thumbnail

Pre 2000s Artists in the Top 500 on Spotify

On Spotify, around 80% of artists in the top 500 started their careers in the 2000s. Can you name every artist who began before the year 2000?
Based on number of listeners as of 9/14/2024
Only includes artists that released an official album prior to 2000. Artists greyed out performed prior to that.
Based off this list.
Quiz by UG332
Rate:
Last updated: September 16, 2024
You have not attempted this quiz yet.
First submittedFebruary 25, 2021
Times taken56,597
Average score57.6%
Rating4.55
20:00
Enter artist here
0
 / 92 guessed
The quiz is paused. You have remaining.
Scoring
You scored / = %
This beats or equals % of test takers also scored 100%
The average score is
Your high score is
Your fastest time is
Keep scrolling down for answers and more stats ...
Ranking
Listeners
Artist(s)
Song
6
89,235,801
Coldplay
Viva la Vida
14
75,235,182
Eminem
The Real Slim Shady
23
62,981,609
Shakira
Hips Don't Lie
42
53,174,443
Queen
Bohemian Rhapsody
51
49,203,693
Elton John
Rocket Man
52
48,509,693
Linkin Park
Numb
60
44,950,380
Michael Jackson
Billie Jean
69
42,787,287
Black Eyed Peas
Pump It
72
42,590,426
Usher
DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love
80
40,213,393
Madonna
Like a Virgin
81
40,031,738
Britney Spears
...Baby One More Time
85
39,396,021
Justin Timberlake
SexyBack
87
39,153,229
AC/DC
Highway to Hell
98
37,107,653
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Californication
99
37,063,958
The Beatles
Here Comes The Sun
100
36,960,678
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Fortunate Son
103
36,756,779
Lil Wayne
A Milli
108
35,795,975
Jay-Z
Empire State of Mind
108
35,884,577
Green Day
Basket Case
113
35,243,640
Alicia Keys
No One
116
35,220,422
Fleetwood Mac
Go Your Own Way
128
33,040,171
ABBA
Dancing Queen
132
32,760,511
Nirvana
Smells Like Teen Spirit
138
32,108,517
Oasis
Wonderwall
148
31,181,754
TOTO
Africa
149
31,177,397
Guns N' Roses
Sweet Child O' Mine
155
30,587,091
Bon Jovi
Livin' On a Prayer
158
30,287,903
The Police
Every Breath You Take
162
29,854,861
*NSYNC
Bye Bye Bye
165
29,606,983
Radiohead
Creep
171
29,071,384
Snoop Dogg
Drop It Like It's Hot
179
28,648,944
The Rolling Stones
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
182
28,256,587
Train
Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)
189
27,193,688
Metallica
Enter Sandman
193
27,062,696
Christina Aguilera
Genie in a Bottle
194
26,914,867
Enrique Iglesias
Bailando
202
26,325,105
a-ha
Take On Me
204
26,299,303
Earth, Wind & Fire
September
206
26,284,493
Jennifer Lopez
Let's Get Loud
207
26,185,839
Nelly Furtado
Promiscuous
206
26,330,868
Bee Gees
Stayin' Alive
209
26,121,938
The Cranberries
Zombie
212
26,077,998
Bob Marley & The Wailers
Three Little Birds
215
25,992,660
Billy Joel
Piano Man
218
25,970,343
Backstreet Boys
I Want It That Way
220
25,854,053
Mariah Carey
We Belong Together
222
25,643,959
Outkast
Ms. Jackson
224
25,594,727
Journey
Don't Stop Believin'
225
25,590,603
Elvis Presley
Jailhouse Rock
230
25,217,867
Bruce Springsteen
Born in the U.S.A.
232
25,109,205
Hall and Oates
You Make My Dreams Come True
233
25,100,367
Whitney Houston
I Will Always Love You
245
24,261,708
The Goo Goo Dolls
Iris
252
23,880,412
Dr. Dre
The Next Episode
254
23,770,600
System Of A Down
Toxicity
264
23,400,078
Dolly Parton
Jolene
267
23,303,005
Nickelback
How You Remind Me
272
23,142,121
Phil Collins
In The Air Tonight
276
23,053,020
The Notorious B.I.G.
Big Poppa
279
22,932,833
Aerosmith
Dream On
284
22,860,912
2Pac
California Love
299
22,485,168
Bryan Adams
Summer of '69
316
22,065,695
Blink-182
All The Small Things
321
21,889,069
Disturbed
Down with the Sickness
322
21,836,418
Eagles
Hotel California
323
21,804,064
Marvin Gaye
I Heard It Through the Grapevine
336
21,063,126
Timbaland
The Way I Are
339
20,946,678
Daft Punk
Get Lucky
340
20,853,575
Tears For Fears
Everybody Wants To Rule The World
350
20,571,256
U2
Sunday Bloody Sunday
355
20,363,461
Nile Rodgers
Le Freak
357
20,317,149
Foo Fighters
Everlong
360
20,217,038
Bill Withers
Ain't No Sunshine
365
20,065,657
Annie Lennox
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
366
20,059,346
George Michael
Careless Whisper
374
19,750,786
Nelly
Hot in Herre
376
19,687,408
The Offspring
You're Gonna Go Far, Kid
378
19,650,805
Cyndi Lauper
Girls Just Want to Have Fun
380
19,623,055
Dido
Thank You
383
19,543,891
Van Morrison
Brown Eyed Girl
384
19,517,533
Coolio
Gangsta's Paradise
403
18,954,525
Dire Straits
Sultans of Swing
408
18,715,233
Stevie Wonder
Superstition
409
18,687,662
Pink Floyd
Another Brick In The Wall
416
18,476,607
Celine Dion
My Heart Will Go On
418
18,448,393
The Outfield
Your Love
424
18,345,996
R.E.M.
Losing My Religion
440
17,841,968
Led Zeppelin
Stairway To Heaven
446
17,651,037
The Cure
Friday I'm In Love
449
17,535,125
Luis Miguel
La Incondicional
453
17,506,577
The Smiths
There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
457
17,495,316
Frank Sinatra
Fly Me To the Moon
459
17,473,936
Eurythmics
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
468
17,342,289
John Mayer
Waiting On the World to Change
469
17,304,931
Maná
Oye Mi Amor
470
17,264,224
Shaggy
It Wasn't Me
478
16,910,986
David Bowie
Starman
485
16,694,929
The White Stripes
Seven Nation Army
492
16,522,019
The Strokes
Last Nite
498
16,431,772
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Sweet Home Alabama
500
16,358,921
Muse
Supermassive Black Hole
74 Comments
+11
Level 70
Sep 15, 2024
Some near misses as of the 2024 update:

