The Greatest Women in music

[quartermainefan]

VH1 has crowned the greatest woman in music of the last 20 years.

No surprise there.

2 Mariah Carey

3 Beyonce

4 Lady Gaga

5 Adele

6 Whitney Houston

7 Janet Jackson

8 Christina Aguilera

9 Mary J Blige

10 Pink

http://www.vh1.com/m...-complete-list/

[DaytimeFan]

Yeah, list makes to a point. I think Lady Gaga is a major flash in the pan. She won't be here in 10 years.

There is but one Queen of Rock 'n' Roll and she is timeless. Music's ultimate survivor. She is Tina Turner.

[DRW50]

I don't understand why Lady Gaga is above Janet Jackson, who had a much more successful long-term career for the last 20 years (before falling out in the early 00's).

It just seems like safe, lazy choices. I much preferred the list VH1 did in the late 90's.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

It's a list for the pat 20 years - when you consider how far the industry has fallen in that time, a lot of these choices are not surprising.

Though, Madonna's etched out her place in popular culture and her influence on it, moreso than any other female pop star, is undeniable.

Lady Gaga at #4.

I like Adele, but she's not even been in the industry for 10 years yet...

I don't know what Adele and Beyonce did to be above the likes of Janet and Whitney.

The list they did in the late 90's wasn't based on a particular time period like this list. It allowed for more diversity.

[DRW50]

I can almost see Beyonce, because she's been consistently popular for 10+ of the last 20 years, but Adele and Gaga shouldn't be that high.

[quartermainefan]

I think I would have ranked Whitney #2, and if we were looking for actual impact maybe even #1. Her death highlighted how almost every singer since she came on the scene--and every wannabe on American Idol--all attempted to copy her style of singing with the extra notes in words and the glory notes. Madonna had a bigger career but she didn't spawn 20 years worth of copycats. The downside is not a single one of the people who copied Whitney were as good as she was so we were burdened with 20 years of "whoa whoa whoa" from so many people from Mariah to Christina to Kelly Clarkson, and it is tedious. Admittedly, Whitney was not the first to make this tragic extra note fetish popular (that would be Aretha I guess) but Aretha and Whitney didn't butcher songs while doing it the way so many others do.

[Angela]

Maybe not with vocals, but definitely in other ways.

But, yeah, I agree otherwise. Even if she hadn't died, I would haven't place Whitney less than in third place. The list should also be a 30 year list. Despite Madonna's continued success, you can't call that a 20-year list and place her at the top if it's really a 20 year list. My top 5 for the past 30 years would have been:

Madonna (not the greatest female vocalist we've ever had but arguably the greatest female performer)

Whitney (greatest vocalist of the past 30)

Mariah (can't argue her stats although I feel she has become a bit irrelevant)

Celine

Janet

[SFK]

The thing is, Whitney's and Aretha's riffs and runs are the real McCoy, they come straight from the place where those melismas were born: the black, Baptist Church. Aretha moreso than Whitney has acquired what one writer called "Detroit Disease" (the use of intricate, OTT, almost silly riffs and runs), a "disease" ironically spread by Aretha's many admirers in Detroit's gospel community (mainly out of the Church of God in Christ). From the Baptist church to COGIC, melismas went from organic to acrobatic, and it's COGIC's artists like Karen Clark Sheard and Kim Burrell who have inspired the likes of Mariah, Faith Evans, and even Jessica Simpson. Someone like Christina is imo an imitation of an imitation of an idea...

[I Am A Swede]

I miss Barbra Streisand on the list. After all, it's called "100 Greatest Women in Music".

She's had 9 top 10 albums in the US during the last 20 years, and 3 of those reached number 1. In the UK she's had 6 top 10 albums during the same period, and 2 of those reached number 1.

I think that should be enough to put her on the list!

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Again, this list is about women whose careers were influential over the last 20 years, though 30 years applied to some of them.

Barbra's influence stretches back to the 60's, so she doesn't apply here.

[Angela]

I agree, and even Beyonce I'd put at 7-10. I like Gaga and Adele but its been way too short of a span to list them that high. Celion Dion not being in top 10 is odd. Dion and Carey are probably the best selling artists of the past two decades.

ETA:

http://www.mademan.c...albums-90s.html

Top Selling Albums of 1990s (sidenote: Alanis was the first artist signed to Madonna's own record label and Jagged Little Pill was born)

1. Whitney Houston - "Bodyguard." Starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, "The Bodyguard" brags the best-selling soundtrack and album of the 1990s. The album, primarily featuring the talents of Whitney Houston, and, with over 39 million albums sold contains such hits as "I Will Always Love You" and "I'm Every Woman."
   
