Last Updated on 18 February 2024

I searched the Internet for lists of the best or most one-hit wonder songs of all time. Criteria included the songs being ranked, not just listed, not just one decade, and generally created by groups, whether teams or committees or based on general public voting (like Ranker.com).

I was able to find 30 lists. I took the 30 lists and added all their content into a spreadsheet, noting the rank of every song. I ended up averaging the rankings each song got and dividing that average by a factor of the number of lists that song was on. There were 205 songs that were on at least 2 lists. The lowest score meant a high ranking average on many lists. The complete spreadsheet is attached at the bottom.

The songs that were on the most lists (out of 30) were:

  • Spirit in the Sky – Norman Greenbaum – 17 lists
  • Come on Eileen – Dexy’s Midnight Runners – 16 lists
  • Take On Me – A-ha – 15 lists
  • Tainted Love – Soft Cell – 15 lists
  • Tubthumping – Chumbawamba – 15 lists
  • Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of…) – Lou Bega – 13 lists
  • Macarena – Los Del Rio – 11 lists
  • Mickey – Toni Basil – 11 lists
  • Somebody That I Used to Know – Gotye – 10 lists
  • No Rain – Blind Melon – 10 lists

Here are links to the lists I used along with dates the lists were created:

Best-One-Hit-Wonders-of-All-TimeDownload

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