The Top 10 Pop Stars—Ever

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In the nearly 50 years since Elvis Presley swiveled his way to the top of the music charts, an amazing array of artists has joined the King on the list of the nation's top-selling pop vocalists of all time.

By Gwen Gibson

Incredible as it may seem, the list of top 10 Pop Stars does not include Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, and other such preeminent performers.

But we're talking quantity here and not necessarily quality. The list of the top 10 pop artists comes from a combination of Billboard magazine, which tracks airplay and record sales, and the firm Record Research, Inc., of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, which has analyzed the Billboard charts since 1969. Record Research published its list of the top 10 performers of 1950-1999 in its book Joel Whitburn Presents a Century of Pop Music.

A procession of young stars leapfrogged to the top of the list in the 1980s and 1990s, thanks in large part to expanding populations, greater worldwide distribution channels, and vast technological innovations.

1. Elvis Presley. The raucous 1954 recording of "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and his Comets really sparked the rock 'n' roll revolution. But by 1956 the world of rock and pop music was dominated by a handsome, young southern singer who captivated the public (especially young girls) with his bluesy voice, earthy style, and provocative gyrations. Elvis Presley blazed his way to the top of the pop charts with songs like "Blue Suede Shoes," "Don't Be Cruel," "Hound Dog," "Love Me Tender," and "All Shook Up." And the hits just kept coming.

Raised in abject poverty, Elvis rose to unprecedented wealth and fame, but he never lost that personal, down-home touch that convinced his fans he was really one of them. Today, 26 years since his death, Elvis remains one of the world's best-selling artists. More than 600,000 fans still visit his Graceland home each year. The "Young Elvis" stamp, issued by the U.S. Post Office, is the best-selling commemorative stamp of all time. And the dreamy-eyed pop icon may be one of the most written-about public figures of our time. (A dozen new books are on the shelves this year.)

Obesity and drug addiction led to Elvis Presley's untimely death at age 42. But in the collective memory of his fans, he reigns as the sleek musical genius who soaked up the multiple influences of America's vernacular music-gospel, country swing, rhythm 'n' blues—and made them his own. Bob Dylan, one of pop's favorite poets, put it best: Elvis, he said, was "the incendiary atomic musical firebrand loner who conquered the western world."

2. The Beatles. They were endearing, arrogant, witty, intensely talented, and all-conquering. Small wonder that The Beatles—John Lennon, rhythm guitar; Paul McCartney, bass guitar; George Harrison, lead guitar; and Ringo Starr, drums—also were known as the Fabulous Four. They were barely in their 20s when they created the pop boom in Britain with their first singles, "Love Me Do" in 1962, and "Please, Please Me" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in 1963. They conquered America in February 1964 with three appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show. And "Beatle mania" began. The Fab Four created even greater mass hysteria than did Elvis, whipping massive crowds of screaming teenagers into frenzies with their mere appearance on stage.

All Liverpool natives, The Beatles always had a British sound. But they frankly acknowledged their debt to American rock 'n' roll and rhythm 'n' blues artists. Chuck Berry, who created the bulk of the early rock 'n' roll repertoire, was a major inspiration. But The Beatles became an institution of their own, creating in the late 1960s a series of surreal rock albums like Magical Mystery Tour and Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The group broke up in 1970, but they left such a continuing soundtrack of charm and nostalgia that record companies probably still will love them 50 years from now.

3. Mariah Carey. She had it all: timing, talent, luck, looks, and a stunning vocal range of five to seven octaves. From the start, Mariah Carey wrote her own songs, injected them with drama and excitement, and promoted them with exotic videos. She shot to superstardom with her first albums, the eponymous Mariah Carey and Emotions, released in 1990 and 1991. She followed with mega-hit albums like Music Box, Daydream, and Butterfly. By 1999, Carey had become the best-selling female vocalist of all time. Some 185 million of her albums and singles had sold worldwide, as of October 2002.

