Daniel Powter Tops One-Hit Wonder List

Posted on Dec 7th 2009 8:00PM by Benjy Eisen
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Daniel Powter is in the news again but it's not because he has another hit song. In fact, it's because he doesn't. On Monday, Billboard released their list of the decade's biggest one-hit wonders and gave Powter the top honor for his 1996 smash 'Bad Day.' You know the song even if you don't know the artist because 'Bad Day' was the ubiquitous 2006 pop song -- not only did it sit on top of the charts that spring, but it was also used by the television show 'American Idol' during its fifth season to bid adieu to, well, that week's losers. To be fair, Powter did bust a smart move and take two years off to recover from overexposure but his 2008 follow-up album, 'Under the Radar,' lived up to both its name and the dreaded curse of the sophomore slump. It did not yield a hit.

Other artists on Billboard's one-hit wonder list include Terror Squad ('Lean Back'), Crazy Town ('Butterfly') and Mims ('This Is Why I'm Hot'). An artist is eligible for Billboard's definition of one-hit wonder status if they've failed to follow up their first chart-topper with a single that cracked the top 25. For this particular list, Billboard only looked at charts from 2000 to 2007, so technically Powter can still redeem himself as a hit-maker. In the meantime, he can listen to 'Bad Day' for solace. Yes, the irony really is that thick.