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.