Music plays a big part in my life as it helps me get through the day and deal with certain situations. Plus who doesn’t like to jam out to a 4 hour long playlist of songs you enjoyed so much during your lifetime. However the songs that we listen to today would be nothing without the artists and musicians. Many come and go, others become huge stars and then you have your icons and legends that inspire future artists and musicians. These artists and musicians then inspire us in many different ways whether it is becoming a future musician or their songs inspiring us to become better people and do great things in life. We also watch these artists and musicians grow and change overtime from changing up their musical styles to working with different music producers. For this week’s Top 10 list I want to discuss and countdown my favorite artists and musicians of all time. I have been listening to music since I could walk and I have listened to many different artists and musicians. So this list might be a bit hard to countdown but I think I can manage it. Also I am not ranking on the greatest of all time. I want to make that one perfectly clear. Comment below your favorite musical artist and or musician like favorite group or band and let’s log into Itunes or Spotify and listen to some lit musical artists and musicians and let’s countdown my Top 10 Favorite Music Artists and Musicians of All Time.
My Top 10 Favorite Music Artists and Musicians of All Time
10. Lady Gaga – This one is pretty shocking but I am a pretty big fan of Lady Gaga and her music. While I loved her acting in American Horror Story: Hotel and 2018’s A Star is Born, I have really enjoyed and fallen in love with my fellow New Yorker Lady Gaga. The 11 time Grammy award winner’s career began in the mid 2000’s where she found fame in 2008 with her debut album The Fame. I remember when both Just Dance and Poker Face was released as they were the most played songs that year and they really are like her more nostalgic songs for me. But then add in an underrated classic of Paparazzi and one of her most beloved and chart performing songs LoveGame and Lady Gaga’s career sky rocketed. Within the next decade Lady Gaga made herself a household name with albums like The Fame Monster, Born This Way and Joanne. But then A Star is Born came out and the song Shallows gave Lady Gaga her first ever Academy Award. I love Lady Gaga because her music has changed each album she puts out and she really knows how to put on a great performance. I mean there was a point where everyone, including myself, thought she was weird because she wore some ridiculous costumes but that’s just her being herself and not giving a shit what other people think. Lady Gaga is a role model to others as many young girls and boys look up to her because of what she believes in and because she puts out only good vibes and never anything negative. For me a few of her songs helped me in a way to deal with certain situations like Edge of Glory or Million Reasons and even Shallows as I remember hearing the song during a time where I was not in the best mindset and it brought something out of me that I never really felt before. Plus out of all the musicians on this list she is unfortunately the only woman in the list, which sounds pretty sexist but in a way it’s not because I don’t care for Beyonce like that anymore, Katy Perry is just another singer I think is really good, I despise Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande has a beautiful voice but Lady Gaga has been the only female singer I would love to listen to since her rise of Fame in 2008. It’s not a sexist thing either I just enjoy her music the most and have a connection with her music that I don’t have with any other female artist. But yeah I love Lady Gaga and she’s a defiant perfect way to start this list. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo_efYhYU2A
9. Slipknot – Well this is going to be a weird transition but I’m going from Lady Gaga’s Pop music genre to Slipknot’s Heavy Metal genre. I mean they have one thing in common; they like to wear costumes lol. So I became a slow Slipknot fan after seeing them one day during a MTV VMA Award show. I’m not even kidding, they were being interviewed on the Red Carpet and I couldn’t look away for some reason and I don’t know why to this day but I’m happy I was introduced to them in my junior high years. From there I would begin to listen to their songs at age 13 and well I got pretty into them really quick. I remember doing a project in Media class in 8th grade where we had to Photoshop ourselves in a picture with any celebrity and I chose Slipknot and best part about it was it was hung up on a bulletin board in my school so yeah I did a great job I guess and showed that I was way into Slipknot at the time. Songs like Dead Memories, Wait and Bleed, Devil In I and Snuff are some of my favorite songs by the Heavy Metal band, but then there is Psychosocial. It was the first song I ever heard from the band, thanks to the VMA’s of course, and since then it has been one of my favorite songs of all time. Later on in my adult years my love for them grew as I would begin to get Slipknot merch from Hot Topic and I would also play them constantly and put them in Spotify playlists. But then when WWE and NXT used their songs in video games and theme songs for PPV’s and shows I literally fell more in love with the band. They aren’t the biggest mainstream band in the world, but to have your songs used in the top wrestling promotion of all time is something special and mainstream. I might not be a hard heavy metal fan like most hardcore heavy metal fans are, but hey I fucking love a band named after a noose lmao. I wish I was joking but I’m not so there your fun fact of the day. You probably won’t see me in a Slipknot concert, as they are insane and I don’t want to get killed in a mob pit, but hey I will listen to their songs constantly and watch the concert on YouTube. Rest in Peace Paul Gray. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5abamRO41fE
