I was thinking more as an example of musical / cultural impact, not influence.

So does Boone get cultural and musical impact for his covers, and should he be on Sampson's list of Greatest 1950s Rock Artists?

Clapton covering Marley scores musical impact for Marley, not Clapton.

I don't think you are going to make much (any) progress arguing for Clapton solo to make the top 50. And there's a good chance he won't make the top 100. The problem is that his influence is going to go 95% to various bands, most notably Cream, from before his solo career, and his musical impact is going to go probably 50% to those same bands.

Artists don't plan their careers in order to make these lists. If their careers get broken up under many banners (and Clapton's is under more banners than most), it detracts from their placement. However, there is a greatest rock guitarists list, where Clapton's entire impact as a guitarist can be included together. If he is not in the top 50 there, you have reason to complain.

If memes are cultural impact, then Kanye West wins that hands down. And it's got to be some kind of cultural impact when the President of the United States calls you a jackass. Twice.

So do I. Actually, it's all online if you have a subscription.



What specifically did they say about Fall Out Boy?



Another worthy contender for the title.

Echoes,
You probably know as well as anyone that I'm the biggest Clapton freak on this site.
But I too don't think his career is great enough to warrant top 50 here.

Says who?

Nope, doesn't say that.

Well they seem to be tied with 5 other artists at 300 million.

Such sales claims should be taken with large grains of salt.

It's clear that Abba is one of the largest selling recording artists of all time. They were the biggest act in the world for several years, huge in dozens of countries. They turned down a billion dollars to tour a few years ago.

They don't have that large a discography. I find it hard to believe they've sold that many hits collections.



Reportedly. I'm skeptical.

They did not have a ton of original albums, but they had dozens of singles and lots of collection albums.

http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/abba

As someone else said, they had 20 #1 singles in multiple countries.


Greatest Hits was rush-released in Scandinavia in November 1975 to counter expected import sales of similar collections released by licencees in Europe, such as French Disques Vogue's ABBA's Greatest Hits and West German Polydor's The Best Of ABBA. The album was the best selling album of 1976 in the UK, the second best selling album of the 1970s in the UK, and is the second-best selling album in the UK for ABBA,[2] staying in the charts for 130 weeks.[3] The album was certified Platinum in the US.[4] Its compilation successor was Greatest Hits Vol. 2, released in 1979, and this album was later referred to as "Greatest Hits Volume 1".[3]

The tracks, taken from ABBA’s first three studio albums, had all but one been single sides somewhere in the world. Despite the title of the compilation, only half of the tracks had actually charted as hit singles in major territories. One track, "Dance (While The Music Still Goes On)," was never released as a single and thus was never certified a hit in any territory or country. "Waterloo," "SOS," "Mamma Mia" and, later, "Fernando" were Top 10 hits in the UK and several other countries, though only the first of these was a Top 10 hit in the US. Other arguable hits in multiple territories included "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do" (a Top 10 hit in several countries, a number one in Australia, and a Top 20 hit in the US, though barely cracking the Top 40 in the UK), "Honey Honey" (a Top 20 hit in several countries and a Top 30 hit in the US), "Hasta Mañana" (a Top 10 hit in South Africa and New Zealand and a Top 20 hit in Australia), and "So Long" (a Top 20 hit in Germany and a Top 10 hit in Sweden). Ironically, in Australia, where several of the tracks had reached Number One, the release of Greatest Hits was beaten to the market by the local compilation The Best Of ABBA, precluding a release there for years. Nevertheless, the official greatest hits package was an enormous success. Even Rolling Stone, often one of ABBA's harshest critics in the US, declared in the years shortly after its release, "Anyone who could listen to this record five times and not wind up humming half the songs is an android."

ABBA has sold over 370 million records worldwide and still sell millions of records a year,[1][2] which makes them one of the best-selling music artists. ABBA was the first pop group to come from a non-English-speaking country that enjoyed consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries, including the UK, Ireland, the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the Philippines. The group also enjoyed significant success in Latin American markets, and recorded a collection of their hit songs in Spanish.

Oh, so now it's over 370 million, eh?

According to the BBC it was over 200 million a mere four months ago.

These sales claims are all over the place. Do you see why they shouldn't be taken seriously?