This year, Rolling Stone ran a cover story for its list of the top singers from all eras. The 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time is a comprehensive list that unsurprisingly is quite full of classic rock greats. Very few singers who emerged during the last decade made it onto the list.

The top 20 spots were:

01 Aretha Franklin
02 Ray Charles
03 Elvis Presley
04 Sam Cooke
05 John Lennon
06 Marvin Gaye
07 Bob Dylan
08 Otis Redding
09 Stevie Wonder
10 James Brown
11 Paul McCartney
12 Little Richard
13 Roy Orbison
14 Al Green
15 Robert Plant
16 Mick Jagger
17 Tina Turner
18 Freddie Mercury
19 Bob Marley
20 Smokey Robinson

Assuming that number seven was a sly reference to substance over style, the top 20 reads like a who's who of classic rock. If you were looking for Janis Joplin, she was number 28.

Among the best from the 50's were: Johnny Cash (21), Hank Williams (27), Howlin' Wolf (31), Chuck Berry (41), Buddy Holly (48), Dion (63), 67 Jerry Lee Lewis (67) and Frankie Valli (80), The Everly Brothers (90)and B.B. King (96).

Among the 60's greats were: Dusty Springfield (35), Neil Young (37), Joni Mitchell (42), Jim Morrison (47), Gladys Knight (51), Brian Wilson (52), Art Garfunkel (86) and Joe Cocker (97).




After Aretha Franklin's dispute with Tina Turner earlier this year as to who is the queen of rock, this honor must have made Franklin's feel vindicated as to where the royal title belongs.