8. Nickelback - I’m going to get shit for having this rock band on my list because apparently everyone needs to hate on them because “their songs sound so similar to each other and they are trash”, the haters words not mine. Well fuck the haters because Nickelback fucking rocks. The Canadian rock band led by lead singer Chad Kroeger has been one of the chart topping rock bands since the early 2000’s. They’ve been an active band since 1995 but they gained some huge popularity during 2001 with their album Silver Side Up sold over 5.6 million copies in the U.S alone. The song that gained my attention with the group was in Now That’s What I Call Music Vol.10, yes I used to listen to most of my songs back then on those albums cause I’m weird like that, but the song was How You Remind Me and from there I became a huge fan of the band. In 2005 probably one of the greatest rock albums of all time and one of my favorite albums of all time came out. All The Right Reasons is to this day their most popular album and the songs in this album are some of their best songs including Photograph, Savin Me, Far Away, Rockstar and If Everyone Cared. I remember from 2004 – 2006 listening to these songs when they were released and to this day I listen to them rocking out and enjoying the vibe. Now I know everyone hates on them but they are one of the most successful rock bands this century. Haters are going to hate for this pick but I don’t care this is my list, this is my opinion and I am allowed to put whoever I want on my list and listen to whoever I want to listen to and I will not let anyone tell me Nickelback is trash because they are awesome and I love them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF2knLztWao
7. Skrillex – So in the 2010’s I discovered a new genre of music, Dubstep, and I became addicted to a certain musician named Skrillex. There was a point where I would only listen to Skrillex, whether it was on the bus, doing my homework, walking to class or taking a shower, Bangarang and Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites were playing and the volume was on max level. I was obsessed with Skrillex in my Senior year of high school and heading into my first couple of years in college. If you look at my Spotify account you will mostly see a Skrillex song featured in a playlist. I mean there is a reason why he is featured in my top 5 most listened to artists of the year each year since using Spotify back in 2015. There is something about the beats for Skrillex that I get very engaged with the music. He has these amazing scary beats that I enjoy when the beats drop and it just takes over my body. I wish I knew how to explain that but I literally can’t lol. When I first heard of him I was playing Black Ops 2 with my friend Devon and there was a week where all we did was play Black Ops 2 and listen to Skrillex remixes. I literally would search on YouTube Skrillex remixes and from Kyoto with Gagnam Style to Katy Perry’s E.T Skrillex remix. Even today I can’t go a week without hearing Skrillex like the guy made the ending of my teenage years to my early adult years fun and his music would help me stay focus while writing papers, playing Call of Duty or just keeping me calm while taking the bus to school or walking home. From First of the Year to Breakin a Sweat to Purple Lamborghini, this man has opened my eyes to dubstep music but also to EDM, House music and remixes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uGDHXZPr1A
6. Bruno Mars – When I first heard the song Nothin on You on the radio I wanted to know who was singing the chorus of the song and when I found out who it was and heard his first solo track Just the Way You Are I fell in love with Bruno Mars. You know I always say Justin Timberlake is the Prince of Pop but Bruno is defiantly up that alley as well as since his debut in 2010 Bruno Mars has sold over 130 million records worldwide, has 7 number one single in the Billboard Hot 100, has won 11 Grammy awards, performed in the Super Bowl Halftime show and has the 7th most viewed video on YouTube with his Uptown Funk music video. I don’t think there isn’t anything Bruno Mars can’t do, to the point where I can make an argument that this man is this generations Michael Jackson. Prove me wrong I will be waiting. He’s one of those artists that in a few years if he continues to put out top charting hits and continue to win awards and put out another memorable album then Bruno Mars can soon be considered one of the greatest musical artists of all time. I consider him in that spot already but for many he might not be there yet but the fact that he has done what he has done in the music business in just his first 10 years shows how far he can go and how much more he can now grow as a musician. He has this wonderful voice that has the sound of Michael Jackson mixed with Pharrell Williams like that’s how beautiful it is and the range of his voice is high and amazing. I love the fact that he is more than just a musical artist, he could dance, he writes his songs and has written/composed songs for multiple artists including Travis McCoy, Cee-Lo Green and Adam Levine and it has been announced that he will be working with Disney to make a music themed theatrical narrative where he can both star and produce so you know I am pretty excited to see it. Songs like Lazy Song and Uptown Funk are very fun to listen to while It Will Rain, Take You to The Moon and Grenade are very great songs to hear when you are in a sad mood and need to let out a tear. Bruno Mars is in my opinion the best musical artist of the 2010’s and no one will ever make me change my mind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjhCEhWiKXk
