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.
The Strokes
> Spotify followers: 2.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 1.5 million
> Most popular album: Is This It
Steve Miller Band
> Spotify followers: 0.8 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 25.5 million
> Most popular album: Fly Like an Eagle
Nine Inch Nails
> Spotify followers: 1.0 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 10.5 million
> Most popular album: The Downward Spiral
Foster the People
> Spotify followers: 2.3 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 1 million
> Most popular album: Torches
The Cars
> Spotify followers: 0.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 23.5 million
> Most popular album: The Cars
30 Seconds to Mars
> Spotify followers: 1.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 1.5 million
> Most popular album: A Beautiful Lie
Creed
> Spotify followers: 1.2 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 25 million
> Most popular album: Human Clay
Scorpions
> Spotify followers: 1.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 10.5 million
> Most popular album: Love at First Sting
The Monkees
> Spotify followers: 0.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 18 million
> Most popular album: The Monkees
Ramones
> Spotify followers: 1.3 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 1 million
> Most popular album: Ramones
Jefferson Airplane
> Spotify followers: 0.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 14 million
> Most popular album: Surrealistic Pillow
Grateful Dead
> Spotify followers: 0.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 18.5 million
> Most popular album: In the Dark
The Black Keys
> Spotify followers: 2.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 5 million
> Most popular album: El Camino
Judas Priest
> Spotify followers: 1.2 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 9.5 million
> Most popular album: Screaming for Vengeance
Electric Light Orchestra
> Spotify followers: 1.1 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 10 million
> Most popular album: Discovery
Papa Roach
> Spotify followers: 2.3 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 4.5 million
> Most popular album: Infest
The Offspring
> Spotify followers: 2.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 14.5 million
> Most popular album: Smash
3 Doors Down
> Spotify followers: 1.8 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 12 million
> Most popular album: The Better Life
Motörhead
> Spotify followers: 1.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: N/A
> Most popular album: Ace of Spades
Foreigner
> Spotify followers: 0.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 37.5 million
> Most popular album: Double Vision
Queens of the Stone Age
> Spotify followers: 1.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: N/A
> Most popular album: …Like Clockwork
Megadeth
> Spotify followers: 1.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 6.5 million
> Most popular album: Countdown to Extinction
The Cure
> Spotify followers: 1.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 8.5 million
> Most popular album: Disintegration
Soundgarden
> Spotify followers: 1.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 9 million
> Most popular album: Superunknown
Rush
> Spotify followers: 0.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 25 million
> Most popular album: Moving Pictures
Disturbed
> Spotify followers: 2.3 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 11.5 million
> Most popular album: The Sickness
Three Days Grace
> Spotify followers: 2.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 6 million
> Most popular album: One-X
Pantera
> Spotify followers: 1.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 7 million
> Most popular album: Vulgar Display of Power
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
Oasis
> Spotify followers: 3.1 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 6 million
> Most popular album: What’s the Story Morning Glory?
Rammstein
> Spotify followers: 2.1 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 1 million
> Most popular album: Sehnsucht
Limp Bizkit
> Spotify followers: 2.1 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 16.5 million
> Most popular album: Significant Other
Rage Against the Machine
> Spotify followers: 2.3 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 9 million
> Most popular album: Evil Empire
Alice in Chains
> Spotify followers: 1.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 12.5 million
> Most popular album: Dirt
The Animals
> Spotify followers: 0.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 0.5 million
> Most popular album: The Animals
R.E.M.
