Music of Michigan

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The music of Michigan is composed of many different genres. The city of Detroit has been one of the most musically influential and innovative cities for the past 50 years, whether in Michigan or anywhere else in the United States. Impressively, for 48 straight years (1959–2007) a greater Michigan-area artist has produced a chart-topping recording. Michigan is perhaps best known for three developments: early punk rock (or proto-punk), Motown, and techno.

Michigan musicians with a #1 Billboard Hot 100 hit include artists from the 1950s: Guy Mitchell (Rockabilly genre) and Bill Haley (of Bill Haley & His Comets); from the 1960s: Del Shannon, The Supremes, The Marvelettes, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, "The Prince of Soul"; Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Aretha Franklin, "The Queen of Soul" (d. 2018); Mary Wells, Tommy James and the Shondells, and ? and the Mysterians; from the 1970s: Al Green, The Spinners, Grand Funk Railroad, and The Knack; from the 1980s: Madonna, "The Queen of Pop", Bob Seger, and Ray Parker Jr.; from the 1990s: Aaliyah, "The Queen of Urban Pop"; from the 2000s: Eminem (who has had 10 consecutive #1 albums from The Marshall Mathers LP in 2000 to Music to Be Murdered By in 2020). Eminem was the best-selling artist of the 2000s.

Other Detroit musicians with a #1 album on the Billboard 200 include Kid Rock with Rock n Roll Jesus in 2007; Jack White of The White Stripes, with 3 albums (Blunderbuss in 2012, Lazaretto, and Boarding House Reach; Jack White's group The Raconteurs also had a #1 album); Big Sean, with 3 consecutive #1 albums, including Dark Sky Paradise in 2015; and NF, from northern Michigan, with 2 #1 albums, including one in 2018. Eminem's groups D12 and Bad Meets Evil have also had #1 albums. Dej Loaf is the latest hip-hop singer to make national waves. Mike Posner is another notable example. His debut album, 31 Minutes to Takeoff (2010), includes the US Billboard Hot 100 top 10 single "Cooler than Me" as well as the top 20 single "Please Don't Go". In 2016 he released his second album, At Night, Alone. A remix of his 2015 single "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" from the album peaked in the top 10 on the charts in 27 countries around the world, including hitting number one in many and the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. He has written songs for a great number of fellow artists, and is a member of the alternative hip-hop duo Mansionz. Alice Cooper, "The Godfather of Shock Rock," had a #1 Billboard 200 album with the hard rock Billion Dollar Babies in 1973. Additionally, the new-age classic rock band Greta Van Fleet, from Frankenmuth, have been nominated for four Grammy Awards in 2019 and won the Best New Artist award from the 2017 Loudwire Music Awards.^[1]