Examples:
Aerosmith is a quintessential example of this: Their first charted single was released in 1973, and they kept cranking out hits for 25 years before finally hitting #1 on the charts in 1998 with "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing."

Besides Aerosmith, possibly the most notable example of this is Chuck Berry, whose only #1 single was the novelty song "My Ding-a-Ling" in 1972. His first hit was "Maybellene" in 1955.

Kylie Minogue is another example: first emerged on the music scene in 1987, but her biggest hit, "Can't Get You Out Of My Head," wasn't released until 2001.

Yes with "Owner of a Lonely Heart" in 1983 after 10 studio albums from 1969 until 1980.

Grateful Dead didn't get a top 40 hit until 1987 with "Touch of Grey", though they were well known and established for 20 years previously.

#1 singles are not the best way to determine a band's or a performer's popularity. Jimi Hendrix's #1 hit was his cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" while everyone else knew him for "Purple Haze" and a number of other songs. Of course this was during his brief career as opposed to years after his climb to fame.

It would be hard to imagine in 1983 to think that the vast majority of MTV fans who made "Owner Of a Lonely Heart" the hit that it was were completely unfamiliar with other songs by Yes as "Roundabout", "Starship Trooper", and "And You And I". But then again....