Wayne Jancik’s book The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders (Billboard Books, 1998) defines a one-hit wonder rather conservatively, as "an act that has won a position on Billboard’s national, pop, Top 40 just once."

Some musicians work their whole lives for a hit song, but it never happens. Some musicians have that magic hit only once. For Example:

• Afternoon Delight · Starland Vocal Band · 1976
  

		The Starland Vocal Band was a pop quartet consisting of Bill Danoff, his wife Taffy Danoff, John Carroll, and Margot Chapman. The song "Afternoon Delight"–written by Bill Danoff–was a song with hidden meanings.
"The Danoffs thought they might have had a problem getting airplay on ‘Afternoon Delight,’ but few stations found it objectionable. ‘If the song had been banned it would have been a real injustice,’ Bill said in the Times. ‘The lyrics are subtle and sophisticated and not at all raunchy. It might have been banned years ago but not today.’" (Excerpt from The Billboard Book of #1 Hits)

• Seasons in the Sun · Terry Jacks · 1974
  

		Terry Jacks was born in Winnepeg Manitoba. When he was a boy his family moved to Vancouver, where he eventually met his wife Susan. Together they formed The Poppy Family and they had two hits in 1970: "Which Way You Goin’, Billy?" which peaked at number two, "That’s Where I Went Wrong," which managed to get to number 29.
Later, as a solo act, Terry managed to chart only once. The song was "Seasons in the Sun" written by Jacques Brel and Rod McKuen. It had been previously recorded by the Kingston Trio in 1964.

• Dominique · The Singing Nun · 1963
  

		Sister Luc-Gabrielle (real name: Jeanine Deckers) was a nun in a convent in Fichermont, Belgium when she wrote the song "Dominique", which eulogizes the founder of the Dominican order. She recorded the song and several others, accompanied by a new guitar and a chorus of four nuns. The songs were released in Europe, and the album listed the artist as "Soeur Sourire" (Sister Smile).
In America the album was released with the title "The Singing Nun". It didn’t get any reaction until "Dominique" was released as a single. It topped the Hot 100 for four weeks in 1963. Sister Luc-Gabrielle appeared on the January 5, 1964 Ed Sullivan Show from the convent. In 1966, Debbie Reynolds starred in a movie about The Singing Nun’s life. Soon after the film’s release, Sister Luc-Gabrielle left the convent and became Jeanine Deckers once more. The former high school teacher, who had joined the order in 1959, returned to Philips Records and recorded songs like, "Glory Be to God for the Golden Pill," praising the Lord for birth control pills. "Dominique" was the only hit The Singing Nun ever had. She committed suicide in 1985.

• One Tin Soldier (The Legend Of Billy Jack) · Coven · 1971
  

		One Tin Soldier is a ‘60s era anti-war song written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter. It uses the same chord progression as the famous "Canon in D Major" by Pachelbel. "One Tin Soldier" tells the abstract story of a hidden treasure and two feuding peoples, the Mountain People and the Valley People.
The Valley People are aware of a treasure on the mountain, buried under a stone. They send a message to the Mountain People demanding those riches. When told they can share the treasure, the Valley People instead take it by force. After killing all the Mountain People, the victors move the stone and find nothing more than a simple message: "Peace on Earth". Jinx Dawson of the band Coven sang the song at a 1971 session with the film’s orchestra as part of the sound track for the Warner Brothers movie "Billy Jack". Jinx asked that her band Coven be listed on the recording and film, not her name as a solo artist. This Warner release, titled as "One Tin Soldier: The Legend of Billy Jack", reached number 17 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in fall 1971, only to be pulled from the charts as it was quickly moving up by the Billy Jack film producers due to legal squabbles over the rights to the recording. The full Coven band then reluctantly re-recorded the song for their MGM album. Thus the MGM album containing a second version of this song displayed their whited-out faces on the cover, contrived again by the film’s producer Tom Laughlin. The recording then hit the charts again in both 1973 and 1974 near the end of the Vietnam War. The Coven recording was named Number One All Time Requested Song in 1971 and 1973 by the American Radio Broadcasters Association. It was their only top 40 hit. A slightly different version recorded by Guy Chandler (titled "One Tin Soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack)") charted in summer 1973.