Chris Isaak is an American singer with a richly old-fashioned style, a velvet voice and a rockabilly heart that recall Roy Orbison and Elvis. He has built a long, respected career, but to the wider public he is the man behind one impossibly atmospheric song.
"Wicked Game", released in 1989, found its audience after the filmmaker David Lynch featured its haunting instrumental in his 1990 film Wild at Heart. Reissued, it became a hit, and its black-and-white video turned it into an enduring symbol of yearning.
Isaak has released album after album, and devoted fans know his catalogue well. He has also acted on screen and hosted his own television series, broadening his fame well beyond music. Yet nothing has rivalled that one song. On streaming, "Wicked Game" sits near 1.1 billion plays, while his next most-streamed track trails at around 58 million. That puts the ratio near 19, far past our 5.0 line.
By our measure Chris Isaak is a certified one-hit wonder. It is a label that sits oddly on a working, accomplished artist, but the streams are clear: one smouldering ballad, lifted by a film, has come to define him.