Highlights
- Some artists experience short-lived fame as one-hit wonders, but that one song can make them enough money to live comfortably. Examples include Taylor Hicks's "Do I Make You Proud" and Sinéad O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U."
- Despite their one-hit wonder status, artists like Bobby McFerrin, Toni Basil, and Vanilla Ice have amassed significant wealth thanks to their popular songs, such as "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and "Hey Mickey."
- Billy Ray Cyrus had a big hit with "Achy Breaky Heart" and went on to become a successful producer and actor, now worth $20 million. Psy's viral hit "Gangnam Style" catapulted him to fame and built a net worth of $60 million. Morten Harket, lead singer of a-ha, also has a net worth of $60 million thanks to the success of "Take On Me."
When an artist starts to become successful, there are three ways it can go: they might spend years doing what they love and have a natural life until eventually, they retire, they might be one of those rare situations like the Rolling Stones that keep going for decades, or they might be a one-hit-wonder.
In the case of the latter, their sudden, normally off the bat, rise to fame doesn't last very long, but that one song that earned them their short-lived popularity undoubtedly marks the lives of the people listening. And often allows the artists to make enough money to not have to worry about needing a second hit.
This was the case for a number of singers in the industry, whose one-hit wonders reigned throughout the 2000s. Despite gaining immense success throughout their career, as seen in entertainers such as Psy, Billy Ray Cyrus, or Sinead O'Connor, their success ended faster than anticipated, but how much are they worth today?
9 Taylor Hicks - $1 Million
The 44-year-old singer gained some fame as the winner of the fifth season of American Idol, and after the show, he managed to do well for himself. His one-hit wonder was the song 'Do I Make You Proud', which he wrote for the finale of the reality show, and the one that gave him the victory.
When he won, the song got a lot of attention and earned him his $1 million net worth. He doesn't have to worry about writing another hit any time soon. The song is about the accomplishments that come with hard work and struggles, a very fitting theme for his situation. He took a break from music in the past several years, choosing instead to spend his time with family and friends.
8 Sinéad O'Connor - $1.5 Million
Sinéad O'Connor's cover of Prince's 'Nothing Compares To You' was an icon from the '90s. It wasn't only her moving and breathtaking performance that made it iconic, but also the video. It shows her walking along a graveyard, and then her face singing while she stares at the camera, with a single tear running down her cheek. Nowadays she's reportedly worth $1.5 million.
Though listeners loved the cover, her family does not believe she deserved the success she found. Sinéad worked hard on her career before and after the song, but this was undoubtedly her one big hit.
7 Bobby McFerrin - $5 Million
It's safe to say that pretty much everyone has heard at least once the popular song 'Don't Worry, Be Happy'. A song so soothing, that exudes such a feeling of positivity was bound to become a hit. It might have been Bobby McFerrin's only hit song, but he doesn't seem to have too much to worry about. According to Celebrity Net Worth, he has a nice $5 million net worth thanks to that song. He keeps doing music and working on perfecting his craft.
6 Toni Basil - $5 Million
Toni Basil topped the charts with her 1982 one-hit-wonder 'Hey Mickey'. It was a single from her debut album Word of Mouth, and it was originally written by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn. It was titled Kitty, but she changed it so she could alter the perspective of the person telling the story. She never quite managed to have another track as successful as that one, but it didn't matter. With this song, she established a $5 million net worth, tying her with Bobby McFerrin on this list. Basil has been able to stay somewhat relevant, as she attends many red carpet events and surrounds herself with established people.
5 Vanilla Ice - $12 Million
Vanilla Ice is better known for his '90s hit 'Ice Ice Baby', and it was the first hip hop song to top the charts right when rap and hip hop were rising to popularity. Although he had a good career, it was his one-hit-wonder that made him as famous as he is now, and the main reason why he's worth $12 million. Ice Ice Baby was part of Vanilla Ice's first album, and it was written based on the bassline of the song Under Pressure, by Queen and David Bowie.
4 Billy Ray Cyrus - $20 Million
It would be kind of unfair to refer to Billy Ray as Miley Cyrus' father, but for the younger generations, that's who he is. In his beginnings, however, he had a big hit with his country music. It was in 1992 that he released his song 'Achy Breaky Heart', the most successful single from his first album Some Gave All.
He is also a very talented producer and actor, and most of the young readers will remember him for playing Hannah Montana's father with his dear daughter. He's now worth $20 million, which is, in part, mostly due to his time on Disney and producing music, mainly for Miley Cyrus. He was featured on Lil Nas X's song 'Old Town Road,' which had a record breaking run on the Billboard Hot 100 list thanks to its crossover nature between the country and rap music genres.
3 Sir Mix-A-Lot - $30 Million
During the '90s and early 2000s, the song 'Baby Got Back' was everywhere. People might even remember it being discussed in an episode of Friends, regarding how appropriate it was. Sir Mix-A-Lot's one-hit-wonder came out of his second album, Mack Daddy, and it became the second best-selling single of 1992, only surpassed by Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You'.
Nowadays, the rapper is reportedly worth $30 million. The song itself has also gone on to be sampled in an array of works, including Nicki Minaj's 'Anaconda', only adding more notoriety to the single.
2 Morten Harket - $60 Million
The band a-ha are famous for their incredible hit 'Take On Me', and lead singer Morten Harket is responsible for it. As a result, despite not being one of the most relevant bands currently, he has an impressive $60 million net worth.
He and the rest of the band are Norwegian, but they moved to London and started building an audience there. Eventually, in 1985, they released 'Take On Me' from their debut album Hunting High and Low. The song remains popular to this day.
1 Psy - $60 Million
Who doesn't remember the days when 'Gangnam Style' played all the time in any place? It was almost impossible to escape it. This song my Psy went viral on the Internet because of its dance routine and because of how catchy it was, and despite not making it very high on the charts, it still became one of the biggest hits of the past decade, amassing over 4.1 billion views on YouTube.
Although this incredible Korean artist had been working on his career for a long time, his fame happened practically overnight. He now has a $60 million net worth, which is likely due to him starting his very own record label, P Nation.