Jackson. Of course they blow everyone else away musically and lyrically. That's why Steely Dan are amongst the all time great songwriters ! As for this whole web site, wonderfully done though it is, it is based on votes for albums, not artists. The Sex pistols are in the top echelons on the strength of one album. Surely this cannot be fair. Steely Dan are widely regarded as a better group than the Sex Pistols the world over ( certainly by musicians and critics ) yet because of one desperately overrated album the Pistols are thought of as a better group according to this site. Never ! Or is it also because of their image and advertising, which often accounts for the votes of 90% of the public as surely any intelligent person knows. I have asked this question before but why don't you simply add up the points scored by each album, e.g. 1st = 3000 2nd = 2999, etc, etc, and rank the artists that way ? This is surely the fairest way of doing this site. I have been told before that more whoever voted for one sex pistols album than all the Dan albums but that is not the point. If it was just about votes for albums then there should be no artists list. Why should votes for albums decide where an artist should be in the list ? If so then it should be on points accumulated. If all the publications journalists and muicians were asked who was the best artist and not what was your favourite album then I am sure Steely Dan would finsih much higher as they deserve to. I would also be interested to knew where the Dan would stand if the votes for Donald Fagen's Nightfly album were added to the Steely Dan total. The Nightfly is, after all, to all intents and purposes a Steely Dan album. Finally, I apologise if I came across criticising anoynes's taste, it was meant as a humorous remark. Everyone is entitled to listen and have their own favourites. No offence guys.

a compilation of album and songs critical features, that's how the top artists are compiled. In any event, how has Steely Dan fared on best-artists-type lists? The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 (three years after first becoming eligible).

In any event, Pete- you're acting like Steely dan fares poorly via AM's methodology- ranking in the 60s is pretty darn good.

Out of the top 3000-'The Great Eastern', 'Spine Of God' and 'Transmissions From The Sattelite Heart'.
Into the top 3000-'Be Here Now', 'One Hot Minute' and 'K'.
History is bunk.

Not to mention that if you're like me and think songs should get a lot less weight than albums, Steely Dan comes out #46 of all time on the album list.

Anyone who comes out in the top 100 is a legend to me (though I find AM's effectiveness is mostly from 1965-present...thus this doesn't account for EVERY legend in music history, but I'd say the vast majority of the ones from the past 45-50 years.)