About seven decades ago, a rock and roll group called The Beatles was formed in Liverpool, England. They would go on to make 27 separate No. 1 singles and become the top selling band of all time.

Musical ensembles have been around since there was music. But it was not until amplifiers were introduced and recording technology rapidly improved in the early to mid-20th century that rock and pop bands became the cultural touchstones they are today. Solo artists like Elvis Presley paved the way in the 1950s, but The Beatles truly kicked off a global obsession with rock and roll and pop music.

Every year since The Beatles were formed in 1957, at least one massively popular band — and usually many — came together. Based on measures of popularity, including records sales, Wikipedia page views, billboard charts, and more, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the most famous band formed every year from 1957 through 2010.

Click here to see the most popular bands of all time.
Click here to see our detailed findings and methodology.

1957
> Artist: The Beatles
> U.S. certified album sales: 178 million
> Top charting track: Hey Jude
> Active: 1950s – 1960s

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1958
> Artist: Bee Gees
> U.S. certified album sales: 27 million
> Top charting track: How Deep Is Your Love
> Active: 1960s – 2000s

1959
> Artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival
> U.S. certified album sales: 28 million
> Top charting track: Bad Moon Rising
> Active: 1960s – 1970s

1960
> Artist: The Temptations
> U.S. certified album sales: 12.5 million
> Top charting track: I Can’t Get Next to You
> Active: 1960s – 2010s

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1961
> Artist: The Beach Boys
> U.S. certified album sales: 22.5 million
> Top charting track: Kokomo
> Active: 1960s – 2010s

1962
> Artist: The Rolling Stones
> U.S. certified album sales: 66.5 million
> Top charting track: Miss You
> Active: 1960s – 2010s

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1963
> Artist: Simon & Garfunkel
> U.S. certified album sales: 38.5 million
> Top charting track: Bridge Over Troubled Water
> Active: 1960s – 2000s

1964
> Artist: Lynyrd Skynyrd
> U.S. certified album sales: 28.5 million
> Top charting track: Sweet Home Alabama
> Active: 1960s – 2010s

1965
> Artist: Pink Floyd
> U.S. certified album sales: 75 million
> Top charting track: Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)
> Active: 1960s – 2010s

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1966
> Artist: The Monkees
> U.S. certified album sales: 18 million
> Top charting track: I’m a Believer
> Active: 1960s – 2000s

1967
> Artist: Fleetwood Mac
> U.S. certified album sales: 49.5 million
> Top charting track: Dreams
> Active: 1960s – 2000s

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1968
> Artist: Led Zeppelin
> U.S. certified album sales: 111.5 million
> Top charting track: Whole Lotta Love
> Active: 1960s – 2000s

1969
> Artist: ZZ Top
> U.S. certified album sales: 25 million
> Top charting track: Legs
> Active: 1970s – 2010s

1970
> Artist: Aerosmith
> U.S. certified album sales: 66.5 million
> Top charting track: I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing
> Active: 1970s – 2010s

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1971
> Artist: Eagles
> U.S. certified album sales: 101 million
> Top charting track: Best of My Love
> Active: 1970s – 2010s

1972
> Artist: Van Halen
> U.S. certified album sales: 56.5 million
> Top charting track: Jump
> Active: 1970s – 2010s

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1973
> Artist: AC/DC
> U.S. certified album sales: 72 million
> Top charting track: Moneytalks
> Active: 1970s – 2010s

1974
> Artist: Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band
> U.S. certified album sales: 44.5 million
> Top charting track: Shame on the Moon
> Active: 1970s

1975
> Artist: Boston
> U.S. certified album sales: 31 million
> Top charting track: Amanda
> Active: 1970s – 2010s

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1976
> Artist: U2
> U.S. certified album sales: 52 million
> Top charting track: With or Without You
> Active: 1970s – 2010s

1977
> Artist: Def Leppard
> U.S. certified album sales: 35 million
> Top charting track: Love Bites
> Active: 1970s – 2010s

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1978
> Artist: Duran Duran
> U.S. certified album sales: 12 million
> Top charting track: The Reflex
> Active: 1970s – 2010s

1979
> Artist: Beastie Boys
> U.S. certified album sales: 23 million
> Top charting track: (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)
> Active: 1980s – 2010s

1980
> Artist: R.E.M.
> U.S. certified album sales: 20 million
> Top charting track: Losing My Religion
> Active: 1980s – 2010s

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1981
> Artist: Metallica
> U.S. certified album sales: 63 million
> Top charting track: Until It Sleeps
> Active: 1980s – 2010s

1982
> Artist: The Smiths
> U.S. certified album sales: 1.5 million
> Top charting track: Strangeways, Here We Come
> Active: 1980s

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1983
> Artist: Bon Jovi
> U.S. certified album sales: 34.5 million
> Top charting track: You Give Love a Bad Name
> Active: 1980s – 2010s

1984
> Artist: New Kids on the Block
> U.S. certified album sales: 16.5 million
> Top charting track: I’ll Be Loving You (Forever)
> Active: 1980s – 2010s

1985
> Artist: Guns N’ Roses
> U.S. certified album sales: 44.5 million
> Top charting track: Sweet Child O’ Mine
> Active: 1980s – 2010s

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1986
> Artist: No Doubt
> U.S. certified album sales: 15 million
> Top charting track: Underneath It All
> Active: 1980s – 2010s

