This new list was compiled our staff and key contributors, and it encompasses 100 years of pop music as an ongoing global conversation, where iconic Indian playback singer Lata Mangeshkar lands between Amy Winehouse and Johnny Cash, and salsa queen Celia Cruz is up there in the rankings with Prince and Marvin Gaye. The results skewed toward classic rock and singers from the Sixties and Seventies. When Rolling Stone first published its list of the 100 Greatest Singers in 2008, we used an elaborate voting process that included input from well-known musicians. These are the vocalists that have shaped history and defined our lives - from smooth operators to raw shouters, from gospel to punk, from Sinatra to Selena to SZA. And you can think of our list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time as a celebration of that bond.

Aretha Franklin described her mission as a singer like this: “Me with my hand outstretched, hoping someone will take it.” That kind of deep, empathetic bond between artist and listener is the most elemental connection in music.

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