The Top 50 Geniuses of Pop Music

10 Madonna
The world’s most famous woman
Genius credentials: Her singing and, especially, her songwriting remain underrated, but it’s Madonna’s sheer ambition and bloody-mindedness that remain her calling cards. She clawed her way through the shark-infested waters of the New York dance underground to become the biggest female star of all time. Along the way, her music has been sensational and her tours have raised the bar for every other megastar.
Her peers agree! “I would really, really, really like to be a legend like Madonna.” — Britney Spears
Genius zenith: The Immaculate Collection (Warner Bros., 1990)
9 Kurt Cobain
Grunge Messiah
Genius credentials: Just when rock was in danger of forgetting 1977, along came Kurt Cobain, who decided that metal, pop and punk could be mixed into one lovely soft-loud-soft whole. His all-too-brief body of work changed the course of popular music. For years, Cobain had planned his ascent, but when he got to the top he discovered it wasn’t too much fun. Thanks to Cobain, instead of Poison, we have Nickelback.
His peers agree! “Not many guys like him come along.” — Bruce Springsteen
Genius zenith: Nevermind (Geffen, 1991)

8 Miles Davis
None cooler
Genius credentials: Terrified of standing still, bandleader Davis gleamed at the cutting edge of change in a five-decade career from bebop through Birth of the Cool to orchestrations, chamber group, jazz-rock, -funk and –hip-hop hyphenates, black electronica, adult pop, blues fusion and, finally, sampling himself. One thing stayed the same: his spare, lonesome trumpet, a hauntingly human voice in the hubbub of innovation.
His peers agree! “Miles was a resonance. And when he died, we lost the resonance.” — Pianist Keith Jarrett
Genius zenith: Kind of Blue (Legacy/ Columbia, 1959)

7 Thom Yorke
A creep, a weirdo
Genius credentials: With 50-odd years of history behind us, creating genuinely innovative rock music is an increasingly rare feat — but Radiohead’s chief creative mind manages it time after time. OK Computer (1997) served decisive notice of his brilliance, and the follow-ups, from Kid A and Amnesiac all the way to 2008's In Rainbows proved Yorke was moving in his own dizzying orbit. By comparison, most musicians remain clumsily earthbound.
His peers agree! “Radiohead are so good, they scare me.” — Michael Stipe
Genius zenith: OK Computer (Capitol, 1997)
VIDEO: Radiohead, "Bodysnatchers"
VIDEO: Radiohead, "Jigsaw Falling Into Place"

6 Stevie Wonder
Blind crusader for soul and brotherhood
Genius credentials: Blind from shortly after birth, Wonder’s stage name says as much as the title of his third album, Recorded Live — The 12 Year Old Genius. In 1973, he was in a serious car accident, but he still wrote, produced, arranged and played nearly everything on his albums. Blind or not, he could read a contract and was an artists’-rights pioneer, a political activist and quite the ladies’ man. Oh, he also cowrote “The Tears of a Clown.”
His peers agree! “He was truly a child genius.” — Martha Reeves
Genius zenith: Innervisions (Motown, 1973)

5 Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Second-best songwriting pair of all time
Genius credentials: Andrew Loog Oldham insisted soon after he became the Rolling Stones’ manager in 1963 that blues aficionados Jagger and Richards start writing their own material. The result was a decade of classics, from the spiky pop of “Satisfaction” to Exile on Main Street’s drug-drenched country-blues.
Their peers agree! “Mick and Keith taught me almost everything I know about how to make records.” — Marianne Faithfull
Genius zenith: Exile on Main Street (Virgin, 1972)

4 Bob Marley
Jah rules
Genius credentials: No one did more to define and popularize a musical genre than Bob Marley did with reggae, first as a third of the Wailers and then as the Third World’s first pop superstar. His album Catch a Fire is widely regarded as reggae’s first proper LP, while later albums would introduce audiences around the world to this new music — as well as exciting synonyms for hashish. His “I Shot the Sheriff” is surely the only song covered by both Eric Clapton and Warren G.
His peers agree! “He was a musical genius and a great leader of men.” — Eric Clapton
Genius zenith: Exodus (Tuff Gong, 1977)

3 Chuck Berry
Invented rock & roll!
Genius credentials: If Brian Wilson invented California rock, Chuck Berry not only invented the American teenager but the guitar hero, setting sly vignettes of cars, girls and fun, fun, fun to indelible, motorvatin’ riffs that are the bedrock of the roll five decades on.
His peers agree! “Chuck Berry is one of the all-time great poets. When people were virtually singing about nothing, Chuck Berry was writing social-comment songs, with incredible meter to the lyrics. We all owe a lot to him, including Dylan.” — John Lennon
Genius zenith: The Great Twenty-Eight (Chess, 1982)

2 John Lennon
The mop-top with edge
Genius credentials: His drive pushed the Beatles from a covers band to the world’s best-loved and most influential pop act. His solo career was a beguiling mishmash of primal screaming, slushy ballads and, in the shape of “Imagine,” the first godless hymn. Then he got bored and played househusband. When he returned with Double Fantasy, all seemed well — until he was murdered on December 8, 1980.
His peers agree! “I’m the number 1 John Lennon fan.” — Paul McCartney
Genius zenith: Revolver (Capitol, 1966)

1 Bob Dylan
Rock in excelsis
Genius credentials: He’s the civil-rights anthem writer who abandoned the cause, the electric poet turned born-again traditionalist, the free-spirit visionary who found God, the bittersweet love lyricist with a side order of surreal sarcasm, the hermit who can’t quit the stage. There are many Dylans, every one an authentic American original.
His peers agree! “We all went potty on Dylan.” — John Lennon
Genius zenith: Blonde on Blonde (Columbia, 1966)