1987
> Artist: Alice in Chains
> U.S. certified album sales: 12.5 million
> Top charting track: Check My Brain
> Active: 1980s – 2010s

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1988
> Artist: Brooks & Dunn
> U.S. certified album sales: 27.5 million
> Top charting track: Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You
> Active: 1980s – 2010s

1989
> Artist: Dixie Chicks
> U.S. certified album sales: 30.5 million
> Top charting track: Not Ready to Make Nice
> Active: 1980s – 2010s

1990
> Artist: Pearl Jam
> U.S. certified album sales: 31.5 million
> Top charting track: Last Kiss
> Active: 1990s – 2010s

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1991
> Artist: Dave Matthews Band
> U.S. certified album sales: 33.5 million
> Top charting track: American Baby
> Active: 1990s – 2010s

1992
> Artist: blink-182
> U.S. certified album sales: 9.5 million
> Top charting track: All the Small Things
> Active: 1990s – 2010s

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1993
> Artist: Backstreet Boys
> U.S. certified album sales: 37 million
> Top charting track: Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)
> Active: 1990s-2010s

1994
> Artist: Limp Bizkit
> U.S. certified album sales: 16.5 million
> Top charting track: Rollin’
> Active: 1990s-2010s

1995
> Artist: *NSYNC
> U.S. certified album sales: 28 million
> Top charting track: It’s Gonna Be Me
> Active: 1990s-2010s

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1996
> Artist: Matchbox Twenty
> U.S. certified album sales: 19 million
> Top charting track: Bent
> Active: 1990s-2010s

1997
> Artist: Savage Garden
> U.S. certified album sales: 10 million
> Top charting track: Truly Madly Deeply
> Active: 1990s-2000s

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1998
> Artist: The Strokes
> U.S. certified album sales: 1.5 million
> Top charting track: Juicebox
> Active: 1990s-2010s

1999
> Artist: Rascal Flatts
> U.S. certified album sales: 18.5 million
> Top charting track: Hero
> Active: 1990s-2010s

2000
> Artist: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
> U.S. certified album sales: 500,000
> Top charting track: Maps
> Active: 2000s-2010s

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2001
> Artist: Fall Out Boy
> U.S. certified album sales: 6 million
> Top charting track: This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race
> Active: 2000s-2010s

2002
> Artist: MGMT
> U.S. certified album sales: 500,000
> Top charting track: Kids
> Active: 2000s-2010s

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2003
> Artist: Pussycat Dolls
> U.S. certified album sales: 2 million
> Top charting track: Don’t Cha
> Active: 2000s-2010s

2004
> Artist: Panic! at the Disco
> U.S. certified album sales: 4 million
> Top charting track: I Write Sins Not Tragedies
> Active: 2000s-2010s

2005
> Artist: Jonas Brothers
> U.S. certified album sales: 2 million
> Top charting track: Burnin’ Up
> Active: 2000s-2010s

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2006
> Artist: Bon Iver
> U.S. certified album sales: 1 million
> Top charting track: Skinny Love
> Active: 2000s-2010s

2007
> Artist: Mumford & Sons
> U.S. certified album sales: 5.5 million
> Top charting track: I Will Wait
> Active: 2000s – 2010s

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2008
> Artist: The Lumineers
> U.S. certified album sales: 1.5 million
> Top charting track: Ho Hey
> Active: 2000s-2010s

2009
> Artist: Twenty One Pilots
> U.S. certified album sales: 4 million
> Top charting track: Stressed Out
> Active: 2000s -2010s

2010
> Artist: One Direction
> U.S. certified album sales: 7 million
> Top charting track: Best Song Ever
> Active: 2010s

Some bands on this list were formed long before their years of fame. It can take time a long time for bands to make a name for themselves. Fleetwood Mac is an extreme case, but the band in its original form started in 1967. It would take roughly a decade and substantial personnel changes before the band would release Rumors and become a multi-platinum selling rock icon.

In the 1960s and 70s, rock and roll exploded worldwide. As a result, there is an abundance of bands formed at that time that didn’t make the list because they were pushed out by even bigger bands. Besides Fleetwood Mac, Chicago, Genesis, and Steve Miller Band were formed in 1967. Queen, The Doobie Brothers, and Bob Marley & The Wailers all got their start in 1970, but in our index Aerosmith is rated most famous.

More recently, the truly famous bands thin out somewhat. The 2000s include bands that have lots of records, such as the Pussycat Dolls (2003), the Jonas Brothers (2005), and The Lumineers (2008). But just as it took Fleetwood Mac a decade to find greatness, it may be a long time before we know which of these newer bands should be slotted in for those years.

To determine the most famous band formed the year you were born, 24/7 Wall St. created an index, using such measures as RIAA certified album sales, Wikipedia page views, awards, and other ranked list of popular bands. The year a band is formed can be difficult to pinpoint for a number of reasons, so to be consistent, we used the band formation years listed by MusicBrainz, an extensive music database created and curated by industry experts. The top charting album listed with each band is based on the song that charted the highest, with ties broken based on the number of weeks a song spent on the charts. Certified album sales is based on the Recording Industry Association of America’s list of certified gold and platinum albums. Counts included only album sales, and not singles. Years active figures are from music database Allmusic, and includes the start and end decade a band performed or recorded together, even if the band was broken up or on hiatus for some portion of that range.

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