This "The Beatles are on top hands down" rengaine doesn't work for everything. They sold more records than anyone else, this is as safe as it can be. Yet, if we ask if they are more known than Bob Marley, the answer is at the very least nowhere near as obvious as it seems.

To make it simple, everyone know both of them in America (the entire continent), Europe, Japan, Oceania. The Beatles win easily in China. Bob Marley wins easily in both India and Africa, although a decent number of people would know the Beatles (at least in former African English-speaking colonies). If we had to count one by one persons in the World who are able to tell they are music performers for each of them, I definitely wouldn't bet much money on who would win!

Some poll etc many years ago, that was published in the UK press suggested that Marley was the most recognisable musician on a wordwide basis. Not the most popular, just that his image was the most well known and recognised.

These are the current "Fame" ratings from UK Government statistics, Marley comes in 9th, The Beatles 17th. Paul McCartney (11th) actually proves to be more well known than The Beatles!

https://yougov.co.uk/ratings/entertainment/fame/all-time-music-artists/all

It's a poll, how reliable is it? Why should we trust it?

It states Britney Spears and Coldplay are more well known than MJ. Really?

Please.....

What is YouGov Ratings?

YouGov Ratings measures the popularity and fame of anything and everything, based on millions of responses from the British public. It is the biggest and boldest attempt ever made to quantify what Britain thinks.

YouGov is doing this by publishing nationally representative popularity scores for thousands of things. YouGov Ratings is built on top of our accurate and precise methodology, which the Pew Research Center says "consistently outperformed" other online polling companies.

Going on the above description of how their polls are collated and compiled, I'd say it's 100% trustworthy and reliable.

But hey, it obviously doesn't suit your agenda or come in line with your thoughts on the subject, which are obviously far more reliable and trustworthy than a poll based on millions of responses, so yeah it must just be an unfounded pile of shite and lies.

It's just very hard to believe someone like Britney Spears or Coldplay are more well known in the UK than Michael Jackson, and that the BEATLES are 17th in their HOME country. Lady Gaga is long past her peak too, its very strange she is number 1.

I wonder what @MJD has to say this. Do you think Britney Spears is more well known than MJ?

I think you're assuming younger generations are as aware of acts like Jackson, The Beatles or Elvis, as older generations are. Many of them may pay little to no attention to acts of yesteryear.

It doesn't matter what I think, clearly she is amongst the demographic.

I don't live in the UK but it is indeed hard to believe that Britney would be more famous than MJ over there... Her biggest album sold 1m copies in 1999, which is actually less than what History sold in 95/96 (1.5m), not to mention Thriller and Bad which sold 5m both. Then you have the celebrity/tabloid aspect, and I'm pretty sure MJ beats her in that contest...

I do live there and I'd say her life turns up in the tabloids far more often than Jacksons. The past few months she's been in the spotlight again, due to that documentary about her fathers conservatorship.

She's seldom been out of the tabloids over the past 20 years. Be it for her rise to stardom, her success, her relationships, her breakdowns, her car crash life, her getting things back together, her comebacks, her relapses, her fathers conservatorship etc etc etc

There was obviously quite a furore around Jackons death and then the Leaving Neverland documentary but he certainly hasn't seemed to crop up as often and as regularly as Spears has. Obviously him being dead, would be reasoning for that!

MJ has been famous for far longer than Britney. You can't just count the younger generation, they are in the minority.

And how the hell did GAGA get to the top? She's out of her prime since 2011, and her latest album performed poorly. There are far more famous acts in the UK currently, like Taylor Swift who is massive in the UK, but she's nowhere top 10.

Look at their STREAMS and MJ has both, Madonna and Britney beat by a miles, so how are they more known, if MJ gets streamed more?

Yes you can, older generations recognise both The Beatles and Spears, some of the younger generation only recognise Spears.

Its got nothing to do with how much you sold or streamed. Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd have sold far more than Whitney Houston, The Bee Gees, Bob Marley, Oasis or Prince but they are infinitely more recognisable than either Floyd or Zeppelin.

I'd imagine because Ga Ga is so very recognisable, contemporary and starred in one of the biggest films of recent years, with a succesful album and single, on the back of it.

At the end of the day, the results are the results and I believe them to be an honest and untatined reflection of who people recognise.

By the way, MJ is #1 with millenials while Britney is #5, and when it comes to baby boomers, MJ is... #219 ! 😆

Another thing I would note is that his posthumous album Michael (2014) sold more than Britney's last three albums combined, i.e. 2011's Femme Fatale, 2013's Britney Jean and 2016's Glory.

Again, how successful an artist is, does not determine how recognisable they are.

And what about MJ being the 219th most famous artist with baby boomers ? Surely you don't believe that ?

It is surprising but if that's where he is, that's where he is and it's not as if he's unknown to BBs, he is known by 97% of them.

Wow...

Just so people understand, here's what we're talking about, i.e. the most famous musicians in the UK :

210. The Tremeloes
211. Roger Whittaker
212. Pete Townshend
213. Blondie
214. The Stylistics
215. Sandie Shaw
216. Mick Hucknall
217. Charles Aznavour
218. Cilla Black
219. Michael Jackson

And you think it's... "surprising" ? It's obviously total nonsense. Are you working for Yougov or something ? 😆