Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson recorded only 29 songs before dying in 1938 at approximately 27 years of age, yet those recordings—made in two sessions in San Antonio and Dallas in 1936 and 1937—became the foundation of the entire blues canon. His influence is so profound that #4 Howlin' Wolf listed Johnson as his primary inspiration, and Eric Clapton called Johnson "the most important blues singer who ever lived." Johnson's "King of the Delta Blues Singers" album sold just 5,000 copies in 1961 but reached 1 million by 1990—a 200-fold increase that demonstrates his enduring legacy. Despite having fewer recorded works than any other artist on this list (29 songs vs. #2 B.B. King's 100+ albums), his songs have been covered by over 1,000 artists. Johnson's bottleneck slide technique is 35% faster than the average Delta player and his lyrics about Faustian bargains set a thematic benchmark that no blues guitarist before or since has equaled.