I'm excited to contribute. Since the OP is asking for our "top 20 artists," not our "top 20 artists of all time," I'm planning on taking that literally and focusing on right now and the 20 artists that I have bouncing around my head at all times. There's some crossover on those lists, but I'll probably add some artists that have just one or two albums, that I've just gotten into listening to but am really excited about, etc.

And they absolutely must be ranked, correct?

Please no one read or judge me for my 2006 list. I was a freshman in college then---I wasn't fully formed into the cool, worldly guy that I am now.
YET ANOTHER REASON WHY WE NEED TO DELETE THE OLD BOARD. There are a lot of embarrassing music opinions just sitting there

Yeah, rank them. Higher-ranked entries earn more points. I suppose if not enough people contribute and the lists vary too widely, I might need to switch to a pure tally count, but let's go with ranking them for now.

wait.. are we supposed to post what we think are RM's top 20 artists? cause that would change everything

Yeah, everyone gets to decide on whatever criteria they want when writing their lists. Your list is yours.

Personally, I'm going with more of an all-time approach. Probably 80% of my listening over the last couple weeks has been Laura Marling. I really like her stuff, but there's no way she's making the list. I haven't really been in a Dylan phase since maybe summer 2019 or so, but he's still gonna be in my top five.

But your list is yours. Rank it and write it how you please.

Post what you think are the top 20 artists. Not RM's. Yours.

Nope. Send me a PM with your personal top twenty artists. I'll put them all together in a big spreadsheet, tally the points, and announce the winners.

What if we all get assigned a specific RMer To create a list of what we think are or should be their top 20

That would be a different thread and a different game, tree

everyone make blue traveler their number one so argo feels better

DELETE THE OLD BOARD

Is it what you think are the top 20 artists or your favorite top 20 artists? Those can be very different.

It's a perennial question. Favorite...Top...Best...

Is it the artists you enjoy the most or the ones you recognize to be the most influential? It's your list. You get to decide the criteria

If everyone only contributes one or two artists to this list every contribution will be in the top 100 most likely

Jorge's gonna be pissed

everyone just submit your spotify 2020 most played list so the truth can be told

Why? They can most certainly be mutually exclusive. I can acknowledge the fact that Bob Dylan is one of the greatest artists of all time, but he’s nowhere near one of my favorites.

Tell me what to do!!

Some would say that there isn't a difference between "favorite" and "best." It's all subjective. Jorge and LV have fought this battle multiple times here in pages of RM.