Best One-Hit Wonders of the Decade

By Amy Wilkinson Posted Dec 25th 2009 06:00AM

With Daniel Powter's 'American Idol' farewell song 'Bad Day,' earning the dubious distinction of Billboard's top one-hit wonder of the decade, we got to thinking of the other blink-and-you-missed-it stars of the aughts-from actors and musicians to authors and reality-show hosts. Their popularity may have fizzled as quickly as William Hung's, but here at PopEater, we'll always remember them for their contribution to the crazy first decade of the 2000s.

Actor: Brandon Routh
Brandon Routh beat out some of Hollywood's hottest young hunks to don Clark Kent's Coke-bottle glasses in "Superman Returns." Though the film soared like a bird (and/or a plane) at the box office, the role may have been career kryptonite for the actor seeing as he's been in little since.

Actress: Lindsay Lohan
As a child actress, Lindsay Lohan gained moderate fame playing scheming twins in the 'Parent Trap' remake, but it was as transfer student Cady Heron in 2004's 'Mean Girls' that the New York-native gained starlet status, for better or for worse. Nowadays, LiLo's known more for her addiction problems and relationship quarrels than her acting chops, with her last effort 'Labor Pains,' released directly to the ABC Family channel.

Singer: Vanessa Carlton
American audiences must have a thing for unrequited love. Much like James Blunt's 2005 hit 'You're Beautiful,' Vanessa Carlton's popular piano ballad 'A Thousand Miles' dealt with the loss of a lover, and just like Blunt's song, became a staple of radio airwaves. Follow-up singles 'Ordinary Day' and 'Pretty Baby' just couldn't go the distance.

Author: James Frey

Technically, author James Frey scored two bestsellers in the aughts with his gripping addiction memoir 'A Million Little Pieces' and its follow-up 'My Friend Leonard,' though the former eclipse the latter by leaps and bounds when it was dubbed one of Oprah Winfrey's book club picks. When it came to light portions of the work had been fabricated, Frey was dropped by his publisher and received quite the rebuke from Winfrey. Reemerging as a novelist, Frey recently published the fictional 'Bright Shiny Morning' and is reportedly working on a second novel based on the Bible.

Author: Audrey Niffenegger
Debut novelist Audrey Niffenegger single-handedly supported the facial tissue industry in 2004 with her weepy sci-fi romance 'The Time Traveler's Wife.' Though it became a bestseller, the film version starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana didn't fair so well at the box office. Her hotly anticipated and similarly fantastical follow-up 'Her Fearful Symmetry' also failed to garner the same reception as her stunning debut.

Documentarian: Morgan Spurlock
If you forsake Big Macs and Chicken McNuggets in the mid-00s, it likely had something to do with a little documentary called 'Super Size Me,' in which intrepid filmmaker Morgan Spurlock set out to see what would happen if he subsisted on a McDonald's-only diet for 30 days. Spurlock went on to produce a spin-off TV series called '30 Days' and film other docs like 2008's 'Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?' but neither left us with the McSweats quite like 'Super Size Me.'

Reality Show: 'Joe Millionaire'

Reality shows come and go, but nothing tickled the zeitgeist in 2003 quite like 'Joe Millionaire.' The show followed faux millionaire Evan Marriott-he was really a construction worker-on his search for love, wining and dining women who had no idea he wasn't loaded. The show's finale garnered 40 million viewers, but a follow-up 'The Next Joe Millionaire' didn't attract viewers quite like the original.

Reality Show Host: Brian Dunkleman
'American Idol''s youngest fans likely can't recall a time when Ryan Seacrest shared hosting duties for the wildly popular talent competition. But he did. And that co-host's name was Brian Dunkleman. The one-time emcee left after the show's first season and went on to appear on VH1's 'Celebrity Fit Club.' With Seacrest pulling in a reported $15 million a year hosting the FOX series, Dunkleman's gotta wonder 'What if?' every now and then.

Television Maid/Butler: Jane Leeves
Perhaps the poor economy is to blame, but hired help just isn't as de rigueur as it used to be. No one did it better in the aughts than Jane Leeves, who played quirky housekeeper/physical therapist Daphne Moon on the series 'Frasier.' We couldn't have been happier when her and neurotic Niles finally tied the knot.

'Friends' Star: David Schwimmer
Everyone's favorite Central Perk patrons have had mixed success since the end of their series in 2004. Courtney Cox has seemingly found a home in "Cougar Town," Jennifer Aniston's rife with movie roles (and tabloid covers) and Matthew Perry had a hit with "17 Again" (though we think Zac Efron might have had something to do with that one). Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc have had series of their own that didn't last, but it's David Schwimmer who's kept the lowest profile of the bunch, sticking largely to directing and stage productions. Could we be any more bummed the 'Friends' star hasn't become a fixture on our television sets?

Who are your favorite one-hit wonders of the 00s?

Comments

(96)

Friday 25 December

By bill

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You say "parts of James Frey's book were fabricated" (?) Since it was originally pushed as a bio it turns out "the whole story" was fabricated.

