Top 25 musical artists of the century

The Expert Witness Poll has spoken!

The bonus question in this year’s Expert Witness Poll asked voters for their five favorite musical artists of the 21st century. The results below are sorted by number of votes, then first-place votes, then seconds, then thirds. The few remaining ties I broke using brute subjectivity. The YEA and NAY cases are my personal arguments for and against each artist’s placement; note that I love the music of twenty-four and a half of them. Links to music are provided for artists that random Googlers may not have heard, which sadly includes Sleater-Kinney these days. Are these the true and correct artists of the century, of course not (the list is too American, for one thing); is it a fun list, well, what do you consider fun?

25. Ashlee Simpson with John Shanks and Kara DioGuardi

YEA: “Pieces of Me”, “La La”, “Boyfriend”, and “L.O.V.E.” all still bang hard.

NAY: When my spouse was scrolling through the nominations, this was the only one they read with a question mark at the end. Reader, I married a rockist.

24. Ezra Furman

YEA: My friend Richard loved her. That’s reason enough.

NAY: I haven’t always loved the albums, though even on the ones that haven’t stuck with me they have been great and sometimes all-time songs, from “Don’t Turn Your Back on Love” to “Suck the Blood from My Wound”.

23. Fiona Apple

NAY: Literally three albums in 25 years.

YEA: At least two of them are absolute classics. That’s as many as Olivia Rodrigo!

22. Sleater-Kinney

YEA: I mean they were once the best band in the world, on record and live. By a lot.

NAY: After No Cities to Love, they haven’t quite been the same. For the first time I’ve started thinking they could use a proper rhythm section. With their rep they should be able to get the best players in indie to play with them. Maybe the drummer from Quasi, she’s really good.

21. Jon Langford

YEA: Top bloke. Made a billion albums. Most or all of them are good!

NAY: Maybe you can remember which records were by the Waco Brothers and which were by the Pine Valley Cosmonauts without looking it up, but if so you’re doing better than me.

20. Rachid Taha

YEA: Maybe the most credible male rock singer of the times, for a pretty wide range of definitions of “rock”. Kept his musical standards high throughout his life. Pretty funny occasionally.

No point in NAYs. RIP.

19. William Parker

Special guest YEA/NAY from Chris Monsen:

YEA: As consistent as he is prolific, has an unmistakable bass sound, nobody makes free music quite as groovy (he’d be the first to give co-credit to his drummers), guiding light to numerous up-and-coming musicians.

NAY: Personally find his “other instruments” recordings less interesting.

18. Gogol Bordello

YEA: Through Super Taranta! they felt like they were inventing something unprecedented. Live shows are allegedly amazing (I’ve never been.)

NAY: Nothing really unprecedented since 2007. Politics are net positive but somewhat fuzzier than you’d prefer from a group of their ilk.

17. Mary Halvorson

YEA: One of the most distinctive instrumentalists ever—instantly identifiable. Has won every jazz guitar poll a million times. Strong bandleader with a ton of good records under her own name and others.

NAY: Versatile, but at the very very high end she hasn’t yet shown she can change up her approach as dramatically as, say, William Parker (or Henry Threadgill or Wadada Leo Smith) has.

16. Rihanna

YEA: As golden a decade-long singles run as the era’s seen. Great albums are for dorks but she did make one of those eventually, dorks.

NAY: The Winds of Winter is never coming out, is it

15. Youssou Ndour

YEA: By now pretty comfortably the greatest male singer in the history of recorded popular music (sorry Frank.) A quick check of his YouTube channel confirms his voice is holding up remarkably well at 65.

NAY: Has slowed down since the passing of his longtime musical director Habib Faye.

14. Lil Wayne

YEA: 2007–08 was as prolific and high (heh) a peak as anyone’s had since… Beatles/Dylan 1965–66? Armstrong 1927–28? Mozart 1777–78? Weezy was pretty good before that too, which people sometimes forget.

NAY: Voter J.A. said Young Thug ate his soul; well, someone did. Has the lowest non-political lows of anyone of this list. Remember “Piano Man” (aka “Around the Way Girl”)? At least Mozart 1777–78 never tried to sing R&B (or if he did, it’s lost to history.)

13. Tom Zé

YEA: Not many musos have had a great youth, then an even greater career past the age of 50. (The only one who comes to mind is Haydn.) Few have delivered material of durable interest so reliably since 2000, and indeed since Byrne re-introduced him to the world.

NAY: After 2014’s all-timer Vira Lata na Via Láctea, he’s arguably done nothing truly sonically novel—even the excellent Língua Brasileira isn’t really anything you haven’t heard from him before. Novelty is a lot to demand of even the most creative octogenarians, however.

12. Bob Dylan

YEA: Has some pretty funny songs. Still tours hard, which I respect.

NAY: Titanic song felt longer than the movie. Hard to tell whether his bad ideas are genuinely held or just baiting Greil Marcus. Live shows are a lottery (personally I’m two from four.)

11. Serengeti

YEA: Hawks, Bulls

NAY: Bears, Sox

10. Big Thief/Adrianne Lenker

YEA: Maybe the first folk-rockers great enough to win over even those with the strongest anti-folk prejudices (me) in a half century.

NAY: Only got really great starting with “Not”, which was barely five years ago.

9. M.I.A.

YEA: Kala might be album of the century, and Arular (and Piracy Funds Terrorism) aren’t far off.

NAY: If you’re in Alaska/Kentucky/Louisiana/Maine/Pennsylvania regrettably/Utah, call your more swingable Senator and tell them to oppose RFK Jr.’s confirmation.

