Tom Tom Club were an American band formed by Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz, the rhythm section of Talking Heads, and their place on this list comes with a real caveat about influence. They were inventive, beloved figures whose playful, funky sound has rippled through pop and hip-hop for decades, far beyond a single song.
That song is "Genius of Love", released in 1981, a loose, joyful slice of funk-pop whose bassline and breakdown have been sampled countless times, most famously on Mariah Carey's "Fantasy".
On streaming, "Genius of Love" sits near 80 million plays, while their next most-streamed track, "Wordy Rappinghood", trails at around ten million. That puts the ratio above 8, past our 5.0 line.
So by our strict, numbers-only measure, Tom Tom Club register as a certified one-hit wonder, and we flag the caveat firmly. This was an influential band whose grooves have been woven into countless other hits. It is only that one endlessly sampled track has gathered the streaming crowd far ahead of the rest of their work, even as its DNA lives on in songs by other artists.