Has Taylor Swift overtaken Britney Spears as the biggest female music icon of all time?

[Boomb]

Short memory catching up ???!!!

Short memory, fried brain, maybe even cte...you name it...

 

[triptych]

Yeah that's what I said.



Maybe I'm getting old but the whole vibe is weird as fuck to me. Why is this 30 year old woman waving her camel toe in a bunch of 14 year old girls' faces?

It's fucking weird.

Bill Haley was well over 40 when he shoved his love curl in front of his teeny bopper fans in the 50s .....so ???!!!!

 

[Joe]

This^
She’s supposed to be this bigger than life pop star, yet I can’t name a single song of hers.

But on the other hand, I’m old, what do I know.

Swift is massive on social media. Her music is the background to thousands of instagram and tik tok videos.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I would guess she would need to pass these two in order to take that spot.

She may have passed them, I have no idea. Hard to compare eras.

Celine doesn't really feel like an icon to me. Obviously hugely popular though.

 

[jefferz]

Celine doesn't really feel like an icon to me. Obviously hugely popular though.

I think we're getting to that point where teenagers don't know who these people are.

They probably know I will always love you, but most couldn't tell you a Madonna song. Heck, I can probably only name 5 Madonna songs, and I graduated in the early 2000's.

 

[Sweater of AV]

Celine doesn't really feel like an icon to me. Obviously hugely popular though.

It's tough to say. I would agree there are probably better choices than Dion for "iconic" but I would still put her in that category. When you're consistently rated as one of the greatest voices of all time, highly influential for vocalists, and immensely popular then I'd put you in the category of "icon."

When I initially answered I was thinking more about popularity/sales though. After thinking about what "iconic" really means, Taylor Swift is extremely popular but she really hasn't done anything new or iconic. In 30 years will people know the difference between one of her songs and another pop star's right now? I doubt it but maybe I'm just too out of touch with what's going on. Maybe she's iconic in terms of defining the social media era but that seems to be about it.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

It's tough to say. I would agree there are probably better choices than Dion for "iconic" but I would still put her in that category. When you're consistently rated as one of the greatest voices of all time, highly influential for vocalists, and immensely popular then I'd put you in the category of "icon."

When I initially answered I was thinking more about popularity/sales though. After thinking about what "iconic" really means, Taylor Swift is extremely popular but she really hasn't done anything new or iconic. In 30 years will people know the difference between one of her songs and another pop star's right now? I doubt it but maybe I'm just too out of touch with what's going on. Maybe she's iconic in terms of defining the social media era but that seems to be about it.

I think the whole Swifties phenomenon makes her pretty iconic in a sense. Whether she'll be an enduring icon obviously remains to be seen but she's pretty iconic right now.

Celine I guess I think of as something old people like to put on in the car rather than someone who inspires a rabid fanbase.

 

[Sweater of AV]

I think the whole Swifties phenomenon makes her pretty iconic in a sense. Whether she'll be an enduring icon obviously remains to be seen but she's pretty iconic right now.

Celine I guess I think of as something old people like to put on in the car rather than someone who inspires a rabid fanbase.

Hmm I don't really see how that's different than popularity.

Yeah, I think there's a tendency to think that but I was blown away at how many people love her and how many vocalists cite her as an influence. People actually seem to lose their shit when she shows up to things.

A rabid fanbase is also still a popularity thing imho. It's probably helpful to have a definition of "iconic" and then go from there.

 

[Madmick]

Thought I'd TTT this thread about the Taylor (and the poll thread it inspired) when everyone couldn't get away from her during the NFL playoffs. Just to put into perspective how not-yet-the-biggest-thing-ever Taylor remains for the Gen Z grasshoppers around here.

The Most Popular Song Each Month since Jan. 1980

In case you missed this from YouTube comment section:

ARTISTS WITH MOST SONGS IN THE VIDEO

• 19 SONGS = Madonna
• 16 SONGS = Michael Jackson
• 14 SONGS = Mariah Carey
• 13 SONGS = Rihanna
• 9 SONGS = Britney Spears; Eminem
• 8 SONGS = Beyonce; Lady Gaga; Bruno Mars
• 7 SONGS = The Black Eyed Peas; Katy Perry; Ariana Grande; Justin Bieber
• 6 SONGS = Maroon 5
• 5 SONGS = George Michael; Whitney Houston ;Celine Dion; Christina Aguilera; Shakira; Taylor Swift; The Weeknd; Drake

 

[PeterGriffin]

Over 16 years ('84 to '00) currently 65 year-old Madonna put up 12 chart-topping hits and I doubt she ever sniffs #1 again.

