Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories – Tails (1995):  Lisa Loeb – who dropped the band name Nine Stories after Tails, her first album – is the first and, to my knowledge, the only recording artist to have had a #1 hit song while not being under a recording contract to any record label.  Her song “Stay (I Missed You)” was included on the soundtrack for the film Reality Bites (1994) and was played over the closing credits of the movie.  In the Spring of 2021, Lisa Loeb was featured in a Geico insurance commercial, with one lyric in “Stay” rewritten as:  “You say . . . I’ve got a crack in my windshield”.  I consider Lisa Loeb to be a major talent, and I have her first three albums.