Rolling Stone readers’ poll puts A-ha’s “Take On Me” at No. 1, followed by Dexys Midnight Runners’ “Come on Eileen” and Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky.” This is a reader-voted ranking of favorite songs—not a chart-based tally or a claim that every act had exactly one hit worldwide.
Rolling Stone readers’ top 10 one-hit wonders
The order below is the one reproduced from Rolling Stone’s reader poll by ListChallenges and recapped by Fox Business. The reproduction’s introduction says readers were asked to vote for their favorite one-hit wonders of all time. The sources do not establish a consistent chart threshold or territory rule for classifying all ten acts.
- “Take On Me” — A-ha. A-ha’s best-known song tops the poll. Songwriter and guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy recalled that it took roughly four months to reach No. 1 in the United States, according to an Entertainment Weekly interview quoted by Fox Business in 2019.
- “Come on Eileen” — Dexys Midnight Runners. The song takes second place. Its frontman, Kevin Rowland, has objected to the one-hit-wonder label when applied broadly to the group: in a 2013 interview quoted by Fox Business, he said the band was known in America as a one-hit wonder, while in the UK it was known for more.
- “Spirit in the Sky” — Norman Greenbaum. Greenbaum’s song ranks third. Fox Business’s 2019 recap, citing The New York Times, reports that it reached No. 3 on Billboard’s pop chart in 1969 and sold more than two million copies.
- “In a Big Country” — Big Country. The band’s song is fourth in the poll.
- “Tainted Love” — Soft Cell. Soft Cell’s hit is fifth.
- “My Sharona” — The Knack. The Knack’s song occupies sixth place.
- “No Rain” — Blind Melon. Blind Melon’s song is seventh.
- “Tubthumping” — Chumbawamba. Chumbawamba’s song ranks eighth.
- “96 Tears” — ? and the Mysterians. The song is ninth. Fox Business reports that it reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1966 and earned a gold record after sales exceeded one million.
- “Turning Japanese” — The Vapors. The Vapors’ song rounds out the list. Fox Business’s 2019 recap, citing the BBC, reports peaks of No. 3 in the UK and No. 36 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
What “one-hit wonder” means in this poll
The label is not a universal chart category with one agreed threshold. It can describe an act’s lasting public reputation, particularly in a specific country, rather than literally mean that the act had only one successful song everywhere. Rowland’s distinction between the group’s reputation in America and the UK is a clear example.
So treat this as a poll of readers’ favorite songs associated with the label, not proof that every artist had just one hit, or that the list measures chart performance. To compare it with another “one-hit wonders” ranking, check how it selected songs, which territory it covers, and what counts as a hit.
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Source and date
The ranking is reproduced by ListChallenges and recapped by Fox Business. Fox Business’s recap is dated September 25, 2019; that is not an established date for the original Rolling Stone poll. The original Rolling Stone page could not be verified, so the ranking is best described as Rolling Stone readers’ poll results as reproduced and recapped by those sources.
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