When Bill Haley and the Comets helped launch the rock and roll era with their hit “Rock Around the Clock” in the mid-1950s, few people imagined the profound effect that the raucous music would have on world culture, or that it would endure into the 21st century.
Rock and roll, more than any other music, is the genre of rebellion and change. And in the 1960s and 1970s, when the music form was at its zenith in popularity, bands such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin that tapped into the issues upending the culture — from drugs to love to war — remain the most popular groups of all time.
Using a number of different metrics, 24/7 Wall St. has identified the 100 most popular rock bands of all time. The selection of these artists is based on measures such as record sales, Billboard performance, Wikipedia page views, Facebook “likes,” and popularity on the online streaming platform Spotify. While there are many great rock performers who are better known as solo artists – such as Prince, David Bowie, and Elvis Presley – 24/7 Wall St. included only bands for this article.
Click here to see the 100 most popular rock bands of all time.
Click here to read our detailed findings and methodology.
Source: Jonathan Leibson / Getty Images
100. The Strokes
> Spotify followers: 2.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 1.5 million
> Most popular album: Is This It
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Source: Scott Gries / Getty Images
99. Steve Miller Band
> Spotify followers: 0.8 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 25.5 million
> Most popular album: Fly Like an Eagle
Source: Christopher Polk / Getty Images
98. Nine Inch Nails
> Spotify followers: 1.0 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 10.5 million
> Most popular album: The Downward Spiral
Source: Theo Wargo / Getty Images
97. Foster the People
> Spotify followers: 2.3 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 1 million
> Most popular album: Torches
Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images
96. The Cars
> Spotify followers: 0.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 23.5 million
> Most popular album: The Cars
Source: Emma McIntyre / Getty Images
95. 30 Seconds to Mars
> Spotify followers: 1.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 1.5 million
> Most popular album: A Beautiful Lie
Source: Scott Gries / Getty Images
94. Creed
> Spotify followers: 1.2 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 25 million
> Most popular album: Human Clay
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Source: Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images
93. Scorpions
> Spotify followers: 1.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 10.5 million
> Most popular album: Love at First Sting
Source: NBC Television / Getty Images
92. The Monkees
> Spotify followers: 0.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 18 million
> Most popular album: The Monkees
Source: Keystone / Getty Images
91. Ramones
> Spotify followers: 1.3 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 1 million
> Most popular album: Ramones
Source: RCA Records / Getty Images
90. Jefferson Airplane
> Spotify followers: 0.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 14 million
> Most popular album: Surrealistic Pillow
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Source: Cory Schwartz / Getty Images
89. Grateful Dead
> Spotify followers: 0.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 18.5 million
> Most popular album: In the Dark
Source: Mike Coppola / Getty Images
88. The Black Keys
> Spotify followers: 2.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 5 million
> Most popular album: El Camino
Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
87. Judas Priest
> Spotify followers: 1.2 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 9.5 million
> Most popular album: Screaming for Vengeance
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Source: Hulton Archive / Getty Images
86. Electric Light Orchestra
> Spotify followers: 1.1 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 10 million
> Most popular album: Discovery
Source: Ethan Miller / Getty Images
85. Papa Roach
> Spotify followers: 2.3 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 4.5 million
> Most popular album: Infest
Source: wonker / Wikimedia Commons
84. The Offspring
> Spotify followers: 2.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 14.5 million
> Most popular album: Smash
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Source: Al Bello / Getty Images
83. 3 Doors Down
> Spotify followers: 1.8 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 12 million
> Most popular album: The Better Life
Source: Dave Etheridge-Barnes / Getty Images
82. Motörhead
> Spotify followers: 1.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: N/A
> Most popular album: Ace of Spades
Source: Hulton Archive / Getty Images
81. Foreigner
> Spotify followers: 0.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 37.5 million
> Most popular album: Double Vision
Source: Mark Metcalfe / Getty Images
80. Queens of the Stone Age
> Spotify followers: 1.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: N/A
> Most popular album: …Like Clockwork
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Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
79. Megadeth
> Spotify followers: 1.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 6.5 million
> Most popular album: Countdown to Extinction
Source: David Wolff - Patrick / Getty Images
78. The Cure
> Spotify followers: 1.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 8.5 million
> Most popular album: Disintegration
Source: Buda Mendes / Getty Images
77. Soundgarden
> Spotify followers: 1.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 9 million
> Most popular album: Superunknown
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Source: Hulton Archive / Getty Images
76. Rush
> Spotify followers: 0.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 25 million
> Most popular album: Moving Pictures
Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
75. Disturbed
> Spotify followers: 2.3 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 11.5 million
> Most popular album: The Sickness
Source: Ethan Miller / Getty Images
74. Three Days Grace
> Spotify followers: 2.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 6 million
> Most popular album: One-X
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Source: George De Sota / Getty Images
73. Pantera
> Spotify followers: 1.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 7 million
> Most popular album: Vulgar Display of Power
Source: Ethan Miller / Getty Images
72. Five Finger Death Punch
> Spotify followers: 2.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 4.5 million
> Most popular album: The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1
Source: Vittorio Zunino Celotto / Getty Images
71. Oasis
> Spotify followers: 3.1 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 6 million
> Most popular album: What’s the Story Morning Glory?
