In 1936, Billboard launched the "Music Popularity Chart," a catalog of the country's most popular printed sheet music. The publication's founding premise was to provide information about event-based entertainment and serve as a platform for advertisers (hence the name "Billboard").īy the 1920s, the magazine shifted its focus from live events to film and radio. Initially, the magazine covered a wide variety of entertainment events, including circuses, carnivals, fairs, and amusement parks. James Hennegan founded Billboard magazine in 1894. But how prevalent are one-hit wonders, and how have they evolved with the music industry? What makes these songs so distinctive (and memorable), and why do we mock musicians who "succeeded" but a single time? Methodology: Tracking One-Hit Wonders Over Time. "what group sang '867-5309?'"), and a dash of schadenfreude. One-hit wonders like Tommy Tutone loom large in our collective consciousness, providing us with a catchy tune, a fun trivia tidbit (i.e. After some unsuccessful solo projects, the band's lead singer Tommy Heath ended his music career and moved to Oregon, where he began his second life as a computer programmer. In a few cases, opportunistic businesses scooped up the phone number for promotional purposes, capitalizing on its widespread recognition.Īs for Tommy Tutone, the band struggled to recapture the success of "867-5309/Jenny." Their subsequent albums and singles failed to match the popularity of their mega-hit, and the band disbanded in the mid-1980s. The call volumes grew so great that many phone companies stopped assigning 867-5309 altogether. 4 on the Billboard "Hot 100" chart in 1982.Īfter the song's success, people began dialing the tune's titular digits out of curiosity, much to the annoyance of those who owned the number. The song's chorus proved infectious, and the single became an instant hit, reaching No.
In 1981, rock band Tommy Tutone released a song called "867-5309/Jenny," an infectious power pop tune about a man who finds a woman's phone number written on a bathroom wall and considers calling her, wondering if she might be the girl of his dreams.
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