is quite high – sometimes you are reminded of a pop-punk song that broke through and all you can do is sigh and say, “OK fine.” “Flavor of the Weak” came off of American Hi-Fi’s self-titled debut, and it…it just felt like we could do better. We will say this, though: Frontman Stacy Jones has a resume that really impresses. In addition to drumming for Letters to Cleo and Veruca Salt, Jones has gone on to not only drum for Miley Cyrus’ band, but to serve as her musical director. The dude has chops; there’s no doubt about that.

Snow Patrol is close to not qualifying as a “one-hit wonder,” both charts-wise and cultural sensibilities-wise. However, while they have had four songs chart, only one made it into the top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100, and three of them came in the wake of the hit, so maybe those are just aftershocks. No, this is all about “Chasing Cars.” It was on the second season finale of “Grey’s Anatomy.” It shot to fame as a result, taking the Scottish rock band along with it.

First, R.I.P. to Huey, another casualty of gun violence in the United States. The lead single from his debut album would prove to be his defining work. “Pop, Lock, & Drop It” really clicked with people, and as a song about a dance move, it was kind of made to be played in the club. Hip hop teems with one-hit wonders, perhaps more than other genres due to the occasional party/club-friendly work from otherwise serious rappers, but Huey still stands out in that mix.

Look, Default isn’t in our wheelhouse. “Wasting Our Time” is not a song we ever wanted to hear. This Canadian rock band found fame after Chad Kroeger of Nickelback got his hands on their demo tape for a reason. We can’t deny they had one hit, though. We also won’t lament that Default then disappeared into the ether. Their frontman apparently became a successful country solo artist. It’s like he wants us not to like him.

With a name stylized as “soulDecision,” you can probably guess this was a boy band. A Canadian boy band, in fact. Their hit favorite topped the charts in 1999…but in Canada. It was not released internationally until 2000 when it became a hit in the United States. As such, we’re counting it. Plus, we get to shout out a Canadian boy band!

Cabrera is, arguably, more famous for things other than his music, including his hit “On the Way Down.” He used to pop up on Ashlee Simpson’s reality show and then showed up on MTV’s “The Hills” because he was dating Audrina Patridge. Plus, he’s married to WWE wrestler Alexa Bliss. He hasn’t released a new album since 2008, but he’s staying in the mix.

Brooke Hogan is technically a one-hit wonder, but we’re chalking that up to her father’s fame and weird reality TV stuff. As such, let’s shout out another Brook, Valentine. She hit with the provocatively-titled “Girlfight.” It also probably helped that the song featured Lil Jon and Big Boi. Valentine hit low on the R&B charts a few times, but that was about it.

You want to talk about unexpected hits. Khia’s hit song is…well…how do we talk about it? Let’s just say it involves her neck, her back, and…some other regions of her anatomy. When the hook of your one hit is not radio-friendly, you’ve really pulled something off.

In the mid-2000s, there was a brief revival of an old-school garage rock sound. Dudes in suits playing fast, energetic, simple rock. Among those bands, we found Jet, whose song “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” was a showpiece of that moment. Like the swing revival of the ‘90s, though, it didn’t last.

Unsurprisingly, an Irish folk band that included a violin and a tin whistle in the mix only had one hit. Actually, maybe the surprise is that they had one hit here. The Corrs were big in the UK, and “Breathless” was their third top-three hit there. In the United States, it hit 34 on the Hot 100, but that’s as high as they got here.

It feels surprising that Chamillionaire is a one-hit-wonder. One, “Ridin’,” was a huge hit. Two, “Weird Al” Yankovic parodied it as “White & Nerdy.” That made Chamillionaire feel more like a part of the musical landscape. Then again, Weird Al also parodied the Presidents of the United States of America, Iggy Azalea and Milli Vanilli. Maybe even parodied artists can be fleeting.

If we told you that the song “Absolutely” by Nine Days hit number six in the United States, you might struggle to place it. What if we said to you, “This is the story of a girl/Who cried a river and drowned the whole world?” Yeah, now that earworm is in your brain. There’s a reason the song became titled as “Absolutely (Story of a Girl).” It did not lead to further success for Nine Days, though.