Corinne Bailey Rae deserves a caveat up front. The English singer-songwriter from Leeds is a Grammy-winning, critically revered soul and jazz artist with a deep, adventurous catalogue. To call her a one-hit wonder misses almost everything that makes her important.
But on streaming, one early song has pulled far ahead of the rest. "Put Your Records On", her warm, breezy 2006 debut single, became a worldwide hit and an enduring feel-good standard, later covered and revived for new generations. It now sits near 973 million plays.
Her other songs, including the lovely "Like a Star", remain admired but trail well behind on streams. Dividing the hit by her second biggest gives a ratio of about 7, past our 5.0 line.
So by our strict, numbers-only measure, Corinne Bailey Rae registers as a certified one-hit wonder. We flag the caveat firmly: this is a serious, accomplished artist whose work ranges far beyond pop, and whose single sunniest, most accessible song has simply, on streams alone, outrun a distinguished body of work. The label says far less about her than about the reach of one perfect summer song.