10 most important figures in 20th century music

Who are the 10 most important figures in 20th century music?


I made up this list, but on another day It would be different.

Woody Guthrie
Frank Sinatra
Chuck Berry
James Brown
Bob Dylan
The Beatles
Eric Clapton
Smokey Robinson
Phil Spector
Brian Eno

These three were very close:

Neil Young
The Velvet Underground
The Sex Pistols

Then I asked the Steve Hoffman Music Forum, and these were the figures most chosen:

The Beatles / Lennon & McCartney 58

Elvis Presley 57

Bob Dylan 55

Miles Davis 46

Louis Armstrong 44

Frank Sinatra 37

Duke Ellington 36

Chuck Berry 35

Hank Williams 31

Jimi Hendrix 25

Charlie Parker 23

Igor Stravinsky 22

Robert Johnson 19

Beach Boys/ Brian Wilson 16

James Brown 14

George Gershwin 12

Arnold Schoenberg 12

John Coltrane 11

David Bowie 11

Bing Crosby 9

Billie Holiday 8

Michael Jackson 8

Les Paul 8

Ray Charles 8

The Rolling Stones 8

Muddy Waters 7

John Lennon 7

Nirvana / Kurt Cobain 7

Woody Guthrie 7

Joni Mitchell 6

Berry Gordy 6

The Sex Pistols 6

Lou Reed 5

The Carter Family 5

Claude Debussy 5

Bob Marley 5

Anton Webern 5

John Cage 5

Ella Fitzgerald 5

Frank Zappa 5

Little Richard 5

Bessie Smith 5

Thelonious Monk 5

The Velvet Underground 4

Smokey Robinson 4

Bill Monroe 4

Prince 4

Ennio Morricone 4

Neil Young 3

Led Zeppelin 3

The Who / Pete Townshend 3

Dean Martin 3

Cole Porter 3

Phil Spector 3

Black Sabbath 3

Sam Phillips 3

Benny Goodman 3

Public Enemy 3

Grandmaster Flash 3

Karlheinz Stockhausen 3

Buddy Holly 3

Patsy Cline 3

Johnny Cash 3

Howlin' Wolf 3

Brian Eno 3

Paul McCartney 3

Ahmet Ertegun 3

Erik Satie 2

Aaron Copeland 2

Lee Scratch Perry 2

Al Jolson 2

Claude Debussy 2

Charley Patton 2

Sam Cooke 2

Jimmie Rogers 2

Aretha Franklin 2

Leonard Bernstein 2

Madonna 2

Bela Bartok 2

Morton Feldman 2

Queen / Freddie Mercury 2

Edgar Varese 2

Scott Walker 2

Irving Berlin 2

B.B. King 2

Gustav Mahler 2

Django Reinhardt 2

Ravi Shankar 2

Scott Joplin 2 
Rodgers & Hammerstein 2 

Eric Clapton
Charles Mingus
Everly Brothers
Sun Ra
Jobim
Tupac Shakur
Kate Bush
Maurice Ravel
La Monte Young

Charlemagne Palestine

Terry Riley

Olivier Messiaen
John Williams

Chess brothers

Willie Dixon

Pierre Boulez
Dizzy Gillespie
The Wrecking Crew
Peter Goldmark
Jerry Lee Lewis
Otis Redding
The Clash
Run DMC

Clive Davis
Quincy Jones
Billy Strayhorn
Dr. Dre
Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Jimmy Rodgers

Arsenio Rodriguez
Keith Jarrett
Herbie Hancock
Florian Schneider
Bob Wills and his Texas playboys

DJ Kool Herc

Sugarhill Gang
Sammy Davis Jr.

Phillip Glass
The Ramones

Glenn Miller
REM
Chris Blackwell

Caruso

Van Halen

Patti Smith

Ray Davies

Jerry Garcia
Sam Lightnin' Hopkins
Merle Haggard
Munir Bashir
Fikret Kızılok
Roberta Flack
Erkin Koray
George Harrison
Tony Bennett
The Byrds

Willie Nelson
Burt Bacharach

Pink Floyd
Lawrence Welk
Thomas Edison...along with Tesla and Westinghouse
Edwin Howard Armstrong

Daniel Johnston
Giorgio Moroder
Radiohead

Marc Bolan
Marvin Gaye

Lee Hazelwood

Gainsbourg

Neil Peart
Maurice White
Bernie Worrell
John Bonham
John Entwistle
Keith Moon
Rod Temperton
Chet Atkins

Antonio Carlos Jobim
Robert Moog

Dr Dre

Ornette Coleman

Elton John

The Bee Gees

Charles Ives

Paul Simon

William Hung

Nat King Cole

Percy Faith

Marvin Gaye
Stevie Wonder

Oum Kalthoum
Fairuz
Paul Robeson
Fela Kuti
Victor Jara
Pete Seeger
Grateful Dead
Rosemary Clooney
Patti Page
Yoko Ono

Jim Morrison
Holger Czukay
Mick Ronson

John Peel

Bruce Springsteen

Stevie Ray

Earl Scruggs

Jerry Wexler

Mahalia Jackson 

* 20th Century Music by History Detectives