Rolling Stone has defended its 200 Greatest Singers of All Time list after fans shared their outrage that a number of vocal powerhouses were left off.
The publication shared the list on New Year’s Day, highlighting who it considers to be the 200 greatest singers in history.
Aretha Franklin took the top spot, followed by Whitney Houston, Sam Cooke and Billie Holiday.
Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Nina Simone and Adele were also high up on the list.
But readers were shocked to find that My Heart Will Go On singer Celine Dion was nowhere to be found.
Tweet from @RollingStone
The five-time Grammy-winning Canadian artist is often considered to be part of the holy vocal ‘trinity’ alongside Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, who have performed together several times.
She’s also beloved for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, becoming the best-selling French-language artist of all time.
Dion, who recently shared that she is battling a rare neurological condition, has not addressed the snub.
Her fans, however, came out in force to advocate for the singer.
“The fact that Céline Dion isn’t anywhere in the top 200 is a crime against humanity,” one fan responded to Rolling Stone’s tweet.
“Celine Dion is not on the list? Just pack it up and pretend this didn’t happen,” said another.
“Respectfully, not including Celine Dion, arguably the best vocal technician of all time, in this list is borderline treasonous,” said recording artist Jamie Lambert.
Another suggested the list be renamed to ‘Ranking The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time After The Great Celine Dion’.
Tweet from @BonnieBernstein
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The publication came out to defend the list following the heated backlash, adding an explanation at the top of the write-up.
“Before you start scrolling (and commenting), keep in mind that this is the Greatest Singers list, not the Greatest Voices List,” it said.
“Talent is impressive; genius is transcendent. Sure, many of the people here were born with massive pipes, perfect pitch and boundless range. Others have rougher, stranger, or more delicate instruments.
“In all cases, what mattered most to us was originality, influence, the depth of an artist’s catalog, and the breadth of their musical legacy … But in the end, the singers behind it are here for one reason: They can remake the world just by opening their mouths.”
Dion has been outspoken about unfair criticism of her music in the past, leading many fans to suspect that her words had played a part in Rolling Stone leaving her off the list.
In a 2003 interview with ABC, which is now going viral online, Dion called out critics of her music, saying she felt ‘set up’ by publications who would send critics to her shows.
“Many times they send people to criticise the show. People who like bands, heavy rock, and then they send the poor guys to see a romantic show where people are going to sing a ballad,” she said.
“Of course they’re not gonna like it.”
But with her music breaking records, Dion said the charts tell a different story.
“I’m one of the artists that sell the most records, and we have sold-out shows. So if [critics] say to me that this is [bad], it makes me mad in a way,” she said.
“And angry that they think that all those people who [are] buying my records and come and see my sold-out shows are all stupid, and all wrong.
“Well, you interview all of [those artists],” she said of the critics.
Other snubs
Pop hitmaker P!nk – who has also spoken unfavourably of Rolling Stone in the past – was also noticeably missing from the list.
The singer trashed the publication online just months ago over another ranking piece, calling it “irrelevant”.
After the publication shared their ranking of the top Grammy performances of all time, in which she is not mentioned, P!nk shared a scathing response in their Instagram comments.
“Bahahahaha you guys have been irrelevant since 1990,” she wrote.
She proceeded to say that the publication’s credibility had gone “to s–t”, and had spent decades “wasting trees and people’s time”.
“You don’t have to like me or my music or anything about me – and believe me I could give a s–t- but this is the biggest sellout in f–king history when it comes to a publication we all once trusted,” she wrote.
Fans also pointed out that Dionne Warwick, The Police frontman Sting and pop legends Madonna and Janet Jackson were also noticeably missing from the list.
EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony award) recipients John Legend, Jennifer Hudson and Rita Moreno also surprisingly failed to rank.
And while pop contemporaries like Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Rosalia and Billie Eilish earned spots, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus and Sia were nowhere to be found.
You can read through Rolling Stone’s full list here.
