The Beatles’ Paul McCartney, Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de la Rocha, Paramore’s Hayley Williams and more: Rock and roll lore often states that a band is only as good as its drummer, but a rock band is only as successful as its lead singer.
This week, Billboard ranked the 50 Greatest Rock Lead Singers of All Time — spanning classic rock and alternative to grunge, punk and everything in between — to rank the most talented and formidable forces within the field, dating back to the 1960s. But which rock lead singer is your favorite?
Singers from ’60s bands take up a lot of real estate on the list, with The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, The Doors’ Jim Morrison, Big Brother and the Holding Company’s Janis Joplin and more all securing spots on the list. The genre soon began to fan outwards by the 1970s, with Lou Reed leading The Velvet Underground, Poly Styrene for X-Ray Spex, Chrissy Hynde for The Pretenders and The Stooges’ Iggy Pop.
And yes, vocalists from more modern bands have made the cut too, with Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington, The White Stripes’ Jack White and more earning a spot on the list.
But which rock lead singer is your all-time favorite? While having to decide on just one singer is a difficult task, vote in our poll below to see who is your No. 1 rock lead singer of all time. (Revisit the ranked list here.)
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