Ranked with regard to the singers’ originality, influence, catalog depth, and the breadth of their musical legacy, Rolling Stone’s “Greatest Singers List” included eight deceased and present-day African artists.
“In all cases, what mattered most to us was originality, influence, the depth of an artist's catalog, and the breadth of their musical legacy,” the publication said, noting that the Greatest Singers List is not necessarily the “Greatest Voices List.”
The list featured three Nigerian singers, including late Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, and Grammy Awards winner for “Best Global Music Album” Burna Boy, as well as Nigerian-born British singer Sade Adu. They ranked 188th, 197th and 51st respectively.
“Through his music, he shared an anti-colonialist, Pan-African vision,” Rolling Stone Magazine wrote of Kuti. “Yet it wasn’t just Fela’s lyrical rebellion that makes him so important — it’s the way his voice carried his vision; the way he sang, his tone commanding and direct, plain and firm.”
Rolling Stone’s Greatest Singers List also included South Africa's Mariam Makeba, who ranked 53rd on the list and was described as being “a fountain of vocal personality,” along with her fellow South African mbaqanga singer Simon “Mahlathini” Nkabinde, who held 153rd position of the chart.
Other African musicians who make an appearance in the top-200 list were Egypt’s late singer and songwriter Umm Kulthum, ranked 61st, Senegalese Youssou N'Dour, ranked 69th, and Tabu Ley Rochereau of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who ranked 178th.
Dominated by US singers, Rolling Stone’s list was topped by late African-American soul and motown superstar Aretha Franklin, who died on August 16, 2018, at the age of 66.