Successful artists who are nowadays remembered for one song?

[tekkenguy]

What artists who were successful in their prime are remembered only for one song nowadays.

[Deleted]

The most obvious examples are some of the acts that have enduring Christmas hits but whose heyday was well over 50 years ago at this point (Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, Brenda Lee to a somewhat lesser extent because she has a few songs that I think are decently well remembered for how old they are.. but still the average person in 2021 is likely only familiar with the one).

[Deleted]

Rick Astley was huge in the Late 80s and Early 90s, yet no one remembers him for anything other than... that song (although Together Forever might count too).

[kalmanta]

It sucks to say, but internationally Prince. There is just the one song everybody knows getting played on the radio. It makes me mad every time that most of the people aren’t familiar with more of his classics.

[jimijoop]

Kesha
Spice Girls
Pharrell Williams
Panic at the Disco
Taylor Dane
Sophie Ellis-Brextor
Mariah Carey (in some extent)
Kate Bush
Lorde
Ellie Goulding
Jessie J
Michael Bublé
The Corrs
Des'ree
Liz Phair
Journey
New Kids Of The Block
Thirty Seconds To Mars
Samantha Fox
NSYNC
Robin Thicke
Carly Rae Jepsen
The Killers
The Cranberries

[jdanton2]

Apr 15, 2021 15:21:58 GMT -5 @jazzysoul47 said:

The most obvious examples are some of the acts that have enduring Christmas hits but whose heyday was well over 50 years ago at this point (Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, Brenda Lee to a somewhat lesser extent because she has a few songs that I think are decently well remembered for how old they are.. but still the average person in 2021 is likely only familiar with the one).

in a couple of decades that could potentially happen to Mariah . Bing Crosby for instance was probably the most success artist of the 1930's and 40's . by the 50's his popularity slipped .

[Luckie Starchild]

Bobby McFerrin has had a successful career in jazz but he is remembered by most people just for "Don't Worry, Be Happy."

[rnb]

leona lewis

[Steel Sponge]

Rick Springfield is probably the most interesting case to me. Most people will initially know only recognize him for "Jessie's Girl," but you'd also be surprised to know that he's had 16 other top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

[Luckie Starchild]

Kim Carnes ("Bette Davis Eyes")

[leoapp]

Mar 30, 2023 14:14:02 GMT -5 jimijoop said:

Mariah Carey (in some extent)

I'm not sure if most people only remember All I Want For Christmas Is You.
At least Hero/We Belong Together (in US) or Without You (worldwide) are remembered

[Au$tin]

Apr 4, 2023 7:46:48 GMT -5 leoapp said:

Mar 30, 2023 14:14:02 GMT -5 jimijoop said:

Mariah Carey (in some extent)

I'm not sure if most people only remember All I Want For Christmas Is You.
At least Hero/We Belong Together (in US) or Without You (worldwide) are remembered

Fantasy was also just used as a major sample in a big hit and was recently featured prominently in a successful film. And besides AIWFCIY, she's also had a few other viral moments on social media with her older material.

I also don't see how Panic! At the Disco, Ellie Goulding, Journey, NSYNC, The Killers, and The Cranberries qualify at all unless you just live under a rock. They each have at least 2 widely remembered smash hits.

[rainie]

^^ the cranberries i'd say qualify for this, especially if you're under the age of 35. the others ya

[leonagwen]

Mar 30, 2023 18:51:37 GMT -5 rnb said:

leona lewis

Bleeding Love is obviously her well known hit but Better in Time was a decent hit that made the top 10 on Pop.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Mar 30, 2023 18:51:37 GMT -5 rnb said:

leona lewis

This implies she was successful enough for people to remember more than one song from the beginning.

[rnb]

Apr 5, 2023 0:38:13 GMT -5 leonagwen said:

Mar 30, 2023 18:51:37 GMT -5 rnb said:

leona lewis

Bleeding Love is obviously her well known hit but Better in Time was a decent hit that made the top 10 on Pop.

“and are NOWADAYS remembered for one song”

please get some glasses leona, it will help a lot

[leonagwen]

Apr 5, 2023 14:03:34 GMT -5 rnb said:

Apr 5, 2023 0:38:13 GMT -5 leonagwen said:

Bleeding Love is obviously her well known hit but Better in Time was a decent hit that made the top 10 on Pop.

“and are NOWADAYS remembered for one song”

please get some glasses leona, it will help a lot

www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRcXmbxr/

[jimijoop]

Apr 4, 2023 9:07:17 GMT -5 Au$tin said:

Apr 4, 2023 7:46:48 GMT -5 leoapp said:

I'm not sure if most people only remember All I Want For Christmas Is You.
At least Hero/We Belong Together (in US) or Without You (worldwide) are remembered

Fantasy was also just used as a major sample in a big hit and was recently featured prominently in a successful film. And besides AIWFCIY, she's also had a few other viral moments on social media with her older material.

