Ten Years After are an English blues-rock band whose place on this list shows how a streaming-only measure can flatten a serious legacy. Led by the lightning-fingered guitarist Alvin Lee, they were one of the standout acts of the late-1960s blues boom, and their blistering performance at Woodstock made them festival legends. They have a real catalogue admired by fans of the era.
But streaming gathers around one song. "I'd Love to Change the World", released in 1971, is a melodic, thoughtful rock song quite unlike their usual high-speed blues workouts, and its memorable riff and weary lyric have made it their most enduring track by far.
On streaming, "I'd Love to Change the World" sits near 214 million plays, while their next most-streamed track trails at around 11 million. That sends the ratio above 18, far past our 5.0 line.
So by our strict, numbers-only measure, Ten Years After register as a certified one-hit wonder, and we flag the caveat firmly. This was a fierce, respected band with a deep body of work and a genuine place in rock history. It is only that one atypically gentle song has gathered the streaming crowd far ahead of everything else they recorded.