Word.ws English Dictionary

one-hit wonder

one-hit wonder noun: a recording artist known for only one hit song, especially after failing at subsequent attempts at success.

Noun

one-hit wonder (plural one-hit wonders)

  1. (idiomatic) A recording artist known for only one hit song, especially after failing at subsequent attempts at success.
    • Eleven years ago, Arrested Development became one of Southern hip-hop's first crossover successes with “Tennessee,” a wistful, bohemian-influenced song about the scars of history. But the group was a one-hit wonder.2003 September 21, Jon Caramanica, “Music: When Rap Sounds Anything but Urban”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 31 Jul 2019, retrieved 03 Aug 2009
    1. (broadly, idiomatic) The hit song itself, rather than the musical artist.
  2. (broadly, idiomatic) A person or group known for achieving only a single major accomplishment.
    • The European company is no one-hit wonder. The company has another best seller in its J-class car, sold as a Vauxhall Cavalier.1990 February 19, S. C. Gwynne, “Two Sides of a Giant”, in TIME, archived from the original on 15 Dec 2008
  3. (slang, marijuana subculture) An instance of achieving a high from the first hit.

Forms of one-hit wonder

pluralone-hit wonders
alternative formone hit wonder

Questions about one-hit wonder

What does one-hit wonder mean?
One-hit wonder means a recording artist known for only one hit song, especially after failing at subsequent attempts at success.
What part of speech is one-hit wonder?
One-hit wonder is a noun.
What is the plural of one-hit wonder?
The plural of one-hit wonder is one-hit wonders.

Words near one-hit wonder in the dictionary

  1. one-hit
  2. one-hit kill
  3. one-hit killed
  4. one-hit killing
  5. one-hit kills
  6. one-hit wonder
  7. one-hit wonders
  8. one-hits
  9. one-hitter
  10. one-hitters
  11. one-hitting

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: one-hit wonder (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-one-hit wonder.ogg.

Cite this entry: “one-hit wonder.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/one-hit_wonder. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.