Prince

Prince is widely considered the most virtuosic pop musician, personally playing over 27 instruments on his recordings and controlling every aspect of his productions — a level of control that outperforms #7 Mariah Carey's reliance on co-writers. His 1984 album 'Purple Rain' and its film grossed $68.4 million at the US box office and won him Academy Awards for Best Original Song Score. With 150 million records sold and 7 Grammy Awards, he proved that pop could be both avant-garde and commercially dominant, despite his 1993 protest name change.