NMTop40 CHART TRIBUTE: Your top 20 favourite artists of all time (2020 edition)

i was just thinking about this! (because of fiona apple)

here are mine (off the top of my head) in 10s. not ordering said 10s.

01-10

goldfrapp
fiona apple
grace jones
erykah badu
abba
roisin murphy / moloko
kate bush
tori amos
pj harvey
bjork

11-20

mariah carey
janet jackson
sade
donna summer
the national
carly rae jepsen
anthony and the johnsons
robyn
lykke li
madonna

21-30

daft punk
kylie
beth gibbons / portishead
prince
royksopp
michael jackson
the knife / fever ray
whitney houston
tracey thorn / everything but the girl
johnny jewel / chromatics / glass candy

31-40

sufjan stevens
father john misty
dee-lite
aimee mann
xenomania / girls aloud
diana ross
maxwell
grimes
pet shop boys
annie lennox / eurythmics
 
Something like this...

1-10

ABBA
Kylie Minogue
Pet Shop Boys
Robyn
Blondie
Kate Bush
Donna Summer
Lana Del Rey
Steps
Cher

11-20

Madonna
Royksopp
Britney Spears
Lady Gaga
Rihanna
Girls Aloud
Celine Dion
Ace of Base
Carly Rae Jepsen
Whitney Houston

21-30

Mariah Carey
CHVRCHES
All Saints
Garbage
Jessie Ware
Sugababes
Fleetwood Mac
Kim Wilde
New Order
LeAnn Rimes

31-40

Beyonce
September
Calvin Harris
Billie Ray Martin
The Shins
Dannii Minogue
Bloc Party
Bananarama
Saint Etienne
Hot Chip
 
I may do a top 40 later but here is my top 20 - based on a complex algorithm that includes my Discogs collection, the number of times I've seen the artist live and (perhaps most importantly) how their music has essentially soundtracked my life...

1. Madonna
2. Aimee Mann
3. Tori Amos
4. R.E.M.
5. Fiona Apple
6. David Bowie
7. Suede
8. Sarah McLachlan
9. Goldfrapp
10. Mansun/Paul Draper

11. Alanis Morissette
12. PJ Harvey
13. Erasure
14. Kate Bush
15. Lana Del Rey
16. Joni Mitchell
17. John Grant
18. Father John Misty
19. Neko Case
20. Antony & The Johnsons / Anohni
(21. Sufjan Stevens :( )
 
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Nina Simone
Marianne Faithfull
Mary J. Blige
Laura Marling
Marina and the Diamonds
John Grant
Mitski
Susan Sundfor
Whitney Houston
Joan Baez
 
Oh and I also forgot Ezra Furman as well.

It seems that most of my male favourite artists are more contemporary or ones that I have really gotten into the last 10 years, whilst the female artists I have had a longer history with.
 
The Fall are likely permanently unassailable now, especially now that there won;t be any more records. Nurse With Wound have been off the boil but there's still a few good 'uns and that run from 1979 to 1990(ish) is absolutely classic.

Biggest major difference of the last few years has probably finally getting into Bowie in a big way and finding that I can barely listen to Sonic Youth at all, although the latter is likely to be a phase. But it's the multiple minor differences - there are so many amazing newer artists who have crossed my path and whose work I absolutely love but still have relatively small catalogues. I find it difficult to rank them against artists with whom I have had a much longer relationship. How to pitch The Cure against Kelly Moran when the former have a deep catalogue, their 80's work standing so strong but, equally, they haven't made a truly great album in the latter's lifetime? I dunno.
 
5 years ago I think this would've been pretty easy for me. Now it's very hard (and not just because I can't complete a list to save my life) - I very rarely listen to Kylie these days, for instance, but her music will always be deeply ingrained in me. How do you weight that vs current consumption? Let's have a go anyway

01 Madonna
02 Kylie Minogue
03 Mariah Carey
04 Lady Gaga
05 Janet Jackson
06 Kelly Clarkson
07 Rihanna
08 Marina
09 Tove Lo
10 Ellie Goulding

11 Lorde
12 Lana Del Rey
13 Jessie Ware
14 Shura
15 MUNA
16 Gwen Stefani
17 Katy Perry
18 Robyn
19 Taylor Swift
20 Christina Aguilera

21 Charli XCX
22 Calvin Harris
23 Shania Twain
24 Miley Cyrus
25 MØ
 
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  1. Mariah Carey
  2. Alicia Keys
  3. Aaliyah
  4. Kylie Minogue
  5. All Saints
  6. Jazmine Sullivan
  7. Busta Rhymes
  8. Aretha Franklin
  9. Ludacris
  10. Dido

  11. Missy Elliot
  12. Dua Lipa
  13. Rihanna
  14. Lady Gaga
  15. Biggie Smalls
  16. Chaka Khan
  17. Madonna
  18. Lenny Kravitz
  19. Whitney Houston
  20. Taylor Swift
 
I’ll have 40 too then for my top 10. I tried to incorporate the level of my love for some acts when younger into the list which wouldn’t be so prevalent now. Tori clinging onto the top 10 as she was so good up to Scarlet’s Walk.

