Smooth Icons 2020: Michael Jackson is voted the number one artist of all time
31 August 2020, 18:53 | Updated: 31 August 2020, 19:00
After thousands of votes, we have crowned the winner of Smooth Icons 2020.
Michael Jackson was voted by Smooth Radio listeners and SmoothRadio.com readers as the best artist of all time in the second Smooth Icons countdown.
Over 43,000 votes were cast in the poll, which saw last year's winner George Michael settle for second place.
The highest group was Queen at three, followed by the highest female solo artist Whitney Houston at four. The top five was rounded out by ABBA.
Smooth Icons aired on Smooth Radio on Monday (August 31), after an online vote asked listeners to vote for their favourite artists of all time.
> See the full chart as it happened
Meanwhile, Dolly Parton was voted the greatest country artist of all time in Smooth Country Icons, a poll airing on the same day on sister station Smooth Country. Dolly beat her close friend Kenny Rogers to the top spot, with the Eagles finishing third.
If you missed the countdown, you can listen again on Global Player for seven days after broadcast. Head here to stream online.
You can also hear the full top 100 in a special playlist via Global Player. Listen now on the app, or online here.
The full top 100:
1 Michael Jackson
2 George Michael
3 Queen
4 Whitney Houston
5 ABBA
6 Bee Gees
7 Elvis Presley
8 Elton John
9 Prince
10 The Beatles
11 Rod Stewart
12 Stevie Wonder
13 David Bowie
14 Lionel Richie
15 The Carpenters
16 Diana Ross
17 Phil Collins
18 Madonna
19 Adele
20 Celine Dion
21 Boy George
22 Tina Turner
23 Aretha Franklin
24 Fleetwood Mac
25 Luther Vandross
26 Bob Marley
27 Eagles
28 Ed Sheeran
29 Marvin Gaye
30 Billy Joel
31 Michael Bublé
32 Neil Diamond
33 John Lennon
34 Dolly Parton
35 Take That
36 Barry White
37 Earth, Wind & Fire
38 Bryan Adams
39 Barbra Streisand
40 Simply Red
41 Coldplay
42 Annie Lennox
43 Simon & Garfunkel
44 Robbie Williams
45 Pet Shop Boys
46 The Beach Boys
47 Paul McCartney
48 Blondie
49 Duran Duran
50 UB40
51 Bruce Springsteen
52 George Benson
53 Shania Twain
54 Billy Ocean
55 The Four Seasons
56 Al Green
57 Gladys Knight
58 Wet Wet Wet
59 A-Ha
60 Gloria Estefan
61 Sting
62 Louis Armstrong
63 Aerosmith
64 Alison Moyet
65 The Four Tops
66 Dusty Springfield
67 Hall & Oates
68 Foreigner
69 U2
70 Sam Cooke
71 Madness
72 Otis Redding
73 Dionne Warwick
74 Chicago
75 Smokey Robinson
76 Olivia Newton-John
77 Bryan Ferry
78 Bill Withers
79 Hot Chocolate
80 Eric Clapton
81 Alexander O'Neal
82 Jackie Wilson
83 Paul Young
84 Nile Rodgers
85 REM
86 Michael McDonald
87 Tracy Chapman
88 The Righteous Brothers
89 Seal
90 Van Morrison
91 Tom Jones
92 James Taylor
93 Bon Jovi
94 Kate Bush
95 Lisa Stansfield
96 Mariah Carey
97 Richard Marx
98 Gerry Rafferty
99 Randy Crawford
100 Gloria Gaynor
