Biggest Rock/Pop Stars By Decade
 

http://www.omaha.com/go/ranking-bigg...ed081c5b4.html

Ranking biggest rock, pop stars of each decade, 1950s to today

Sunday, January 11, 2015 By Kevin Coffey / World-Herald staff writer

Fleetwood Mac is one of the biggest bands of all time.

It’s an easy designation to make: The group has sold millions of records, it consistently ranks among the top concert tours, and you know all the words to “Landslide” without looking.

With the band’s classic “Rumours”-era lineup headed to Pinnacle Bank Arena on Saturday, we got to thinking: Who are the biggest rock and pop artists of all time?

We broke it out by decade to rank the biggest artists of the modern era.

Disagree? We’re happy to stand by our rankings. Join us in talking about it on Omaha.com, Facebook and Twitter.


1950s


1. Elvis Presley


2. Little Richard


3. Chuck Berry


4. Buddy Holly


5. Ray Charles


They call him the King for a reason. Elvis brought rock ’n’ roll to the world with a curled lip and some shaking hips.


Aside from Elvis, the 1950s were a time of teen idols, R&B, rock ’n’ roll and the birth of pop music. Artists such as Little Richard and Buddy Holly were, aside from being seriously popular, a major influence on just about every artist that was to come next. Sales totals were not available for Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly or Ray Charles.


1960s


1. The Beatles


2. The Rolling Stones


3. Bob Dylan


4. The Beach Boys


5. Jimi Hendrix


Yes, of course, the biggest (and best) rock band of all time was the biggest in the 1960s. The Beatles were only around from 1960 to 1970, but they became the most important band in pop.


The Rolling Stones continued to be huge into the ’70s, but they were most instrumental in the British Invasion. The Beach Boys were on the top of the surf pop wave, Dylan helped bring folk music back to the forefront in the ’60s, and Hendrix is considered the best guitarist of all time.


1970s


1. Led Zeppelin


2. Eagles


3. Fleetwood Mac


4. Elton John


5. Pink Floyd


When you think of classic rock, we bet these are the bands you think of. Led Zeppelin and the Eagles are both in the top five of best-selling artists of all time in the U.S. The Eagles, along with Fleetwood Mac and Elton John, have been one of the top touring acts for decades.


1980s


1. Michael Jackson


2. Prince


3. U2


4. Madonna


5. Bruce Springsteen


With the greatest selling album of all time, and the mantle of King of Pop, there’s no doubt that Michael Jackson was the biggest thing in the 1980s that wasn’t a Rubik’s Cube. Jackson’s sixth solo album, “Thriller,” hit in 1982, and there isn’t a bad song on it.


Prince and Madonna similarly dominated pop with major hits such as “Purple Rain” and “Like a Virgin,” while U2 and Springstreen commanded rock with their most successful albums ever.


1990s


1. Garth Brooks


2. Mariah Carey


3. Nirvana


4. Celine Dion


5. Whitney Houston


Who is the third best-selling artist of all time in the U.S.? You might think of other names first, but it’s country singer Garth Brooks. (And he’s behind Elvis by only a half-million albums.) Brooks’ breakthrough came with 1990’s “No Fences,” and he continued to dominate throughout the decade. The ’90s were also ruled by female pop singers, and the decade saw the birth of grunge, with Nirvana leading a charge of dozens of other bands.


2000s


1. Nickelback


2. Eminem


3. Usher


4. Coldplay


5. Britney Spears


You may change the station when “How You Remind Me” comes on, but you probably know the words. That’s because Nickelback’s song was the top rock tune on Billboard’s chart for the decade. The band’s down-tuned and much-distorted pop-rock has won it many fans — as well as many detractors. Rappers often fight over the “greatest of all time” moniker, but it’s hard to argue that anyone was bigger than Eminem, whose five albums released from 1999 to 2009 all went No. 1.


2010s


This decade may belong to the female pop singer.


