Alien Ant Farm are an American rock band, and their big moment came not from one of their own songs but from a cover. Their punchy, nu-metal-era rework of Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal", released in 2001 on the album ANThology, became a worldwide hit, helped by a video that affectionately parodied Jackson's own iconic clips.
The band kept recording and touring for years, with a loyal following, even after surviving a serious tour-bus crash in 2002 that nearly ended the group. But nothing in their catalogue approached that one breakout. It is a slightly unusual case: the song everyone knows them for was written by someone else entirely.
On streaming, "Smooth Criminal" sits near 624 million plays, while their next most-streamed track, "Movies", trails at around 83 million. That puts the ratio near 7.5, comfortably past our 5.0 line.
By our measure Alien Ant Farm are a certified one-hit wonder, with the twist that their defining hit is a borrowed one. It is a reminder that a great cover can do more for a band's profile than anything original they release, and then refuse to let go.