Duncan Sheik is an American singer-songwriter and composer whose pop career and later artistic life pulled in quite different directions. His breakthrough was "Barely Breathing", a lilting, literate 1996 single that became a long-running radio hit and an enduring snapshot of late-90s adult pop.
Sheik never chased another pop hit in the same way. Instead he moved toward theatre, eventually winning Tony and Grammy awards for composing the music to the Broadway hit Spring Awakening, a remarkable second act by any measure. It is a striking reinvention, and it means his most-streamed song and his most acclaimed work belong to almost entirely separate audiences who may not realise they share an artist.
On streaming, though, the early pop song still leads. "Barely Breathing" sits near 79 million plays, while his next most-streamed track trails at around 10 million. That puts the ratio near 8, past our 5.0 line.
By our measure Duncan Sheik is a certified one-hit wonder, which captures his pop profile rather than his career. A celebrated stage composer is, on music streams alone, still best known for one gently aching single from the 1990s.