Johnny Cash waited 27 years between new material charting.

One Piece at a Time in 1976 and Hurt in 2003

Debate time!

 

Very much disagree with this statement! By this argument, a long-running #2 hit (that's actually far more remembered over the multitude of non-number 1's that got in the way of it) with no follow up hit wouldn't meet the criteria. I would say people generally assume that the OHW was a #1, but that's because they don't follow the charts... Also, if a song suddenly surfaces (for whatever reason [featured in a film/tiktok/whatever]), it doesn't really matter that it's an oldie, just that people are discovering it and it's now charting!

 

I mentioned Train because they had a big hit and had to wait a long time for their next big hit! (They did have a minor Top 75 hit following DOJ, but at the time, you wouldn't generally consider that a hit single!)

Although it is one of their best! And marked their only Top of the Pops performance.

 

Karel Fialka had seven years between The Eyes Have It (#52 in 1980) and his only other chart entry Hey Matthew (#9 in 1987).

Edited February 20, 20241 yr by zenon

Karel Fialka had seven years between The Eyes Have It (#52 in 1980) and his only other chart entry Hey Matthew (#9 in 1987).

 

Still to this day think 'Hey Matthew' was one of the weirdest top 10 singles of all time especially back in 1987. But I digress.

Train took 9 years to follow up Drops From Jupiter with a second Top 40 hit!

 

(Then followed with another unlikely hit, 2 years later... And then another 5 years later!)

Train came to my mind when I first saw the thread.

Defined by Top 20 entries, Bobby Helms is the definitive winner at present: his first hit Jacqueline came in 1958, spending 1 week at No 20. Fast forward a mere 64 years to 2022 when his second hit, the Christmas Jingle Bell Rock appeared. Max Bygraves' version of that Christmas classic had prevented Bobby Helms from reaching the Top 20 in 1959.

It would be nice to have an answer for each tier of the chart, i.e. top 10, top 20, top 40, top 100.

Defined by Top 20 entries, Bobby Helms is the definitive winner at present: his first hit Jacqueline came in 1958, spending 1 week at No 20. Fast forward a mere 64 years to 2022 when his second hit, the Christmas Jingle Bell Rock appeared. Max Bygraves' version of that Christmas classic had prevented Bobby Helms from reaching the Top 20 in 1959.

 

Agreed although think artists who get a second hit of newly recorded material a long time after their first is a different achievement/category rather than an old song going viral many years later.

Depends how you define “hit”

 

Judy Garland only has 2 OCC chart entries and they’re 40 years apart - an #18 hit in 1955 and a #100 “hit” in 1995

 

Has anybody found a longer gap between first and second chart entry? I’d imagine there is, probably a Christmas song by an old one-hit wonder that only entered recently, but I can’t think of any

Someone already found a 60 year gap between Burl Ives' chart entries (although that was between second and third chart entries rather than first and second, not sure if you were being deliberately specific with that?)

Edited February 21, 20241 yr by Mangø

Someone already found a 60 year gap between Burl Ives' chart entries (although that was between second and third chart entries rather than first and second, not sure if you were being deliberately specific with that?)

 

Yeah that’s what I meant, the OP did ask for the longest gap between first and second hit. I know #100 isn’t exactly a hit but it is a chart entry at least lol

I often think of Christmas songs with records like this. For example:

 

Darlene Love has only had two top 40 hits. Below is when they first entered the top 40:

All Alone On Christmas, #31, 1992

Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), #22, 2008

 

Ronettes have had 3 top 20 hits:

Be My Baby, #4, 1963

Baby I Love You, #11, 1964

Sleigh Ride, #20, 2023

 

Bobby Helms had 3 top 40 hits in the 1950s, before Jingle Bell Rock returned very recently:

My Special Angel, #22, 1957

No Other Baby, #30, 1958

Jacqueline, #20, 1958

Jingle Bell Rock, #30, 2020 (it eventually became his first top 10 hit in 2022)

 

I imagine it's a matter of time before someone who has had a single hit in the 50s somehow returns with a brand new Christmas staple!

