From Stereogum:

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You guys love lists, and we love to start our holiday weekend early, so thanks VH1 for putting together this 100 Greatest Artists Of All Time countdown.

100 Alicia Keys
99 Hall & Oates
98 Depeche Mode
97 Pretenders
96 Journey
95 OutKast
94 Mariah Carey
93 Pearl Jam
92 LL Cool J
91 Green Day
90 Elvis Costello
89 Beastie Boys
88 Bee Gees
87 George Michael
86 N.W.A.
85 The Band
84 Curtis Mayfield
83 Earth, Wind and Fire
82 Steely Dan
81 ABBA
80 Mary J. Blige
79 Eminem
78 Judas Priest
77 Lynyrd Skynyrd
76 Run-D.M.C.
75 Rush
74 The Cure
73 Van Morrison
72 Janis Joplin
71 R.E.M.
70 Def Leppard
69 Tupac Shakur
68 Otis Redding
67 Coldplay
66 Justin Timberlake
65 The Doors
64 Talking Heads
63 Notorious B.I.G.
62 Genesis
61 Cream
60 Whitney Houston
59 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
58 Cheap Trick
57 Iggy & The Stooges
56 KISS
55 Peter Gabriel
54 Public Enemy
53 Little Richard
52 Beyoncé
51 Billy Joel
50 Sade
49 Parliament-Funkadelic
48 Rage Against The Machine
47 Jay-Z
46 Ramones
45 Al Green
44 Joni Mitchell
43 Ray Charles
42 Metallica
41 Van Halen
40 The Police
39 The Kinks
38 Sly & The Family Stone
37 Fleetwood Mac
36 Paul McCartney
35 Johnny Cash
34 Tina Turner
33 Guns N’ Roses
32 Black Sabbath
31 John Lennon
30 Aerosmith
29 Radiohead
28 Elton John
27 Aretha Franklin
26 Neil Young
24 The Velvet Underground
25 Chuck Berry
23 AC/DC
22 The Clash
21 Bruce Springsteen
20 Marvin Gaye
19 U2
18 Pink Floyd
17 Queen
16 Madonna
15 The Beach Boys
14 Nirvana
13 The Who
12 David Bowie
11 Bob Marley
10 Stevie Wonder
09 James Brown
08 Elvis Presley
07 Prince
06 Jimi Hendrix
05 Rolling Stones
04 Led Zeppelin
03 Michael Jackson
02 Bob Dylan
01 The Beatles

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http://stereogum.com/495331/vh1-100-greatest-artists-of-all-time/list/

Let the debates begin...

Can't believe they put so many people ahead of The Who.
Putting Zep in front of the Stones is a tough call, interested to see the debate on that.

Beyonce, but no B.B. King? The Temptations? SMH.

The Smiths? Sam Cooke?

Oh, I've got issues with the top 50 (we always do when these types of lists are compiled), but the bottom 50 100-51) of that list is a complete joke.


Now the thing that I call livin' is just bein' satisfied with knowin' I got no one left to blame

VH1 has programming about music? I am surprised they did not place Bret Michaels and Flavor Flav in the top ten.

Another failed attempt at a list...

also no SRV

No Maiden? Eddie will sodomize the makers of this list

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The Stones in 5th place is a travashamockery.

So ABBA is better than The Band. Right.

The only bigger waste of time than VH1 putting together a list of top artists would be discussing it.

I'm not even a huge country music fan, but I am surprised at the lack of mentions from the genre on the list.

What about that dude that painted the Moaning Lisa? Or the guy that painted the Sixteen Chapels? Both great artists.

1 - Zeppelin
2 - MJ
3 - Beatles

I can live with the rest.

I was going through the list, going to nitpick about this and that...
McCartney should be folded into The Beatles...
Cash is too low...
Springsteen is too high...
Keys, Beyonce, etc are too recent...

But then I saw the one thing that completely invalidates the list for me:

No Eric Clapton, except as a part of Cream.

yet you think mccartney should be included with the beatles?

how does EC get his solo career on but not PMcC?

Mostly, those were initial reactions. Ways that I would've tweaked the ranking. And yes, my objection applies to John Lennon as a solo artist as well. More so, in fact, but I'll get to that later.

