Rolling Stone's 200 Best Singers of All Time

[BuffaloKyle]

Rolling stone came out with their rankings of the 200 best singers of all time:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-singers-all-time-1234642307/

The Top Ten:

1. Aretha Franklin

2. Whitney Houston

3. Sam Cooke

4. Billie Holiday

5. Mariah Carey

6. Ray Charles

7. Stevie Wonder

8. Beyoncé

9. Otis Redding

10. Al Green

The biggest exclusion is Celine Dion! WTF!

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/02/entertainment/celine-dion-rolling-stone/index.html

Rolling Stone says “Before you start scrolling (and commenting), keep in mind that this is the Greatest Singers list, not the Greatest Voices List. Talent is impressive; genius is transcendent. Sure, many of the people here were born with massive pipes, perfect pitch, and boundless range. Others have rougher, stranger, or more delicate instruments…. In all cases, what mattered most to us was originality, influence, the depth of an artist’s catalog, and the breadth of their musical legacy. A voice can be gorgeous like Mariah Carey’s, rugged like Toots Hibbert’s, understated like Willie Nelson’s, slippery and sumptuous like D’Angelo’s, or bracing like Bob Dylan’s. But in the end, the singers behind it are here for one reason: They can remake the world just by opening their mouths.”

That's such bullshit though. They put Billie Eilish on the list for instance at 198. She can't hold a candle to Celine. I honestly don't get their logic saying it's the greatest singers and not the greatest voices. The voice is the biggest factor. Other notable exclusions were Dionne Warwick and Sting. I also noticed Christina Aguilera wasn't on there which she should be. Plus by their logic then Madonna should be on the list as well.

Edited January 2, 2023 by BuffaloKyle

[+ WilliamM]

 

Why not include great Italian singrrs like Fabian and Scott Bailo

[jerrybythesea]

Where is Streisand

[+ nycman]

Please, I won’t even bother with petty differences like Johnny Cash (#85) being ranked below Amy Winehouse (#83)…seriously?

It’s Beyoncé (#8) ranked above Tina Turner (#55), Ella Fitzgerald (#45), Etta James (#41), Mahalia Jackson (#28), Nina Simone (#21), and Patsy Cline (#13)…..that tells you the entire list is a joke.

She’s talented, yes.

A top 50 vocalist? I’d say yes. 

A top 10 legend? Nope, not even close. 

[+ nycman]

22 minutes ago, jerrybythesea said:

Where is Streisand

#147.

I’m not a huge fan, but even I think that’s a little low. 

[+ sync]

This must have sent shockwaves throughout the opera world.

[+ nycman]

9 hours ago, sync said:

This must have sent shockwaves throughout the opera world.

There’s a disclaimer at the beginning:

"You might notice that, say, there isn’t any opera on our list — that’s because our purview is pop music writ large, meaning that almost all the artists on this list had significant careers as crossover stars making popular music for the masses."

Which of course makes no fucking sense at all. If they were honest, they would have written:

"We didn’t include opera singers because they have legitimate vocal skills and we don’t actually know what the fuck we’re talking about, so we left them out."

[+ sync]

1 hour ago, nycman said:

There’s a disclaimer at the beginning:

"You might notice that, say, there isn’t any opera on our list — that’s because our purview is pop music writ large, meaning that almost all the artists on this list had significant careers as crossover stars making popular music for the masses."

Which of course makes no fucking sense at all. If they were honest, they would have written:

"We didn’t include opera singers because they have legitimate vocal skills and we don’t actually know what the fuck we’re talking about, so we left them out."

Thank you for that.  I'm guilty of not having read far enough at the beginning.

I couldn't agree with you more about their exclusion of legitimate vocal skills.

I also missed their further backpeddeling with "keep in mind that this is the Greatest Singers list, not the Greatest Voices List."

Now, for me, it's looking more like a Rolling Stone's favorites listing.

[TonyDown]

The list is skewed towards too many newer entertainers.   That's not a big surprise.  

For me I don't consider rap artists or singers that use artificial filters to even out their range and quality as worthy of ranking.

That said, I would have included Judy Collins.  She is still performing.  Over the years she made other songwriters wealthy by singing their songs.

There could have been more Latino artists such as Shakira and Luis Miguel.