Using the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists as a Predictor for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or: Why the Charts Don't Matter

As a part of its 50th anniversary this year, Billboard put together a list of the Hot 100's top 100 artists of all-time (well, 1958 through today). As opposed to Rolling Stone's and VH1's lists of the all-time greats, which polled groups of artists, Billboard uses their singles charts to generate their list. The results certainly show the most popular artists from the last 50 years, but are not very indicative of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers (no Hendrix, Dylan, The Who, The Police, U2, etc.). Of the 100 artists listed below, 40 are Hall of Famers. Of the 60 who are not in, 46 are eligible and have never reached final ballot for induction.

Looking down the list at the artists who aren't eligible yet (indicated with an asterisk), there really aren't any slam dunks for induction, although a strong case could be made for a few of them. If ranking high on this list were important to the Rock Hall, then Janet Jackson (the highest ranking eligible artist) should have at least received some serious consideration by the Nominating Committee, but she has not. Clearly the Rock Hall is looking for other credentials in their Hall of Famers besides having a successful singles career.

As far as using this list as prediction tool, we wouldn't recommend it. It's unlikely that over the next 20 years that any more than a handful of the non-Hall of Famers listed below will be inducted.

The complete list follows, with links to the non-Hall of Famers:

  1. The Beatles
  2. Madonna
  3. Elton John
  4. Elvis Presley
  5. Stevie Wonder
  6. Mariah Carey *
  7. Janet Jackson
  8. Michael Jackson
  9. Whitney Houston *
  10. The Rolling Stones
  11. Paul McCartney/Wings
  12. Bee Gees
  13. Chicago
  14. The Supremes
  15. Daryl Hall & John Oates
  16. Prince
  17. Rod Stewart
  18. Olivia Newton-John
  19. Aretha Franklin
  20. Marvin Gaye
  21. Usher *
  22. Phil Collins
  23. Billy Joel
  24. Donna Summer
  25. Diana Ross
  26. Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
  27. The Temptations
  28. The Beach Boys
  29. Lionel Richie
  30. Neil Diamond
  31. Carpenters
  32. Boyz II Men *
  33. The Jackson 5/The Jacksons
  34. Connie Francis
  35. Brenda Lee
  36. Barbra Streisand
  37. Kenny Rogers
  38. Bryan Adams
  39. Cher
  40. George Michael *
  41. Bobby Vinton
  42. John Mellencamp
  43. Three Dog Night
  44. Huey Lewis & The News
  45. Gloria Estefan/Miami Sound Machine *
  46. Bon Jovi
  47. Ray Charles
  48. Chubby Checker
  49. Foreigner
  50. Kool & The Gang
  51. Ricky Nelson
  52. Duran Duran
  53. Commodores
  54. Eagles
  55. Paul Anka
  56. TLC *
  57. Barry Manilow
  58. Dionne Warwick
  59. Gladys Knight & The Pips
  60. Heart
  61. The Everly Brothers
  62. R. Kelly *
  63. Bobby Darin
  64. James Brown
  65. Paula Abdul *
  66. Richard Marx *
  67. Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship
  68. Destiny's Child *
  69. Linda Ronstadt
  70. Celine Dion *
  71. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
  72. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
  73. Fleetwood Mac
  74. Bruce Springsteen
  75. The Pointer Sisters
  76. John Denver
  77. Four Tops
  78. Tony Orlando & Dawn
  79. The 5th Dimension
  80. Alicia Keys *
  81. Captain & Tennille
  82. Andy Gibb
  83. Air Supply
  84. Nelly *
  85. Roy Orbison
  86. The Spinners
  87. Queen
  88. 50 Cent *
  89. Dion
  90. Aerosmith
  91. Billy Ocean
  92. Tommy James
  93. Earth, Wind & Fire
  94. Brook Benton
  95. Michael Bolton
  96. Styx
  97. Toni Braxton *
  98. Neil Sedaka
  99. Herman's Hermits
  100. Simon & Garfunkel

* = not yet eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

So, for example, if you're arguing that Neil Diamond should be inducted based on the number of hits he has had, you need to be prepared to induct everyone with a higher position on this list. If you can't do that, then it's unwise to use Billboard chart success as a sole reason for induction.

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