Greatest Rock Artists Of All Time (Revision Version)

[ManPerson]

I could also see that.

[ManPerson]

Anyways, my take on the current top 40. Obviously, feel free to continue to debate Fats Domino or any other things in the top 20.

1. The Beatles
2. Elvis Presley
3. James Brown
4. Bob Dylan
5. Michael Jackson
6. Madonna
7. Chuck Berry
8. The Rolling Stones
9. Stevie Wonder
10. Aretha Franklin
11. Ray Charles
12. The Beach Boys
13. Led Zeppelin
14. Jimi Hendrix
15. Prince
16. Marvin Gaye
17. Fats Domino
18. Pink Floyd
19. David Bowie
20. The Who
21. Sam Cooke
22. Little Richard
23. Run-D.M.C.
24. Nirvana
25. U2
26. Buddy Holly & the Crickets
27. Queen
28. Bruce Springsteen
29. Bob Marley & The Wailers
30. The Supremes
31. The Temptations
32. The Everly Brothers
33. Neil Young
34. R.E.M.
35. Elton John
36. Public Enemy
37. Bill Haley & the Comets
38. Sly & the Family Stone
39. The Kinks
40. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

[ManPerson]

My take on, what I have a feeling may be, a contentious matchup.

Pink Floyd vs The Who
Influence: The Who
Acclaim: The Who
Popularity: Pink Floyd easy

David Bowie vs The Who
Influence: The Who
Acclaim: Bowie
Popularity: Bowie

[Tim]

1. The Beatles
2. Elvis Presley
3. James Brown
4. Bob Dylan
5. Michael Jackson
6. Madonna
7. The Rolling Stones
8. Stevie Wonder
9. Chuck Berry
10. Aretha Franklin
11. Ray Charles
12. The Beach Boys
13. Led Zeppelin
14. Jimi Hendrix
15. Prince
16. Marvin Gaye
17. Fats Domino
18. The Who
19. U2
20. Sam Cooke
21. Little Richard
22. The Supremes
23. Bruce Springsteen
24. Pink Floyd
25. David Bowie
26. Run-D.M.C.
27. Queen
28. Nirvana
29. Bob Marley & the Wailers
30. Buddy Holly & The Crickets
31. Elton John
32. The Temptations
33. The Everly Brothers
34. Neil Young
35. Public Enemy
36. Sly & The Family Stone
37. Bill Haley & His Comets
38. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
39. R.E.M
40. The Kinks

[Tim]

If influence is the main criterion (not by a huge margin) seems a stretch to move Floyd/Bowie over Who/Cooke/Little Richard, though I guess I lowballed them compared with Supremes/U2/Bruce who are less influential. Let's try a middle ground of sorts if that's cool with you.

1. The Beatles
2. Elvis Presley
3. James Brown
4. Bob Dylan
5. Michael Jackson
6. Madonna
7. The Rolling Stones
8. Chuck Berry
9. Stevie Wonder
10. Aretha Franklin
11. Ray Charles
12. The Beach Boys
13. Led Zeppelin
14. Jimi Hendrix
15. Prince
16. Marvin Gaye
17. Fats Domino
18. The Who
19. Sam Cooke
20. Little Richard
21. Pink Floyd
22. David Bowie
23. U2
24. The Supremes
25. Bruce Springsteen
26. Run-D.M.C.
27. Queen
28. Nirvana
29. Bob Marley & the Wailers
30. Buddy Holly & The Crickets
31. The Temptations
32. The Everly Brothers
33. Neil Young
34. Elton John
35. Public Enemy
36. R.E.M
37. Sly & The Family Stone
38. Bill Haley & His Comets
39. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
40. The Kinks

[Fido]

It does feel Little Richard is getting underrated. His influence, both musical and cultural, seems to me much more fundamental and overarching than many ahead of him, while also being top tier in popularity during his era and very acclaimed as a singer, pianist and overall performer, which is not reflected on his low placement on the AM list. Good top 20 though, haven't looked at the rest yet.

[ManPerson]

If influence is the main criterion (not by a huge margin) seems a stretch to move Floyd/Bowie over Who/Cooke/Little Richard, though I guess I lowballed them compared with Supremes/U2/Bruce who are less influential. Let's try a middle ground of sorts if that's cool with you.

1. The Beatles
2. Elvis Presley
3. James Brown
4. Bob Dylan
5. Michael Jackson
6. Madonna
7. The Rolling Stones
8. Chuck Berry
9. Stevie Wonder
10. Aretha Franklin
11. Ray Charles
12. The Beach Boys
13. Led Zeppelin
14. Jimi Hendrix
15. Prince
16. Marvin Gaye
17. Fats Domino
18. The Who
19. Sam Cooke
20. Little Richard
21. Pink Floyd
22. David Bowie
23. U2
24. The Supremes
25. Bruce Springsteen
26. Run-D.M.C.
27. Queen
28. Nirvana
29. Bob Marley & the Wailers
30. Buddy Holly & The Crickets
31. The Temptations
32. The Everly Brothers
33. Neil Young
34. R.E.M
35. Elton John
36. Public Enemy
37. Sly & The Family Stone
38. Bill Haley & His Comets
39. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
40. The Kinks

I'll say that, and Fido will probably agree that if we want The Who/Sam Cooke > Bowie/Floyd because of their influence Little Richard should probably be ahead of all of them for the same reason.

