About seven decades ago, a rock and roll group called The Beatles was formed in Liverpool, England. They would go on to make 27 separate No. 1 singles and become the top selling band of all time.
Musical ensembles have been around since there was music. But it was not until amplifiers were introduced and recording technology rapidly improved in the early to mid-20th century that rock and pop bands became the cultural touchstones they are today. Solo artists like Elvis Presley paved the way in the 1950s, but The Beatles truly kicked off a global obsession with rock and roll and pop music.
Every year since The Beatles were formed in 1957, at least one massively popular band — and usually many — came together. Based on measures of popularity, including records sales, Wikipedia page views, billboard charts, and more, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the most famous band formed every year from 1957 through 2010.
Click here to see the most popular bands of all time.
Click here to see our detailed findings and methodology.
Source: Giancarlo Liguori / Shutterstock.com
1957
> Artist: The Beatles
> U.S. certified album sales: 178 million
> Top charting track: Hey Jude
> Active: 1950s – 1960s
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Source: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com
1958
> Artist: Bee Gees
> U.S. certified album sales: 27 million
> Top charting track: How Deep Is Your Love
> Active: 1960s – 2000s
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Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
1959
> Artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival
> U.S. certified album sales: 28 million
> Top charting track: Bad Moon Rising
> Active: 1960s – 1970s
Source: Zoran Veselinovic / Wikimedia Commons
1960
> Artist: The Temptations
> U.S. certified album sales: 12.5 million
> Top charting track: I Can’t Get Next to You
> Active: 1960s – 2010s
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Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
1961
> Artist: The Beach Boys
> U.S. certified album sales: 22.5 million
> Top charting track: Kokomo
> Active: 1960s – 2010s
Source: Øderud / Wikimedia Commons
1962
> Artist: The Rolling Stones
> U.S. certified album sales: 66.5 million
> Top charting track: Miss You
> Active: 1960s – 2010s
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Source: Nationaal Archief
1963
> Artist: Simon & Garfunkel
> U.S. certified album sales: 38.5 million
> Top charting track: Bridge Over Troubled Water
> Active: 1960s – 2000s
Source: Andrew King / Wikimedia Commons
1964
> Artist: Lynyrd Skynyrd
> U.S. certified album sales: 28.5 million
> Top charting track: Sweet Home Alabama
> Active: 1960s – 2010s
Source: Dave Bushe / Wikimedia Commons
1965
> Artist: Pink Floyd
> U.S. certified album sales: 75 million
> Top charting track: Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)
> Active: 1960s – 2010s
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Source: Entertainment International / Wikimedia Commons
1966
> Artist: The Monkees
> U.S. certified album sales: 18 million
> Top charting track: I’m a Believer
> Active: 1960s – 2000s
Source: Joe Bielawa / Wikimedia Commons
1967
> Artist: Fleetwood Mac
> U.S. certified album sales: 49.5 million
> Top charting track: Dreams
> Active: 1960s – 2000s
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Source: Heinrich Klaffs / Wikimedia Commons
1968
> Artist: Led Zeppelin
> U.S. certified album sales: 111.5 million
> Top charting track: Whole Lotta Love
> Active: 1960s – 2000s
Source: Craig ONeal / Wikimedia Commons
1969
> Artist: ZZ Top
> U.S. certified album sales: 25 million
> Top charting track: Legs
> Active: 1970s – 2010s
Source: daigooliva / Wikimedia Commons
1970
> Artist: Aerosmith
> U.S. certified album sales: 66.5 million
> Top charting track: I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing
> Active: 1970s – 2010s
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Source: Rachel Kramer / Wikimedia Commons
1971
> Artist: Eagles
> U.S. certified album sales: 101 million
> Top charting track: Best of My Love
> Active: 1970s – 2010s
Source: bella lago / Best of Both Worlds
1972
> Artist: Van Halen
> U.S. certified album sales: 56.5 million
> Top charting track: Jump
> Active: 1970s – 2010s
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Source: Egghead06 / Wikimedia Commons
1973
> Artist: AC/DC
> U.S. certified album sales: 72 million
> Top charting track: Moneytalks
> Active: 1970s – 2010s
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Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
1974
> Artist: Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band
> U.S. certified album sales: 44.5 million
> Top charting track: Shame on the Moon
> Active: 1970s
Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
1975
> Artist: Boston
> U.S. certified album sales: 31 million
> Top charting track: Amanda
> Active: 1970s – 2010s
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Source: Helge Øverås / Wikimedia Commons
1976
> Artist: U2
> U.S. certified album sales: 52 million
> Top charting track: With or Without You
> Active: 1970s – 2010s
Source: Weatherman90 / Wikimedia Commons
1977
> Artist: Def Leppard
> U.S. certified album sales: 35 million
> Top charting track: Love Bites
> Active: 1970s – 2010s
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Source: Jelena Ivanović, EXIT Photo Team / Wikimedia Commons
1978
> Artist: Duran Duran
> U.S. certified album sales: 12 million
> Top charting track: The Reflex
> Active: 1970s – 2010s
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Source: Nicholastbroussard / Wikimedia Commons
1979
> Artist: Beastie Boys
> U.S. certified album sales: 23 million
> Top charting track: (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)
> Active: 1980s – 2010s
Source: Yves Lorson / Flickr
1980
> Artist: R.E.M.
