I also thought when I looked at the list that Bon Jovi was too high. I dunno; maybe we're being influenced by personal taste (I don't like them). But were they really that much more popular than, say, the Four Tops or the Four Seasons to overcome those artists' advantage in the other critieria? Whitney Houston has to be up there in popularity, and she's WAY more influential than Bon Jovi, but she's considerably lower.

No question that some of those artists who were there before were ridiculous. I don't care how much you're weighting the other factors over popularity, there's no way you can have Rickie Lee Jones among the top 300 recording artists in the history of popular music. She's not that big on ANY relevant criterion. I dig Phil Ochs, but he's just not in this league.

Do you have a list handy of who got dropped?

My feelings on Houston is that her career has been over for many years while Bon Jovi is the biggest grossing live act in the world over the past decade. A couple of others that are ranked in Houston's area (Patti Page - Sammy Kaye) were as big as her in their day. Bon Jovi is listed by Whitburn as the # 60 act of all time on the singles chart between 1955 and 2008. Four Seasons are #32 and Four Tops are #54. But when you go to albums the Tops and Seasons get buried by Bon Jovi, plus Bon Jovi is even bigger in other countries than they are here. I don't like them either, although I really don't like the Four Seasons anymore. I would have had them lower (Chris had them at #299), but the success of "Jersey Boys" on Broadway must mean something about their popularity and significance.




Here you go.

Celia Cruz
Thomas A Dorsey
Willie Dixon
Emmylou Harris
Bonnie Raitt
Bud Powell
Albert King
Freddy King
Nina Simone
Odetta
Lavern Baker
Patti Smith
Bert Williams
Caravans
Antonio Carlos Joabim
Ada Jones
Carol Channing
Enya
Jefferson Airplane
Dinah Shore (she was the last cut)
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Buddy Guy
Memphis Minnie
Nancy Wilson
Jimmy Smith
Chaka Khan / Rufus
Sammy Davis Jr.
Tori Amos
Ricki Lee Jones
Julie Andrews
Gloria Estefan / MSM
A Tribe Called Quest
Paul Robeson
Django Reinhardt
Phil Ochs
Eartha Kitt
Sun Ra
Ethel Merman
Mabel Mercer
Annie Lenox / Eurythmics

What would possess him to list Tori Amos?

Indeed. Or, for that matter, Carol Channing, who was a fairly big Broadway star but never did much of anything as a recording artist or concert performer.

There's no one on that list I object to dropping, and only a couple I even see as meriting serious consideration.

I have one ex-hippie NYC guy who was around the punk scene a lot who says that Jefferson Airplane and Patti Smith are real important, but I think he's just overrating his own personal experiences.

Why would Patti Smith be more important then say, Gloria Gaynor?

Disco was much bigger than punk ever was. Gaynor made one of the most popular records in history. A song that everybody knows, and that is (I believe) sung more often on American Idol than any other song. Gaynor was a huge influence on her genre just as Smith was on hers.

Gaynor was the top disco artist of the first few years of the genre, until Donna Summer came around.

Why do people overrate white guitar oriented rock like Patti Smith and Jefferson Airplane at the expense of black forms of rock like disco and funk? Disco and funk were much more popular with the masses than punk. And they still are to this day.

If you add up all the youtube videos of Gaynor doing "I Will Survive" it's like 40 million plays. That one song is played twice as much as every Patti Smith video combined. That one song and it's worldwide impact beats Smith's entire catalog.

"I Will Survive" and another record Gaynor did, "I Am What I Am" are also anthems for the gay rights movement, which is much more culturally important than the hippie movement that Jefferson Airplane was involved in, or the punk movement that Smith was part of.

I think that a lot of people who were involved in the hippie movement and/or the punk movement are involved as rock critics and other vocal positions where their favorites get more ink than other parts of the music.

I think Chris tried too hard to include a little of everything rather than just trying to identify the 300 greatest.

Here's some info on the highest grossing live acts of 2010. I guess Lady Gaga might be the next current act that will have to be added to the list?

Bon Jovi are named as the highest earning live act of 2010

Their last album didn't set the charts on fire, but Jon Bon Jovi won't be worried after his band took more than £130m from live shows in 2010
Bon Jovi's last album, The Circle, failed to reach silver, gold or platinum status in their US homeland, but the New Jersey rockers won't be worried – their tour to promote the disc has been announced as the highest earning tour of 2010.

According to Pollstar, the concert trade publication, The Circle tour grossed $201.1m (£130.7m) worldwide, including $108.2m (£70.3m) from US dates alone. The band played 12 nights at the O2 Arena in London in June, playing to 187,696 fans (per night) and grossing $18,178,036 (£11,812,806).

The list showed the continuing power of heavy rock in the live marketplace, with three of the top five grossing acts being hard rock or metal bands. In second place, for the second year running, were AC/DC, with gross ticket sales worth $177m (£115m), followed by U2 with $160.9m (£104.6m), Lady Gaga with $133.6m (£86.8m) and Metallica with $110.1m (£71.6).

However, Lady Gaga had to work harder for the money than her counterparts, playing 138 shows in 2010, against 80 for Bon Jovi, 40 for AC/DC and 32 for U2. The Top 10 was rounded out by Michael Bublé, the family show Walking With Dinosaurs, Paul McCartney, the Eagles and Roger Waters.

How would you justify Prince being out of the top 50 and Pink Floyd being in? Just wondering, since I'd say Prince wins popularity and ties influence and impact. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

I don't think Prince wins popularity. What I see lists Floyd selling more than twice as many records worldwide.

Here are worldwide sales figures:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_be ... ic_artists

Pink Floyd - 200 million
Prince - 80 milllion

After considering comments and feedback from here and other sources, I just sent Lew these changes to fine tune the list.


59. Madonna (was 68)
68. Johnny Mathis (was 59)
106. Doors (was 120)
108. Judy Garland (was 145)
120. Bill Monroe (was 106)
136. Whitney Houston (was 179)
145. Leadbelly (was 108)
179. Robins / Coasters (was 136)
199. The Clash (was 220)
220. 2 Pac (was 287)
236. Moody Blues (was 199)
263. Notorious B.I.G. (was 236)
287. Rosemary Clooney (was 263)

I agree with moving 2pac ahead of the Moody Blues and Notorious B.I.G.


I'd add Kanye West before Lady Gaga. He has been big longer than she has, and has more important material.

My research confirms your suggestion. Kanye will likely be added in the next update in about a year or so.

The list is a great improvement! However, there are a few things which I think should be reconsidered. The biggest one is the placement of Louis Armstrong. I don't see how he can conceivably be outside the top five. I would personally consider him to be a strong contendor of number one. His achievements are astonishing. I'm not sure exactly what in the criteria puts him below Sinatra, Crosby, and Michael Jackson. In fact, I'm not entirely sure what criteria we are using to determine this list.

How do you figure Prince win popularity?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_be ... ic_artists

Pink Floyd - 200 million
Prince - 80 million

Floyd is much bigger outside of America than Prince.

I am using popularity as a bigger factor than the previous editor was. As legendary as Armstrong is, he was never even close to being the most popular artist at any time during his life. The average person knows the name Louis Armstrong, but could maybe name a couple of songs by him, if that. His music is not played anywhere near the amount that music by Elvis, the Beatles, Sinatra, etc... is played. Elvis, the Beatles, Sinatra, Crosby and MJ were all considered the top artist in the world at times, both critically and by the public. Going strictly by sales and charts, Armstrong would not even come close to making the top 100.

If we are going by sales, then yes, I would agree. What criteria are you using, if I may ask? Obviously popularity is the number one factor, but what else are you taking into consideration?