5. Queen – I never talked about being a fan of Queen prior to the Queen/Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody because it wasn’t something that I cared to share for reasons I don’t understand but in my early pre-teens I became a fan of the rock band after hearing the songs We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions and Another One Bites the Dust. I could remember the day like perfectly. It was a Saturday and I was on Itunes and I just clicked on the song We Will Rock You and I liked the beat and the drums and then I listened to it again and again and again until I decided to move on to the next Queen song. A few years later I found some songs from the band that I really enjoyed and would listen to them whenever I was alone and then one time when I was playing Grand Theft Auto V I hear the song Radio Ga Ga in the game and I was like this song is freaking amazing. It was at that point where I spent a couple of hours listening to Queen and I never really told anyone that Queen was like one of my favorite bands of all time because it never came up and I never thought about it. Now I know not everything in Bohemian Rhapsody is accurately true but seeing Rami Malek become Freddie Mercury was an honor. It felt like the actual Freddie Mercury was on the screen performing the songs and moving around during the performances. I literally didn’t blink while watching the Live-Aid scene because it was like I was watching the actual Freddie Mercury and Queen performing at the Live-Aid concert and you know what I did, I literally went home after the movie and watched the performance from 1985 at home on YouTube and my mind was blown away from it all. I constantly listen to Queen now more than ever as I love listening to a voice of the Gods, yes Mercury has the voice of the Gods in my opinion. Technically they are still performing and active today with Adam Lambert as the lead singer and while it’s no Freddie Mercury he still does a pretty great job as the lead singer of what I think is the greatest rock band of all time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-0ygW-B_gI
4. Daft Punk – Picture this, two men from France who are an electronic music duo that wear Robot heads and together they create some of the most amazing songs and beats of all time. That my friends is Daft Punk. Since the early 90’s Daft Punk have been creating chart topping hits and have become one of the most well known successful DJ’s in the world. Not only have they created 4 studio albums (Homework (1997), Discovery (2001), Human After All (2005) and Random Access Memories (2013)), but they have also made a successful soundtrack for the 2010 movie Tron: Legacy, they have been featured and composed many beats and melodies for multiple big names in the music industry including Kanye West and The Weekend and they also have been featured in the video game DJ Hero and DJ Hero 2. The French Duo have found it big in the states with multiple number one hits in the Billboard Hot 100 and they have won 6 Grammy awards including taking home Record of the Year and Album of the Year for Random Access Memories and Get Lucky in the 56th Annual Grammy’s in 2014. I first listened to Daft Punk when I was 7 or 8 as I heard One More Time in a party I attended and I obviously liked the song but didn’t know the duo until 2007 when Stronger by Kanye West came out as the group featured their song Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger for the song. This duo have found their way in the entertainment world and social media world thanks to their amazing songs/beats and to this day they are well known not just for their music but the Robot helmets they wear on their heads to not only protect their identity as they want to hide their identity but also it is a part of their gimmick with their Robot characters. I love this duo so much as their music is very engaging and calming. Today we hear lots of beat drops in electronic/DJ music today and with Daft Punk their music has less beat drops and in a way the beats and flow of the music kind of tells a story and we listen to the story by listening to the music. You can learn a lot from this duo just from their music alone. They are a music duo that I appreciate a lot and have appreciated throughout my life and they got me into electronic music and remixes/DJ music. Without them I wouldn’t be into Skrillex or David Guetta or Avicii or Marshmello. They might be my favorite electronic/dance musician of all time and I respect that they rather have their music get famous and not themselves as that is the reason why they wear the robot helmets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCHdMIEGaaM
3. Michael Jackson – Honestly there’s no way I can make this list without the King of Pop. Since I was a young child Michael Jackson has been in my life whether it’s when he scared the living shit out of me at three years old with Thriller, to watching him and Alvin sing and perform Smooth Criminal and Beat It on an Alvin and the Chipmunks VHS tape or when he passed away and I literally became obsessed with the man and would listen and post him on Facebook to the point where I would be bullied for it. Yeah that happened and looking back at it now I don’t care because Michael Jackson was one of the greatest musical acts ever and no one will ever reach how great he was and no one will ever reach his stardom. I remember as a kid just singing Beat It while playing with my toy guitar and pretending to be him. I remember only wanting to watch Free Willy just to get to the credits to listen to Will You Be There. I remember trying to do the Smooth Criminal dance move and falling on my face on the couch. I don’t think my childhood would had been different but I feel like if I never got to witness him at a young age I would of missed out on a lot in my opinion. I mean this is the man that has inspired so many great musical artists today. Justin Timberlake, Usher, Bruno Mars, Selena, Beyonce, Akon, Chris Brown, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Sean Paul, the list goes on and on and on as so many great performers and legendary acts were all inspired by the GOAT. I don’t need to write down a whole essay on Michael Jackson because his whole career does. His songs, music videos and performances are like a movie, that’s how amazing he is and how great of an act he is. I don’t need to write about him becoming a megastar over night, I don’t need to write about his time during the Jackson 5, how Thriller became the biggest album of all time, how he has over 100 music awards and how he is a legendary icon that will never be forgotten. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz2J3aEw8wQ
