Rolling Stone Magazine Top 100 Artists

INTRODUCTION

The Rolling Stone Magazine 100 greatest artist list is the most well known list of it’s kind. Whilst there is debate about the exact order and the exclusion and inclusion of certain artists, all the artists on the list are highly regarded in the music world. This page looks at the artists on the list and their performance in UK and US charts, certified sales and in the Grammy awards including a specific look at awards and nominations for the main Grammy categories. The main Grammy awards are the awards which artists across genres are eligible for – Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. They are regarded as the 3 most prestigious Grammy awards that artists want to win, especially Album of the Year. That is widely regarded as the pinnacle of musical achievement.

Charts

1. Artists featured on “Rolling Stone Magazine 100 greatest artists” with Most Main Grammy Awards

2. Artists featured on “Rolling Stone Magazine 100 greatest artists” with Most Main Grammy Nominations

3. Artists featured on “Rolling Stone Magazine 100 greatest artists” with Most UK Number 1’s

4. Artists featured on “Rolling Stone Magazine 100 greatest artists” with Most US Number 1’s

Data Table

5. Rolling Stone Magazine 100 Greatest Artists by Race, Grammy Awards/Nominations, Certified Sales and US and UK Number 1’s

U2, an Irish rock band, have won the most number of main Grammy’s with 6. All but one have been in 2001 or later despite the peak of their commercial success being much earlier. Eric Clapton is in 2nd with 5 main Grammy awards, winning 3 in one night for the Album “Unplugged” and the song “Tears in Heaven” in 1993. In 3rd are Simon & Garfunkel, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson with 3.

It’s worth noting that Paul Simon, one half of Simon and Garfunkel, has won an additional 4 main Grammy awards not including the 3 awarded to “Simon & Garfunkel”. One of these includes the Song of the Year award for the Simon & Garfunkel song “Bridge Over Troubled Water” which was solely written by Paul Simon.

Stevie Wonder is notable in that his 3 main Grammy awards have all been for Album of the Year which is generally regarded as the most prestigious Grammy award of the 3. Only Frank Sinatra has also won 3 Album of the Year Grammy awards. 

U2 also lead for main Grammy nominations with 11. Noteworthy are rappers Jay-Z and Eminem who have had 10 and 9 main Grammy nominations respectively but have both yet to win 1. This is probably due to the fact that votes from rap albums are often divided.

The charts on the left shows all the artists from Rolling Stone Magazine’s top 100 artists list who have had 2 or more UK number 1’s and two or more US number 1’s. The charts for UK number 1’s and US number 1’s have a similar distribution of American and British artists. This shows the convergence of musical preferences between the two countries. Elvis Presley and the Beatles are the dominant chart performers in both countries for singles. Other strong performers are Madonna and Michael Jackson. Madonna is the only female artist from the list with 2 or more number 1’s in the UK. Michael Jackson has had relatively few UK number 1’s although he had very strong album sales in the UK.

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Charts created using OpenOffice Calc.