Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time

• 1. Introduction

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  "The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time" once printed a passage where Elvis Costello wrote about the Beatles. Janet Jackson, in the same issue, wrote about Tina Turner, colleagues assessing colleagues in print. The special issue was published by Rolling Stone and focused squarely on the rock & roll era. It gathered such commentary alongside a ranked countdown of the genre's defining names. Who sat at the very top of that countdown, and did the names holding those top spots stay fixed over time. Some artists on the list came from far outside the expected American and British circles. That raises the question of how they earned a place at all. When the magazine revisited its own rankings years later, some names vanished from the countdown entirely. That leaves open the question of who was dropped and why. Since the list's first appearance, specialized and generalist publications alike have returned to it again and again, citing its rankings as a reference point.

• 2. The Peer Review Process

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  A panel of 55 musicians, writers, and industry figures chose every name on the list, according to the editors. Editors described the selections as choices made by "their peers," positioning the countdown as judgment from within the music industry itself. Rolling Stone printed the results in two issues, in 2004 and 2005, then revisited the whole ranking again in 2011. The stated goal was "a broad survey of rock history." That scope was wide enough to include rock and roll, blues, hard rock, heavy metal, indie rock, rap, and contemporary pop. That framing produced a hierarchy that would prove remarkably stable in some places and surprisingly fragile in others.

• 3. The Top Ten

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  The Beatles held the number one position in both the original list and the 2011 update, with Bob Dylan close behind. Elvis Presley completed a top three that never changed between versions. Rounding out the top ten, in descending order, were the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Little Richard, Aretha Franklin, and Ray Charles. That fixed top ten stood in sharp contrast to the shake-up waiting further down the list once 2011 arrived.

• 4. The 2011 Recount

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  Position changes in the 2011 update began at the 27th spot and continued from there. 68 artists kept the exact same rank they had held in the original ranking. An additional 20 artists shifted by fewer than two ranks in either direction. The one truly dramatic drop belonged to Carl Perkins, who fell 30 spots in the 2011 listing. That kind of overhaul made room for acts that had never appeared on the list before.

• 5. New Names in 2011

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  Pink Floyd entered the 2011 list at position 51, a band absent from the original countdown entirely. Queen followed close behind at number 52. Metallica joined much further down the list at position 61. Creedence Clearwater Revival appeared at 82, followed by Jay-Z at 88 and Tom Petty at 91. R.E.M. took spot 97, and Talking Heads claimed the very last position, number 100. Making room for eight new names meant an equal number had to leave the list entirely.

• 6. Who Got Cut

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  Louis Jordan held position 59 in the original ranking before disappearing from the list altogether in 2011. Etta James, who had ranked 62nd, was removed as well. N.W.A fell off the list from position 83, and Miles Davis, previously at 88, was cut too. Ricky Nelson had occupied spot 91, and Martha and the Vandellas had held 96. Roxy Music, once at 98, and Lee "Scratch" Perry, previously at the very last spot, number 100, both fell away in the revision. His exit meant the 2011 countdown lost one of its most internationally rooted names.

• 7. Beyond Britain and America

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  AC/DC formed in Australia, though several of its members were born in Britain. That made the band a rare exception on a list otherwise dominated by American and British acts. The Band came out of Canada and the United States, while Bob Marley was Jamaican and Joni Mitchell was Canadian. Lee "Scratch" Perry, also from Jamaica, appeared only in the 2005 version of the list. Carlos Santana was born in Mexico and later became a naturalized American citizen, and U2 came from Ireland with two British-born members. Neil Young rounded out the group, another Canadian on a list otherwise built largely from American and British sellers. Most of the artists included were active in the 1960s and the 1970s. Only two acts across both versions of the list were never inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. Those exceptions were Dr. Dre as a solo artist and Lee "Scratch" Perry. Their absence from the Hall of Fame leaves a gap between the list's judgment and the industry's own honors.