Source: Nick Laham / Getty Images
70. Rammstein
> Spotify followers: 2.1 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 1 million
> Most popular album: Sehnsucht
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Source: Robert Mora / Getty Images
69. Limp Bizkit
> Spotify followers: 2.1 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 16.5 million
> Most popular album: Significant Other
Source: Ethan Miller / Getty Images
68. Rage Against the Machine
> Spotify followers: 2.3 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 9 million
> Most popular album: Evil Empire
Source: Janette Pellegrini / Getty Images
67. Alice in Chains
> Spotify followers: 1.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 12.5 million
> Most popular album: Dirt
Source: Potter / Getty Images
66. The Animals
> Spotify followers: 0.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 0.5 million
> Most popular album: The Animals
Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images
65. R.E.M.
> Spotify followers: 1.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 20 million
> Most popular album: Monster
Source: Paul Jeffers / Getty Images
64. The Cranberries
> Spotify followers: 1.3 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 14.5 million
> Most popular album: No Need to Argue
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Source: Noam Wind / Shutterstock.com
63. Depeche Mode
> Spotify followers: 1.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 10.5 million
> Most popular album: Violator
Source: Hulton Archive / Getty Images
62. Heart
> Spotify followers: 0.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 22.5 million
> Most popular album: Heart
Source: Rick Diamond / Getty Images
61. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
> Spotify followers: 0.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 31.5 million
> Most popular album: Full Moon Fever
Source: Theo Wargo / Getty Images
60. Dire Straits
> Spotify followers: 1.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 15.5 million
> Most popular album: Brothers in Arms
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Source: Central Press / Getty Images
59. Simon and Garfunkel
> Spotify followers: 1.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 38.5 million
> Most popular album: Bridge Over Troubled Water
Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
58. ZZ Top
> Spotify followers: 1.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 25 million
> Most popular album: Eliminator
Source: Hulton Archive / Getty Images
57. The Beach Boys
> Spotify followers: 1.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 22.5 million
> Most popular album: Pet Sounds
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Source: Theo Wargo / Getty Images
56. Kings of Leon
> Spotify followers: 3.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 2.5 million
> Most popular album: Only by the Night
Source: Hulton Archive / Getty Images
55. The Police
> Spotify followers: 2.0 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 22 million
> Most popular album: Synchronicity
Source: John Minihan / Getty Images
54. Deep Purple
> Spotify followers: 1.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 7.5 million
> Most popular album: Machine Head
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Source: Theo Wargo / Getty Images
53. Santana
> Spotify followers: 0.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 43.5 million
> Most popular album: Supernatural
Source: Ethan Miller / Getty Images
52. Journey
> Spotify followers: 1.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 48 million
> Most popular album: Escape
Source: Jo Hale / Getty Images
51. Slipknot
> Spotify followers: 3.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 6 million
> Most popular album: Slipknot
Source: Hulton Archive / Getty Images
50. The Jimi Hendrix Experience
> Spotify followers: 2.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: N/A
> Most popular album: Are You Experienced
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Source: Peter Cade / Getty Images
49. Kiss
> Spotify followers: 2.8 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 21 million
> Most popular album: Destroyer
Source: Wikimedia Commons
48. Boston
> Spotify followers: 0.8 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 31 million
> Most popular album: Boston
Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
47. Def Leppard
> Spotify followers: 1.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 35.5 million
> Most popular album: Hysteria
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Source: Tristan Fewings / Getty Images
46. The Script
> Spotify followers: 4.1 million
> All time U.S. album sales: . million
> Most popular album: Science & Faith
Source: Kobby Dagan / Shutterstock.com
45. The Killers
> Spotify followers: 3.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 4.5 million
> Most popular album: Hot Fuss
Source: Northfoto / Shutterstock.com
44. Korn
> Spotify followers: 2.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 16.5 million
> Most popular album: Follow the Leader
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Source: Ethan Miller / Getty Images
43. Avenged Sevenfold
> Spotify followers: 2.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 3 million
> Most popular album: City of Evil
Source: Christopher Polk / Getty Images
42. Muse
> Spotify followers: 4.1 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 3.5 million
> Most popular album: The Resistance
Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
41. Evanescence
> Spotify followers: 2.0 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 9.5 million
> Most popular album: Fallen
Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
40. Marilyn Manson
> Spotify followers: 1.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 4.5 million