Carey was born in 1970, the year the Beatles broke up. Her mother, a former opera singer, is Irish-American. Her late father, an aeronautic engineer, was part African-American, part Venezuelan. Endowed with perfect pitch, Carey was singing R&B backup in New York City before age 20. A five-year marriage to Tommy Mottola, head of Sony Music and Columbia Records, may have jumpstarted her career as a singer. But she was ambitious, hard-working, and, in her own words, "totally disciplined." Fatigue from overwork probably led to her widely publicized emotional and physical breakdown in 2001. So, perhaps, did the poor showing of her Glitter album, from the lackluster movie of the same name. But don't cry for Mariah. Fully recovered, she is on a whirlwind comeback tour, promoting her new album Charmbracelet and no doubt betting it will work like one.

4. Madonna. Before Mariah there was Madonna, the multi-talented material girl who used her knack for business and scandal to become a self-made tycoon. Madonna was the most successful female singer-songwriter of all time before Carey shot past her on the charts. But Madonna's credits are endless. A brilliant pop singer and songwriter, she also has been an actress, publisher, TV executive, merchandising magnate, film producer, and relentless iconoclast. She has changed personas in her videos with each change of her sexy and outlandish costumes. Her albums have titillating titles like Erotica and Bedtime Stories. In her albums Like a Virgin and Like a Prayer, she challenged social and religious mores. Her photo book Sex shocked millions and sold like hotcakes.

She was born Madonna Louise Ciccone in 1958 in Bay City, Michigan, and raised a Roman Catholic. The oldest of eight children, she was named for her mother who died when she was five. Madonna won a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan but left after a year for New York City, arriving—legend has it—with $35 in her jeans pocket. She played in rock bands, made sex-kitten videos, and broke through with her album Madonna in 1983 to become an international household name. Today, the pop star once known for her conical bras and bold crotch-grabbing acts has assumed still another persona—as a mainstream wife and mother. Madonna lives in London with her husband (film director Guy Ritchie) and her two children.

5. Michael Jackson. A natural dancer, he had the moves that teenagers around the world still copy. Michael Jackson's exciting break dancing and his contagious moonwalk, accented with the single white sequined glove, are part of pop legend. And so are the singles, albums, and breakthrough videos that Jackson has been churning out for 35 years. Jackson was only 5, kindergarten age, when he started his show-biz career as lead singer with the Jackson Five. Michael and his four brothers recorded hit after hit for Motown in the 1970s, then switched to the Epic label in 1975.

His 1979 Off the Wall album, produced by Quincy Jones, was an unbeatable blend of rock and soul with a boogie beat, and it turned the child star into an adult superstar. His 1982 album Thriller sold over 50 million copies and changed the face of pop with its movement and beat. The video The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller, in which Michael becomes a werewolf, showcased his fantastic skills as a dancer and choreographer. Still childlike at 45, Michael sometimes confounds his fans with his cosmetic surgeries; his Peter Pan existence at Neverland, his enormous California ranch; and such outrageous stunts as dangling his infant son from the fourth-floor balcony of a Berlin hotel. But his legacy also includes his charity work, the Grammy Legend Award that he won in 1993, the four Grammy awards that he won in one night in 1983, and his induction in 2001 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

6. Janet Jackson. She was a late starter, compared to brother Michael who broke into show biz at age 5. Janet Jackson, the youngest of the nine Jackson children, was all of seven when she made her professional debut at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Performing with her brothers, the Jackson Five, Janet did her Mae West imitation. (Among those watching from backstage were Elvis Presley and his daughter Lisa Marie, who would later marry Michael Jackson. It's a small world, after all.) As a youngster, Janet continued to perform with her brothers, but her career as a solo recording artist got off to a slow start. Her early albums with A&M Records, made when she was only 15, were not major sellers. The youngest Jackson was better known for her appearances on the TV shows Good Times, Diff'rent Strokes, and Fame. But once she hooked up with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis in 1986, the sparks began to fly.

Jam and Lewis helped Janet to develop such a sexy "bad girl" image that her pictures on billboards have been known to stop traffic. Jam and Lewis also helped their protégé to develop dynamic material. Little sister Janet made it big in 1986 when her album Control climbed to the top of the charts. Control and her subsequent album, Rhythm Nation 1814, produced an unprecedented series of hit singles and won four platinum awards each. By the time she signed with Virgin Records in 1991, Janet's albums were climbing the charts faster than Michael's. She signed a new contract with Virgin in 1996 for a reported $80 million, a record at the time. Fame brought emotional problems that she dealt with in her 1997 album The Velvet Rope. This was another hot hit, perhaps because it was so candid and from-the-heart.

