This by no means is an official indication of popularity…that’s something that can only roughly be estimated. This looks at number of last.fm listeners around the world.
– Radiohead: 2,872,982
– Bob Dylan: 1,511,558
– Pixies: 1,336,206
– Arctic Monkeys: 1,717,157
– Editors: 1,062,559
– Sonic Youth: 1,000,586
– Spoon: 924,767
– Morrissey: 746,011
– Animal Collective: 725,900
– Hot Hot Heat: 714,748
– Elvis Costello: 633,258
– Built to Spill: 538,664
– Dinosaur Jr: 459,611
– The Walkmen: 451,744
– Head Automatica: 299,834
– Deerhunter: 299,689
– Psychedelic Furs: 295,214
– Paul Weller: 294,751
– Louis XIV: 273,512
– The Rifles: 239,431
– Meat Puppets: 224,973
– The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: 215,931
– Sunset Rubdown: 206,829
– Girls: 202,386
– Black Lips: 190,777
– No Age: 152,179
– Mission of Burma: 152,216
– High Places: 117,942
– Handsome Furs: 102,755
– Wavves: 102,375
– Cymbals Eat Guitars: 94,518
– Real Estate: 81,680
– Jay Reatard: 80,453
– Here We Go Magic: 70,184
– The Feelies: 63,382
– The Warlocks: 63,041
– Harlem: 53,371
– Trevor Hall: 47,675
– Kurt Vile: 44,522
– King Khan and the Shrines: 42,623
– Dum Dum Girls: 42,483
– Strange Boys: 30,882
– King Khan & BBQ Show: 29,590
– The War on Drugs: 19,583
– Mark Sultan: 11,798
– Nobunny: 6,413
– Hunx and His Punx: 5,185
– Box Elders: 4,334
– TV Smith: 4,106
– Uninhabitable Mansions: 3,334
– The Dig: 2,561
– Faces on Film: 1,080
– The Big Big Bucks: 598
– The Maine Coons: 67
long live radiohead!
It doesn’t have to be as roughly estimated as you put it. Bob Dylan is definitely the most popular artist we have seen. Hands down. And Elvis Costello and Radiohead are definitely second and third, respecitively. But, if those are the numbers, those are the numbers. Those are the top three, without a doubt.