2. Shania Twain - "Come On Over." As Shania Twain's third studio album, Come on Over is the second-best-selling albums released in the 1990s, and continues to be the best-selling country album of all time. Delivering traditional country with a pop-rock edge, "Come on Over" has sold over 35 million copies since it's 1997 release.
   
3. Alanis Morissette - "Jagged Little Pill." The third-best selling album of the 1990s is singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette's most critically acclaimed album, Jagged Little Pill. It has been purchased 32 million times since it's release in '95, and remains loved for it's delivered classics such as "You Oughta Know" and "Hand in My Pocket."
   
4. Celine Dion - "Let's Talk About Love." "Let's Talk About Love" was Celine Dion's best selling album, with an estimated 30 million copies sold. The album packs an award-winning punch, with the instantly recognizable hit "My Heart Will Go On."
   
5. Celine Dion - "Falling Into You." "Falling Into You" was powerhouse Celine Dion's fourth album and one of her most successful; the album includes such power-ballads as "All by Myself" "The Power of the Dream."
   
6. ABBA - "Gold." ABBA, one of the most successful musical groups of all time, released their first "greatest hits" compilation in 1992, "Gold." Soon after, it became one of the most successful compilation albums in recent memory, selling nearly 29 million copies to date.
   
7. Soundtrack - "Titanic." One of the most popular movies of all time bore one of the most popular soundtracks, Titanic. Released the same day as Celine Dion's incredibly popular "Let's Talk About Love," it also features "My Heart Will Go On," although the bulk of the albums was written by James Horner.
   
8. Santana - "Supernatural." Earning 9 Grammy Awards and selling well over 23 million albums, Carlos Santana's latin-pop album "Supernatural" is often hailed as the spark that re-ignited his waning career.
   
9. Backstreet Boys - "Millennium." Written in 1999 to hail the upcoming year 2000, Backstreet Boys unloosed their album "Millennium" to high praise and mass attention. Breaking their previous record, the album has sold 26 million copies, and was decorated with 5 Grammy Awards.
   
10. Metallica - "Metallica." Metallica's self titled album, often referred to as "The Black Album," features the heavy metal group's most recognizable songs such as "Enter Sandman" and "Wherever I May Roam." The record has sold 25.6 million albums to date.
    

Top-Selling Artists of the 1990s

1. Garth Brooks - With more than 45 million albums sold in the 90s, and three of the top 10 selling albums of the decade, this country superstar had the decade on lockdown.
   
2. Mariah Carey - The winner of the Billboard Artist of the Decade (given to Billboard's top-selling chart performer for the decade) sold more than 30 million albums in the 90s. This has her topping their list of 10 Best-Selling Artists of the 90's even though according to SoundScan Brooks sold more titles.
   
3. Shania Twain - Her "Come on Over" was the best-selling album of the decade, putting her very high up on the list.
   
4. Whitney Houston - Whitney's soundtrack to the film "The Bodyguard" was the second-biggest seller of the decade.
   
5. Elton John - His "Candle in the Wind 1997," a tribute to Princess Diana, was the biggest-selling single of the decade, placing him high on the 10 Best-Selling artists of the 90's list.
   
6. Backstreet Boys - With two albums in the decade selling more than 10 million copies each, this boy band ushered in a new era of big sellers.
   
7. Alanis Morissette - Her "Jagged Little Pill," which sold nearly 20 million copies, ensured her position on the 10 Best-Selling Artists of the 90's list.
   
8. Hootie & The Blowfish - It seemed every household in America had a copy of their "Cracked Rear View."
   
9. Celine Dion - Another artist with multiple albums selling more than 10 million copies a-piece.
   
10. Metallica - Their huge-selling self-titled "Black Album" combined with sales from the subsequent "Load" and "Reload," puts them on the 10 Best-Selling Artists of the 90's list.
    

This is another interesting ranking by decade site. It's very stingent in ranking just by each decade. If you click on the names they provide details for each artist in each decade in each country for each song (charting): http://tsort.info/mu...ade_artists.htm

[darraholic]

Surprised Shania Twain never made the list.

Rebecca Black was robbed of a spot.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Shania's Come On Over album is the best selling album ever by a female artist.

[JackPeyton]

Gaga, Adele, Perry are to new to be ranked so high. Agulara has had more downs than ups to be in the top 10. Beyonce belongs where she is. Britney is an entirly different story and an interesting case that i dont even know where to start with, but i see no issue with her place actually.

celine deserves to be higher. Shania not being on the list is just very telling of how no thought went into this.

[Angela]

Shania is 35 on the list unless I imagined seeing that.