The Groove

The greatest downtempo artists of all time

101 artists ranked by the Groove — music.nw’s own measure of renown. Not an opinion, a fact computed from the record. Why?

No. 1

Air

France · 1995– · downtempo

18.728

Why this number?

The full board · page 4

73 坂本龍一

Japan · 1952–2023 · ambient 0.456

74 Deep Forest

France · 1992– · ambient 0.447

75 Orbital

United Kingdom · 1989– · techno 0.435

Animal Collective

United States of America · 2000– · neo-psychedelia 0.405

77 Caroline Polachek

United States of America · 1985– · pop 0.400

Nine Inch Nails

United States of America · 1988– · industrial 0.347

Enya

Ireland · 1961– · new age 0.338

80 Nujabes

Japan · 1974–2010 · hip hop 0.326

81 Robert Miles

Italy · 1969–2017 · trance 0.324

The Chemical Brothers

United Kingdom · 1989– · big beat 0.319

Burial

United Kingdom · 1979– · dubstep 0.316

84 Doves

United Kingdom · 1998– · indie rock 0.313

85 Jon Hopkins

United Kingdom · 1979– · idm 0.293

86 Clean Bandit

United Kingdom · 2008– · pop 0.286

87 Mylène Farmer

France · 1961– · electronic 0.271

88 Nouvelle Vague

France · 2003– · bossa nova 0.267

Janet Jackson

United States of America · 1966– · pop 0.263

90 Moloko

United Kingdom · 1993–2006 · trip hop 0.258

Fear Factory

United States of America · 1990– · industrial metal 0.250

92 Ratatat

United States of America · 2001– · electronic 0.242

93 Gotan Project

France · 1999– · tango 0.229

94 Lamb

United Kingdom · 1996– · electronic 0.224

95 M83

France · 2001– · electronic 0.200

Ireland · 1976– · rock 0.182