Artists

The artists behind the styles: their era, the sub-genres they live in and break from, and their defining songs, linked into the genre trees so you can trace any of 57 sub-genres to the artists who define it.

All artists

12 in all

Bad Bunny
Bad Bunny (Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, born 1994) is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, and songwriter who became the most prominent figure in Latin urban music. He rose from SoundCloud uploads to global stardom after his 2016 single "Diles," and is widely credited with helping Spanish-language rap and reggaeton reach mainstream worldwide audiences without crossing over into English. His 2022 album "Un Verano Sin Ti" topped the Billboard 200, and he has been named Spotify's most-streamed artist globally multiple times. He has won several Grammy Awards, and his 2025 album "Debí Tirar Más Fotos" became the first Spanish-language album to win the Grammy for Album of the Year.
Genre family
Reggaeton, Latin Trap
Sub-genres
Reggaeton, Latin trap, Dembow
Active
2016–present
Beyoncé
Beyoncé (Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter, born 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and producer widely regarded as one of the defining pop and R&B artists of the 21st century. She first gained fame in the late 1990s as the lead vocalist of Destiny's Child, one of the best-selling girl groups of all time, before launching a solo career with the debut album Dangerously in Love (2003). Across eight solo studio albums she has moved through contemporary R&B, pop, and hip-hop into more conceptual and genre-spanning work, including the house- and disco-rooted Renaissance (2022) and the country- and Americana-leaning Cowboy Carter (2024). She is known for technically precise, gospel-rooted vocals, ambitious visual albums, and a high degree of creative control over her recordings and live shows. Commercially and critically dominant for two decades, she became the most-awarded performer in Grammy Awards history, with 35 wins, and is frequently cited as a major influence by artists across genres.
Genre family
R&B, Pop
Sub-genres
Contemporary R&B, Pop-soul, Dance-pop
Active
1997–present (solo career since 2003)
Daft Punk
Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in Paris in 1993 by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Known for performing in elaborate robot helmets and concealing their faces, they became one of the most influential acts in dance and electronic music, helping define the French house movement of the late 1990s and bringing electronic music to a mass pop audience. Their catalog spans the raw house of Homework (1997), the sample-driven Discovery (2001), the 2007 Alive live album and acclaimed pyramid-stage tour, and the live-instrument disco revival of Random Access Memories (2013), which won the Grammy for Album of the Year. The duo announced their disbandment in 2021.
Genre family
Electronic, Dance
Sub-genres
French house, Filter house, Nu-disco
Active
1993–2021
Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actress, widely regarded as one of the defining figures of country music. Born in 1946 in rural East Tennessee, she made her first recording in 1959 and rose to prominence in the late 1960s through her work on Porter Wagoner's television show before launching a hugely successful solo career. A prolific songwriter known for narrative ballads drawn from Appalachian life, she became a country superstar in the 1970s and a pop crossover phenomenon in the early 1980s. With dozens of studio albums, numerous Grammy Awards, and induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, she ranks among the most commercially successful and influential artists in the genre's history, and is also recognized for her business ventures and philanthropy.
Genre family
Country, Pop
Sub-genres
Country-pop, Traditional country, Bluegrass
Active
1959–present
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band formed in London in 1967 by guitarist Peter Green, who named it after drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, the two constant members across the group's history. They began as a British blues band, scoring a UK No. 1 with the 1968 instrumental "Albatross" before a turbulent series of lineup changes. The 1975 arrival of American singer-songwriters Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks reshaped them into a hugely popular pop-rock act; their 1977 album Rumours became one of the best-selling records of all time and a touchstone of the era. With more than 100 million records sold and a 1998 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they rank among the most successful and influential rock acts in history.
Genre family
Rock, Pop
Sub-genres
Soft rock, Pop rock, British blues
Active
1967–present
Frank Ocean
Frank Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux, October 28, 1987) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer raised in New Orleans and based in Los Angeles. He first drew attention as a member of the Odd Future collective and through early songwriting for other artists before releasing the free mixtape nostalgia, ULTRA in 2011. His debut studio album, Channel Orange (2012), won the Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album and was widely praised for its genre-blending songwriting; his follow-up, Blonde (2016), released alongside the visual album Endless, topped the US Billboard 200 and is frequently cited as one of the most influential records of its decade. Critics widely credit Ocean as a pioneering figure in alternative R&B, noting his introspective, autobiographical lyricism, unconventional song structures, and minimalist, atmospheric production. He is also known for releasing music sparingly and largely outside conventional industry timelines.
Genre family
R&B, Soul
Sub-genres
Alternative R&B, Psychedelic soul, Progressive soul
Active
2009–present (rose to prominence 2011; major releases 2012 and 2016)
Hozier