To this day the very biggest one hit wonder of all time is OTIS REDDING. With his one and only top 20 hit this song (Sitting on the Dock of the Bay)propelled him to the rock and rool hall of fame. He had one other song that made it to number 22 on the charts at the time. That's it yet this guy is in the R&R hall of fame - for his only hit.

By Wish Belkin

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Jimi Hendrix only had one top twenty hit with "All Along The Watchtower".
But neither one was a one hit wonder of the 00s.

By HoneyKone

You've got to be kidding! Otis Redding was NOT a one-hit wonder. This man was a soul legend. Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay was his biggest hit, but not his only one. By the way, here's a little known fact: Otis was the actual writer of I Can't Get No (Satisfaction). He sold the song to the Rolling Stones. Otis was also the songwriter of Aretha Franklin's best known hit, RESPECT.

By hurley

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

he was one of the best acts in america... and then he died.
are you just not paying attention, or weren't you around then?

By TonyTuba

@ HoneyKone. Otis Redding did not write Satisfaction. He did a rendition of the song which was already released, Keith Richards is quoted as saying the riff came to him in a dream. Otis did write Respect

Saturday 26 December

By Christine F

That is an amazing song. one of my all time favs but not in this decade. Of all time? Maybe...

By Blaiyan

@Bill

Listen to, These Arms of Mine, That's How Strong My Love Is, My Lover's Prayer, Pain In My Heart, I've been loving you too long and I've got dreams to remember.

By danny

if you don't have all the facts right, don't offer an opinion that makes you look like a jackass. and read up on otis redding.

By Matthew

The Grateful Dead also only had one top-40 hit with "Touch of Grey." I guess they were also a one-hit wonder...a flash in the pan...a fly-by-night act with a sparse resume. Janis Joplin also only had one top-40 hit (Me and Bobby McGee...which she didn't even write). Clearly Pearl was a one hit wonder unworthy of such acclaim. Jane's Addiction had some appearances on the alt rock charts, but on the overall singles chart? Peaked at #72. Any guesses how many top 40 songs the Ramones had? The Velvet Underground?

The stupidity...it burns!

By steve-o

Otis Redding had 11 top 40 hits. 4 of which came after he died.

Was a time when any song released was automatically in the "top 40" in any given week. Otis' next biggest hit made it to ##22 I believe.
Saying that he had 11 top 40 hits is misleading. Most of those sonfs quickly dove out of the top 40 weekly charts

By Jonitia Johnson

Bill, if they were in the top 40's for a second, they still were in the top 40. Get it!

By Ben

Miley Cyrus' father...Achy Breaky Heart...made it on his hunk appeal to the chicks.

By hd

Amber Frey, now bankrupt ... you know the ho that killed lacey Petersen and blamed it on teh husband because he jilted the blonde ho.
Gay Akin ... and Adam Lambert is right behind him (or on his knees to him) as well as the fat black winner (Porkchop?) the entire bunch when the Elvis impersonator won and lots more ...
Paris, Valtrex user, Hilton (I wish)
Basically anyone on reality TV except the hosts.
Perez Hilton (the accusation of drugs on non drug user Brittney Clueless Murphy)should tie him up with a defamation suit from her family and estate that will ruin him financially.
Joel Tax Fraud Osteen and his blonde bimbo bit&h wife.
Oprah Swell head I have to have my own network Winfrey. She will soon discover that in LA you can lose a billion dollars in a matter of months not years.
Orange County Mega-Churches anf the Born Agains ... one of these days someone is going to discover that these people make Multi-million dollar salaries and rob the charity plates for inpoverished people donations so the jerks can live in multi-million dollar homes.
Chrysler under FIAT ... I mean Fix it again Tony and you know the da*n cars will never run.
and so on and so on.

By NATE

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

What morons! The first decade of the twenty first century won't be over until the END of 2010. My gawd, you zero gen people are so gob dumbnably stupid. Know you nothing of ordinal and cardinal numbers? Dolts, every one of you. You cannot tell time on an analog clock, you cannot do math without a calculator, and you don't even have imaginations. You're little more than animals.

By Eliza

Nate take a breath. You need to calm it the eff down.

By Mike

Seriously? let's do the math:
2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009. That's 10 years. 10 years is a decade, right? Are you saying the year 2000 was the 20th Century and the 21st Century didn't begin until 2001?

By Gandalf

Too busy calling names to check facts.

By Kevin

Couldn't have said it better myself! In this age of fast-food pop schlop that passes for news, and air-headed no-talent celebrities who are famous only for being famous, and mediocrity being the new "vogue", it's no wonder that our young people have nothing better than the likes of Miley Cyrus, Paris Hilton, Sarah Jessica BARFker, and the like. Today's under-30 crowd wouldn't know true class if it bit them in their clueless little asses!

By warren

They specify the first decade of the 2000's.Sorry Nate you're wrong

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