Gwen Stefani, Black Sabbath, Sade, Evanescence, Bob Dylan, TLC, Ricky Martin, Foreigner, Weezer, Aretha Franklin, The Clash, Tammi Terrell, Simon & Garfunkel, Kylie Minogue, Ice Cube, Destiny's Child, ELO, Kiss, Lenny Kravitz, Shania Twain, Tim McGraw, Paul McCartney, Scorpions, & Depeche Mode.

All within 2m listeners from 500th place.

+7
Level 86
Sep 28, 2021
I like the quiz idea, but could use genres as an extra hint. Also, maybe go over the decades once more to check for typos? I can tell you that e.g. Metallica definitely had some albums in the 80's while the hint reads 90's. In fact, some people might even argue that they haven't released an album since the 80's...
+5
Level 79
Sep 28, 2021
Maybe a specific album would be better instead of genres
+20
Level 84
Nov 2, 2021
Some of the song choices seemed a bit obscure, but great fun quiz :)
+1
Level 38
Mar 10, 2025
i think it was each artists biggest song
+10
Level 82
Nov 2, 2021
The picture you've used for the quiz is of a statue at Liverpool's Albert Dock, and is of Liverpool musician Billy Fury, not Elvis as I assume you intended.
+6
Level ∞
Nov 2, 2021
That's funny. Changed it to an actual Elvis statue.
+4
Level 70
Nov 2, 2021
Omg really LOL
+2
Level 82
Nov 3, 2021
I don't think Uprising came until 2009.
+7
Level 70
Nov 3, 2021
Nor was Empire State of Mind, Rockstar or Drops of Jupiter. I wasn't trying to do songs just from before the 90s. I just tried picking something known from each artist.
+8
Level 75
Nov 3, 2021
How is Prince missing? Shocking
+4
Level 70
Nov 3, 2021
Yeah Prince is very close to the mark, just sitting around 9.68 million as of today
+2
Level 82
Nov 4, 2021
And also surprised Van Halen is as low as they are, even below the Scorpions?
+10
Level 63
Nov 12, 2021
Prince famously kept a lot of his music off of streaming platforms for a very long time, even posthumously.
+3
Level 58
Nov 14, 2021
How is Phil Collins on it but Genesis are not? Seriously?
+5
Level 24
Apr 27, 2022
In the Air Tonight is huge.
+4
Level 80
Nov 5, 2021
I can't find any lists that match your rankings. What's your source?
+2
Level 76
Nov 5, 2021
Spotify, probably. They show the listeners of each artist on their profile and the rankings of those in the top 500. Since the data was taken a month ago and the listener counts update daily, you won't be able to see the exact same numbers again, although it should (mostly) be pretty close.
+7
Level 70
Nov 7, 2021
Yeah there's no source I just have a sheet of names I will check every update. Since it changes everyday it's hard to keep track. Last time I checked only one artist was missing from the top 500 last time I checked.
+5
Level 80
Dec 28, 2023
Kudos on maintaining records. That’s probably a fair amount of work!
+5
Level 63
Nov 9, 2021
I'm surprised that Elton John is ranked #2 on this list. I know the movie Rocketman came out like 2 years ago and then there's the Lion King but still surprising, especially when I look at lower entries.
+10
Level 68
Nov 12, 2021
He's just released a new album and had a number 1 single in the UK (with Dua Lipa) so his new stuff has propelled him up the rankings.
+8
Level 59
Nov 12, 2021
Nice quiz, I would accept SOAD for System of a Down though
+3
Level 75
Nov 13, 2021
Seconded
+2
Level 72
Nov 26, 2021
Same remark here :)
+2
Level 91
Nov 12, 2021
So like me...I got one only 28 % get (Toxicity), but missed one 85% guess (All I want for Christmas...). ;)
+2
Level 81
Nov 12, 2021
I'm going to use this list for some music listening today. There's some really good songs there.
+1
Level 72
Nov 12, 2021
If the song is Islands in the Stream, then you should also accept Kenny Rogers, since the song is actually a duet.
+2
Level 70
Nov 13, 2021
As much as I love Roger's music, that would defeat the purpose. Besides this is probably the most famous song that Dolly was in besides maybe Jolene.
+3
Level 32
Nov 13, 2021
I actually got Dolly from typing it as the answer to I Will Always Love You. XD
+1
Level 95
Mar 21, 2022
Same lol
+3
Level 78
Nov 13, 2021
instructions are a little confusing - it says 'decade is based on what decade the album came out...' but there's no reference in the quiz itself to decade, i'm guessing this was removed? in which case please change the hint to explain how the song was chosen for each artist. and i'm still unclear on why some are already filled in.

(also please accept eurhythmics, given you accept eurythmics?)

