Best Pop Bands E-K 🎸🎹 Rock and Pop Bands All Time List
Some consider Abba to be one of the best pop bands ever, while others love Faithless. Although the two bands are worlds apart they are now connected, along with other rock and pop bands, in this ADDucation list featuring the best pop bands of all time.
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Key: 🎤Vocals | 🥁Drums | 🎸Guitar | 🎹Keyboard | 🎷Saxophone | ⌨️Synthesizer | T=Trombone | B🎸Bass Guitar | † Died
| Best Bands / Country | Current band members | Former band members | Best Albums & Greatest Hits |
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| Eagles 🇺🇸 USA 1971 |
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Albums: Eagles (1972), Desperado (1973), On the Border (1974), One of these Nights (1975), Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 (1976), Hotel California (1976), The Long Run (1979), Hell Freezes Over (1994), Long Road Out of the Eden (2007)
Greatest Hits: Best of My Love (1974), One of These Nights (1975), Lyin’ Eyes (1975), New Kid in Town (1976), Hotel California (1977), Heartache Tonight (1979) |
| Earth, Wind & Fire 🇺🇸 USA 1969 |
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Albums: Earth, Wind & Fire (1971), The Need of Love (1971), Last Days and Time (1972), Head to the Sky (1973), Open Our Eyes (1974), That’s the Way of the World (1975), Spirit (1976), All ‘n’ All (1977), I Am (1979), Faces (1980), Raise! (1981), Powerlight (1982), Electric Universe (1983), Touch the World (1987), Heritage (1990); Millennium (1993), In the Name of Love (1997), The Promise (2003), Illumination (2005), Now, Then & Forever (2013), Holiday (2014)
Greatest Hits: Shining Star (1975), Sing a Song (1975), Getaway (1976), Saturday Nite (1976), Serpentine Fire (1977), Got to Get You into My Life (1978), September (1979), Boogie Wonderland (1979), After the Love has Gone (1979), Let‘s Groove (1981), Fall in Love with Me (1983); System of Survival (1987) |
| Electric Light Orchestra aka ELO 🇬🇧 UK 1968-1987 |
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Albums: Electric Light Orchestra (1971), ELO 2 (1973), Eldorado (1974), Face the Music (1975), A New World Record (1976), Out of the Blue (1977), Discovery (1979), Xanadu (1980), Time (1981), Secret Messages (1983), Balance of Power (1986), Zoom (2001), Alone in the Universe (2015)
Greatest Hits: 10538 Overture (1972), Roll over Beethoven (1973), Evil Woman (1975), Livin Thing (1976), Telephone Line (1977), Mr. Blue Sky (1978) Don’t Bring me Down (1979), Confusion (1979), Xanadu (1980), Hold on Tight (1981), Twilight (1981), Rock ‘n‘ Roll is King (1983) |
| Emerson, Lake & Palmer aka ELP 🇬🇧 UK 1970-1998 |
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Albums: Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1970), Tarkus (1971), Pictures at an Exhibition (Live 1971), Trilogy (1972), Brain Salad Surgery (1973), Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends (Live 1974), Works Volume I (1977), Works Volume II (1977), Love Beach (1978), Black Moon (1992), In the Hot Seat (1994)
Greatest Hits: Lucky Man (1979), Fanfare for the Common Man (1977), Black Moon (1992) |
| Erasure 🇬🇧 UK 1985 |
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Albums: Wonderland (1986); The Circus (1987); The Innocents (1988); Wild (1989); Chorus (1991); I Say I Say I Say (1994); Erasure (1995); Cowboy (1997); Loveboat (2000); Other People’s Songs (2003); Nightbird (2005); Union Street (2006); Light at the End of the World (2007); Tomorrow’s World (2011); Snow Globe (2013); The Violet Flame (2014); World be Gone (2017). One of the best pop bands of the 1970s.
