The Groove

The greatest folk artists of all time

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

No. 1

Bob Dylan

United States of America · 1941– · folk rock

33.004

Why this number?

The full board · page 2

25 Fleet Foxes

United States of America · 2006– · folk rock 1.776

26 David Donatien

France · 1970– · folk 1.460

27 Yael Naïm

France · 1978– · folk 1.460

Sufjan Stevens

United States of America · 1975– · indie folk 1.458

29 Iron & Wine

United States of America · 1974– · folk rock 1.345

John Lennon

United Kingdom · 1940–1980 · rock 1.331

31 Wardruna

Norway · 2003– · folk 1.325

32 KT Tunstall

United Kingdom · 1975– · folk 1.295

Wilco

United States of America · 1994– · rock 1.291

34 Billy Bragg

United Kingdom · 1957– · folk 1.291

35 Suzanne Vega

United States of America · 1959– · rock 1.260

Beyoncé

United States of America · 1981– · pop 1.248

37 Beth Orton

United Kingdom · 1970– · folk 1.245

38 Norah Jones

United States of America · 1979– · jazz 1.120

39 Fairport Convention

United Kingdom · 1967– · folk rock 1.100

40 Jeff Buckley

United States of America · 1966–1997 · rock 0.879

41 Nina Simone

United States of America · 1933–2003 · jazz 0.870

42 Manu Chao

France · 1961– · folk 0.866

Carly Rae Jepsen

Canada · 1985– · pop 0.840

44 The Shins

United States of America · 1997– · indie rock 0.830

Ulver

Norway · 1992– · black metal 0.830

46 José González

Sweden · 1978– · folk rock 0.830

The Beatles

United Kingdom · 1960–1970 · rock 0.790

Ed Sheeran

United Kingdom · 1991– · pop 0.737