Citizen King were an American band from Milwaukee whose blend of alternative rock, funk, and hip-hop produced one breezy, sample-flecked hit at the close of the 1990s. "Better Days (And the Bottom Drops Out)", released in 1999, is a loose, sunny groove with a laid-back chorus, and it became a modern-rock radio hit, later turning up in adverts and on television.
The band were unable to follow it, and to the wider world they exist entirely through that one easygoing track.
On streaming, "Better Days" sits near 45 million plays, while their next most-streamed track trails at well under one million. That sends the ratio above 60, far past our 5.0 line.
By our measure Citizen King are a certified one-hit wonder. Theirs is a classic turn-of-the-millennium story: a genre-blending band who caught a relaxed, summery mood on one catchy single that became a radio staple, then faded as quickly as they arrived, leaving that single laid-back hit standing far ahead of everything else they recorded. Its easygoing groove kept turning up in adverts and on television long after the band split, a sunny one-off that has comfortably outlived the rest of their catalogue.