8. Eminem

YEA: If you want to be an annoying historian-type and say 1999 is part of the Long 21st Century, his case becomes extremely strong. Industry-changing artist.

NAY: Nothing really novel since 2002. Some very good moments since when he’s had reason to being his A-game, and a lot of jokes run into the ground (which I admit is relatable.)

7. Taylor Swift

YEA: In my Tortured Poets Department review I called her “the singer-songwriter who’s written the most good songs over the last twenty years”; let’s stretch that to twenty-five.

NAY: Given her talent level and opportunities, her albums have arguably underachieved—where are her all-time list contenders? (There’s Fearless, but few besides maybe Dave Moore agree with me on that.) Made me write 1500 words on Tortured Poets, an album I don’t ever care that much about one way or the other (which is still better than Dave writing 12,000-odd words on Early Taylor; someone give him a book deal already.)

6. Kendrick Lamar

YEA: Safely on Mount Rapmore with Chuck D, the good Dre, and a problematic person from this countdown of your choice. Astonishing on a technical level if you care about that sort of thing. Deserved a Pulitzer, if not necessarily for the work that won one.

NAY: Reliably has 1 to 3 terrible ideas per album. Sometimes he gets them to come off through sheer force of talent (both his and his collaborators’), sometimes we cry together.

5. Kanye West

4. Drive-By Truckers

YEA: Best band in America and maybe the world for the decade 2000–09, give or take Sonic Youth. Quite plausibly the best live band of the whole period (based on my sample of two shows.)

NAY: Can’t really gerrymander Isbell’s post-DBT work into counting. While they’ve never been less than honorable, not everyone would give them quite as many post-2010 A’s as Christgau has.

3. Miranda Lambert

YEA: Near-unimpeachable as a songwriter since Crazy Ex-Girlfriend besides whichever extended metaphor you think she pushed too far (“Tin Man” here.) Records always sound great from the vocals down. Lots of volume, more if you give her Annies credit.

NAY: Not much besides her choice in men. Current ex-cop husband does seem to be an improvement over Blake Shelton.

2. Wussy

YEA: Went from “best band no one’s heard of” to “best band in the world” before our eyes. Nobody’s ever done “the woman and the man sing different things at the same time” better. Attica! was as close as we’ll ever get to all of the wider Expert Witness community agreeing on something. Have continued to do worthwhile work post-peak (Duo recordings certainly count.) Shambolically entertaining live act. Chuck and Lisa gave me a discount at the antique mall once.

NAY: Does it matter that outside of the Ohio Valley and people at least vaguely aware of my blog, no one paid attention to them, except briefly in 2014 (and weirdly maybe now?) According to the electorate, no.

1. Beyoncé

YEA: Queen, slays, etc. But also if you called her the best singer in the world since as far back as “Emotions”, I wouldn’t argue.

NAY: Didn’t consistently make great albums until her net worth was far enough into nine digits that you might think it’d be hard not to make great albums. (But see, for example, her husband for a counterexample.) Overall though, the winner that upsets the least people.

The full results:

THIRTEEN VOTES: Beyoncé (2 first-place votes).

ELEVEN VOTES: Wussy (1 first).

NINE VOTES: Miranda Lambert (1 first), Drive-By Truckers (1 first).

EIGHT VOTES: Kanye West (3 firsts), Kendrick Lamar (3 firsts).

SEVEN VOTES: Taylor Swift (2 firsts).

SIX VOTES: Eminem, M.I.A.

FIVE VOTES: Big Thief/Adrianne Lenker (2 firsts), Serengeti (2 firsts), Bob Dylan (1 first).

FOUR VOTES: Tom Zé (2 firsts), Lil Wayne (2 firsts).

THREE VOTES: Youssou Ndour (1 first), Rihanna, Mary Halvorson.

TWO VOTES: Gogol Bordello (1 first), William Parker, Rachid Taha, Jon Langford, Sleater-Kinney, Fiona Apple, Ezra Furman, Ashlee Simpson (with John Shanks and Kara DioGuardi).

ONE FIRST-PLACE VOTE: Burial, Clube da Encruza, David Bowie, Fleet Foxes, Fountains of Wayne, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Girl Talk, Henry Threadgill, Hurray for the Riff Raff, J Dilla, James Brandon Lewis, Kenzie, SOPHIE, T-ara.

ONE SECOND-PLACE VOTE: 100 Gecs, Abdullah Ibrahim, Bon Iver, Celine Dion, Father John Misty, Lana Del Rey, MF Doom, Mark Lomax, III, the Mountain Goats, Neil Young, R.A.P. Ferreira, Saint Etienne.

ONE THIRD-PLACE VOTE: Ariana Grande, Bruce Springsteen, Buck 65, Charli XCX, Das Racist/Heems, Jason Isbell, Lady Gaga, Mdou Moctar, Parquet Courts/A. Savage, Stephen O’Malley, Tokio Hotel.

ONE OTHER VOTE: Adele, Akrobatik, Animal Collective, Atomic, Caribou, Carly Rae Jepsen, Danny Brown, DJ Wesley Gonzaga, Fred Thomas, György Kurtág, Have Heart/Fiddlehead, Holly Miranda, Hop Along, Imperial Teen, Ken Vandermark, Kesha, LCD Soundsystem, MC Pipokinha, My Chemical Romance, the Necks, Pusha T, Rilo Kiley/Jenny Lewis, Robyn, Satoko Fujii, Shakira, Vampire Weekend, Willie Nelson, Yo La Tengo, Young Thug.

and that’s the end of list season, praise Bey