Definitive 'primarily known for one song' band?

[Ziggy Stardust]

Youtubers

 

[amadeus]

5.3 B views. Suck it losers.

we don care bout no foreigners chief

 

[Kyriakos]

Besides, "only known for one song" is rather glaringly not the same as "one-hit wonder". The first refers to bands which may (or may not) have more than one hits, but their top hit is all most people would know.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

we don care bout no foreigners chief

How about one?

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Here's Who Let the Dogs Out?

Song is a protest feminist song against men who catcall women.

Well, the party was nice, the party was pumpin'
And everybody havin' a ball
Then the fellas start the name callin'
And the girls respond to the call
I heard a woman shout out

 

[Darsnan]

I can't believe no one has listed Green Jello yet!

 

[Kyriakos]

I can't believe no one has listed Green Jello yet!

One of the most memorable riffs ever.

 

[Verbose]

Just a carefree topic ^^

I'd start with one of the most emblematic ones:

1.2 billion views for one song.

Sure... But if they didn't have that one, they might as well be known as the one-song-band with "Carrie", 250 mil views. (It's the discrepancy with a monster hit six times as big that does it.)

Sinead O'Connor is very lopsided otoh,with 700 mill (versions included) views:

After that comes "Troy", 6+ mil views:

 

[Kyriakos]

^^

 

[Qactus]

 

[Arakhor]

Well, if you want possibly the most famous guitar riff of all time (opinions may vary):

 

[Kyriakos]

^Imo the problem is that the only good thing with that song is the riff
By constrast there are a number of songs with memorable riffs that are good overall.

 

[Gori the Grey]

That's also a good one-hit wonder, though. I, at least, don't know anything else by Deep Purple.

 

[Kyriakos]

Hmmm ^^

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Checking my youtube playlist .... quite a few candidates.

 

[Arakhor]

A-ha are probably only known worldwide for Take On Me, but they were still pretty popular in Europe. They apparently even had eight No 1 hits in Norway.

 

[Tee Kay]

I'm throwing in my honourable mention

 

[Kyriakos]

This was a fluke in more ways than one:

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

If I had to pick only one, iconic "One-Hit Wonder", it would be A-Ha, for "Take On Me" (1985). The song has 2.14 billion plays on Spotify, and the video - which might be as or more famous than the song itself -

It's funny to think, how great the song is itself, it would have never been as famous and popular as it is without the video

In 2020, former Warner Brothers UK and Reprise executive Andrew Wickham appeared in A-ha's official anniversary documentary A-ha: The Making of Take On Me, to explain how the song's success was due to several parties realising the band's true value. He detailed how the song finally became the worldwide smash hit still widely recognised today. In 1984, he was the international vice-president for Warner Bros Records America, and their A&R man in London. He said, "I got a call from Terry Slater... I couldn't believe my ears (at the band's audition) when I heard Morten Harket sing. I thought, how can somebody who looks like a film star sound like Roy Orbison? I thought, this is unbelievable."

Wickham immediately signed A-ha to Warner Brothers America, after learning several previous attempts had failed to make "Take On Me" a commercial success. The next release was not successful either and featured a very ordinary performance video. He authorised considerable investment in the band: on Slater's recommendation, renowned producer Alan Tarney was commissioned to refine the song. The new recording achieved a cleaner and more soaring sound and a coda section instead of the earlier quick fade-out; the song was soon completed and re-released in the UK, but the record label's office in London gave them little support, and the single flopped for the second time.[8]

Wickham placed the band on high priority and applied a lateral strategy with further investment. Ayeroff's co-worker John Beug suggested they should base the video on a student animated short he had seen, called "Commuter", by Michael Patterson and Candace Reckinger. Director Steve Barron shot and edited the video, where some of the segments were then drawn over by Patterson, while Reckinger did the mattes, creating a revolutionary rotoscope animated music video which took six months in total to make.[9][10] The single was released in the US one month after the music video, and immediately appeared in the Billboard Hot 100[8] and was a worldwide smash, reaching No. 1 in numerous countries.

 

[Darsnan]

Fear Factory redoing Gary Newman's Cars, and man did they do it right!