I think one of the reasons (maybe the primary reason) that people mock one hit wonders is that there's an implicit assumption that they achieved their success through luck and not skill. If you have ten hit songs, no one can claim that you're not a talented performer/songwriter (they might not like you, but it's hard to claim you just go…
I think one of the reasons (maybe the primary reason) that people mock one hit wonders is that there's an implicit assumption that they achieved their success through luck and not skill. If you have ten hit songs, no one can claim that you're not a talented performer/songwriter (they might not like you, but it's hard to claim you just got lucky). But there is some level of randomness with achieving a hit song, and if a performer only achieves that once, some people will assume that they never had a second hit because they lack the skill, which also implies that they probably "shouldn't" have had a hit in the first place.
I think one of the reasons (maybe the primary reason) that people mock one hit wonders is that there's an implicit assumption that they achieved their success through luck and not skill. If you have ten hit songs, no one can claim that you're not a talented performer/songwriter (they might not like you, but it's hard to claim you just got lucky). But there is some level of randomness with achieving a hit song, and if a performer only achieves that once, some people will assume that they never had a second hit because they lack the skill, which also implies that they probably "shouldn't" have had a hit in the first place.