Afrobeat flagbearer, Burna Boy and the genre’s pioneer, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti have made Rolling Stone’s list of 200 greatest singers of all time.
In the list released on 1st January, 2022 Rollingstone ranked the top 200 singers of all time and Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti and Afrobeats icon Burna Boy both made the list.
Burna Boy the Grammy winning megastar whose music is taking Afrobeats to the global stage was placed at NO. 197.
Describing Burna Boy, Rollingstone said:
“A Nigerian cultural giant, Burna Boy is the ambassador of Afrobeats as a global movement that can feel equally at home climbing the European charts and maintaining a subtle emotional connection with past African genres like highlife. Burna’s voice is sweet like caramel, but it can also soar on slickly produced tracks like his recent megahit “Last Last,” or the 2019 gem “Anybody,” amped up by deep bass accents and insanely sophisticated polyrhythms.
His vocal lines find inspiration in everything from hip-hop and R&B to hooky pop and dancehall — the world is his playground”
ALSO READ: Grammy Award: Tems, Burna Boy earn nominations (See full list of nominess)
Fela Anikulapo Kuti who is the icon behind Afrobeat and a musical deity in Africa was placed at NO. 188.
Rollingstone describe Fela Kuti as:
“Fela Kuti’s iconic songs of the 1970s and 1980s are sprawling orchestral instrumentals, an innovative swirl of African highlife, American soul, and jazz.
Through his music, he shared an anti-colonialist, Pan-African vision and challenged Nigeria’s corrupt military government, which routinely subjected him and those around him to immense harm.
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.
His stern but conversational melodies made his movement more accessible.
On 1986’s “Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense,” where he tackles whitewashed education and failed governments, he coos, “I say, I sing, I beg everyone to join my song.” And he performed in such a way that they could”
The list was topped by American singer Aretha Franklin with Whitney Houston ranked second, Sam Cook is 3rd, Billie Holiday is 4th, and Mariah Carey is 5th.
Global music icon Beyonce is ranked 8th, R&B star Usher ranks 97, music icon Lauryn Hill appears at NO. 136, and King of Pop Micheal Jackson is ranked 86th.
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