20 one-hit wonders from the ‘90s that were absolute bangers (and we won’t be told otherwise)

Amanda Wilkie. Updated June 5th, 2025

For many of us of a certain age, we believe the ‘90s was the best decade for music. It was the decade that gave us some of the greatest songs ever written (Smells Like Teen Spirit, Losing My Religion, and Wannabe, to name but a few). Songs performed by artists that are still highly regarded and remembered to this day.

However, the ‘90s also gave us a lot of one-hit wonders by musical acts that took the charts by storm but often, just as quickly, sort of faded into obscurity. Some of the bands actually did stick around for a bit, some are even still around today, but the name of a second song they did?

A lot of these ‘90s one-hit wonders were top tunes though and deserve to be remembered as such, so we decided to take a nostalgic trip down memory lane. Back to when nightclubs smelled like cigarettes, alcopops, and Joop! aftershave, and we were attempting to do the running man in our chunky heels.

And, on that note, we present to you 20 of our favourite one-hit wonders from the ‘90s that were absolute bangers (and we won’t be told otherwise).

1. Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice