"One Headlight" is a song by American rock band The Wallflowers. The song was written by lead singer Jakob Dylan, and produced by T-Bone Burnett. It was released in February 1997 as the second single from the band's second studio album, Bringing Down the Horse. Dylan has said that the song is about "the death of ideas".[2]
The song is notable for being the first single to reach number one on all three of Billboard's rock airplay charts: the Modern Rock Tracks chart, the Mainstream Rock Songs chart and the Adult Alternative Songs chart. "One Headlight" also peaked at number one in Canada for five weeks. In 2000, the song was listed at number 58 on Rolling Stone and MTVs list of "100 Greatest Pop Songs of All Time".[3]
Although the song did not chart on the US Billboard Hot 100 due to the chart rules at the time, it was a significant radio hit. It spent five weeks at number two on the BillboardHot 100 Airplay chart and a total of 70 weeks on the chart.[6] In March 1997, it became the first song to top all three of Billboard's rock airplay charts—the Modern Rock Tracks, Mainstream Rock Songs and Adult Alternative Songs charts.[7] In Canada, the song reached number one on the RPM Top Singles chart for five weeks and was the third-most-successful song of the year.[8][9] Outside North America, the song reached number 14 in Australia and became a moderate hit in Germany and the United Kingdom.[10][11][12]