> Spotify followers: 1.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 20 million
> Most popular album: Monster
The Cranberries
> Spotify followers: 1.3 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 14.5 million
> Most popular album: No Need to Argue
Depeche Mode
> Spotify followers: 1.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 10.5 million
> Most popular album: Violator
Heart
> Spotify followers: 0.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 22.5 million
> Most popular album: Heart
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
Dire Straits
> Spotify followers: 1.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 15.5 million
> Most popular album: Brothers in Arms
Simon and Garfunkel
> Spotify followers: 1.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 38.5 million
> Most popular album: Bridge Over Troubled Water
ZZ Top
> Spotify followers: 1.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 25 million
> Most popular album: Eliminator
The Beach Boys
> Spotify followers: 1.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 22.5 million
> Most popular album: Pet Sounds
Kings of Leon
> Spotify followers: 3.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 2.5 million
> Most popular album: Only by the Night
The Police
> Spotify followers: 2.0 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 22 million
> Most popular album: Synchronicity
Deep Purple
> Spotify followers: 1.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 7.5 million
> Most popular album: Machine Head
Santana
> Spotify followers: 0.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 43.5 million
> Most popular album: Supernatural
Journey
> Spotify followers: 1.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 48 million
> Most popular album: Escape
Slipknot
> Spotify followers: 3.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 6 million
> Most popular album: Slipknot
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
> Spotify followers: 2.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: N/A
> Most popular album: Are You Experienced
Kiss
> Spotify followers: 2.8 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 21 million
> Most popular album: Destroyer
Boston
> Spotify followers: 0.8 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 31 million
> Most popular album: Boston
Def Leppard
> Spotify followers: 1.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 35.5 million
> Most popular album: Hysteria
The Script
> Spotify followers: 4.1 million
> All time U.S. album sales: . million
> Most popular album: Science & Faith
The Killers
> Spotify followers: 3.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 4.5 million
> Most popular album: Hot Fuss
Korn
> Spotify followers: 2.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 16.5 million
> Most popular album: Follow the Leader
Avenged Sevenfold
> Spotify followers: 2.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 3 million
> Most popular album: City of Evil
Muse
> Spotify followers: 4.1 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 3.5 million
> Most popular album: The Resistance
Evanescence
> Spotify followers: 2.0 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 9.5 million
> Most popular album: Fallen
Marilyn Manson
> Spotify followers: 1.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 4.5 million
> Most popular album: Mechanical Animals
Radiohead
> Spotify followers: 3.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 6.5 million
> Most popular album: OK Computer
Fall Out Boy
> Spotify followers: 5.2 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 6 million
> Most popular album: From Under the Cork Tree
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
OneRepublic
> Spotify followers: 5.7 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 2 million
> Most popular album: Native
Nickelback
> Spotify followers: 3.1 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 24 million
> Most popular album: All the Right Reasons
Blink-182
> Spotify followers: 4.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 10 million
> Most popular album: Enema of the State
Arctic Monkeys
> Spotify followers: 6.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 1.5 million
> Most popular album: AM
The Who
> Spotify followers: 2.0 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 21 million
> Most popular album: Who’s Next
Creedence Clearwater Revival
> Spotify followers: 2.1 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 28 million
> Most popular album: Cosmo’s Factory
Iron Maiden
> Spotify followers: 3.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 6.5 million
> Most popular album: Somewhere in Time
Gorillaz
> Spotify followers: 3.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 3 million
> Most popular album: Demon Days
System of a Down
> Spotify followers: 4.2 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 7 million
> Most popular album: Toxicity
Van Halen
> Spotify followers: 1.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 56.5 million
> Most popular album: 1984
Lynyrd Skynyrd
> Spotify followers: 1.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 28.5 million
> Most popular album: Street Survivors
Paramore
> Spotify followers: 3.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 4.5 million
> Most popular album: Riot!
Pearl Jam
> Spotify followers: 3.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 31.5 million
> Most popular album: Ten
Foo Fighters
> Spotify followers: 5.3 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 7 million
> Most popular album: Wasting Light
Black Sabbath
> Spotify followers: 3.0 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 15 million
> Most popular album: Paranoid
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
U2
> Spotify followers: 3.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 52 million
> Most popular album: The Joshua Tree
The Doors
> Spotify followers: 3.2 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 33 million
> Most popular album: The Doors
Fleetwood Mac
> Spotify followers: 2.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 49.5 million
> Most popular album: Rumours
Eagles
> Spotify followers: 2.0 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 120 million
> Most popular album: Hotel California
Bon Jovi
> Spotify followers: 4.2 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 34.5 million
> Most popular album: Slippery When Wet
Aerosmith
> Spotify followers: 5.2 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 66.5 million
> Most popular album: Toys in the Attic
Nirvana
> Spotify followers: 7.3 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 25 million
> Most popular album: Nevermind
Green Day
> Spotify followers: 7.4 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 24 million
> Most popular album: Dookie
Red Hot Chili Peppers
> Spotify followers: 8.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 25 million
> Most popular album: Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Maroon 5
> Spotify followers: 13.2 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 12.5 million
> Most popular album: Songs About Jane
The Rolling Stones
> Spotify followers: 5.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 66.5 million
> Most popular album: Hot Rocks
Guns N’ Roses
> Spotify followers: 8.9 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 44.5 million
> Most popular album: Appetite for Destruction
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
Metallica
> Spotify followers: 8.2 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 63 million
> Most popular album: Metallica
Queen
> Spotify followers: 9.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 34.5 million
> Most popular album: The Game
AC/DC
> Spotify followers: 8.6 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 72 million
> Most popular album: Back in Black
Linkin Park
> Spotify followers: 10.1 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 27 million
> Most popular album: Hybrid Theory
Pink Floyd
> Spotify followers: 7.0 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 75 million
> Most popular album: The Wall
Led Zeppelin
> Spotify followers: 5.8 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 111.5 million
> Most popular album: Led Zeppelin IV
The Beatles
> Spotify followers: 9.5 million
> All time U.S. album sales: 178 million
> Most popular album: The Beatles