1-10
PJ Harvey
Aimee Mann
The Smiths/Morrissey
Suede
Heather Nova
Siouxsie & the Banshees
The Darling Buds
Placebo
Sleeper
Tori Amos

11-20
Hole
Lisa Miskovsky
Kylie Minogue
John Grant
Nerina Pallot
Madonna
Transvision Vamp / Wendy James
Saint Etienne
The Jezabels / Hayley Mary
The Primitives

21-30
La Oreja de Van Gogh
Nirvana
Bananarama
The Cardigans
Fiona Apple
Erasure
Blondie
ABBA
Dannii Minogue
Five Star

31-40
Joni Mitchell
Skunk Anansie
Foxes
Girls Aloud
Eternal
Cyndi Lauper
Pretenders
Liz Phair
Sheryl Crow
Samantha Fox
 
Imagine still rating Morrissey in spite of EVERYTHING. Not that I EVER DID.
 
Ag said:
Imagine still rating Morrissey in spite of EVERYTHING. Not that I EVER DID.
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Nah, I get it. After seeing him on an old TOTP the other night, it really did spark memories of how great he once was and the butterflies that song used to give me when it slams into the chorus duly fluttered in an almost Pavlovian way. Which is what makes it all so fucking sad, pathetic and reprehensible.
 
octophone said:
Nah, I get it. After seeing him on an old TOTP the other night, it really did spark memories of how great he once was and the butterflies that song used to give me when it slams into the chorus duly fluttered in an almost Pavlovian way. Which is what makes it all so fucking sad, pathetic and reprehensible.
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I find separating The Smiths and solo Morrissey quite easy to do.
 
Ag said:
I find separating The Smiths and solo Morrissey quite easy to do.
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I don't, mainly because his first solo flourish was amazing, although some of it included the other Smiths and their studio collaborator Stephen Street.
 
My post did indicate trying to incorporate how much I’ve liked acts over time and the fact that Morrissey is a known cock now doesn’t make some of those early solo and Smiths records not fantastic pieces of work. Acknowledging that now is not the same as buying concert tickets, streaming him or buying the records. I feel like I’m intelligent enough to differentiate between the two.
 
Ag said:
I find separating The Smiths and solo Morrissey quite easy to do.
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I tend not to, which is what makes it quite difficult to revisit The Smiths as well at this point. It probably sounds a bit pathetic but 'cancelling' The Smiths/Morrissey has been one of the hardest decisions in my life. I discovered them at a pivotal point my life and the music had taken me through a lot of difficult episodes and challenges. But it's got to be done as far as I'm concerned.
 
BoysForSeles said:
My post did indicate trying to incorporate how much I’ve liked acts over time and the fact that Morrissey is a known cock now doesn’t make some of those early solo and Smiths records not fantastic pieces of work. Acknowledging that now is not the same as buying concert tickets, streaming him or buying the records. I feel like I’m intelligent enough to differentiate between the two.
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I think this is perfectly reasonable. I'm not in any denial about how much The Smiths and, initially, Morrissey meant to me at the time and, at times, I've found myself going back to that music and falling in love again, especially around the 2011 reissues.
 
octophone said:
I don't, mainly because his first solo flourish was amazing, although some of it included the other Smiths and their studio collaborator Stephen Street.
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I probably was more of a Moz solo loon than a Smiths fanatic to be fair. I never got into The Smiths when they were still around - maybe I was too young and preoccupied with Madonna and Michael Jackson etc. It was actually hearing Vauxhall and I at the age of 14 and that characteristic lightbulb moment that opened everything up for me like a gateway drug...
 
I've decided this will be a chart with updates.

So here's a six month update:

August 2020

1(1). Madonna
2(2). Aimee Mann
3(3). Tori Amos
4(7). Suede
5(5). Fiona Apple
6(8). Sarah McLachlan
7(17). John Grant
8(10). Mansun/Paul Draper
9(4). R.E.M.
10(12). PJ Harvey

11(6). David Bowie
12(11). Alanis Morissette
13(9). Goldfrapp
14(14). Kate Bush
15(18). Father John Misty
16(21). Sufjan Stevens
17(-). Bjork
18(16). Joni Mitchell
19(13). Erasure
20(15). Lana Del Rey

Bubbling Under:
21(-). Ezra Furman
22(19). Neko Case
23(20). Antony & The Johnsons
24(-). Liz Phair
25(-). Pearl Jam
 
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