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Indeed, though Rich could barely sing, LOL. Love his keyboards, though.

Yes, I'm just pointing out that James isn't totally without peer in influence on R&B. Both he and Ray represent the pinnacle in that regard, for their respective subgenre innovations. You could say that Ray's pioneering of soul was more foundational in a musical/structural sense overall for the R&B ...

I'd say James, Stevie, and Aretha are relatively close in all the criteria. In terms of influence, James definitely has an advantage over the other two artists, but I don't see it as a particularly big gap, as all three are utterly foundational to the genre. As an aside, I think Ray is in the same ...

Instinctively, I would agree with that, because we're used to seeing him ranked above the others, like on the greatest rock artists list. However, if I'm being true to the criteria we’ve grown accustomed to over the last several years (influence, acclaim, popularity), I think Stevie has to be #1 ...

And I think Stevie should be #1 now. Greater popularity and acclaim than James and Aretha. James does have influence over Stevie, but since it's an R&B-focused list, I don't think his mammoth influence on hip-hop, rock, and popular music at large should count as much as his influence on R&B styles ...

"The Hellion" by Judas Priest should be added.

Some other songs at least considering:

Straight Edge - Minor Threat
Less Than Zero - Elvis Costello
Why Don't We Do It in the Road - The Beatles
Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon - Queen
Allison - Pixies
Dio - Tenacious D
Mining for Gold - Cowboy Junkies ...

Yes, I was thinking about this recently.