Twenty Favorite Singers

(In response to Rolling Stone’s 2023 list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time, I offer this ranked list of my personal top twenty, with ten singers who made the Rolling Stone list [and whose original placement I’ve added in brackets] and ten who were excluded from it. “Keep in mind,” as Rolling Stone said, “that this is the Greatest Singers list, not the Greatest Voices List. Talent is impressive; genius is transcendent. Sure, many of the people here were born with massive pipes, perfect pitch, and boundless range. Others have rougher, stranger, or more delicate instruments.”)

 

  1. Sinead O’Connor

  2. Freddie Mercury (14)

  3. Otis Redding (9)

  4. Paul Buchanan

  5. Morten Harket

  6. Aretha Franklin [1]

  7. Susanna Wallumrød

  8. Harry Nilsson

  9. Roy Orbison (71)

  10. Josiah Wise

  11. Mary Margaret O’Hara

  12. Van Morrison (37)

  13. Kate Bush (60)

  14. Jeff Buckley (131)

  15. Howlin’ Wolf (59)

  16. Roberta Flack

  17. Tom Waits

  18. Stevie Wonder [7]

  19. David Sylvian

  20. Anohni (192)

— January 2, 2023


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