Rolling Stone Australia’s ranked list puts Wheatus’ “Teenage Dirtbag” at No. 1 and Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day” at No. 50. It is a critic’s selection, not a definitive census: “one-hit wonder” changes meaning depending on the chart, country, time period and kind of success being counted.
What counts as a one-hit wonder?
There is no single universal test. A strict U.S. Billboard Hot 100 definition can exclude an act whose songs found audiences elsewhere, while a broader cultural definition may call an artist a one-hit wonder despite multiple notable tracks. Rolling Stone Australia itself points to t.A.T.u.: “All the Things She Said” reached No. 20 on the Hot 100, while “Not Gonna Get Us” missed that chart but found success in clubs and on MTV. Finger Eleven’s “Paralyzer” reached No. 6 after “One Thing” had reached No. 16.
A separate Billboard approach, reported by the Recording Academy in 2014, considered acts from 2000–2007 whose second hits failed to reach the Top 25. Under that method Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day” was named the decade’s one-hit wonder; Terror Squad’s “Lean Back,” Crazy Town’s “Butterfly,” MIMS’ “This Is Why I’m Hot” and D4L’s “Laffy Taffy” rounded out that report’s top five. That is a different exercise from Rolling Stone’s later 50-song editorial ranking.
Any categorical label should say what it measures: territory, chart, billing rules, years and hit threshold. Playback.fm, for example, notes that its appearance count ends in 2016 and can misclassify artists who had a later hit; it also counts only first-billed artists.
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How the 2000s list reflects a fragmented pop landscape
The ranking covers a decade when record sales were falling, record stores were closing, digital players and online distribution altered how people found music, and YouTube and MySpace widened the routes songs could travel. At the same time, TV singing competitions and MTV’s Total Request Live helped shape pop visibility. The 50 selections move across dancehall, R&B, power ballads, nu-metal, crunk, pop-rock, rap-rock and synth-pop.
Chart position and cultural memory are different measures. Peter Bjorn and John’s “Young Folks,” ranked No. 31, did not reach the U.S. Hot 100 according to the article, but opened the Gossip Girl pilot in 2007. Caesars’ “Jerk It Out” was tied to an iPod Shuffle advertisement and other media uses, even though it peaked at No. 70 on the Hot 100 in April 2005.
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The 50 ranked songs
Below are the entries and contextual details visible in Rolling Stone Australia’s ranking. Chart peaks refer to the Billboard Hot 100 unless another chart is named. A ranking is an editorial judgment, not a direct comparison of chart performance.
Nos. 50–41
- Daniel Powter, “Bad Day.” The song spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in early 2006. Rolling Stone places it at No. 50; Billboard’s separately reported decade method named it its one-hit wonder of the decade.
- Hinder, “Lips of an Angel.” Reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 in October 2006.
- Dorrough, “Ice Cream Paint Job.” Reached No. 27 on the Hot 100 in September 2009.
- Hurricane Chris, “A Bay Bay.” Reached No. 7 on the Hot 100 in June 2007.
- Webstar and Young B feat. The Voice of Harlem, “Chicken Noodle Soup.” A local dance craze and online phenomenon crossed onto the pop chart, peaking at No. 45. Young B, identified as Bianca Bonnie, told Billboard in 2019 that it was “infectious, this organically lit thing that you couldn’t explain,” adding, “It was created in Harlem, and now it’s a worldwide thing.”
- Vistoso Bosses, “Delirious.” Reached No. 10 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 2009.
- Flobots, “Handlebars.” Reached No. 37 on the Hot 100 in 2008. Jonny 5 told Rolling Stone he wrote it “in the thick of the Iraq War.”
- Brooke Valentine, “Girlfight.” Featuring Big Boi and Lil Jon, it reached No. 23 on the Hot 100 in 2005.
- Toya, “I Do!” Reached No. 16 on the Hot 100 in December 2001. In a 2001 Riverfront Times interview, Toya said, “I really don’t know what it means, but I kinda like it.”
- Trapt, “Headstrong.” Reached No. 16 on the Hot 100 in November 2003.
Nos. 40–31
- Orianthi, “According to You.” The article describes the track as her solo pop arrival in fall 2009.
- Los Lonely Boys, “Heaven.” The group’s self-described “Texican rock n’ roll” reached No. 16 on the Hot 100 in August 2004. Henry Garza told Rolling Stone that year, “I got on my knees and started crying and started praying.”
- Kat DeLuna feat. Elephant Man, “Whine Up.” Reached No. 29 on the Hot 100 in July 2007.
- Caesars, “Jerk It Out.” Released in 2002 as Caesars Palace, the song later appeared in an iPod Shuffle advertisement and reached No. 70 on the Hot 100 in April 2005.