> Most popular album: Mechanical Animals
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Source: Jim Dyson / Getty Images
39. Radiohead
> Spotify followers: 3.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 6.5 million
> Most popular album: OK Computer
Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images
38. Fall Out Boy
> Spotify followers: 5.2 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 6 million
> Most popular album: From Under the Cork Tree
Source: Isaac Brekken / Getty Images
37. Panic! at the Disco
> Spotify followers: 5.0 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 4.5 million
> Most popular album: A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out
Source: Ian Gavan / Getty Images
36. OneRepublic
> Spotify followers: 5.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 2 million
> Most popular album: Native
Source: Antonio Scorza / Shutterstock.com
35. Nickelback
> Spotify followers: 3.1 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 24 million
> Most popular album: All the Right Reasons
Source: yakub88 / Shutterstock.com
34. Blink-182
> Spotify followers: 4.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 10 million
> Most popular album: Enema of the State
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Source: Mark Metcalfe / Getty Images
33. Arctic Monkeys
> Spotify followers: 6.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 1.5 million
> Most popular album: AM
Source: Keystone / Getty Images
32. The Who
> Spotify followers: 2.0 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 21 million
> Most popular album: Who’s Next
Source: Evening Standard / Getty Images
31. Creedence Clearwater Revival
> Spotify followers: 2.1 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 28 million
> Most popular album: Cosmo’s Factory
Source: Karl Walter / Getty Images
30. Iron Maiden
> Spotify followers: 3.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 6.5 million
> Most popular album: Somewhere in Time
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Source: Christian Bertrand / Shutterstock.com
29. Gorillaz
> Spotify followers: 3.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 3 million
> Most popular album: Demon Days
Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images
28. System of a Down
> Spotify followers: 4.2 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 7 million
> Most popular album: Toxicity
Source: Ethan Miller / Getty Images
27. Van Halen
> Spotify followers: 1.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 56.5 million
> Most popular album: 1984
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Source: Scott Harrison / Getty Images
26. Lynyrd Skynyrd
> Spotify followers: 1.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 28.5 million
> Most popular album: Street Survivors
Source: yakub88 / Shutterstock.com
25. Paramore
> Spotify followers: 3.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 4.5 million
> Most popular album: Riot!
Source: Rob Loud / Getty Images
24. Pearl Jam
> Spotify followers: 3.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 31.5 million
> Most popular album: Ten
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Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images
23. Foo Fighters
> Spotify followers: 5.3 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 7 million
> Most popular album: Wasting Light
Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
22. Black Sabbath
> Spotify followers: 3.0 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 15 million
> Most popular album: Paranoid
Source: Malcolm Clarke / Getty Images
21. Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
> Spotify followers: 0.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 44.5 million
> Most popular album: Stranger in Town
Source: Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images
20. U2
> Spotify followers: 3.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 52 million
> Most popular album: The Joshua Tree
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Source: Central Press / Getty Images
19. The Doors
> Spotify followers: 3.2 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 33 million
> Most popular album: The Doors
Source: Gaye Gerard / Getty Images
18. Fleetwood Mac
> Spotify followers: 2.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 49.5 million
> Most popular album: Rumours
Source: Rick Diamond / Getty Images
17. Eagles
> Spotify followers: 2.0 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 120 million
> Most popular album: Hotel California
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Source: Graham Denholm / Getty Images
16. Bon Jovi
> Spotify followers: 4.2 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 34.5 million
> Most popular album: Slippery When Wet
Source: Larry Busacca / Getty Images
15. Aerosmith
> Spotify followers: 5.2 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 66.5 million
> Most popular album: Toys in the Attic
Source: Mike Lawrie / Getty Images
14. Nirvana
> Spotify followers: 7.3 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 25 million
> Most popular album: Nevermind
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Source: Christopher Polk / Getty Images
13. Green Day
> Spotify followers: 7.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 24 million
> Most popular album: Dookie
Source: Christopher Polk / Getty Images
12. Red Hot Chili Peppers
> Spotify followers: 8.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 25 million
> Most popular album: Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Source: Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images
11. Maroon 5
> Spotify followers: 13.2 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 12.5 million
> Most popular album: Songs About Jane
Source: J. Wilds / Getty Images
10. The Rolling Stones