Over 12 years and at only 34 years old, Swift has put 11 songs atop the chart, had the biggest-selling concert tour of all time generating over $1.0b in sales, and is the first billionaire personally with the majority of earnings coming specifically from music. The best tour Madonna ever put together was less than half that.

Madonna might be up by 1 chart-topper at the moment, but when Taylor wraps her career, suspect she'll pass Madonna, Whitney Houston and The Supremes. She might not catch Mariah Carey as the most successful female artist of all time based purely on #1's, but I don't see female singer putting up Swift's kind of bank account numbers.

 

[Madmick]

Over 16 years ('84 to '00) currently 65 year-old Madonna put up 12 chart-topping hits and I doubt she ever sniffs #1 again.

Over 12 years and at only 34 years old, Swift has put 11 songs atop the chart, had the biggest-selling concert tour of all time generating over $1.0b in sales, and is the first billionaire personally with the majority of earnings coming specifically from music. The best tour Madonna ever put together was less than half that.

Madonna might be up by 1 chart-topper at the moment, but when Taylor wraps her career, suspect she'll pass Madonna, Whitney Houston and The Supremes. She might not catch Mariah Carey as the most successful female artist of all time based purely on #1's, but I don't see female singer putting up Swift's kind of bank account numbers.

Taylor's debut album came out in 2006. She already has 18 years as a published recording artist under her belt.

LOL. Taylor had a #1 hit? In an era where people leaving their phones or TV on while they walk into another room or go to sleep and an album's deep tracks rack up hundreds of millions of streaming "demand expressions" on Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, or a half dozen other app services? Where #1 hits rarely last more than a week?

Olivia Rodrigo has two albums. Already has 3 #1 hits. Every single song on her debut album broke the Spotify Global Top 50 during the album's debut week for the reason I mentioned above.

How about Taylor's contemporaries? Ariana Grande has 9 #1 hits. Whoopsy, Rihanna has 14 #1 hits! Tay-tay ain't even the top dawg of her generation!

And if we're going off hit counts, Mariah Carey has 19 #1 hits. She the most iconic female singer of all time?

 

[PeterGriffin]

Taylor's debut album came out in 2006. She already has 18 years as a published recording artist under her belt.

LOL. Taylor had a #1 hit? In an era where people leaving their phones or TV on while they walk into another room or go to sleep and an album's deep tracks rack up hundreds of millions of streaming "demand expressions" on Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, or a half dozen other app services? Where #1 hits rarely last more than a week?

Olivia Rodrigo has two albums. Already has 3 #1 hits. Every single song on her debut album broke the Spotify Global Top 50 during the album's debut week for the reason I mentioned above.

How about Taylor's contemporaries? Ariana Grande has 9 #1 hits. Whoopsy, Rihanna has 14 #1 hits! Tay-tay ain't even the top dawg of her generation!

And if we're going off hit counts, Mariah Carey has 19 #1 hits. She the most iconic female singer of all time?

I am not getting into discussing hypotheticals with other up and coming artists or long-established singers, but TS started with the comparisons between Britney and Taylor and the general consensus debate almost immediately became a Madonna/Taylor comparison (rightfully so). And I believe I already acknowledged she still isn't the current number one (in terms of number #1 hits), but given respective times left in their music careers, unless Swift quits within a year or two, she is very likely to end up with more number #1's and bigger industry numbers than Madonna and will certainly reign atop the earners from global tours.

I am old, and I prefer Madonna's music over Swift's every day of the week and twice on Sundays, and I believe most older folks are probably going to be of a similar mindset given the two artists.. Madonna's music has aged well, and carries a nostalgia we still remember to the day, the concerts, the school dances, the radio... Madonna was everywhere. So yes that certainly fits the bill as iconic and it is what resonates with us.

That being said, the younger generations will continue embrace Taylor even more than they already have, so in the end, I think her becoming "more iconic" than Madonna is inevitable. Her starpower is iconic... to them. And 20 years down the road, we still won't agree with it.

PS:

Also, of Rihanna's 14 number one hits, 8 were collaborations with other artists as famous, if not more, famous than her. Eminem, Drake, Jay-Z.. and she was absolute shit in concert, easily one of the worst concert performances ever (for me), but she opened for Akon so what can you do? Not even a concert I would have gone to in the first place, but happy wife, happy life.

Our Lady Peace can put on a damn good live show though. Maybe it was just the venue, but they sounded amazing.