Not necessarily who is the most popular of said decade, but who left the biggest impact on the world via their art and/or made foundational changes to the music industry that, without their contributions, would've never happened. My picks below:

1950s: Little Richard
Reasoning: Arguably the most influential artist of all time. Not as popular as Elvis obviously, but without him there probably wouldn't have even been an Elvis.

1960s: The Beatles
Reasoning: Revolutionized the music industry. Icons of popular culture.

1970s: Stevie Wonder
Reasoning: Possibly the greatest discography for any solo act ever. A true once-in-a-generation talent.

1980s: Michael Jackson
Reasoning: No explanation needed.

1990s: Tupac & Biggie
Reasoning: Both were the forefront of what many consider to be the golden age of hip-hop. Their impact and lasting influence can still be felt to this day.

2000s: Kanye West
Reasoning: Most boundary-pushing & influential mainstream artist of the 21st Century.

2010s: Beyoncé
Reasoning: A dominant creative force throughout this decade, always sparking conversation with every move she made, also single-handedly changing the day that albums are released globally.

2020s (so far): Bad Bunny
Reasoning: Put Latin music on the global stage & uses his platform as a voice for his people during a political climate where they are being villianized.

Drop your picks below!

Fats Domino may have been even more important than Little Richard (no disrespect), tbh.

Agreed on Beyoncé and probably Stevie.

probably wouldn't have had a Little Richard if there wasnt a Fats. Richard has admitted as much.

Mhmmm, indeed.

also OP is tripping about there not being an Elvis if there wasnt a Richard.

Elvis' career was already well underway by the time Richard made any impactful music and if anything its the other way around. Richard said he thanked god for Elvis every day because if he didnt kick the door open for black music on white radio he wouldn't have had a career.

Lol at Kanye

Gucci Mane more impactful than Kanye

They still s***ting on the Memphis babyface

kanye

at least its not yet another "Chuck Berry invented everything" take when Chuck was the last of all the rock and roll founding fathers to have a hit song

His antics don't erase the impact he made on the world & music industry from 2004-2016

I’m the biggest drake hater but bad bunny is in his spot

F*** it just because we don’t like Taylor swift she does s*** bad bunny and Drake couldn’t even do let’s stop the BS

I wass answerng question in title .

You can view it that way but you can also view it from the lens that black artists of that time simply weren't allowed to be as successful as an Elvis because of the color of their skin.

Remember, Elvis covered several of Richard's songs, not the other way around

@wild

She's the most popular but I don't think there's any argument for her being the most important artist of her time. Would love to hear one

Wayne for 2000s

If it wasn't for Wayne it wouldn't be....

If we are looking at todays music climmate honestly lana del rey might be in the running for 2010s. I knoow that sound crazy bcause beyonce has 100x the talent but i jst thinking of all the influence shes had

Nico/throbbing gristle/ beach boys

Def Leppard 80s

Jeff Buckley 90s

Kanye 00s

Abel for 10s and 20s

would engage w the thread if OP was a tweet

she completely rewrote the rulebook of pop that was dictated by beat driven hits and dancibility, she is the epitome of the shift from the glossy larger than life era to fandom immersion and emotional resonance

she can drop an intimate song/album and it still dominates convos, charts, trends, streams because fans are fully embedded in her world... she humanized pop stardom and dropped the ultra-polished, untouchable act of 2000s stars by letting her quirks, vulnerabilities, and personality shine through her music early on and it payed off massively

there were world famous black artists well before Elvis showed up (Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald etc) but literally nobody white or black was a successful as an Elvis till Elvis himself showed up.

also, Fats Domino very nearly had more million sellers than Elvis because he was a hyper focused workhorse. Richard wasnt nearly as productive and has about 1/4 as many classic songs as either Elvis, Fats or Chuck. he did usually have the most potent song of the year though (Tutti Frutti, Long Tall Sally).

op is one of the biggest morons on this site

You think this because I find Taylor Swift to be overrated