Marking the release of the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown this week, British music and audio pioneer Cambridge Audio has conducted a new survey of over 5,000 music fans worldwide.
They were asked to list their all-time Top 5 most influential music artists. And it will come as little surprise that the most successful band in history, The Beatles, dominated the top spot with almost 83 per cent voting for the Fab Four.
Just behind them were David Bowie on 65 per cent, the Rolling Stones on 53 per cent, Jimi Hendrix on 52 per cent and Bob Dylan on 50 per cent.
The Bard himself managed to be voted more influential than Elvis Presley on almost 46 per cent.
Meanwhile more modern artists like Taylor Swift (14 per cent) were much further down.
It may come as a surprise that Elvis is in sixth place, given that as an artist of the 1950s, he had a massive influence on those who came up in the 1960s, including The Beatles.
John Lennon famously said that “before the King there was nothing” and that “without Elvis there would be no Fab Four”.
For years Elvis was the best-selling solo music artist of all time, just behind The Beatles as the biggest music artists ever.
However, in the last year or so, Michael Jackson’s certified sold units has surpassed the King, who is now in third.