> Spotify followers: 5.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 66.5 million
> Most popular album: Hot Rocks
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Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images
9. Guns N’ Roses
> Spotify followers: 8.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 44.5 million
> Most popular album: Appetite for Destruction
Source: Yahoo! Blog / Wikimedia Commons
8. Coldplay
> Spotify followers: 14.8 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 14.5 million
> Most popular album: A Rush of Blood to the Head
Source: Yulia Grigoryeva / Shutterstock.com
7. Metallica
> Spotify followers: 8.2 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 63 million
> Most popular album: Metallica
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Source: Fox Photos / Getty Images
6. Queen
> Spotify followers: 9.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 34.5 million
> Most popular album: The Game
Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty Images
5. AC/DC
> Spotify followers: 8.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 72 million
> Most popular album: Back in Black
Source: Ethan Miller / Getty Images
4. Linkin Park
> Spotify followers: 10.1 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 27 million
> Most popular album: Hybrid Theory
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Source: Keystone Features / Getty Images
3. Pink Floyd
> Spotify followers: 7.0 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 75 million
> Most popular album: The Wall
Source: Hulton Archive / Getty Images
2. Led Zeppelin
> Spotify followers: 5.8 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 111.5 million
> Most popular album: Led Zeppelin IV
Source: John Pratt / Getty Images
1. The Beatles
> Spotify followers: 9.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 178 million
> Most popular album: The Beatles
Detailed findings:
The popularity of rock and roll — which owes its roots to musical genres such as rhythm and blues, jazz, blues, gospel, country, and folk — coincided with a time of post-World War II prosperity in America. The nation’s youth enjoyed unprecedented freedom and mobility. When young people took to the newly built highways and roads in the 1950s, rock and roll was their soundtrack. It was, in a sense, their own quiet rebellion against social norms.
Another emerging medium, television, grasped the appeal of rock and roll, and variety programs such as “The Ed Sullivan Show” booked performers such as Chubby Checker, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley.
Across the Atlantic, the British were embracing the music of American acts like Little Richard and Chuck Berry and forming their own bands. American audiences responded to the cheeky, and often irreverent, personas of groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
Rock and roll mined the turbulence of the 1960s — racial unrest, labor disputes, and of course the Vietnam War — to produce thoughtful and provocative music.
In the next decade, rock and roll acts went on the road to play large arenas and stadiums, augmenting the money they made through record sales. Heavy metal groups such as AC/DC from Australia built a strong following on American shores by touring. The band has sold more than 72 million records in the U.S. alone, according to The Recording Industry Association of America.
Rock dialed back issues of politics in the 1970s, with singer-songwriters such as Carole King, Jim Croce, and Elton John, and more mellow bands such as the Eagles.
Groups like Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Yes pushed the boundaries of rock and roll into a more progressive direction. Punk bands like the Sex Pistols and the Clash were a reaction against that movement.
Like other music forms, rock and roll faces the challenges from technology that allows listeners to access music at a fraction of its cost. More recent rock bands such as OneRepublic that was formed earlier this century, use the internet to gain popularity. That band has only sold 2 million records, but it is hugely popular online, with more than 1.5 million annual Wikipedia page views and over 4.2 million followers on Spotify. Generally, newer artists have significantly better internet presence. The three bands with the most Spotify followers are Coldplay, Maroon 5, and Linkin Park, which were all formed in the late 1990s.
As rock and roll — and rock and rollers have aged — other genres such as rap and hip-hop have become more relevant. In 2017, for the first time, R&B and hip-hop became the most dominant genre in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music, surpassing rock music. Yet while rock and roll no longer holds a prominent place in the music industry, our list contains relatively fewer recent acts compared with the more established, classic rock bands. As British rockers The Who once sang, “Long live rock.”
Methodology:
To determine the most popular rock bands of all time, 24/7 Wall St. generated an index based on album sales, popularity of a band’s Wikipedia page, popularity on Spotify, popularity on Facebook, and user votes. Each component of the index was given equal weight.
A band’s total certified U.S. album sales came from the Recording Industry Association of America. The RIAA tracks album sales released in the American market with a threshold of 500,000 units sold. Wikipedia page views were calculated for the past two years. Popularity on Spotify was based on Spotify’s popularity index. User votes came from a list on Ranker.com that ranked the best rock bands of all time.
A band’s most popular album is based on RIAA data for U.S. album sales. In cases where a band had multiple albums that sold the same number of copies, the album that performed best on the Billboard 200 chart was selected.
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