15 Years of the Macarena
Yes, you read that correctly. The phenomenon that makes many people cringe at weddings is a decade and a half old, as Los Del Rio’s “Macarena” went to number 1 exactly 15 years ago today. “Macarena” would remain in the top spot through November 2, 1996, for a total of 14 weeks at the top of Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart.
Los Del Rio is arguably the biggest one-hit wonder in pop music history. That may depend, though, on how one defines one-hit wonder, since Los Del Rio did hit the chart with another song, but (a) the song only went to number 57 and (b) it’s just another version of “Macarena” called “Macarena Christmas” that charted around Christmastime in 1996.
That song was inescapable that summer! I’m kind of nostalgic for the more homogeneous pop culture that would let a song like this be a (thankfully temporary) national phenomenon.