# Most famous popular music artist, by genre **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 26, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342 "2012-06-26T13:32:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/1 "2012-06-26T13:32:44Z")
Who is the most famous popular music artist/band by genre, dead or alive? Overall? Definitions for each genre are up to each poster. **Country** - not my area of expertise, but I’ll say Johnny Cash. Hank Williams maybe? **Hip-hop** - I haven’t kept up with hip-hop for years and it’s not a genre where artists tend to have long shelf lives. I’m just going to go with Jay-Z here. **Pop** - I’m going to go with Michael Jackson. **R&B** - I have no idea. Beyonce? **Reggae** - Bob Marley. No question. **Rock** - depending which genre you put them in, I’m going to have to go Beatles here. Elvis is going to be in the conversation. **Overall** - probably a long conversation involving Michael Jackson, the Beatles, possibly some others. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/2 "2012-06-26T13:45:55Z")
**Jazz** – tossup between Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis **Pop of the pre-RnR era** – Sinatra Won’t argue with your other picks. Probably more genres would require some debate. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/3 "2012-06-26T13:58:20Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Won’t argue with your other picks. Probably more genres would require some debate. Although you didn’t really ask for this, perhaps it could serve as a base for picking other specific genres. There was another version I remember but it’s gone to the Wayback Machine archives. Anyway, take a look at [http://www.listology.com/list/every-style-music-ever-created-about-95-complete](http://www.listology.com/list/every-style-music-ever-created-about-95-complete) An old thread on this issue was [Master List of Music Genres – got one handy?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=409717) ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/4 "2012-06-26T14:29:17Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > **Jazz** – tossup between Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis It probably should be Louis Armstrong, but I guess he’s fading into history to some extent. **Folk** : It would have to be Dylan, no? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/5 "2012-06-26T14:31:51Z")
**Hard Rock** - Led Zeppelin. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/6 "2012-06-26T14:41:19Z")
Electronic - Fatboy Slim? Jazz - I think Miles Davis Country - I think Johnny Cash Classical - Mozart R&B - I don’t know either. Maybe Aretha Franklin? Rock - I want to say Elvis, but the Beatles are pretty huge ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/7 "2012-06-26T14:50:08Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > **Jazz** – tossup between Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis > [@cjepson](#): > > It probably should be Louis Armstrong, but I guess he’s fading into history to some extent. I concede that over the long haul of Jazz history, Louis deserves that distinction, but I suspect the under-40 crowd would not be as impressed. For more discussion of that whole issue, look at [Most Essential Jazz Musician](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=350788) from 2005. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/8 "2012-06-26T14:51:38Z")
**Blues** – B. B. King. He’s become a brand name for the genre; Sirius/XM named their blues channel after him and there are blues clubs with his name across the country. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/9 "2012-06-26T14:52:12Z")
If you get to break down genres, I’d put Elvis in rock ‘n’ roll and The Beatles in rock. Louie Armstrong would win for jazz, though, hands down. Unless you wanted to break jazz down in genres, which you should. Then Miles for bebop, Brubeck for west coast jazz, Duke Ellington for swing, Charles Mingus for free jazz, Herbie Hancock for jazz fusion, Kenny G for soft jazz, and Bela Fleck for electric banjo jazz. [Jazz stops looking right as a word after a while. Maybe we should back to jass and Jelly Roll Morton.] ---
**Author:** ![dbygawdcapn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dbygawdcapn/32/3995_2.png) [@dbygawdcapn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dbygawdcapn)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/10 "2012-06-26T15:54:28Z")
\*\*Bluegrass \*\*- Bill Monroe **Go Go** - Chuck Brown ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/11 "2012-06-26T16:22:30Z")