Clapton vs McCartney:
Cream were only together a couple of years, and Clapton was an established name before then. So were Baker and Bruce, that's why they were the "Cream," after all.

I guess the reason I feel differently about McCartney is that I feel he was only able to become a solo (or lead, in case of Wings) artist because of his involvement in the deservedly highly ranked Beatles.

Lennon is an even bigger problem. While not of his own doing, his post Beatles career was only about ten years long. That sad fact right there should knock him down to the 70s or 80s in the ranking, if he's in them at all.

In short, I interpret the high rankings of McCartney and Lennon as due in part to their time playing with the Beatles, not separate from. And, even though I didn't intend make it a comparison between them, I still put Clapton ahead of both as solo artists.

My biggest grievance is that Nirvana is so high considering their limited body of work. Ahead of the Beach Boys? Come on, let's be serious.

I know a lot of people bag on the Eagles, but they deserve to be on that list more than some of those other artists

Looks like they should have just made a top 10, there is a lot of mediocre-to-bad music on that list.

I also thought it was a little odd that country was completely ignored, with the exception of Johnny Cash. They have plenty of crap on there no one would miss in favor of George Strait.

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Springsteen is too high...

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Now the thing that I call livin' is just bein' satisfied with knowin' I got no one left to blame

My other major complaint is that Van Morrison is way too low in the 70s. Def Leppard and Justin Timberlake ahead of Van Morrison?!?

Quad dog is spot on. The Who should be top 5. The Stones havent put out a good song in 25 years. Paul McCartney is a joke where he is on the list.

George Harrison has the highest selling album solo album of all of the ex-Beatles and towards the end of the Beatles wrote the best songs IMO.

Madonna is just in front of Queen because she is such a grea musician? I dont see Smokey Robinson on the list and he is at least 200 spots ahead of Madonna.

Tom Petty has at least 25 GREAT songs and he isnt in the top 25?

If this is the top 50 "artists" there arent any real artists just musicians and wannabe musicians.

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My biggest grievance is that Nirvana is so high considering their limited body of work. Ahead of the Beach Boys? Come on, let's be serious.

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Spot on. That's the first thing I noticed. PET SOUNDS was put behind Nirvana!?

Nah, dawg.

1. Where's Robert Johnson?
2. The Who are way to low
3. Switch the Stones and Zeppelin
4. Nirvana should be higher. They were a seminal band which defined a genre for an entire decade.
5. The Band is too low.

6. Johnny Cash the only country singer?????
7. RATM is too high and I love thier music.

Stevie Ray?!?

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Spot on. That's the first thing I noticed. PET SOUNDS was put behind Nirvana!?

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Agreed, Pet Sounds is considered by many to be the greatest album ever made.

Also, I can tell they're at least trying to represent different genres, but my opinion is there are too many rap/hip hop artists on the list. I have no problem in general with the genre, but I just don't think the top 100 artists should include ALL of the following: Jay Z, Public Enemy, Notorious BIG, Tupac, Run DMC, Eminem, NWA, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, and OutKast. That's 10% of the total.

And since the list does intend to represent different genres, and does include Johnny Cash, where's Willie Nelson? I guess his body of work wasn't considered to be up to par with the likes of Alicia Keys. Come on. Same could be said for George Strait, IMO.

Also strangely missing:
Nina Simone
The Allman Brothers
Simon and Garfunkel !?!?!?!
Paul Simon?!?!?
Miles Davis
Frank Sinatra

And also: Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, BB King, Charlie Parker, Beck,...

Sade is too high. Aretha is too low. Beyonce is too high. The Boss is too low. AC/DC is too high. Elton John is too low. Metallica is too high....

Skynyrd behind Def Lepard? No flippin' way. That's Bullcrap! /McGee

Greutzmachers -- Goin' commando!

No Eric Clapton? I realize they've got Cream, but I think he's done more memorable work outside of his time with Cream, if I had to choose between the two.

Tom Waits
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Santana
Nat King Cole
Ella Fitzgerald
Roy Orbison

Thank you gazelle.

Def Leppard

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Cream were only together a couple of years

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his post Beatles career was only about ten years long

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You place a lot of focus on career length, remember that the Beatles only recorded music for 6-7 years.

Beyonce doesn't belong on that list