Last Updated on 17 April 2024
I was able to find 28 lists of best musical artists & performers of all time. I took the 28 lists and added all their content into a spreadsheet, noting the rank of every person/band. There were 409 that were on at least 2 lists. I ended up averaging the rankings each one got and dividing that average by a factor of the number of lists it was on. The lowest score meant a high ranking average on many lists. The complete spreadsheet is attached at the bottom.
The artists that were on the most lists (out of 28) were:
- Elvis Presley – 23 lists
- Michael Jackson – 23 lists
- The Beatles – 22 lists
- Bob Dylan – 22 lists
- The Rolling Stones – 21 lists
- Elton John – 20 lists
- Prince – 19 lists
- Madonna – 19 lists
- Queen – 18 lists
Here are links to the lists I used along with dates the lists were created:
- Tiermaker – 7 Apr 2024
- Ranker – 2 Apr 2024
- Top5 – 13 Mar 2024
- Parade – 1 Mar 2024
- Top 40 Weekly – 23 Feb 2024
- MDL Beast – 21 Feb 2024
- Music Grotto – 19 Dec 2023
- DigitalDreamDoor – 15 Oct 2023
- Student Pocket Guide – 1 Jun 2023
- Musicnotes – 25 May 2023
- Melophobe – 23 May 2023
- GrooveNexus – 16 Mar 2023
- Musician Wave – 16 Jan 2023
- WatchMojo – 25 Dec 2022
- Daily Talks – 22 Dec 2022
- Vocal – 2 Mar 2022
- Play The Tunes – 22 Nov 2021
- Stacker – 4 Feb 2021
- Billboard – 14 Nov 2019
- LiveAbout – 11 Nov 2018
- LA Weekly – 13 Jan 2012
- Rolling Stone – 3 Dec 2010
- Stereogum – 3 Sep 2010
- Acclaimed Music – no date
- ChartMasters – no date
- Songkick – no date
- The Top Tens – no date
- When It Was Cool – no date