21 Most Influential Musical Artists of The 21st Century

8. Prince

The Purple Rain clip is still among MTV’s most memorable debuts. Prince’s sound may not seem relevant but video has become an essential element of music production. And no one played a bigger part in pioneering the concept at its earliest stages.

pixabay.com

pixabay.com



Plus, there’s good reason he’s considered the top showman alive. Prince’s unique, powerful performances were adopted by three generations of pop stars. His stylistic influence is obvious in everyone from Bobby Brown to Bruno Mars.

commons.wikimedia.org

commons.wikimedia.org


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A ninja, a pirate and a writer are just some of the things Dmitriy wanted to be when he grew up. With no ships to sink, he opted for stringing words together into articles, while awaiting his induction into the secret ninja society. He was born and raised in NYC, which is not his fault, and is happily married, which is. When he's not binge-reading fiction novels, Dmitriy can be found in his kitchen office, coffee in hand, vigorously typing away another news story.

6 Comments

  1. Al April 6, 2016

    Props for including Danger Mouse, but Bjork? And how is Jay Z below her…

    Reply
  2. Dmitriy Feldman April 6, 2016

    Remember, the ranking is based on influence in the 21st century.
    The truth is – pop music is released constantly, yet the trends rarely change. Going from Britney to Gaga is a huge step and it wouldn’t be possible (or acceptable) if not for Bjork.

    Sadly, Jay Z doesn’t have as many followers.

    Reply
  3. Eden Perez August 6, 2017

    I’m Sorry But Coldplay Should’ve Been On This List

    Reply
  4. John December 14, 2018

    Kanye West should be far, far higher. His influence on hiphop (the most popular genre in the US) in indisputable. He’s also a massive pop culture icon and hugely influential in other industries (fashion.) Eminem really isn’t that influential at all when it comes to developing the genre of hiphop

    Reply
    • James Johnson March 17, 2019

      Kanye West is an insane moron.

      Reply
      • Khaduchi May 5, 2019

        No he’s not, he’s a genius, but at the end of the day he’s human like everyone else and he has his bad moments, the difference is his bad moments are on the spotlight 24/7, i mean people are still talking about stuff he said years ago. Most people that call him crazy have barely heard his music which is obviously the reason why they don’t understand his genius.

        Reply

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