7. Whitney Houston. At age 11, Whitney Houston could bring the congregation of the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, N.J., to tears with her stirring gospel singing. Steeped in music, endowed with exotic looks and a powerful soprano voice, she seemed destined for a show-biz career. Houston was raised by her mother, Cissy Houston, a gospel, soul, and R&B singer. Dionne Warwick is her cousin. Young Whitney was trained in acting, dancing, and voice, but modeling was the trick that first brought her to public attention. In her versatile early career, she posed for the covers of magazines like Glamour and Seventeen, sang backup for Chaka Khan and Lou Rawls, and worked in television commercials and sitcoms, most notably Give Me a Break.

Clive Davis, then head of Arista Records, groomed Whitney for two years before producing her 1985 eponymous debut album. This topped the charts for 14 weeks, spinning off hit singles like "Greatest Love of All" and "Saving All My Love for You." Her 1987album, Whitney, was the first by an American female artist to debut at number one in the United Kingdom. It contains a duet with her mother, Cissy, on the haunting song "I Know Him So Well." Houston's bestselling single, "I Will Always Love You," was written by Dolly Parton and used in the soundtrack of Houston's first movie, The Bodyguard. But for sheer emotional impact, nothing tops Houston's stirring rendition of "The Star-spangled Banner" at the 1991 Super Bowl in Tampa. She sang it again at welcome-home ceremonies for troops returning from the Gulf War. Houston recently admitted that the pressure of superstardom and her stormy 10-year marriage to troubled R&B artist Bobby Brown caused her to abuse alcohol and drugs. But she has gotten beyond that, she says, through prayer.

8. Perry Como. His cardigan sweaters and incredibly relaxed style were the fodder for comics for decades. Even his good friend, Bing Crosby, dubbed him "the man who invented casual." But Perry Como, the mellow baritone crooner, always had the last laugh—well, the last easy smile. During his seven-decade career, Como turned out scores of hit recordings and enjoyed immense popularity in clubs, theaters, movies, radio, and television. His first big hit, the 1945 recording of "Till the End of Time," sold a million copies—a huge success in those days. By the 1970s, thanks to singles like "It's Impossible," "For the Good Times," and "Catch a Falling Star," his record sales had passed the 60-million mark. Not even the rock 'n' roll revolution elbowed the king of cool off the charts. His ultra-smooth records were always a mainstay of easy-listening radio.

One of 13 children of Italian-immigrant parents, Como was born in the mining town of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1913. In the 1930s, after his legendary start as a singing barber, Como became one of the most popular male vocalists on the big band circuit. Playing New York City clubs and theaters in the 1940s, he attracted as many or more screaming teenage fans than Frank Sinatra. He also had a top-rated radio series in the 1940s. In 1955, he signed with NBC-TV for the one-hour, prime-time Perry Como Show. It was a phenomenal success. Through it all, the old joke goes, Como never broke a sweat. Television specials, like his Christmas shows, and globe-circling personal tours kept Como in the limelight and on the charts until illness forced him to retire in the early 1990s. A family man, he was married 65 years to his childhood sweetheart, Roselle. Como died May 12, 2001, at age 87, in his sleep.

9. Stevie Wonder. A boy wonder, he sang like a pro as a toddler, mastered harmonica and drums, and began recording on the Motown label at age 12. Motown marketed him as "Little Stevie Wonder," the 12-year-old boy genius. He soon dropped the "little," but he was obviously a genius. In 1963, his single, "Fingertips, Part 2," hit number one on the charts and established the 13-year-old musician as a commercial success. Brilliant hit singles recorded by Wonder in the 1960s include Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," Ron Miller's "A Place in the Sun," and songs of his own like "Uptight," "Castles in the Sand," and "My Cherie Amour."

