Page "One-hit wonder" Paragraph 7

Wayne Jancik's book The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders ( Billboard Books, 1998 ) defines a one-hit wonder rather strictly, as " an act that has won a position on Billboard's national, pop, Top 40 just once.

" He therefore includes such performers as Janis Joplin ( for " Me and Bobby McGee ") or Jimi Hendrix ( for " All Along the Watchtower "), solely on the basis of their Top 40 performance.

In his definition of an " act ", Jancik distinguishes between a solo performer and any group he or she may have performed in ; thus Roger Daltrey is distinguished from The Who.

He restricts his reporting time to the period from the start of the " rock-and-roll era " ( defined by the author as 1 January 1955 to 31 December 1992 ).

The latter date was picked to allow a five-year " lag time " before publication for a listed one-hit wonder to produce a second hit ; this does not allow for a longer hiatus between hits for a particular performer.

For example, Lenny Kravitz is listed for " It Ain't Over ' til It's Over " ( No. 2, August 1991 ); the book therefore misses subsequent hits, such as " Fly Away ", which peaked at # 12 in 1999, and " Again ", which peaked at # 4 in 2001, on the Hot 100.