Play'em again: The top 10 'one-hit wonders of all time'
FBN's Stuart Varney on the highest-paid women in music.
Oldies are still goodies. That's, at least, according to Rolling Stone Magazine, which surveyed its readers to learn which tunes they believe to be the best "one-hit wonders."
Maybe you've played these songs on repeat, or have only listened to them once or twice. Or maybe you've never heard some of these songs before -- in which case, it might be time to.
Either way, here are Rolling Stone's "Top 10 One-Hit Wonders of All Time":
10. "Turning Japanese," by The Vapors (1980)
The Vapors separated in 1981, just a year after the hit song was released. Nonetheless, "Turning Japanese" rose to the No. 3 single in the U.K. and No. 36 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, BBC reported.
9. '96 Tears,' by ? and the Mysterians
The Michigan-based band, which was known for its garage-band style sound, released the hit song in 1966 and catapulted to the top of Billboard Hot 100 in October of that month. '96 Tears' received a gold record after selling more than one million copies.
8. 'Tubthumping,' by Chumbawamba (1997)
Despite its success with the 1997 hit, Chumbawamba was formed in Leeds, England more than a decade earlier. Tubthumping rose to become one of the top ten songs in the U.S. and Europe, Allmusic.com reported.
"Tubthumping" was at one point voted the 12th "most annoying song of all time," by Rolling Stone, according to BBC, but still catapulted to #6 in the U.S.
7. "No Rain," by Blind Melon (1993)
The 90s classic was released by Blind Melon -- an LA-based "hippie grunge bank from California" that performed at Woodstock in 1994, according to Rolling Stone. The song became "a massive radio hit," despite tragedy. In 1995, lead singer Shannon Hoon died on tour following a struggle with drug addiction.
6. "My Sharona," by The Knack (1979)
The hit song was based on a real person, Sharona Alperin, who dated lead singer Doug Fieger shortly after she was introduced to the performer -- by none other than his girlfriend, according to NPR. Alperin was a teenager when she first met Feiger. She later went on to post for the single's cover.
"Not everybody knew that Sharona was a person, or they thought maybe it was a thing," Alperin told the outlet. "I think in Japan, they might have thought it was the male organ — that's what I heard."
5. "Tainted Love," by Soft Cell (1981)
'Tainted Love' was first recorded by Gloria James in 1965, but is often thought to be an 80s hit for its later version, which was released by Soft Cell in 1981 -- and as a result of the survey, was the edition that was lauded by Rolling Stone.
The latter version blasted the song into what the Financial Times called "a near-year-long chart residency."
4. "In a Big Country," by Big Country (1983)
The 1983 song by Scottish band Big County became the group's "signature song," according to Big Country's website.
The song sold more than two million copies and the band's album, "The Crossing," went on to score three Grammy nominations.
Founding member Stuart Adamson was found dead of an apparent suicide in 2001 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
3. "Spirit in the Sky," by Norman Greenbaum (1969)
Norman Greenbaum's classic reached No. 3 on Billboard's pop chart in 1969, the year it was released, and sold upwards of two million copies, The New York Times reported. It was Greenbaum's only song to reach Top 40. "
The hit has since been featured in 32 films, including "Apollo 13," "Superstar," "The Longest Yard," and "Ocean's 11," according to the report.
Greenbaum reportedly receives a $10,000 payment every time the song is featured in a "major movie or ad."
2. "Come on Eileen," by Dexys Midnight Runners (1982)
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2013, Dexys frontman Kevin Rowland called the song's success "a double-edged sword."
"On the one hand, it’s a really good song and we’re glad that it has been successful, but we’re known in America as one-hit wonders by most people, and that’s not something I’m happy about," Rowland said. "I know it’s better than being a no-hit wonder, but over here [in the U.K] we’re known for a whole lot more."
1. "Take On Me," by A-ha (1984)
This 1980s classic was first released by Norwegian music group A-ha in 1984, and an enhanced version aired in 1985, Entertainment Weekly reported.
Despite its popularity now, the song did not take off as quickly as the pop group had hoped.
"[I]t took, like, four months to reach number one in America," A-ha songwriter and guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy told the outlet in 2015. "And it felt like years. Every week it would go up a spot, up three spots…. It would pick up, then slow down. [It] was a whole process.”
The song's music video -- which cost $150,000 to produce, according to The Quiet US -- went on to win six MTV Video Music Awards in 1986.