I also don't see how Panic! At the Disco, Ellie Goulding, Journey, NSYNC, The Killers, and The Cranberries qualify at all unless you just live under a rock. They each have at least 2 widely remembered smash hits.

I don't live in USA and sometimes i forget this is a USA-centric forum so i wrote this list with global perspective rather with USA. However i admit i was a wrong with Ellie Goulding because she's still successful and her latest single Miracle was number 1 in UK charts and is already pretty successful in some countries. I thought she was mostly known for Love me like you do but i was wrong as she's also known for few more songs as well. My bad.

[Glass Joe]

One mentioned above that is the best example is the Spice Girls.

I think Smash Mouth should be mentioned too for just “All Star.”

[avamaxstan]

Mar 30, 2023 14:36:45 GMT -5 jdanton2 said:

Apr 15, 2021 15:21:58 GMT -5 @jazzysoul47 said:

The most obvious examples are some of the acts that have enduring Christmas hits but whose heyday was well over 50 years ago at this point (Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, Brenda Lee to a somewhat lesser extent because she has a few songs that I think are decently well remembered for how old they are.. but still the average person in 2021 is likely only familiar with the one).

in a couple of decades that could potentially happen to Mariah . Bing Crosby for instance was probably the most success artist of the 1930's and 40's . by the 50's his popularity slipped .

It’s already happening with Mariah. Teens and young adults know her as the Christmas Lady and can’t recognize most of her hits besides AIWFCIY.

[avamaxstan]

Apr 11, 2023 1:57:57 GMT -5 Glass Joe said:

One mentioned above that is the best example is the Spice Girls.

”

Nah, they have Say You’ll Be There, Stop, 2 Becomes 1

[avamaxstan]

Apr 13, 2023 7:21:39 GMT -5 avamaxstan said:

Apr 11, 2023 1:57:57 GMT -5 Glass Joe said:

One mentioned above that is the best example is the Spice Girls.

”

Nah, they have Say You’ll Be There, Stop, 2 Becomes 1, maybe SUYL

[jimijoop]

Aqua
Haddaway
Snap!
Gala
2Unlimited
Dr. Alban
Robin S

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

Kylie is very successful in Europe and Australia, but in the U.S., she is mostly remembered for "Can't Get You Out Of My Head".

[Deleted]

And The Locomotion. 🙃

Mariah shouldn’t be included. Fantasy, All I Want For Christmas
The Cranberries have Dreams and Zombie. Or Nsync. Ellie is a tough one, I and most remember her, but on the spot, it’s tough naming a song.

[groovetheory]

Apr 13, 2023 1:00:39 GMT -5 avamaxstan said:

Mar 30, 2023 14:36:45 GMT -5 jdanton2 said:

in a couple of decades that could potentially happen to Mariah . Bing Crosby for instance was probably the most success artist of the 1930's and 40's . by the 50's his popularity slipped .

It’s already happening with Mariah. Teens and young adults know her as the Christmas Lady and can’t recognize most of her hits besides AIWFCIY.

She has a vast, awesome discography and it is sad it is coming to this. Viral moments like Obsessed and It's a Wrap are helping but it is up to her honestly. She still could do a lot but lately it is all about Christmas for her as well.

[mkarns]

I think Mariah has several hit songs that are generally well remembered (Fantasy, Always Be My Baby, Hero, We Belong Together, others including some viral rebirths) that she's not just known as the "Christmas Lady"--though there are worse things to be known as.

Though she's only released two studio albums in the last decade (the last was in 2018), with long stretches of inactivity broken by being seemingly everywhere each November and December. So if she is increasingly being identified largely with the holidays it's partly of her own making. Again, though, there are worse ways for someone who's increasingly a "legacy artist" or not regularly having hits to stay in the public eye...

[dbhmr]

I don't buy that Mariah is only remembered for AIWFCIY. It's just a uniquely massive hit associated with a particular time, and it's so big that it generates memes about her thawing around October. But if you pull that away, she and her material is referenced as often as Whitney, Aretha, etc. The Christmas stuff is just so massive it's overshadowing, but hasn't made the GP forget her biggest hits.

[salt]

I'd say Mariah has at least a few hits that are pretty well remembered. We Belong Together, Fantasy (especially with it being sampled by Latto), and Always Be My Baby come to mind. When you have that many huge hits, some of them are just gonna be forgotten in comparison.

[avamaxstan]

Jun 21, 2023 11:31:42 GMT -5 dbhmr said:

I don't buy that Mariah is only remembered for AIWFCIY. It's just a uniquely massive hit associated with a particular time, and it's so big that it generates memes about her thawing around October. But if you pull that away, she and her material is referenced as often as Whitney, Aretha, etc. The Christmas stuff is just so massive it's overshadowing, but hasn't made the GP forget her biggest hits.

A look at her streams aside from AIWFCIY answers the question. Gen Z overwhelming knows her as the Christmas lady. She has a lot of classics but most are very dated sounding ballads that are low streamed, not picked up on tiktok etc.