+4
Level 75
Nov 13, 2021
But Eurythmics is the band name and Eurhythmics is not/ could still be added as a common typo I suppose.
+1
Level 48
Nov 14, 2021
Nice quiz! Easy 5 points for me
+2
Level 58
Nov 15, 2021
Surprised not to see Daft Punk on here
+1
Level 63
Nov 16, 2021
I feel like now that they've split up people will listen to their old stuff a lot because it's kind of nostalgic. I've seen a video about their usage of samples recently and I'm impressed.
+1
Level 82
Jun 26, 2023
And they're back!
+1
Level 58
Nov 17, 2021
Can you please also put in the date they were made, if you can?
+1
Level 70
Nov 17, 2021
Are you asking when they entered the top 500 or what date I compiled the data from?
+1
Level 56
Oct 24, 2024
Probably the date the song was released
+2
Level 54
Jun 15, 2022
I kept retyping TLC for Creep thinking I was someone misspelling 3 letters. Oh, Radiohead, duh. 🤣
+4
Level 71
Jun 22, 2022
Might have to add the legend Kate Bush now. Haha
+2
Level 70
Jun 23, 2022
Holy crap, she definitely might make it once I revisit it again in October
+3
Level 93
Jul 28, 2022
NGL, absolutely floored about the love for Nickelback.
+1
Level 67
Oct 6, 2022
I love torturing my wife with playing and singing Photograph. I think it's so bad that it is good, but she disagrees.
+8
Level 78
Oct 6, 2022
The band is not "The Eagles". It is just "Eagles". They made this official for legal or tax reasons.
+4
Level 70
Oct 6, 2022
And nobody really cares
+2
Level 66
Oct 7, 2022
Nice one.Thank you.
+1
Level 70
Oct 8, 2022
Thank you :)
+4
Level 85
Oct 13, 2022
In some cases, the song listed might account for most if not all of the plays
+2
Level 67
Oct 24, 2024
I thought that too, but I looked out of curiosity, and even the one-hit wonders all seem to have at least a few songs with a lot of listens. A-Ha is one I looked up. Take On Me has a staggering 2.1 billion plays, but they also have songs (none of which I've heard) with over 98 million, 97 million, and 80 million plays. Coolio has 2.7 billion plays for Gangsta's Paradise, but then three over 39 million, 27 million, and 10 million listens, respectively. Those are not bad numbers. I tried to find an artist that dropped from like 100 million plays to under 200,000, and it's hard to do. Toni Basil's top four tracks are four different versions of Mickey totaling about 17 million plays...then a song with 125,000 plays. Every other one-hit wonder has at least one or two songs with around 8 or 10 million plays.
+3
Level 38
Apr 20, 2023
Disappointed that Rick Astley wasn't on this list
+1
Level 82
Jun 26, 2023
If it was total internet streams he'd surely be up there haha
+2
Level 64
May 27, 2023
This is such a great quiz!!! I was kicking myself at the end, I can hum the tunes of almost all of these to memory but I guess I have no mind for artists!
+2
Level 82
Jul 29, 2023
I'm surprised Nickleback wasn't one of your highlighted rows.
+2
Level 62
Nov 15, 2023
Their first album, Curb, came out in 1996. They didn't blow up until 2000-2001 though.
+1
Level 46
Sep 17, 2023
Accept Beyonce for Destiny's Child?
+1
Level 20
Jan 3, 2024
I had forgotten that there was a remake of Africa so I was growing increasingly frustrated that it would not accept my answer.
+1
Level 48
Jan 19, 2024
67/87. And I'm 17
+2
Level 61
Jan 20, 2024
