Gotye is the Belgian-Australian musician Wally De Backer, and for a moment in 2012 he made the single most talked-about song on the planet. "Somebody That I Used to Know", a haunting duet with the New Zealand singer Kimbra built around a xylophone hook and a lurching emotional turn, became a worldwide number one and won three Grammys, including Record of the Year.
It was a peak so high that Gotye largely stepped back from pop afterward, returning to other projects rather than chasing a follow-up. As a result, nothing else under his name comes close.
On streaming, "Somebody That I Used to Know" sits near 2.4 billion plays, while his next most-streamed solo track trails far behind. That puts the ratio near 9, comfortably past our 5.0 line.
By our measure Gotye is a certified one-hit wonder, though by something close to his own choosing. He made one perfect, inescapable record, collected the highest honours the industry offers, and then quietly declined to repeat the trick, leaving that single song to define him. It is the rare one-hit wonder by something close to design, a peak its maker chose not to chase again.