20 memorable one-hit wonders from the 2010s

You ever watch “Saturday Night Live,” and you see who the musical guest is, and you wonder to yourself, “What is the other song they are going to do?” That was definitely the case with Gotye. “Somebody That I Used to Know” (featuring Kimbra) was a massive hit, but it is the beginning and the end of Gotye being in the zeitgeist. That weird music video probably helped as well.

Mark Foster, frontman of Foster the People, made a living writing commercial jingles while trying to make it as a musician. That isn’t surprising, given the earworm nature of “Pumped Up Kicks.” It’s one of those songs that is so catchy it takes a minute to recognize the lyrics are kind of dark.

The phrase “Canadian reggae fusion band” is rarely associated with long-term success in music. Indeed, Magic! came and went in a puff of smoke. Also, if we’re being honest, we never thought “Rude” was a very good song. It really just felt like warmed-over reggae that landed with a shrug.

We trashed “Rude” a bit there, so let’s give some love to another one-hit-wonder. That would be “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon. A band with influences found in ‘80s rock, this was a catchy song, one that proved to be a massive hit, even if Walk the Moon couldn’t replicate it.

Dance-related songs often become one-hit wonders, and that was true for Cali Swag District. The band dropped “Teach Me How to Dougie” on the world, rode that wave, and then disappeared swiftly. It did not help that two of the four band members have unfortunately since passed on.

Psy is a quintessential one-hit wonder. We get why he had a gimmicky, viral hit. We also knew immediately this was it for the Korean artist. “Gangnam Style” managed to land with people for whatever reason, and its music video became massive on YouTube. Maybe it was the dance associated with it? People do love dancing.

This is the kind of one-hit wonder that could only happen in modern times. Baauer’s hit is “Harlem Shake.” It became huge because it was used to soundtrack one of those viral online “challenges.” Sports teams did it. Celebrities did it. We assume “Good Morning America” did it. Then, it was over. That was that.

James dropped “All Gold Everything” in 2012, and it was so successful he was signed by Def Jam. Then, he failed to ever make an album for the label, who then dropped him. Actually, James has never released an official album. He’s put together plenty of mixtapes, but none of them have featured a song nearly as popular as “All Gold Everything.”

“I Love It” is an incredibly catchy song. It is practically undeniable. However, it’s also easy to see why the Swedish duo never had a follow-up hit. Featuring on this song was Charli XCX, who also has writing credit on it. Charli XCX has become a successful musician in her own right, and one assumes she has brought her songwriting acumen with her. Nobody else has given Icona Pop another song they can ride to success.

Platten released a couple of albums that came and went. Then she released her third album “Wildfire,” which featured the song “Fight Song.” That one hit, and then Hillary Clinton’s campaign adopted it and it took off even more. Her next song was a decent hit, reaching 37 on the Billboard Hot 100, but that was in the wake of “Fight Song,” and that is not super high on the charts. We mean, could you name the song we’re hinting at? If not, is it really a hit?

King’s debut single remains her greatest success, “Ex’s and Oh’s” got her name out there, and also got her on the “Ghostbusters” soundtrack with a song that did not hit. Since then, though, King hasn’t really found much chart success. These days, you are as likely to hear King mentioned by somebody saying, “Do you know she’s Rob Schneider’s daughter?”

Michael Rosenberg was in a band called Passenger, and when the band broke up, he kept the name and started to release music solo. After a few years, the British artist found success with “Let Her Go,” which topped charts worldwide and hit fifth in the United States. However, even in his native United Kingdom, Passenger could never find another big hit.

If you’re a folk band with a hit, you take that as found money, right? Perhaps owing to its singalong (or shout-along) nature, “Ho Hey” broke through for The Lumineers. They kept doing the folk thing, and while they have landed on the Billboard rock chart a handful of times, that’s niche success.

Formed out of the wake of emo band “Anatomy of a Ghost,” Portugal. The Man was at it for a few years before “Feel It Still” gave them their only hit. Notably, Motown songwriter Brian Holland got a credit on the song, as it borrowed from the melody of “Please Mr. Postman.” Hey, maybe that’s why it became a hit.

An Icelandic indie folk band released their first album, and their first single was a big hit. Music is strange sometimes. “Little Talks” put Of Monsters & Men on the map, but it was a swift decline in renown for the group. While they have continued to make music and release albums, “Little Talks” is still the band's only hit over a decade later.

Desiigner dropped his debut single “Panda” on SoundCloud in 2015, and soon enough it would be a number-one hit. He is perhaps the quintessential SoundCloud rapper. That does include the fact that he has yet to release a full album as well. Desiigner has released many a song, and a couple of mixtapes, but “Panda” remains his preeminent song. At this point, it seems like an album may never actually happen.

This is a one-hit-wonder we’re fine about. Silento was a dance craze one-hit wonder thanks to “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae).” Odds are, we won’t be hearing anything more from Silento. Since 2021, he has been held without bail and awaiting trial for multiple murder charges. 

Joy was a professional Aussie rules football player for a few years before abandoning it to pursue a music career. Did he make the right choice? Well, his 2013 single “Riptide” was a worldwide hit. Since then, he hasn’t found any success in the United States, but he has a handful of top-20 hits in his native Australia. Hey, it beats being smashed into by Aussie rules footballers over and over.

“Best Day of My Life” is one of those songs that ad executives feel is perfect and sports broadcasters find to be ideal bumper music. Thus, we were inundated with the American Authors’ upbeat ditty. “That song from all those commercials” was sought out and became a hit, but they haven’t outrun that song. So much so, their 2023 album is called “Best Night of My Life.”

There was a fun Jepsen moment for a second there, huh? Look, “Call Me Maybe” was charming, and so was the Canadian singer. That song became a number-one hit in the United States, and that’s cool with us. She had a couple of other songs in the wake of “Call Me Maybe” that got some attention, but only some. Now, you might say, “What about ‘Good Time’?” Fair enough, as that song was a top-10 hit. However, it’s not a Jepsen song. It’s an Owl City and Jepsen collaboration. It weirdly featured on both an Owl City and Jepsen album, but it was written by the Owl City crew. We’re going to call that an Owl City song.