Insightful responses, I put these in a spreadsheet to see

 

Bobby Helmes (63yrs) (Hit as Top 21): Jacqueline (1958 08 #20) → Jingle Bell Rock (2022 01 #7) mentioned by Tuttavilla

Judy Garland (40yrs) (Hit as Chart Entry): The Man that Got Away (1955 06 #18) → Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (1995 12 #100) mentioned by No Sleeep

Kate Bush (44yrs) (Hit as Top 2): Wuthering Heights (1978 03 #1) → Running Up That Hill (2022 06 #1) mentioned by ~1^∞

Chris Rea (32yrs) (Hit as Top 11): The Road to Hell (Pt. 2) (1989 11 #10) → Driving Home for Christmas (2022 01 #10) mentioned by jimwatts

Prince Buster (31yrs) (Hit as Chart Entry): Al Capone (1967 03 #18) → Whine and Grine (1998 04 #21) mentioned by mrpopquiz

Mike Reid (24yrs) (Hit as Chart Entry): Ugly Duckling (1975 03 #10) → The More I See You (w/ Barbara Windsor) (1999 04 #46) mentioned by mrpopquiz

Darlene Love (24yrs) (Hit as Chart Entry): All Alone on Christmas (1992 12 #31) → Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (2017 01 #22) mentioned by TomJ1991

The Archies (17yrs) (Hit as Chart Entry): Sugar Sugar (1969 10 #1) → Sugar Sugar (1987) (1987 08 #91) mentioned by Popchartfreak

Boris Gardiner (16yrs) (Hit as Chart Entry): Elizabeth Reggae (1970 01 #14) → I Want to Wake Up With You (1986 07 #1) mentioned by King Rollo

Etta James (14yrs) (Hit as Top 79): I Just Want to Make Love to You (1996 02 #5) → At Last (2010 09 #39) mentioned by Popchartfreak

Disturbed (13yrs) (Hit as Top 51): Prayer (2002 09 #31) → The Sound of Silence (2016 04 #29) mentioned by Dobbo

David Hasselhoff (12yrs) (Hit as Chart Entry): If I Could Say Goodbye (1993 11 #35) → Jump in My Car (2006 10 #3) mentioned by girl_from_oz

England World Cup Squad (11yrs) (Hit as Chart Entry):Back Home (1970 04 #1) → This Time We'll Gte it Right (1982 04 #2) mentioned by Popchartfreak

Natalie Cole (11yrs) (Hit as Chart Entry): This Will Be (1975 10 #32) → Jumpstart (1987 08 #44) mentioned by Popchartfreak

Daddy Yankee (11yrs) (Hit as Chart Entry): Gasolina (2005 07 #5) → Despacito (2017 04 #1) mentioned by Brer

Sia (11yrs) (Hit as Top 44): Taken for Granted (2000 06 #10) → Titanium (David Guetta) (2011 08 #1) mentioned by Smint

Loreen (10yrs) (Hit as Chart Entry): Euphoria (2012 06 #3) → Tattoo (2023 05 #2) mentioned by Jade

Train (8yrs) (Hit as Top 48): Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me) (2001 08 #10) → Hey Soul Sister (2010 05 #18) mentioned by Juranamo

Karel Fialka (7yrs) (Hit as Chart Entry): The Eyes Have It (1980 05 #52) → Hey Matthew (1987 09 #9) mentioned by zenon

Johnny Logan (7yrs) (Hit as Chart Entry): What's Another Year? (1980 05 #1) → Hold Me Now (1987 05 #2) mentioned by Smint

Nick Berry (5yrs) (Hit as Chart Entry): Every Loser Wins (1986 10 #1) → Heartbeat (1992 06 #2) mentioned by Smint

James Arthur (3yrs) (Hit as Top 1): Impossible (2012 12 #1) → Say You Won't Let Go (2016 10 #1) mentioned by Hassaan

 

I was looking for the longest time for specifically a 1 Hit Wonder to get another hit, whether they got more hits afterwards or not is irrelevant, just not hits before (don't confuse 1 Hit Wonder as derogatory or meaning irrelevance or anything, just happened to have exactly 1 UK charting single)

 

I'm counting hit as a song that charted at or above a certain UK chart position.

Of course this is only looking at hits by UK peak, maybe you might look at other factors like weekly history or other countries or whatever else to count as a hit.

 

Burl Ives couldn't count because AHJC in 2024 made #40, both his 1962 hits charted higher, so you can only say he's had a long wait for a third hit by looking at the entire top 40, or say he has had 2 hits in the same year looking at the top 39.

A lot of these are pretty dodgy, many are just old songs resurging in popularity or Christmas, and I'm concerned if the artists from the 50's actually had hits before the charts existed, it's even harder to tell their legacy from charts alone

 

Mike Reid seems the longest for new released hits, idk how many people would stop calling him a 1 Hit Wonder for a feature at #46, or if they'd call him a 1 Hit Wonder in the 1st place given he was an actor on EastEnders and it's a novelty song.

 

I think for me, the big winner is Boris Gardiner so far with a 16 year wait. He would have Elizabeth Reggae as his sole chart entry at #14 from 1970 to 1986, then get an even bigger hit with I Want to Wake Up With You reaching #1!