**Overall most famous musical artist:** Elvis. I could go almost anywhere in the world and do a bad Elvis imitation, confident that people would have at least a vague idea who I was imitatiing. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/12 "2012-06-26T18:45:38Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > **Overall most famous musical artist:** Elvis. I could go almost anywhere in the world and do a bad Elvis imitation, confident that people would have at least a vague idea who I was imitatiing. That’s actually a pretty good metric. You don’t see very many Beatles or Stones imitators, but you see Elvis (and Michael Jackson) impersonaters everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/13 "2012-06-26T23:19:40Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > **Folk** : It would have to be Dylan, no? Do most people think of Dylan as folk? It was a pretty minor part of his career as far as time goes, and I though the late 60s rock stuff was more well known. I could well be wrong here, I’ve been a Dylan fan most of my life and I’ve no idea what an “outsider” would think! ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/14 "2012-06-26T23:30:12Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > That’s actually a pretty good metric. You don’t see very many Beatles or Stones imitators, but you see Elvis (and Michael Jackson) impersonaters everywhere. There are countless Beatles tribute bands touring the U.S. (and elsewhere). There was one advertised at Caesar’s in A.C. when we went to see Ringo this past weekend. I could see a Beatles tribute show, with all the costume changes, several times a year without driving more than 20 miles (and some less than a couple of miles). Check out [Youtube](http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=beatles+tribute+band&oq=beatles+tribute+&aq=0&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_l=youtube.1.0.0l10.1475.3545.0.5426.16.12.0.4.4.0.100.746.11j1.12.0...0.0.VSrvBSbsHbs) for a sample. There is a shitload of Beatles imitators. ---
**Author:** ![Tad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tad)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/15 "2012-06-26T23:34:26Z")
> [@dbygawdcapn](#): > > \*\*Bluegrass \*\*- Bill Monroe You think the most famous? Flatt and Scruggs got way up there in fame and popularity, but you’re probably right given the circles. ---
**Author:** ![Tad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tad)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/16 "2012-06-26T23:38:33Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Who is the most famous popular music artist/band by genre, dead or alive? Overall? Definitions for each genre are up to each poster. > > **Country** - not my area of expertise, but I’ll say Johnny Cash. Hank Williams maybe? Hank Williams and Johnny Cash play the most popular on equal terms for Country, I would think. The answer should be Lefty Frizzell, damnit. Where do people put Jerry Lee Lewis? He should be the most famous something. At least the best something. I would think it’s impossible to offer an overall. Michael Jackson sold the most stuff… and Johnny Cash was irrelevant for a very long time. Then again, so was Michael Jackson. Dylan should be on there, but again, same problem for him. The Beatles were kind of always popular (though that’s a very serious bias by music industry and critics). ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/17 "2012-06-27T00:21:07Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > That’s actually a pretty good metric. You don’t see very many Beatles or Stones imitators, but you see Elvis (and Michael Jackson) impersonaters everywhere. It isn’t easy to get the right four (or more) together. I used to be the Pete Best in a Beatles tribute band, but my bandmates tossed me out. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/18 "2012-06-27T06:08:59Z")
I have no major complaint with any of the names offered. Some seem inarguable in my opinion, like B.B. King and Bob Marley. Before I finished reading other’s input I thought of **Marvin Gaye** for the R&B category. Aretha has an equal right to the title but I think it comes down to those two. Sam Cooke in third. Rock needs many more sub-categories to sort out a winner and based on the dialogue, so does jazz. Louis and Miles are important but Benny Goodman was no slouch and you can’t leave Duke off the list. I’d take Hank Williams over Johnny Cash. Much of Johnny’s fame came from his ability to cross over into pop. But most popular? Now you’ve got to consider modern pop-country; someone like Reba McEntire or Shania Twain. I think of Dylan as a blues singer more than a folkie, both at the beginning and end of his career. Those with a strong grasp on Folk, may rank The Weavers first, then Joan Baez. But more people have probably heard a Peter, Paul & Mary song than either of the other two. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/19 "2012-06-27T06:28:11Z")
How about classical? The obvious two contenders are Beethoven and Mozart. But who’s Number One? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342/20 "2012-06-27T08:39:00Z")
For hip hop I’d go with Kanye West, not that I’m an expert, but how many other artists have been [called a jackass by the President of the United States](http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/president-obama-calls-kanye-west-a-jackass-again-2012124), twice. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-popular-music-artist-by-genre/626342.md?page=2)