Who will be the biggest artists of this decade? Taylor Swift will almost certainly top the list. Her breakout into pop stardom has only just begun with “1989,” and she’s certain to have another album out this decade. You also can’t count out Adele, whose “21” was a sensation for two years straight, and she is set to come back with more.


And what about Beyoncé, who is easily the biggest pop star around at the moment? Also don’t forget Lady Gaga, whose “Artpop” wasn’t that well-received but who isn’t done yet.

I guess this proves that the 2000s was the decade when I officially lost touch with the music scene, because none of those acts mean anything to me, although I do have a couple of Britney Spears records.

Michele

U2 was not one of the biggest acts in the 80s.

Nickelback...the biggest band/artists of the noughties?
Get out of here.

not sure where you were in the 80s, but:

Studio albums -
Boy (1980)
October (1981)
War (1983)
The Unforgettable Fire (1984)
The Joshua Tree (1987)
Rattle and Hum (1988)
Achtung Baby (1991)
Zooropa (1993)
Pop (1997)
All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000)
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)
No Line on the Horizon (2009)
Songs of Innocence (2014)

also, Live Aid (1985) catapulted them to stratosphere:
U2 participated in the Live Aid concert for Ethiopian famine relief at Wembley Stadium in July 1985.[49] U2's performance in front of 72,000 fans in the stadium in an event that had a worldwide television audience of two billion people was a pivotal point in the band's career.[50] During a 14-minute performance of the song "Bad", Bono leapt down off the stage to embrace and dance with a fan, showing a television audience the personal connection that Bono could make with audiences.[51] In 1985, Rolling Stone magazine called U2 the "Band of the '80s", saying that "for a growing number of rock-and-roll fans, U2 have become the band that matters most, maybe even the only band that matters" - from wikipedia

i know, right? :lol:

pretty sure they were...though they were arguably bigger in the 90's. (maybe even the biggest band of the 90's)

Their 'Best of 1980-90' is absolutely brilliant. Must rank as one of my favourite compilation albums.

you know, it's funny, in the 80s U2 was by far my favorite band. i own all their albums from the 80s (plus of course, Songs of Innocence, since it was free ;)). i was surprised when looking up their discography just now that the gap between Rattle&Hum and Achtung Baby was just 3 years... it seemed longer at the time, plus it was such a radical departure from their 80s sound. since i didn't get to catch them before, the first time i ever saw them live was on Zoo TV Tour, but in the 90s i stopped following what they were doing other than whatever song was prominent on the radio. i still thought Bono's singing, voice and range was one of the best in rock (along with Freddie Mercury), but was not as interested in their albums anymore. so i had no idea they had all those compilation albums out before you mentioned it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U2_discography). imo, Joshua Tree is probably one of the 5 greatest albums of all times.

In the 80's U2 were a huge band but they were also regarded as a great one. It was at the point of the Zoo TV tour that their ego's led them to start disappearing up their bottoms. Unfortunately I think that's when they started to lose it musically. In the early-mid 90's they were definitely the biggest act in the World (though I remember REM being up there at one stage).

It seemed to me like in the US, U2 were alt faves until Unforgettable Fire when Pride got the mainstream talking about them but then Joshua Tree started people calling them the new fab four.

John

I don't know about that. I always thought they were another INX in the 1980s. They had some good singles but I don't remember them as being in the same vein as Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen in terms of popularity.

Then again, I only purchased one album. It had Sunday Bloody Sunday on it. There was a bunch hype about the album. I listened to the album and liked a few songs, but I didn't think it was a great album. In my mind, they were an overhyped band. I never purchased another album.

I really started to hear how great they were in the 1990s, not really the 80s. That was when I noticed their star was in the stratosphere, but BONO's politics turned me against the bland. I don't like bands or soloists who are full of political self-importance.

I will say this. I love Ordinary Love. I forget how i first heard it, but I never even knew it was U2. That won me over and I plan to explore their music.

However, the Apple Download event was a catastrophe and they lost a bunch of music insiders as fans.