> U.S. certified album sales: 20 million
> Top charting track: Losing My Religion
> Active: 1980s – 2010s
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Source: Kreepin Deth / Wikimedia Commons
1981
> Artist: Metallica
> U.S. certified album sales: 63 million
> Top charting track: Until It Sleeps
> Active: 1980s – 2010s
Source: mrmatt / Flickr
1982
> Artist: The Smiths
> U.S. certified album sales: 1.5 million
> Top charting track: Strangeways, Here We Come
> Active: 1980s
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Source: Rosana Prada / Wikimedia Commons
1983
> Artist: Bon Jovi
> U.S. certified album sales: 34.5 million
> Top charting track: You Give Love a Bad Name
> Active: 1980s – 2010s
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Source: Alan Light / Wikimedia Commons
1984
> Artist: New Kids on the Block
> U.S. certified album sales: 16.5 million
> Top charting track: I’ll Be Loving You (Forever)
> Active: 1980s – 2010s
Source: Ed Vill / Wikimedia Commons
1985
> Artist: Guns N’ Roses
> U.S. certified album sales: 44.5 million
> Top charting track: Sweet Child O’ Mine
> Active: 1980s – 2010s
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Source: Lorie Shaull / Wikimedia Commons
1986
> Artist: No Doubt
> U.S. certified album sales: 15 million
> Top charting track: Underneath It All
> Active: 1980s – 2010s
Source: Rex Aran Emrick / Wikimedia Commons
1987
> Artist: Alice in Chains
> U.S. certified album sales: 12.5 million
> Top charting track: Check My Brain
> Active: 1980s – 2010s
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Source: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons
1988
> Artist: Brooks & Dunn
> U.S. certified album sales: 27.5 million
> Top charting track: Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You
> Active: 1980s – 2010s
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Source: Wasted Time R/ Wikimedia Commons
1989
> Artist: Dixie Chicks
> U.S. certified album sales: 30.5 million
> Top charting track: Not Ready to Make Nice
> Active: 1980s – 2010s
Source: perfectrx / Flickr
1990
> Artist: Pearl Jam
> U.S. certified album sales: 31.5 million
> Top charting track: Last Kiss
> Active: 1990s – 2010s
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Source: Moses / Wikimedia Commons
1991
> Artist: Dave Matthews Band
> U.S. certified album sales: 33.5 million
> Top charting track: American Baby
> Active: 1990s – 2010s
Source: Kerry Key / Wikimedia Commons
1992
> Artist: blink-182
> U.S. certified album sales: 9.5 million
> Top charting track: All the Small Things
> Active: 1990s – 2010s
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Source: Joel Telling / Wikimedia Commons
1993
> Artist: Backstreet Boys
> U.S. certified album sales: 37 million
> Top charting track: Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)
> Active: 1990s-2010s
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Source: Carlos Varela / Flickr
1994
> Artist: Limp Bizkit
> U.S. certified album sales: 16.5 million
> Top charting track: Rollin’
> Active: 1990s-2010s
Source: Joe Shlabotnik - Flickr
1995
> Artist: *NSYNC
> U.S. certified album sales: 28 million
> Top charting track: It’s Gonna Be Me
> Active: 1990s-2010s
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Source: Sry85 / Wikimedia Commons
1996
> Artist: Matchbox Twenty
> U.S. certified album sales: 19 million
> Top charting track: Bent
> Active: 1990s-2010s
Source: savagegarden.com
1997
> Artist: Savage Garden
> U.S. certified album sales: 10 million
> Top charting track: Truly Madly Deeply
> Active: 1990s-2000s
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Source: Roger Woolman / Wikimedia Commons
1998
> Artist: The Strokes
> U.S. certified album sales: 1.5 million
> Top charting track: Juicebox
> Active: 1990s-2010s
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Source: Bob James / Wikimedia Commons
1999
> Artist: Rascal Flatts
> U.S. certified album sales: 18.5 million
> Top charting track: Hero
> Active: 1990s-2010s
Source: Jim Baldwin / Wikimedia Commons
2000
> Artist: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
> U.S. certified album sales: 500,000
> Top charting track: Maps