2. Eminem – Marshall Mathers aka Slim Shady aka Eminem is a rap icon that has become this profiled name since the 90’s. Just like Michael Jackson I don’t need to write a whole essay on him because his whole career does it for him. Eminem has been in my life since the 2000’s when I first listened to the song Mockingbird. And then MTV would show his videos more including Just Lose It, Without Me and the loveable song Ass Like That, ahhh my youth was so fun. However I knew that Eminem was one of my favorite music artists of all time when I watched the movie 8 Mile. The song from the film that won him an Academy Award, Lose Yourself became a favorite of mine to listen to and the story of not only the song but the movie itself shared his life and how he became a success. Even though the entire movie was not fully true it did show us that Eminem can go the distance. I kind of grew up with Eminem in my pre-teens and teenage years into my young adulthood and his lyrics and songs helped me get through some tough times whether it was times when I was angry or when I was just down, his songs and the lyrics in them mostly helped me out to get out of my mental state I was in. I remember when MLLP2 came out and that album became my life for a while as I would listen to it every day while walking around the Kingsborough campus during my breaks. But in general Eminem was a big part of my life that I can easily say he is my favorite rapper of all time. I know not shocking right but hey I grew up with the man and he literally is the Rap God, his words not mine. There was a dark period in my life, after a certain someone who will not be named on here hurt me badly and I needed to let out anger and well Eminem helped me let out the anger so in a way thanks Eminem for having a lot of songs that can make an angry person be less angry. All it took was a Now That’s What I Call Music album to get me hooked and discover a Rap genius and the rest is history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbGs_qK2PQA
1. Justin Timberlake – I mean to the people that know me this shouldn’t have been a shocker since Justin Timberlake is the love of my life, but to the new people yes Justin Timberlake is my favorite artist of all time. Since I was a little boy I was listening to Justin Timberlake, since his days of being with the greatest boy band ever NSYNC. If there is one person I can say makes me feel different emotions when I listen to his/her music, it’s Justin and he really helps me come out of my shell or feel happy when all I want to do is cry or when all I want to do is not be alive anymore. When a friend of mine stopped talking to me, he was there when I needed to feel something more than sadness. When she who must not be named broke my heart, he was there to help pick up the pieces. Or when my grandmother passed away, he was the first person I put on my Spotify and distracted myself and cried. Justin Timberlake is someone I can go to not physically but mentally when I need to be alone and feel some emotions. I mean I listen to Justin Timberlake all the time, but when I need to feel happiness or let out some sadness then he is my go to guy. From Suit and Tie to Mirrors to Say Something to What Goes Around Comes Back Around to Cry Me A River to Can’t Stop The Feeling to all of his songs, I can literally feel happy and sad at the same time and let out anything that is bothering me. I literally would cry if I met the guy in person like I went insane when he liked my picture on Instagram back in 2018 and yes that happened I have proof that he did posted on Instagram. People made fun of me in school for posting that I loved JustinTimberlake and to all the bullies that did, FUCK YOU, I don’t give a single fuck that this man can bring me into a world where I can be by myself and feel something I really never get to feel that often. This man has literally brought me out of a depression after certain events. He will always be the reason why I love, feel happiness, let out a tear, get out of bed and want to be alive, Justin Timberlake is a hero to me. His music has evolved over the years and he has done almost everything in this world like act in films, write a book, perform in the Halftime show, perform and be nominated for the Academy Awards, guest host more than 5 times on Saturday Night Live, and so much more. I would do anything just to meet this man in person and tell him how much he did for me even though it wasn’t anything big he still did so much. Thank you Justin for being you and thank you for your music because you really helped me through some tough times. If he ever see’s this then OMG I WOULD FREAK OUT!!!! But yeah Justin Timberlake is number one and it’s not a total shocker LOL. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6xUgawDQB0
Honorable Mentions:
Maroon5 Post Malone Gorillaz Prince Demi Lovato Childish Gambino Marshmello Red Hot Chilli Peppers Black Eyed Peas Imagine Dragons
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