"U2's decision to allow free downloads of Songs of Innocence was questioned by musicians, including The Black Keys' Patrick Carney and Pink Floyd's Nick Mason.[67][68] Buckcherry guitarist Keith Nelson believed it devalued music, saying U2 had "sent a message to everyone that music is free, and that's disturbing. It's easy to do that when you're a multi-millionaire-billionaire and money isn't really something that you worry about, but when you're a working rock 'n' roll band and you count on every dollar, it's disappointing to see someone do that."[69] The Entertainment Retailers Association reported that UK sales of the band's back catalogue were minimal in the week following the album's release; the organisation's chairman Paul Quirk said: "This vindicates our view that giving away hundreds of millions of albums simply devalues music and runs the risk of alienating the 60% of the population who are not customers of iTunes ... Giving away music like this is as damaging to the value of music as piracy."[70]

Many iTunes customers were unhappy that the album was added to their music libraries without their consent;[71][72][73] for users with automatic music downloads enabled in iTunes, Songs of Innocence downloaded automatically.[74][75] Chris Richards of The Washington Post called the release "rock-and-roll as dystopian junk mail".[76] Slate said that it was "extremely unsettling" that "consent and interest are no longer a requisite for owning an album, only corporate prerogative".[77] Vijith Assar of Wired said: "The delivery mechanism amounts to nothing more than spam with forced downloads."[78] In response to the criticism, Apple established a dedicated website to allow users to delete the album from their iTunes accounts.[79] Although Bono apologized to a fan during a Facebook Q&A session for the album's addition to their music library,[80] he refused to offer a public apology, saying, "It's one of the proudest moments in U2's history."[34]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U2#Influences

Bono wrote this recently on the topic:

"Our album was to be like a bottle of milk dropped at the door of anyone interested in music and iTunes. As I understand it, the journey from the front door to the fridge and into what to some people felt was their bowl of cereal has something to do with a switch called "automatic download" - if you turn it on, you sign up for being pushed stuff.

That's about it...no flagrant abuse of human rights, but very annoying to people who a) like being annoyed, and/or b) felt it was like someone robbing their phone in the pub and taking a couple of photos before leaving it back on the table... some kind of breach of privacy which was really not intended. I empathise with the b)'s, but for the a)'s I've started referring them to the philosopher Jimmy Kimmel.

That Apple remains a music company is the best news for any one who wakes up with a melody in their head or wanting to hear one. Apple is unique in big tech in trying to get artists paid. That they would agree to pay Universal for SONGS of INNOCENCE, and then gift it to all the people who still believe music is worth paying for, both makes sense and is a beautiful thing."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U2#Influences

yup. which happened after Live Aid, in 1985. Bad and Pride were huge hits from Unforgettable Fire.

Madonna probably should have been ranked higher than Prince and U2.

These have to be in the US only also, because otherwise ABBA should have been listed at #1 for the 1970s.

I'm surprised Queen is not mentioned in the 70s ranking, nor in the 80s. Just remembering the phenomenom they generated at Rock in Rio, Live Aid, etc. is enough argument to question that ranking. To those who made that list at Omaha.com, I would only say...

EH OH

And Queen is still doing shows!

IMHO the 1970s music was the best. Such creativity from Rolling Stones, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, Billy Joel, America, Joni Mitchel..... you could go on and on. Not only was the music so good but the lyrics most times told a story. It was pure poetry. I will even say Disco was good while it lasted because it was the feel good funky dance. I love everything about the 70s including the Brady Bunch. One of my favorite stories from Chris was her saying in the late 70s having parties at her Hollywood Hills house with Steely Dan's Aja blasting from her pool area across the canyon. Just picturing this scene and hearing this music blows me away and makes me wish I was one of her friends by the pool. Me on a pool raft with the best blow, pot, and champagne glass in hand at Christine F***ing McVie's house!

Where’s REM ?
One of my favourite bands ever..ever.
80’s or 90’s.

They most certainly were. The Joshua Tree turned them into “the biggest band in the world” (Rolling Stone) for 2-3 years.

This is definitely a US-centric list.

You couldn't get through a day without hearing "With Or Without you"