Greatest R&B Artists

[Lew]

Criteria: R&B Artist rankings are based on impact, influence, and popularity.

*Note that, for this list, the term "R&B" is used in the broadest sense, as to encompass R&B, Soul, Funk, and their stylistic off-shoots.

Edited By: Zach, Nick
Last Updated: 2011-02-07

https://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best ... tists.html


James Brown

1. James Brown
2. Ray Charles
3. Stevie Wonder
4. Aretha Franklin
5. Marvin Gaye
6. Sam Cooke
7. Fats Domino
8. Louis Jordan
9. The Temptations
10. Otis Redding
11. Little Richard
12. Sly & the Family Stone
13. Michael Jackson
14. Chuck Berry
15. Curtis Mayfield / The Impressions
16. Al Green
17. Diana Ross & the Supremes
18. Prince
19. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
20. Parliament-Funkadelic
21. Bo Diddley
22. Jackie Wilson
23. Tina Turner
24. The Four Tops
25. Earth, Wind & Fire
26. The Isley Brothers
27. Gladys Knight & the Pips
28. The Drifters
29. Janet Jackson
30. The Jackson 5 / The Jacksons
31. Martha & the Vandellas
32. The Clovers
33. Lionel Richie / The Commodores
34. Etta James
35. Big Joe Turner
36. Kool & the Gang
37. Whitney Houston
38. Sam & Dave
39. Mary J. Blige
40. Luther Vandross
41. Mariah Carey
42. Wilson Pickett
43. The O'Jays
44. Donna Summer
45. The Platters
46. Isaac Hayes
47. Ruth Brown
48. The Coasters
49. Solomon Burke
50. TLC
51. Rick James
52. Barry White
53. The Spinners
54. Chaka Khan / Rufus
55. Boyz II Men
56. The Delfonics
57. Lou Rawls
58. The Flamingos
59. Beyoncé / Destiny's Child
60. LaVern Baker
61. R. Kelly
62. Sade
63. Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes
64. Patti LaBelle
65. Wynonie Harris
66. The Ohio Players
67. D'Angelo
68. Billy Ward & the Dominoes
69. The Chi-Lites
70. Guy
71. Ben E. King
72. Sonny Til & the Orioles
73. Hank Ballard & the Midnighters
74. The Dells
75. Alicia Keys
76. Bobby Womack
77. Usher
78. The Ravens
79. Ivory Joe Hunter
80. Babyface
81. Chic
82. The Shirelles
83. Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers
84. Roy Brown
85. New Edition / Bobby Brown
86. The Moonglows
87. War
88. En Vogue
89. Amos Milburn
90. Cameo
91. Little Willie John
92. The Marvelettes
93. Bill Withers
94. Eryka Badu
95. Chuck Willis
96. Joe Tex
97. The "5" Royales
98. Teddy Pendergrass
99. Keith Sweat
100. Bobby "Blue" Bland

[ManPerson]

This list really needs an update to include some newer artists.

[Zach]

Yes, I was thinking about this recently.

[Zach]

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 specifically (which of course is still absolutely huge). Aretha is a strong #2, IMO, as she beats James in both popularity and acclaim, while she has a massive foundational influence on R&B as well.

I also think Ray would be demoted to #4 or #5, which I know instinctively feels wrong, but that's what it's looking like.

[Tim]

Meh, I'd prefer keeping JB atop this list.

[Zach]

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. His influence on the structural foundation of R&B—particularly contemporary forms—is in the top tier, along with James'.

Another thing to consider is that the rock artists list includes cultural impact as a criterion weighted equally with the other three. While James clearly kills in that area, here I would factor cultural aspects into the influence criterion, and to some extent into the popularity criterion. This approach would diminish the weight of James' cultural impact assessment on this list.

Anyway, I've always thought that having a separate criterion for cultural impact with comparable weighting was overkill.

[ManPerson]

JB really is in a league of his own in terms of influence, though, and I see hardly see his acclaim as too far behind Stevie and Aretha, if at all.

[Tim]

JB really is in a league of his own in terms of influence, though, and I see hardly see his acclaim as too far behind Stevie and Aretha, if at all.

That's what I was thinking as well.

[Zach]

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 company as James in terms of influence, being the artist most often credited with essentially inventing soul music.

As for Stevie's advantage in acclaim, there's the go-to AcclaimedMusic.net ranked artist list. Although its user base is of a particular ilk, on RYM, Stevie's music is clearly rated more highly. Additionally, there's his massive industry acclaim and history of awards—25 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year three times! So, in my view, Stevie's acclaim advantage is perhaps comparable to James' influence advantage. Then, Stevie's clear win in popularity would give him the overall victory.

[ManPerson]

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 company as James in terms of influence, being the artist most often credited with essentially inventing soul music.

As for Stevie's advantage in acclaim, there's the go-to AcclaimedMusic.net ranked artist list. Although its user base is of a particular ilk, on RYM, Stevie's music is clearly rated more highly. Additionally, there's his massive industry acclaim and history of awards—25 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year three times! So, in my view, Stevie's acclaim advantage is perhaps comparable to James' influence advantage. Then, Stevie's clear win in popularity would give him the overall victory.

James Brown clearly invented funk as well, though.

The AcclaimedMusic list favors album artists over singles artists and doesn't (for the most part) take into account live performances, both things that give Stevie an advantage on their ranking.

[Zach]

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 genre, since funk evolved from it, though I think it's fair to throw James a few extra points for his live innovations, as you brought up. In any case, they're about neck-and-neck in this criterion, IMO.