When his Motown contract expired in 1971, Wonder made two albums on his own, playing most of the instruments himself. Motown lured him back with a contract giving him artistic control over his work, and the classic albums produced by the multi-talented Wonder took soul, rock, gospel, pop, and even funk music in new directions. He pioneered the use of the synthesizer in black music. His lyrics, meanwhile, addressed social and racial issues, not with anger but eloquence. Hit singles that emerged included "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" and "Sir Duke," a tribute to Duke Ellington. Other unforgettable Wonder hits include "Ebony and Ivory," a duet with Paul McCartney, and "I Just Called to Say I Love You," from his soundtrack for the movie The Woman in Red. Although blind almost since birth, Wonder always has been an irrepressible optimist and a tireless activist. He has fought world hunger, opposed drunk driving, advocated stiffer gun control laws, and lobbied effectively for the establishment of a Martin Luther King, Jr., national holiday. As one of his hit songs puts it, "That's What Friends Are for."

10. (Sir) Elton John. "And it seems to me you lived your life like a candle in the wind." The line is from Elton John's ballad "Candle in the Wind," which he wrote in the 1970s as a tribute to Marilyn Monroe. When his close companion Princess Diana died in 1997, John rewrote the lyrics, except that title line, and sang his heartfelt song at her funeral to a worldwide audience of two billion people. The record became the second-biggest-selling single ever, surpassed only by Bing Crosby's "White Christmas." Proceeds went to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.

This was surely the height of his long and tumultuous career. But Elton John, Britain's highest-earning pop artist of all time, has recorded scores of hits including "Rocket Man," "Tiny Dancer," "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," "Crocodile Rock," and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road." More recently he teamed with lyricist Tim Rice to give us "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from the movie The Lion King and "Written in the Stars" from the stage version of Verdi's Aida. A flamboyant performer, John is known for his outlandish costumes and lavish lifestyle—and for all those enduring, award-winning songs. John was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998, which allows him to put Sir before his name. A very rich man, Sir Elton recently announced that his future royalties will go to the Elton John AIDS Foundation. And because Sir Elton, like so many other top 10 artists, is still creating hits, that could mean big bucks indeed.

Gwen Gibson is a freelance writer, specializing in arts and entertainment.

Source: http://www.aarpmagazine.o...stars.html

Isnt the AARP, the main Organisation for retired people in the USA?????

I am surprised that they are aware of these acts, let alone listening 2 them!!!!!

I thought their mag was called 'modern maturity' or something like that??? (my grandma used to get it)


I hope they don't have a swimsuit issue

Madge and MJ will be getting AARP in a couple years.

WOW, I'm surprised Jacko's on the list.

Mariah @ #3?

Gold319 said:

::Martin Lawrence voice:: It sho' is.


The AARP gets crunk, too.

Gold319 said:

I believe you only have to be 50 to be a member, and 50 ain't as old as it used to be.

CreamyThighs said:

I'm more suprised he's not #1

Why is Janet Jackson on the list? She did not do anything revoulitionary in the music business. Why are the beatles and Elvis number 1, there are so overrated.

byronic said:

Pretty soon Prince can join

Nikster said:

I'm a little surprised Prince isn't on the list.

JANFAN4L said:

Grandma or grandpa didn't check facts

purplecam said:

Too dirty?

I take it back -- Maddogga's on there.

JANFAN4L said:

as is Janet

i cant believe this list, not that its really important, i mean its just a stupid list of someones opinion but still, i cant believe that:

1: that mariah carey made it at number 3

2: that whitney houston even made the list

and 3: whos Perry Como?

hellomoto said:

Whitney and Mariah belong on the list imho, but Mariah should be lower and MJ much higher.

And replace perry with prince and you have a winner

way to go Perry Como

sosgemini said:

I think this is the first list he's made in a while.

byronic said:

Yeah, I know what you mean. My birthday is in 2 days.

How the hell is Michael Jackson way down to number 5? It would be very hard to choose which is the biggest star, Michael Jackson or Elvis, that would be understandable if either of them were placed at number 2.

Madonna is a huge star but Michael is a much bigger star. There's no way in hell that Mariah Carey is a bigger star than Michael Jackson. If she is even on the list, she needs to be towards the bottom.

Also, where are The Rolling Stones?