Musical Acts Whose Biggest Hit is a Cover or is Heavily Sampled from Another Song

You know it, your mama knows it, your pastor knows it, your creepy 7th grade social studies teacher who stares at the little girls' flip flops knows it. It's 'Ice Ice Baby'.
Vanilla Ice can't seem to (nor does he want to) disassociate his name from this song. But, don't you think the bass line sounds familiar?
Apparently, Queen and David Bowie thought so too, as the bass line was clearly ripped from their 'Under Pressure', much to Mr. Van Winkle's dismay (yes, that's really his last name…).

After a long court battle, Queen and David Bowie received songwriting credits for one of the most laughed at rap songs ever made.
Fun Fact: when Eminem first heard 'Ice Ice Baby', he considered quitting rapping because he thought the song was the most embarrassing thing he'd ever heard.

I heard that before he gave the credits to Queen and David Bowie, he claimed that the bass line wasn't stolen at all since he added an extra "dun". Going by that logic, if a classmate of mine lets me copy his homework, and that I just changed a few words but copied everything else directly, then it wouldn't be considered as copying anymore. That doesn't sound right...

Literally the only song anyone knows by him is his rip-off of Under Pressure. Seriously, has this guy done anything else?

Just a drugged man who likes ripping off major bands like queen

'Nothing Compares 2 U' is probably her biggest thing, with her second biggest being an infamous SNL performance where she ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II. But, did you know that it was originally a Prince song?

I agree with her statement against the Catholic church on SNL. While I do support the church, I don't support the fact that some of its leaders are kiddie diddlers.

Cannot stand this women. She is an insult to humanity.

Famous for her "Crack is Whack" interview. When meanwhile back at the ranch granny was fighting off many a crack head.

Totally forgot about this one! 'I Will Always Love You' was originally by Dolly Parton

Her version, takes my breath away. Sorry Dolly

A song that does not chart anywhere in the world is not a hit so this guy does not belong he simply has never had a hit song.

Update: I just figured out why he's here. He did a cover of bohemian rhapsody.

Can somebody fill me in on this one? I've never heard of him.

I hate him. He has no right to cover Bohemian Rhapsody.

'Hound Dog' is, arguably, his biggest hit. It wasn't written by him, as it originally came out in 1953 and was written by Big Mama Thornton. It's often because the white elvis' Version was more popular that some labeled him racist (yeah, seriously…).

Jeff Buckley's 'Hallelujah' was written and originally recorded by 'Leonard Cohen' in 1984.

They love rock and roll, and have loaded copious dimes in the jukebox over the years thanks to their 1982 hit. However, they wouldn't have had that hit if it weren't for the original writer of the song; Alan Merril of a lesser known glam band called the Arrows.

Quiet Riot's biggest hit was 'come on Feel the Noise', a cover of a Slade song of the same name. While their fans may know other good songs of theirs, such as the Wild and the Young from QRIII, many people mostly know them from this slade cover.

This one's actually pretty upsetting. The Verve acquired the right to sample the Andrew Oldham orchestral Version of the Rolling Stones' song 'The Last Time'. With this, they made the 90's anthem 'Bittersweet Symphony'.
The Verve and the Stones originally agreed on splitting the royalties 50/50, but, following the song's immense popularity, The Rolling Stones (former business manager Allen Klein in particular) demanded 100% of the royalties, and the song's credit. They ultimately got that wish.
While the Verve continues to do this song live today, they do not use the iconic strings backing track, and instead opt to give it an original sound.
The most ironic thing of the whole situation was how the writer of the sheet music for the orchestral music, David Whitacre, did not receive any credit whatsoever.

Their song Beggin' is really a cover of Franki Valli's 1967 hit with the 4 Seasons. It became a chart topping success, spending 5 weeks at #1 in Australia.

He covered a song called All Along the Watchtower, I forget who the original artist of that song is.

I was not aware All Along the Watchtower was a cover. That's cool!

Okay, but it was ten million times better than Michael Jackson's version.

UPDATE: I've come to appreciate this song! Thanks for showing me the light!

I love the cover.

This one ranks lowest due to a technicality: Viva La Vida neither samples nor is a cover of another song. But, if you ask Joe Satriani, he'd tell you that it was an outright ripoff.
In 2009, he sued the British band for Viva La Vida's similarities with his 2004 song 'If I Could Fly', which are hard to deny upon good examination.

They were surfin' USA, and then the wave carried them into trouble.
Basically, Brian Wilson took instrumental influence from Chuck Berry's 'Sweet Little 16'. And by influence, I mean he copied the instrumental outright and called it his own.
Berry's publisher, of course, sued the band, and got Berry a writer's credit on the song.
I'm considering this a case of sampling. Deal with it.

And now for a little bit of irony. Coolio was pissed off at weird Al for his parody of gangsta's paradise, Amish Paradise, claiming that It took away from the serious nature of the song.

Then, he turned around and allowed post hard-core band falling in reverse to cover it, giving it a much more ridiculous sound than the weird Al parody.

Trust me, falling in reverse's cover is ass.

Coolio's biggest song is 'Gangsta's Paradise' feat. L.V. which quite heavily samples Stevie Wonder's 'Pastime Paradise'.

He samples popular songs but most of them have major changes or are just better in general. he didn't rap Daft Punk lyrics he rapped over it. If that counts I'll dare you to put Eminem and Nas on the list

"Stronger" sampled "Harder Better Faster Stronger" by Daft Punk- which itself was a sample of Edwin Birdsong's "Cola Bottle Baby".

Their biggest hit "Butterfly", samples a song from Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Without You is a simple cover version. Also, Mariah used a lot of samples in her music, just like Beyonce Knowles

Her only big song Torn was a cover of Trine Rein's song of the same name.

Lemme guess: Yellow Submarine? Is that it? If not, educate me.

Wasn't he involved with the making of Blurred Lines?

If you've ever been to a 90s themed party, chances are you've heard that fun little dance/country song 'Cotton-Eyed Joe'.
The Swedish Rednex actually covered a traditional American folk song that dates back to 1861 for their only worldwide hit.
And, boy, what a hit it was.