If there’s one thing to be learned from examining country music’s one-hit wonders, it’s that the term isn’t quite as simple as it seems.

When people think “one-hit wonder,” they think of an artist that came out of nowhere, released one big hit and were never heard from again.

In reality, that’s rarely the case. Most of the artists on this list of country music’s one-hit wonders are singers who had one big hit on country radio, then veered off toward other musical styles or pursued more indie-leaning fanbases.

A couple of these one-hit wonders did formally quit music after failing to follow up their big hit with another successful song. But without exception, those artists at least tried to mount a comeback later on in their careers.

More commonly, artists simply had different dreams. One singer lit up country radio with a hit ballad in 2016, but then ventured more into experimental, genre-fluid pop. A couple more leaned into their songwriting. And one even became a radio personality!

In this roundup of Taste of Country’s favorite one-hit wonders, you’ll get to know the artists behind the massive hit songs — and learn a little bit about what they’ve been up to since their big break on the radio.