Ranking
Play this bracketGreatest Drummer of All Time
0 plays so far
| # | Preview | Candidate | Win rate | Match win rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — |  | Gene KrupaBenny Goodman Orchestra · inducted 1979 · the swing showman who made the drum kit a solo instrument | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Buddy RichBuddy Rich Big Band · inducted 1980 · bandleader whose speed and single stroke roll became the benchmark | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | John BonhamLed Zeppelin · inducted 1981 · the heaviest right foot in rock, and the sound most drummers still chase | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Keith MoonThe Who · inducted 1982 · played fills where the beat was supposed to be and somehow held it together | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Neil PeartRush · inducted 1983 · progressive rock's architect, lyricist and owner of an absurd kit | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Steve Gaddsession · inducted 1984 · the groove on Steely Dan's Aja and Paul Simon's 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Louie BellsonDuke Ellington Orchestra · inducted 1985 · big band veteran who popularised the double bass drum kit | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Tony WilliamsMiles Davis Quintet · inducted 1986 · joined Miles at seventeen and rewrote what a jazz drummer could do | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Billy CobhamMahavishnu Orchestra · inducted 1987 · fusion's powerhouse, ambidextrous and impossibly fast | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Joe MorelloDave Brubeck Quartet · inducted 1988 · the drummer on Take Five, playing in five without breaking a sweat | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Carl PalmerEmerson, Lake & Palmer · inducted 1989 · prog rock spectacle, later a founding member of Asia | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Bill BrufordYes, King Crimson · inducted 1990 · left the biggest prog band in the world to play harder music | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Art BlakeyJazz Messengers · inducted 1991 · hard bop bandleader whose group was a finishing school for jazz | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Max Roachbebop · inducted 1992 · played with Charlie Parker and Clifford Brown, and made drums a composer's voice | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Elvin JonesJohn Coltrane Quartet · inducted 1995 · the churning polyrhythmic tide under A Love Supreme | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Vinnie ColaiutaFrank Zappa, session · inducted 1996 · read Zappa's impossible charts, then played on everything else | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Terry BozzioFrank Zappa, Missing Persons · inducted 1997 · built a kit the size of a room and learned to use all of it | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Ringo StarrThe Beatles · inducted 1998 · the feel nobody can copy, and the reason the songs breathe | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Roy Haynesbebop onward · inducted 1999 · played with Parker, Monk and Coltrane, then kept going for decades | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Dave WecklChick Corea Elektric Band · inducted 2000 · fusion precision that defined the sound of 80s chops | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Dennis ChambersParliament-Funkadelic, John Scofield · inducted 2001 · funk power with jazz vocabulary on top | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Steve SmithJourney, Vital Information · inducted 2002 · arena rock by night, serious jazz the rest of the time | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Simon PhillipsToto, Jeff Beck · inducted 2003 · the British session heavyweight who could play anything asked of him | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Mike PortnoyDream Theater · inducted 2004 · progressive metal's engine, and the odd time signature made mainstream | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Stewart CopelandThe Police · inducted 2005 · reggae and punk collided in his hi hat and became a new kind of pop drumming | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Charlie WattsThe Rolling Stones · inducted 2006 · a jazz drummer playing rock, holding back where everyone else pushed | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Jack DeJohnetteMiles Davis, Keith Jarrett Trio · inducted 2007 · played on Bitches Brew and never stopped moving forward | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Ginger BakerCream · inducted 2008 · jazz and African rhythm dragged into a rock trio, loudly | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Mitch MitchellThe Jimi Hendrix Experience · inducted 2009 · answered Hendrix's guitar instead of just keeping time | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Hal Blainethe Wrecking Crew · inducted 2010 · played on more hit records than almost anyone, and you never saw his name | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Phil CollinsGenesis · inducted 2012 · prog chops, then the most recognisable drum fill ever recorded | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Bernard Purdiesession · inducted 2013 · the Purdie shuffle, plus Aretha Franklin and Steely Dan records | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Carmine AppiceVanilla Fudge, Rod Stewart · inducted 2014 · heavy rock drumming before there was a name for it | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Ian PaiceDeep Purple · inducted 2015 · left handed, swinging, and the only member on every Purple record | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Vic FirthBoston Symphony timpanist · inducted 2016 · turned a search for better sticks into the sticks everyone uses | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Peter ErskineWeather Report · inducted 2017 · fusion's most musical drummer, later a prolific bandleader and author | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Clyde StubblefieldJames Brown · inducted 2018 · played the Funky Drummer break that hip hop was built on top of | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Dave GrohlNirvana, Foo Fighters · inducted 2019 · hit harder than the songs needed and changed how rock sounded | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Nicko McBrainIron Maiden · inducted 2020 · the gallop behind the band for more than forty years | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Sheila E.Prince, solo · inducted 2021 · percussionist, drummer and bandleader who fronted her own records | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Taylor HawkinsFoo Fighters · inducted 2022 · huge, joyful rock drumming and the band's second voice | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Alex Van HalenVan Halen · inducted 2023 · the swing and the enormous drum sound under his brother's guitar | — win | — match wins |
| — |  | Bill WardBlack Sabbath · inducted 2024 · jazz feel underneath the riffs that invented heavy metal | — win | — match wins |