In the same mould as:
The Beatles
The Rolling Stones
Madonna
Whitney Houston
Kylie Minogue
Mariah Carey
Marvin Gaye
Aretha Franklin
Diana Ross
Elton John
etc......................

I'd say that Britney Spears, Eminem, Justin Timberlake and, domestically, Robbie Williams and Westlife would argue that they're up there. Time will tell of course, but they're certainly as big as any of the above were in their early days.

Well, you were doing okay then until you mentioned Westlife.

Maybe


I suppose so


The new Michael Jackson - Potentially?


Both are failures in America, all the artists in the list are superstars because they've been successful on both sides of the Atlantic

I think record companies are more interested in selling records and making money rather than promoting truely talented artists/groups. Its more focused on raw money making than anything. Its a shame because there is a whole world of great bands out there just waiting for that small chance to shine, but we get the bile that is Pop Idol getting all the pushes...

Christina Aguilera and Britney spears will be the new maddonas
Justin timbercrap is just a poor imitation of michael jackson and kylie minogue is never a legend, although her ass is

I despise them, but i don't think anyone can put together a list of volume-selling artists and not include them. Like it or not, they've dominated the charts in this country like NO other act since the Beatles.


No, they're superstars because they've been successful in America. The UK matters not one iota. Hence why I drew the distinction between Britney, Justin and Eminem and Robbie and Westlife.

The fact remains that we won't be able to judge the superstars of this era until this era has passed. Mariah Carey and Kylie Minogue are only now regarded as legends in music history - ten years ago neither had stood the test of time.

Oh, and Dan - the record companies were ALWAYS about making money. The level of talent hasn't changed - it's just the marketing that has.

with a bunch of cover singles

I disagree. When Whitney Houston was selling a million with her first album and having no.1 hits in both America and Britain everybody knew she was going to be a superstar. The same goes for Elvis and Madonna and even the Jacksons.

Yep, sucks don't it?

So why can't you see the same thing in Britney, Eminem or Timberlake? They're arguably the three biggest stars in music over the past five years, and everything they touch seems to turn to gold. I can't see ANY difference between them and Whitney or Madonna.

Is Whitney still rated? She was very big in her time, but is she regarded as influential now? I don't think so but then I never loved her anyway...

I have a feeling that sometime soon there will be a backlash against Eminem, whether he is re-discovered as a massive influence in years to come remains to be seen, but all of the references to pop culture on his albums will probably confuse the kids of the future, even now I still have to go and look up some of the people he goes on about on his records.

I believe that a lot of those acts which go on into godlike status have had a certain amount of luck to help them get there so it is hard to call who will or won't be up there in the future. Who would have thought that people would now be saying "Oh, erm, yes... Tears for Fears were actually quite a good band" just a few months ago (which does not mean that they are, just that there is interest in them again after Mad World, whether their back catalogue still stands up to the inevitable box set treatment, well time will tell...)

She isn't anymore, but neither is Aretha Franklin but just like Aretha Franklin, her and her songs will be remembered for years to come

whitney houston (and her husband) will be remembered for their drug taking too

are you serious, or maybe you have been partaking in alcoholic drinks too much?

How come nobody has mentioned Beyonce or Pink?

Both have great voices, write their own songs, and have the makings of being the next mariah carey [beyonce] and the next madonna [pink]

I agree Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera are great singers, but I don't think that they will stand the test of time as well as they could. As for Justin Timberlake, he may last for a while, but he'll fizzle out in time because he is already getting complacent.

Eminem is pretty cool. He sings what everyone else is thinking, and he is great at coming up with hooks and choruses to keep us interested long enough to pick out the words.

If any of these guys really do become superstars in their own right, I'd be happy with that, cos each of them has given us some pretty cool songs, and i'm sure that what it comes down to has to be the music. At least, I hope so!

Ps, can't see that Kylie was ever a legend or superstar - she's hated in her own country, was a flop in america and only gets on well here cos she shows her backside off at every opportunity. Some of her songs have been good, but she was told what to sing and how to sing it - she's nothing but a puppet on a string!

I don't know if i've misunderstood, but while not particularly a great fan myself I do seem to recall seeing the name of Aretha Franklin mentioned in quite a few interviews of musicians past and present as an influence, whilst not so often Whitney Houston. Maybe I'm reading the wrong interviews.

It's still all about taste really, it's generally regarded that the Beatles are the best band ever, but more often these days I hear people saying that they don't like them so much anymore (I blame this on the Oasis factor), so maybe some people only went and listened to their Grandads Beatles albums because of Oasis, and overzealous music journalists in the mid 90's and have now gone off them until the next hot act comes along and say's they are great.

Now we are all digging out our old Queen records because of the Darkness, maybe their market share will rise a bit more. Maybe loads of R'n'B artitstes next year will give Whitney some "props" Who knows? (Maybe they already do???)

Mariah Carey is the biggest volume selling artist in history. Period. I'd call that legendary, as much as i despise her warblings.

Kylie from a UK perspective will always be mentioned as the longest-lasting A-List pop act of our time. She's reinvented herself so successfully that she can't help but be a legend of pop - how many other artists have a Top Ten career spanning almost 20 years?

Like i say, it's way too early to judge even them. All we can do is postulate about who OUR kids will regard as the defining artists of our time when they are grown up.

Why hasn't anybody mentioned the Spice Girls, they were in the 90's weren't they?! OK I never liked them but they had 3 christmas number 1's 3 years running '97, '98, '99. NOBODY else has done that, not even The Beatles, surely they should be remember as Pop legends even though they last about 5 years.

we won't have anymore superstars because (a) nobody is outstanding anymore and (b) things are downloaded too much now, so artists can't have massive sales, which was one of the ways you became a superstar in the olden days

There superstars but not on the same scale as the beatles, rolling stones, Madonna and Marvin gaye. The guys you've listed fasteddie only really sell to the teen market and haven't really made what is known as a classic album.
Marvin gaye released ''what's going on'', Madonna released ''like a prayer'' and the beatles have made 4 or 5 legendry albums. Robbie Williams can't sell outside Europe, Timberlake rip's of other people but does some good songs, fair enough britney made some good records around 1999/2000 but since has been laughable in trying to reinvent herself whereas Madonna did manage to reinvent herself up until last year of course. Westlife have a great singles around Europe but that's about it. I think the difference is albums which set’s them apart.

Again i just can't see that, aguliera and britney have passed the pure pop stage which made madonna so massive in the 80's. Plus there albums are weak.
Kylie is doing well but she needs to shine in america.

I think one of the problems is so few of these mainstream artists have anything to say. They are part of a massive corporate marketing strategy that needs to sell as many units as possible so they are not allowed to offend anyone.

Can you imagine Britney or Justin being allowed to have an opinion on Iraq or the environment? That's what makes the great artists stand out, even if it's not overtly political, they still have a view on life they want to express.

I think the problem lies in the mainstream because there is nothing outstanding in there. There's great bands out there which we don't know about who can't get through for one reason or another or maybe they don't want to be over commercial. There's loads of great alternative stuff out there which most of us don't know about, also there is so much r'n'b/ rap type music floating around but they can rarley become superstars because they only appeal to kids with an ali g thing going on. My parents don't buy anything commercial so imagine if people there age don't buy anything commercial at all there will be no major superstars.