[ManPerson]

1. The Beatles
2. Elvis Presley
3. James Brown
4. Bob Dylan
5. Michael Jackson
6. Madonna
7. Chuck Berry
8. The Rolling Stones
9. Stevie Wonder
10. Aretha Franklin
11. Ray Charles
12. The Beach Boys
13. Led Zeppelin
14. Jimi Hendrix
15. Prince
16. Marvin Gaye
17. Fats Domino
18. Little Richard
19. The Who
20. Sam Cooke
21. Pink Floyd
22. David Bowie

[Tim]

For comparison, here's how Bruce ranks these 40 artists on his popular music artists list. Does not use acclaim or cultural impact but rather just impact and I figure does weight popularity the highest rather than influence plus some listings are broader than they are on this list. Ray prolly would not be as high on rock-only list as well.

1. Beatles
2. Elvis Presley
3. Michael Jackson / Jackson 5
4. James Brown
5. Bob Dylan
6. Ray Charles
7. Chuck Berry
8. Aretha Franklin
9. Madonna
10. Stevie Wonder
11. Rolling Stones
12. Beach Boys
13. Little Richard
14. Bob Marley and the Wailers
15. Prince
16. Led Zeppelin
17. Marvin Gaye
18. Jimi Hendrix (both)
19. Elton John
20. Sam Cooke
21. Bruce Springsteen (both)
22. Queen
23. The Who
24. Pink Floyd
25. Buddy Holly and the Crickets
26. Temptations
27. Diana Ross and the Supremes (cultural impact)
28. Fats Domino (cultural impact)
29. David Bowie (both)
30. U2 (both)
31. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles (acclaim)
32. Run-D.M.C. (cultural impact)
33. Public Enemy (both)
34. Nirvana (both)
35. Everly Brothers
36. Sly and the Family Stone
37. Neil Young (acclaim)
38. Kinks (acclaim)
39. Bill Haley and the Comets
40. R.E.M (acclaim)

Bolding artists who may benefit from having acclaim and/or cultural impact in criteria.

[Tim]

I am cool with/agree with Little Richard bump btw.

[Brian]

Brian, would you suggest us keeping Fats over Hendrix and/or Gaye? Guess I can see arguments for both sides here.

With the new criteria, I can see Hendrix ahead of Domino now. Influence counts for more and cultural impact for less both of which I think help Hendrix, since I think Hendrix beats Domino in influence and Domino beats Hendrix in cultural impact. I'd say Domino still has a slight edge on Gaye, as I see Domino winning influence and cultural impact, popularity being about a tie, and acclaim going to Gaye, but to me it looks like not quite enough to make up for Domino's lead elsewhere.

[ManPerson]

If we want to adjust by era for lasting popularity, I'd say Gaye and Domino's primes were about 15 years apart, give or take and I think it's pretty safe in saying that Gaye is a lot more popular in 2026 than Domino was in 2011.

Fwiw, this was one of my arguments for Gaye winning popularity.

[Tim]

How about trying a four way breakdown, Prince/Gaye/Fats/Richard

Influence (incl. cultural): Fats >= Little Richard > Prince > Gaye
Popularity: Prince > Gaye >= Fats > Little Richard
Acclaim: Little Richard >= Prince >= Gaye > Fats

Can see Little Richard topping this group but maybe I am highballing his acclaim. Think Little Richard > Prince > Fats > Gaye would be pretty balanced ranking.

[Tim]

I also kinda think Cooke and Gaye could be side by side or close to it. We all would agree Cooke is more influential, we also would agree Cooke is extremely acclaimed, imo close to Gaye in that regard. Gaye is clearly more popular but overall it seems like a close match-up to me.

[ManPerson]

We all would agree Cooke is more influential, we also would agree Cooke is extremely acclaimed, imo close to Gaye in that regard. Gaye is clearly more popular but overall it seems like a close match-up to me.

I agree with everything here, except I think Gaye is more acclaimed.

[ManPerson]

How about trying a four way breakdown, Prince/Gaye/Fats/Richard

Influence (incl. cultural): Fats >= Little Richard > Prince > Gaye
Popularity: Prince > Gaye >= Fats > Little Richard
Acclaim: Little Richard >= Prince >= Gaye > Fats

Can see Little Richard topping this group but maybe I am highballing his acclaim. Think Little Richard > Prince > Fats > Gaye would be pretty balanced ranking.

My take on this

Influence: I agree with everything except I see Gaye and Prince as pretty close.

Popularity: I see Gaye as a bit closer to Prince than Fats for reasons I've outlined.

Acclaim: I question Little Richard at the top here. While Fido rightfully points out that he deserves credit for his prowess as a performer, I see Prince and Gaye as fairly comparable to him in that regard with Prince's guitar playing and live performances receiving a ton of praise and Gaye being one of the most acclaimed r&b vocalists. As they all seem to be close in that regard I think Prince and Gaye pull ahead due to clearly having more acclaimed discographies, even after you adjust for the fact that Little Richard was more of a singles artist.