= shred = rock = pop
 
Beyonce 2,767,275
Microsoft 1,968,117
Justin Timberlake 1,116,789
Gwen Stefani 541,378
Jay Z 530,447
Jenna Jameson 474,058
Jack Black 393,789
Linux 352,773
John Mayer 348,471
Brad Pitt 322,418
Howard Stern 232,064
Jimi Hendrix 226,024
Eric Clapton 212,464
Tera Patrick 175,321
Tom Cruise 168,360
Peter North 160,281
Dolly Parton 134,196
Frank Zappa 109,158
Bb King 105,601
Hanson 99,097
Stevie Ray Vaughan 86,134
Atari 80,393
Ron Jeremy 72,469
Eddie Van Halen 55,993
George Benson 48,620
Joe Satriani 46,742
John Holmes 45,419
Ruben Studdard 37,060
Chuck Berry 35,427
Slash 34,813
Steve Vai 34,426
Jimmy Page 32,388
Jerry Garcia 29,092
Devo 27,700
Buckethead 25,944
Brian Setzer 24,805
Wes Montgomery 24,306
Yngwie Malmsteen 24,262
The Brady Bunch 23,581
Gary Moore 21,625
Zakk Wylde 20,240
Eric Johnson 19,569
Django Reinhardt 18,801
Al Di Meola 17,444
Speed Racer 17,161
Tommy Emmanuel 16,599
Monica Lewinsky 16,235
Paul Gilbert 15,118
Michael Schenker 15,004
John Mclaughlin 14,512
Joe Pass 13,783
Ricky Skaggs 12,953
Doc Watson 12,324
Dimebag Darrell 11,578
Phil Keaggy 9,879
John Petrucci 9,806
Allan Holdsworth 9,316
Chia Pet 9,160
Billie Joe Armstrong 8,933
Leslie West 8,018
David Grisman 7,979
Mike Stern 7,577
Trey Anastasio 7,521
John 5 7,092
Danny Gatton 7,019
Randy Rhoads 6,559
Frank Marino 6,350
Steve Morse 5,939
Angus Young 5,748
Jason Becker 5,726
Gary Hoey 5,610
Marty Friedman 5,589
George Lynch 5,120
Pat Martino 4,859
Charmin 4,718
Frank Gambale 4,537
Robert Fripp 4,381
Joe Perry 4,336
Vinnie Moore 4,217
Greg Howe 4,176
Richie Kotzen 3,762
Dave Mustaine 3,525
Shawn Lane 3,504
Tony Macalpine 3,422
Albert Lee 3,400
Tal Farlow 3,339
Kirk Hammett 3,314
Alexi Laiho 2,858
Nuno Bettencourt 2,691
Andy Timmons 2,669
Steve Lukather 2,669
Hubba Bubba 2,614
Neal Schon 2,552
Billy Gibbons 2,241
Uli Jon Roth 2,119
Steve Stevens 2,067
Russell Malone 1,982
John Sykes 1,954
Michael Angelo Batio 1,903
Adrian Smith 1,790
Monte Montgomery 1,765
Jimmy Raney 1,640
Mick Mars 1,630
Jake E Lee 1,578
Bumblefoot 1,259
Cinnamon Toast Crunch 1,231
Jimmy Bruno 1,224
Alex Skolnick 1,222
Joe Stump 1,126
Rusty Cooley 1,069
Wayne Krantz 1,059
Harry Reems 1,037
Guthrie Govan 1,001
Count Chocula 973
Reb Beach 883
Warren DeMartini 877
Scotty Anderson 867
Kiko Loureiro 839
Brett Garsed 804
Glenn Tipton 776
Herman Li 771
Mattias Eklundh 729
Chuck Schuldiner 628
Cheez Whiz 609
Ron Thal 599
Vivian Campbell 567
Robbin Crosby 498
Kirk Hammet 495
Michael Romeo 462
Richie Blackmore 453
Jeff Loomis 449
Akira Takasaki 415
John Squire 383
Chris Impellitteri 299
Mark Hitt 298
Adrian Vandenberg 259
Ring Around The Collar 251
Amir Derakh 244
Matthias Jabs 237
Dan Donegan 177
Dave Martone 172
Todd Duane 121
Francesco Fareri 121
Stephane Wrembel 119
George Bellas 118
Cody Kilby 117
Jimi Bell 114
Orrin Star 102
Wolf Hoffmann 92
Kee Marcello 90
Diff'rent Strokes 64
Mike Orlando 60
Troy Grady 37
Terry Syrek 32
Conrad Simon 0
Marshall Harrison 0
Tiago Della Vega 0
 Update: Due to changes in the Overture keyword database, the SRP is officially retired and no longer accepting suggestions. Thanks for contributing!

The Not-So-Great Debate
In the pantheon of classic debates, sandwiched somewhere between Atari vs. Intellivision, Dick York vs. Dick Sargent, and Chocolate in My Peanut Butter vs. Peanut Butter in My Chocolate, sits a laser-guarded display case containing a vintage white Stratocaster covered in the fingerprints of anyone who's ever pretended to the title of The Greatest. While this is not a debate anyone actually enjoys, ending it is about as likely as curbing the desire to pop every last blister on a sheet of bubble wrap. Whether it's
ROLLING STONED: Eddie Van Halen at #70, Jack White at #17?  The crack pipe runneth over.
Guitar One magazine's oft-quoted Top-Ten Fastest Shredders of All-Time list, or Rolling Stone's ham-handed attempt at the 100 greatest guitarists, we can't seem to keep our grubby little mitts off it.

Even if a qualitative ranking of guitar stardom can thankfully never be compiled, I have long been fascinated by the ability of Yahoo / Overture's keyword inventory tool to quantitatively mirror the guitaristic zeitgeist. Type in a player's name, get back the number of searches conducted for that player last month. With relatively few exceptions, the numbers it produces fairly accurately reflect my own impression of the hierarchy of guitar popularity. An addictive internet time-waster if there ever was one.

Shred, Rock, 'n' Pop
And so the Shred, Rock, 'n' Pop List was born. The SRP reflects the number of monthly searches received by a selection of key names from the world of guitar. As benchmarks, I've thrown in some pop culture icons to give you an idea just how much easier it'll be to mortgage the yacht if you choose something with lyrics, dialogue, or preservatives for your next creative project.

Shred:  Loosely defined herein as guitarists with hot technique from any genre -- many notes per second, fanbase composed mostly of dudes, your girlfriend never heard of them, etc.

Rock:  Have guitar, will fill arena.

Pop:  Equally at home in your iPod or your refrigerator.

The SRP is automatically updated every month, and you can pull up previous months to track the progress of your musical and consumer product heroes. Rock on.

Who's missing?  Make a suggestion.
 
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