- Eamon, “Fuck It (I Don’t Want You Back).” Reached No. 16 on the Hot 100 in February 2004 and inspired an answer single.
- Metro Station, “Shake It.” Reached No. 10 on the Hot 100 in June 2008.
- City High, “What Would You Do?” Reached No. 8 on the Hot 100 in May 2001.
- Unk, “Walk It Out.” Reached No. 10 on the Hot 100 after its remix arrived in January 2007.
- Peter Bjorn and John, “Young Folks.” The song did not reach the Hot 100 according to the article, but opened the 2007 pilot of Gossip Girl.
- Hoku, “Another Dumb Blonde.” From the Snow Day soundtrack, it reached No. 27 on the Hot 100 in April 2000.
Nos. 30–21
- Asher Roth, “I Love College.” Reached No. 12 on the Hot 100 in 2009.
- Cherish feat. Sean Paul, “Do It To It.” Reached No. 12 on the Hot 100.
- Kevin Lyttle feat. Spragga Benz, “Turn Me On.” The soca song was remixed as a dancehall track and reached No. 4 on the Hot 100 in August 2004.
- Lil Romeo, “My Baby.” Reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 in June 2001.
- MIMS, “This Is Why I’m Hot.” Reached No. 1 in March 2007.
- The Darkness, “I Believe in a Thing Called Love.” A 2003 retro-rock single distinguished by Justin Hawkins’ high-register vocal and a prominent guitar solo.
- Nine Days, “Absolutely (Story of a Girl).” Reached No. 6 on the Hot 100 in July 2000.
- Eden’s Crush, “Get Over Yourself.” Reached No. 8 on the Hot 100 in March 2001.
- D4L, “Laffy Taffy.” Topped the Hot 100 for one week at the beginning of 2006.
- Nina Sky feat. Jabba, “Move Ya Body.” Reached No. 4 on the Hot 100 in August 2004.
Nos. 20–11
- La Roux, “Bulletproof.” From the 2009 debut album, it reached No. 10 on the Hot 100 in June 2010—after the decade named in the ranking’s title.
- Tweet feat. Missy Elliott, “Oops (Oh My).” Reached No. 7 on the Hot 100 in April 2002.
- American Hi-Fi, “Flavor of the Weak.” Reached No. 41 on the Hot 100.
- Baha Men, “Who Let the Dogs Out?” Reached No. 40 on the Hot 100 in October 2000. In a 2016 interview, writer Anslem Douglas described it as “a man-bashing song.”
- Truth Hurts feat. Rakim, “Addictive.” Reached No. 9 in 2002. The article notes that sample-related problems kept it off streaming services before it returned in 2021.
- The Click Five, “Just the Girl.” Written by Adam Schlesinger, it reached No. 11 in September 2005.
- Lumidee, “Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh).” Reached No. 54 on the Hot 100 in June 2003.
- Blu Cantrell, “Hit ’Em Up Style (Oops).” Peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100.
- Crazy Town, “Butterfly.” Reached the top of the singles chart in March 2001. Shifty Shellshock told Rolling Stone in 2001, “We have a lot to prove because of ‘Butterfly.’ We have to prove we’re aggressive punk kids—a real band and not a pop act.”
- Khia, “My Neck, My Back (Lick It).” Reached No. 42 on the Hot 100; the article discusses radio censorship as context for its reach.
Nos. 10–1
- Hoobastank, “The Reason.” Reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 in June 2004.
- J-Kwon, “Tipsy.” Reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 in April 2004.
- Willa Ford, “I Wanna Be Bad.” Reached No. 22 on the Hot 100 in August 2001.
- Lil Mama, “Lip Gloss.” Reached No. 10 on the Hot 100 in June 2007.
- Wheatus, “Teenage Dirtbag.” No. 1 in the ranking. After its 2000 release, it missed the U.S. Hot 100 but reached No. 1 or No. 2 on charts in other countries.
Rolling Stone’s headline identifies the selection as 50 songs, but the accessible entry details do not establish every rank in the list; the sequence above includes the entries and ranks available in the cited account rather than filling gaps by guesswork.
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Why chart peaks do not settle the argument
The list includes songs with very different chart stories: “Bad Day” spent five weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. Hot 100, while “Teenage Dirtbag” did not appear on that chart despite reaching the top two in other countries. “Young Folks” is another reminder that television placement and enduring recognition need not correspond to a U.S. chart peak. An Official Charts retrospective on decade sales uses pure physical sales data covering 2000–2022, a different measure again; those figures should not be treated as U.S. Hot 100 results or as proof of one-hit-wonder status.
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