limp bizkit started before 2000 and has more than 13M listeners on spotify
+1
Level 70
Jan 20, 2024
I remember them not making the list and as of today's date, they are not in the top 500 but your numbers are correct
+1
Level 63
May 24, 2024
wasnt til i collapse in 2002?
+1
Level 81
Sep 15, 2024
As far as I'm aware Avril Lavigne didn't release her first album until 2002. She'd performed before 2000 and featured on an album (Stephen Medd's Quinte Spirit in 1999) but she hadn't had her own album prior to 2000.
+1
Level 71
Sep 15, 2024
What is Avril doing on this list? Her first album was released in 2002
+1
Level 55
Oct 24, 2024
Somehow I got Earth wind and fire plus Daft Punk but missed ABBA....
+1
Level 92
Oct 24, 2024
Hard to believe that the Outfield makes the list. They were only really popular in the US and only had one song of note. Their catalog was 4 or 5 albums and none outside of the first one sold much. Don't get me wrong "Your Love" is a great song one of the best old fashioned rock songs of the 80s, but are they any more in the world consciousness than someone like Level 42 unlisted, Pet Shop Boys #1521 or Swing Out Sister unlisted (random British bands of that era that had a deeper catalog)? Is there some sort of pop culture reference that makes them better known than I imagine?
+2
Level 92
Oct 24, 2024
Looks like 60% of the answers are artists that debuted a few years prior to 2000 and had lasting appeal at least through 2010 and the rest are all timers with extensive music catalogs that are in the English speaking world's collective consciousness. The only other artist that is anywhere close to The Outfield in terms of obscurity and lack of recent popularity is Chic/Nile Rodgers. Chic had at least 2 bigger songs than the Outfield and their catalog has been among the most sampled in modern music so it makes some sense. The Outfield is completely out of "leftfield" for lack of better terms.
+2
Level 70
Oct 24, 2024
Currently, the Outfield has 17.1m listeners and is 465th on Spotify. If it weren't for the source I wouldn't have even thought to check them.
+2
Level 92
Oct 25, 2024
Thanks, I am not questioning the validity of the data. Looking YouTube for the best known song of each band I brought up "Your Love" has around 750 million views, "West End Girls" 200 million, "Something about You" 40 million and "Breakout" 30 million. So it tracks with Spotify as well. I am just stumped how they are so popular because I can't find anything that would indicate that they have any contemporary pop culture reference. Again it is a great song but not something I would have expected to endure.
+3
Level 53
Oct 24, 2024
The description of the greyed out is unclear. Is it that they performed (or released singles) before 2000, but didn't release an album before 2000?

I had to read it 3 or 4 times to come to that understanding. I think it should be reworded.

+2
Level 70
Oct 24, 2024
Performed could mean singles, the band was formed or had unofficial releases during this time.
+1
Level 56
Oct 31, 2024
Surprising that there isn't a single artist from outside the anglosphere.
+2
Level 90
Nov 8, 2024
Except, there are? I would think that the artists who sang La Incondicional, Oye Mi Amor, and Bailando would all qualify.
+1
Level 54
Nov 22, 2024
The greatest musical era!