My list is below. Definitely flawed, and the more I went through it, the tougher I got. There were some noted exclusions of artists from genres I can't really speak much to (metal, instrumental jazz, classical) as well as artists who I thought would be very well represented here (Radiohead and Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd objectively deserve a slot but I'd be shocked if others don't vote them really darn high).
I think it ended up with 18-20 women and a similar count of artists of color. There are also absolutely some major favoritism picks on my part and a lot of these could be nitpicked.
After this, I do think it's hard for anyone to come up with a list that is like...off. I think my initial list was something like 130-140 artists and that was with some hard guidelines that excluded many of my favorites. I also did do write ups for most of the artists that helped shift some around on the rankings or removed some and added some. I can share those as a defense but it worked out to like...18 pages of self indulgent ranting in a Word Document so I'll spare the whole manifesto unless people want my argument on an artist. This was tough - thanks for the push Lee Newman
I think it ended up with 18-20 women and a similar count of artists of color. There are also absolutely some major favoritism picks on my part and a lot of these could be nitpicked.
After this, I do think it's hard for anyone to come up with a list that is like...off. I think my initial list was something like 130-140 artists and that was with some hard guidelines that excluded many of my favorites. I also did do write ups for most of the artists that helped shift some around on the rankings or removed some and added some. I can share those as a defense but it worked out to like...18 pages of self indulgent ranting in a Word Document so I'll spare the whole manifesto unless people want my argument on an artist. This was tough - thanks for the push Lee Newman
| The Beatles | 1 |
| Stevie Wonder | 2 |
| Aretha Franklin | 3 |
| Elvis Presley | 4 |
| Rolling Stones | 5 |
| Joni Mitchell | 6 |
| Beyonce | 7 |
| Michael Jackson | 8 |
| Prince | 9 |
| Bruce Springsteen | 10 |
| Paul Simon | 11 |
| Elton John | 12 |
| Bob Dylan | 13 |
| Beach Boys | 14 |
| Queen | 15 |
| Fleetwood Mac | 16 |
| Dolly Parton | 17 |
| Marvin Gaye | 18 |
| Jimi Hendrix | 19 |
| Taylor Swift | 20 |
| Norah Jones | 21 |
| Kanye West | 22 |
| Grateful Dead | 23 |
| Whitney Houston | 24 |
| Madonna | 25 |
| Rihanna | 26 |
| David Bowie | 27 |
| Louis Armstrong | 28 |
| Ella Fitzgerald | 29 |
| Eminem | 30 |
| John Williams | 31 |
| Tracy Chapman | 32 |
| Otis Redding | 33 |
| Jenny Lewis | 34 |
| Outkast | 35 |
| Sarah Jarosz | 36 |
| Funkadelic | 37 |
| Kathleen Hanna | 38 |
| Bonnie Raitt | 39 |
| Willie Nelson | 40 |
| The Muppets | 41 |
| Green Day | 42 |
| Missy Elliott | 43 |
| Jason Isbell | 44 |
| Adele | 45 |
| Bob Marley | 46 |
| Ruth Brown | 47 |
| Usher | 48 |
| Nina Simone | 49 |
| Weird Al Yankovic | 50 |
