The Groove

The greatest synth-pop artists of all time

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

No. 1

Depeche Mode

United Kingdom · 1980– · electronic

40.494

Why this number?

The full board · page 4

73 MARINA

United Kingdom · 1985– · pop 0.948

74 Ace of Base

Sweden · 1990– · pop 0.945

75 George Michael

United Kingdom · 1963–2016 · pop 0.942

76 Crystal Castles

Canada · 2006–2017 · electronic 0.937

77 Legião Urbana

Brazil · 1982–1996 · rock 0.930

78 Pulp

United Kingdom · 1978– · britpop 0.923

79 Lily Allen

United Kingdom · 1985– · pop 0.916

80 A Flock of Seagulls

United Kingdom · 1980– · new wave 0.900

81 Frankie Goes to Hollywood

United Kingdom · 1982–2023 · alternative dance 0.900

twenty one pilots

United States of America · 2009– · pop rock 0.880

83 Metric

Canada · 1998– · indie rock 0.862

84 Kero Kero Bonito

United Kingdom · 2011– · electronic 0.840

85 M2M

Norway · 1998–2002 · pop rock 0.840

86 Ava Max

United States of America · 1994– · pop 0.830

87 Yazoo

United Kingdom · 1982–1983 · new wave 0.825

88 Ellie Goulding

United Kingdom · 1986– · electropop 0.824

89 Alphaville

Germany · 1983– · new wave 0.797

90 Trevor Jones

South Africa · 1949– · pop rock 0.785

91 Thomas Dolby

United Kingdom · 1958– · new wave 0.779

浜崎あゆみ

Japan · 1978– · pop 0.767

93 Mindless Self Indulgence

United States of America · 1997– · electronic 0.766

94 Röyksopp

Norway · 1998– · downtempo 0.746

95 Ministry

United States of America · 1981– · industrial 0.729

96 Phoenix

France · 1999– · indie rock 0.722