Steal My Sunshine — Len (1999)

Steal My Sunshine remains the definitive sound of late-1990s carefree summer, a track recorded by Toronto duo Len with a mere $5,000 budget that nonetheless reached the top five in 11 countries in 1999. Its irresistible loop and breezy vocals propelled it to a peak of No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, yet the duo never released another charting single, retiring from music without a follow-up album. This one-hit wonder outperforms #10 Doop in lasting cultural impact, as Steal My Sunshine has been streamed over 100 million times on Spotify, while Doop remains a niche novelty. The song's success is especially remarkable given its shoestring production costs, making it 30% cheaper to produce than the average chart-topping single of the era.