Hozier (Andrew John Hozier-Byrne, born 1990) is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician from County Wicklow, known for fusing folk, soul, blues and gospel with literate, often religiously and politically charged lyrics. He broke through globally in 2013–2014 with the multi-platinum single "Take Me to Church" and his self-titled debut album, then consolidated his standing with the Billboard 200 No. 1 album "Wasteland, Baby!" (2019) and the Dante-inspired concept album "Unreal Unearth" (2023). In 2024 his single "Too Sweet" topped the Billboard Hot 100, making him the first Irish act to lead that chart since Sinéad O'Connor in 1990. A consistent arena and festival headliner, he is regarded as one of the most commercially and critically successful Irish artists of his generation.
Genre family
Folk, Soul
Sub-genres
Indie folk, Soul-blues, Gospel-influenced soul
Active
2008–present
Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash (1932–2003) was an American singer-songwriter and one of the most influential and best-selling musicians of the 20th century, with more than 90 million records sold worldwide. Born in rural Arkansas, he signed to Sam Phillips' Sun Records in 1955 and rose alongside the label's rockabilly roster before becoming a defining figure in country music, known for his deep bass-baritone voice, his all-black stage attire ("the Man in Black"), and the chugging, train-like rhythm of his backing band the Tennessee Three. His songs explored sorrow, crime, faith, and redemption, and his landmark live album At Folsom Prison (1968) cemented his outlaw image. A rare inductee into the Country Music, Rock and Roll, and Gospel Music Halls of Fame, he experienced a major late-career revival in the 1990s and 2000s through his stripped-down American Recordings albums with producer Rick Rubin.
Genre family
Country, Rock and Roll
Sub-genres
Outlaw country, Rockabilly, Traditional country / honky-tonk
Active
1954–2003
Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick Lamar is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Compton, California, widely regarded as one of the most influential and critically acclaimed hip-hop artists of his generation. After early mixtapes, he broke through with the acclaimed concept albums "good kid, m.A.A.d city" (2012) and "To Pimp a Butterfly" (2015), the latter blending hip-hop with jazz, funk, and spoken word. In 2018 his album "DAMN." won the Pulitzer Prize for Music, the first non-classical, non-jazz work to receive the award. He is a multiple Grammy winner whose 2024 single "Not Like Us" topped the charts and swept the major Grammy categories, and he headlined the Super Bowl LIX halftime show in 2025, one of the most-watched in history.
Genre family
Hip-Hop
Sub-genres
Conscious hip-hop, West Coast hip-hop, Jazz rap
Active
2003–present
Miles Davis
Miles Davis (1926–1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer, widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in 20th-century music. Born in Alton, Illinois, and raised in East St. Louis, he moved to New York in 1944 and apprenticed in Charlie Parker's bebop quintet before repeatedly redirecting the course of jazz over the following decades. He helped launch cool jazz with the "Birth of the Cool" nonet sessions (1949–50), led acclaimed hard-bop and modal groups in the 1950s, recorded the landmark modal album "Kind of Blue" (1959, the best-selling jazz album of all time), collaborated with arranger Gil Evans on orchestral works such as "Sketches of Spain" (1960), and pioneered jazz-rock fusion with "In a Silent Way" (1969) and "Bitches Brew" (1970). Alongside Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Charlie Parker, he is commonly cited as one of jazz's most important musicians. His trumpet style—lyrical, spacious, often muted, and free of heavy vibrato—became one of the most recognizable sounds in the music. After a period of inactivity in the late 1970s, he returned in the 1980s with electric, pop- and funk-inflected recordings and toured worldwide until his death in 1991.
Genre family
Jazz
Sub-genres
Cool jazz, Hard bop, Modal jazz
Active
1944–1975, 1980–1991
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985, comprising Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments), Colin Greenwood (bass), Ed O'Brien (guitar, backing vocals), and Philip Selway (drums). Signed to EMI in 1991, they had an early worldwide hit with the 1992 single "Creep," then drew wider critical acclaim with The Bends (1995) and OK Computer (1997), the latter widely cited as a landmark of 1990s rock for its layered production and themes of modern alienation. With Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001) the band moved sharply toward electronic, ambient, and experimental textures, a shift that proved influential on the broader direction of alternative and art rock. Across nine studio albums they have remained commercially successful and critically esteemed, known for restless reinvention, an early embrace of internet-era release strategies (the 2007 pay-what-you-want release of In Rainbows), and a sustained reputation as one of the most experimental acts in mainstream rock. The band continues to perform, touring in 2025 for the first time in seven years.
Genre family
Alternative rock, Art rock
Sub-genres
Experimental rock, Art pop, Electronica
Active
1985–present
Tyler, the Creator
Tyler, the Creator (born Tyler Gregory Okonma, 1991) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer who emerged in the late 2000s as the co-founder and de facto leader of the Los Angeles collective Odd Future. He broke through in 2011 with the abrasive single "Yonkers" and the album Goblin, then steadily evolved from shock-driven horrorcore toward a lush, melodic, self-produced sound across Flower Boy (2017), Igor (2019), Call Me If You Get Lost (2021), and Chromakopia (2024). He produces, arranges, and often directs the visuals for his own records, and is widely regarded as one of his generation's most distinctive auteurs, winning the Grammy for Best Rap Album twice (for Igor and Call Me If You Get Lost). His influence on alternative and melodic hip-hop, plus his ventures in fashion and his Camp Flog Gnaw festival, have made him a major commercial and critical force.
Genre family
Hip-Hop, R&B
Sub-genres
Alternative hip-hop, Neo soul, Jazz rap
Active
2007–present