> Active: 2000s-2010s
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Source: hsaudreylynne / Wikimedia Commons
2001
> Artist: Fall Out Boy
> U.S. certified album sales: 6 million
> Top charting track: This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race
> Active: 2000s-2010s
Source: Bertrand / Wikimedia Commons
2002
> Artist: MGMT
> U.S. certified album sales: 500,000
> Top charting track: Kids
> Active: 2000s-2010s
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Source: ruiwen / Wikimedia Commons
2003
> Artist: Pussycat Dolls
> U.S. certified album sales: 2 million
> Top charting track: Don’t Cha
> Active: 2000s-2010s
Source: Sarah Zucca / Wikimedia Commons
2004
> Artist: Panic! at the Disco
> U.S. certified album sales: 4 million
> Top charting track: I Write Sins Not Tragedies
> Active: 2000s-2010s
Source: Christopher Simon / Wikimedia Commons
2005
> Artist: Jonas Brothers
> U.S. certified album sales: 2 million
> Top charting track: Burnin’ Up
> Active: 2000s-2010s
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Source: danieljordahl / Wikimedia Commons
2006
> Artist: Bon Iver
> U.S. certified album sales: 1 million
> Top charting track: Skinny Love
> Active: 2000s-2010s
Source: Andrea Sartorati / Wikimedia Commons
2007
> Artist: Mumford & Sons
> U.S. certified album sales: 5.5 million
> Top charting track: I Will Wait
> Active: 2000s – 2010s
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Source: Sachyn Mital / Wikimedia Commons
2008
> Artist: The Lumineers
> U.S. certified album sales: 1.5 million
> Top charting track: Ho Hey
> Active: 2000s-2010s
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Source: digboston / Wikimedia Commons
2009
> Artist: Twenty One Pilots
> U.S. certified album sales: 4 million
> Top charting track: Stressed Out
> Active: 2000s -2010s
Source: Fiona McKinlay / Wikimedia Commons
2010
> Artist: One Direction
> U.S. certified album sales: 7 million
> Top charting track: Best Song Ever
> Active: 2010s
Some bands on this list were formed long before their years of fame. It can take time a long time for bands to make a name for themselves. Fleetwood Mac is an extreme case, but the band in its original form started in 1967. It would take roughly a decade and substantial personnel changes before the band would release Rumors and become a multi-platinum selling rock icon.
In the 1960s and 70s, rock and roll exploded worldwide. As a result, there is an abundance of bands formed at that time that didn’t make the list because they were pushed out by even bigger bands. Besides Fleetwood Mac, Chicago, Genesis, and Steve Miller Band were formed in 1967. Queen, The Doobie Brothers, and Bob Marley & The Wailers all got their start in 1970, but in our index Aerosmith is rated most famous.
More recently, the truly famous bands thin out somewhat. The 2000s include bands that have lots of records, such as the Pussycat Dolls (2003), the Jonas Brothers (2005), and The Lumineers (2008). But just as it took Fleetwood Mac a decade to find greatness, it may be a long time before we know which of these newer bands should be slotted in for those years.
To determine the most famous band formed the year you were born, 24/7 Wall St. created an index, using such measures as RIAA certified album sales, Wikipedia page views, awards, and other ranked list of popular bands. The year a band is formed can be difficult to pinpoint for a number of reasons, so to be consistent, we used the band formation years listed by MusicBrainz, an extensive music database created and curated by industry experts. The top charting album listed with each band is based on the song that charted the highest, with ties broken based on the number of weeks a song spent on the charts. Certified album sales is based on the Recording Industry Association of America’s list of certified gold and platinum albums. Counts included only album sales, and not singles. Years active figures are from music database Allmusic, and includes the start and end decade a band performed or recorded together, even if the band was broken up or on hiatus for some portion of that range.
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