The only objective measure that can be used to rank the greatness of artists is the number of recordings they have sold. Lists that are put together by critics, publications and TV networks too often rank artists by subjective criteria. Drug addicts who died too young are usually rated way too high as are anti-establishmentarians and contrarians. Peers usually favor musicians who are like them. If you interview a bunch of ghetto rappers, you aren't going to find Elvis Presley and Queen among their top 25.
It is difficult to determine actual sales of albums and singles because no organization keeps accurate and comprehensive records. So I used Wikipedia's list of comparable sales to see what the public thinks of various artists. Look some of these musicians up on YouTube, and you're very likely to find some gems that you might not have discovered otherwise.
If the contest to determine the best artist were compared to a golf tournament, this is the way the final standings would look. Since The Beatles and Elvis would tie in this mythical competition, who do you think won in sudden death? I favor the Beatles myself and predict they will have sold more records 10 years from now than the King. It is amazing to think that the Beatles broke up 41 years ago before any of them turned 30, and Elvis died 33 years ago. -- skinnyreporter
