Are They A One-Hit Wonder?

sadchild said:
Avicii
#4 "Wake Me Up"
#16 "Hey Brother"

Pretty sure we've all heard #4 at every other public gathering (I heard it at my son's last robotics competition).
I don't recognize the other song though. Subjectively a OHW?

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I've heard the 2nd one too, but I'm not sure I'd call it a "hit".

There's an important phenomenon we haven't talked about yet. I don't know the term for it, but it's when an artist has a big hit, and then their follow-up song or album gets top billing, even when it's not that good. So at the time, the follow-up song may make the top 40, but in the long run, it's a forgettable song.
 
Definitely!! I expected to see a ton of those on here.

I suspect these are just a few that fall under that category:

Alannah Myles
#1 "Black Velvet"
#36 "Lover Of Mine"

EMF
#1 "Unbelievable"
#10 "Lies"

Gerardo
#7 "Rico Suave"
#16 "We Want The Funk"

Rockwell
#2 "Somebody's Watching Me"
#35 "Obscene Phone Caller"

Snow
#1 "Informer"
#19 "Girl I've Been Hurt"

Young MC
#7 "Bust A Move"
#33 "Principal's Office"
 
I remember when I was 19 a girl I worked with said she loved that second hit (back when it was still pretty new). But that's the last time I've heard anyone talk about it.
 
I've heard Boogie out and about once in a great while at like a hip restaurant for example. I hear the melody of Sukiyaki once in a while here and there, but not necessarily this recording.
 
Ue O Muite Arukō ("I look up when I walk") was written by Hachidai Nakamura and Rokusuke Ei and was first recorded by Kyu Sakamoto in September 1961. It was Japan's number-one song for the year. Japanese artists Sayoko, Coba, Miho Kanada, Tatsuo Sunaga and the Kazumi Tateishi Trio have also recorded the song. When the Kyu Sakamoto song was released in the United States, the dum-dums at Capitol Records figured Americans wouldn't understand the title so they changed it to Sukiyaki, a Japanese word that they figured almost everyone knows – even though the lyrics had nothing to do with sukiyaki.

A Taste Of Honey vocalist Janice-Marie Johnson wrote new lyrics – in English – for the tune but kept the idiotic title of Sukiyaki. The song, whether in Japanese or English, has been recorded by more than 100 artists and, with the exception of the six artists named above, every recording has been titled Sukiyaki.

Here is a 2015 version by Jeff Foskett, who has been a vocalist and guitarist with the Beach Boys and/or Brian Wilson since 1981:

 
And here is some more about it (from my song bio of it on Genius)

Janice Marie Johnson begged her mother to buy the US chart-topping song “Sukiyaki (Ue o Muite Arukō)” in the summer of 1963, and encouraged her sister create a Japanese dance routine and sing the song at talent shows.

Almost twenty years later, A Taste Of Honey had an international smash disco hit with “Boogie Oogie Oogie”. So when Johnson approached her record label wanting to do a mellow cover of “Sukiyaki (Ue o Muite Arukō)” with her own lyrics in place of the original Japanese, they balked at the idea of a disco act releasing a Japanese ballad – and gave her an ultimatum:

The only way Capital Records would release ‘Sukiyaki’ was if I signed over my writer’s royalties. Reluctantly I signed.
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Not only was it a top 5 hit in the US, Canada and New Zealand in the spring of 1981, but it revived the song’s beloved melody for a new generation. In 1985, Doug E Fresh & Slick Rick used Johnson’s lyrics in their perennially sampled hip-hop classic “La Di Da Di”. And in 1995, 4PM recorded their own version and it reached the top 10 in the US, Australia & New Zealand.
 
A few websites cite Janice-Marie Johnson as the "uncredited writer" of Sukiyaki's English lyrics. She also co-wrote four A Taste Of Honey songs: Boogie Oogie Oogie, Diamond Real, Distant and Rescue Me.
 
Soul II Soul
#4 "Back to Life"
#11 "Keep On Movin"

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I know the first one from late '89. Only hear it on the VJ these days, but I don't think it's forgotten. That second one is a photocopy of the first one, but I didn't know it back then and don't know it now. Subjective OHW.
 
I had their stuff on cassette. I think I’ve got one of the albums on CD, but haven’t seen it in a while. They had such a great, fresh sound at the time.
 
Alias
#2 "More Than I Can Say"
#13 "Waiting For Love"

I always mix #2 up with Leo Sayer.

Leo:
Oh-woah-yay-yay, I love you more than I can say

Alias:
I need you now. More than words can say, I need you now.

I know the #2 song, but not #13. I think they're a subjective OHW.
 
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