Unexpected One Hit Wonders?

So this is different from “OMG Weezer or Oasis only cleared the top 40 once”, which is negligible to the promo single rules in the 90s. This is about artists who you wouldn’t have expected to have had a hit at all but they did.

So we (probably) all know Kraftwerk, 70s German electronic music pioneers, influence felt heavily in the 80s with New Wave, Synth-pop and even Hip Hop. I did a list for The Best Hit Songs Of 1975 in late 2023 and the criteria was a song had to make the Top 25 to be eligible for the list, wouldn’t you know it Autobahn by Kraftwerk was eligible by peaking at #25. Not only this, the album itself went to #5 in the States. I just assumed that Kraftwerk wasn’t much of a commercial prospect. Trans Europe-Express (the song that got me into the group) wasn’t a big hit, but managed to chart at #67 in 1978. I think the most surprising part is that it was in 1975, I could see them having a hit off maybe an 80s record, this was just really early. Though maybe it caught on more as a novelty hit, I don’t know.