Greatest Hits: Sometimes (1986); Ship of Fools (1988); Drama! (1989); Blue Savannah (1990); Chorus (1991); Always (1994) |
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| Eurythmics 🇬🇧 UK 1981-2005 |
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Albums: In the Garden (1981), Sweet Dreams (1983), Touch (1983), Be Yourself Tonight (1985), Revenge (1986), Savage (1987), We Too are One (1989), Peace (1999)
Greatest Hits: Sweet Dreams (1983), Who’s that Girl? (1983); Sexcrime (1984); Here Comes the Rain Again (1984); There Must Be an Angel (1985), Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves (1985); Thorn in My Side (1986); Revival (1989); I Saved the World Today (1999). Brit-Pop-Duo, and one of the best pop bands of the eighties. |
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| Faithless 🇬🇧 UK 1995 |
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Albums: Reverence (1996), Sunday 8 PM (1998), Outrospective (2001), No Roots (2004), To All New Arrivals (2006), The Dance (2010)
Greatest Hits: Salva Mea (1995), Insomnia (1995), Good is a DJ (1998), Why go? (1999), We Come 1 (2001), One Step to Far (2002), Mass Destruction (2004) |
| Fleetwood Mac 🇬🇧 UK 1967 |
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Albums: Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac (1968), Mr. Wonderful (1968), Then Play on (1969), Kiln House (1970), Future Games (1971), Bare Trees (1972), Penguin (1973), Mystery to Me (1973), Heroes Are Hard to Find (1974), Fleetwood Mac (1975), Rumours (1977), Tusk (1979), Mirage (1982), Tango in the Night (1987), Behind the Mask (1990), Time (1995), Say you will (2003)
Greatest Hits: Albatross (1968), Oh Well (1969), Go Your Own Way (1977), Dreams (1977), Never Going Back Again (1977), Tusk (1979), Big Love (1987), Little Lies (1987), Everywhere (1988) |
| Foo Fighters 🇺🇸 USA 1994 |
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Albums: Foo Fighters (1995); The Colour and the Shape (1997); There is Nothing Left to Lose (1999); One by one (2002); In Your Honor (2005); Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (2007); Wasting Light (2011); Sonic Highways (2014), Concrete and Gold (2017)
Greatest Hits: Everlong (1997); My Hero (1998); Learn to Fly (1999); All my Life (2002); Time like These (2003); Best of You (2005); The Pretender (2007), Rope (2011) |
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| Foreigner 🇬🇧 UK / 🇺🇸 USA 1976 |
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Albums: Foreigner (1977), Double Vision (1978), Head Games (1979), 4 (1981), Agent Provocateur (1984), Inside Information (1987), Unusual Heat (1991), No End in Sight (2008), Can‘t Slow Down (2010)
Greatest Hits: Cold as Ice (1977), Hot Blooded (1978), Double Vision (1978), Urgent (1981), Waiting for a Girl like You (1981), Juke Box Hero (1981), I want to know what Love is (1984), That Was Yesterday (1985), Say You Will (1987) |
| Frankie Goes to Hollywood 🇬🇧 UK 1980-1987 |
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Albums: Welcome to the Pleasuredome (1984), Liverpool (1986), Bang! (1993)
Greatest Hits: Relax (1983), Two Tribes (1984), The Power of Love (1984), Welcome to the Pleasuredome (1985), Rage Hard (1986), Warriors of the Wasteland (1986) |
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| Franz Ferdinand 🇬🇧 UK 2001 |
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Albums: Franz Ferdinand (2004); You could have it so much better (2005); Tonight: Franz Ferdinand (2009); Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action (2013); Late Night Tales (2014); FFS (2015), Always Ascending (2018)
Greatest Hits: Take me out (2004); The Dark of the Matinée (2004); Do you want to (2005); Ulysses (2009) |
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| Genesis 🇬🇧 UK 1967 |
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Albums: From Genesis to Revelation (1969), Trespass (1970), Nursery Cryme (1971), Foxtrot (1972), Selling England by the Pound (1973), The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974), A Trick of the Tail (1975), Wind and Wuthering (1977), And Then There Were Three (1978), Duke (1980), Abacab (1981), Three Sides live (1982), Genesis (1983), Invisible Touch (1986), We Can‘t Dance (1991), The Way we Walk I (Live 1992), The Way we Walk II (Live 1993), Calling all Stations (1997)
Greatest Hits: I Know What I Like (1973), The Carpet Crawlers (1974), Follow You Follow Me (1978), Abacab (1981), Paperlate (1982), Mama (1983), Land of Confusion (1986), I Can’t Dance (1991), No Son of Mine (1991), Jesus He Knows Me (1992), Congo (1997) |
| Gossip 🇺🇸 USA 1999-2016 |
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Albums: That‘s Not What I Heard (2001), Movement (2003), Standing in the Way of Control (2007), Music for Men (2009), A Joyful Noise (2012). One of the best pop bands of the millennium.
Greatest Hits: Heavy Cross (2009), Perfect World (2012), Move in the Right Direction (2012) |
| Grateful Dead 🇺🇸 USA 1965-1995 |
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Albums: The Grateful Dead (1967), Anthem of the Sun (1968), Aoxomoxoa (1969), Workingman’s Dead (1970), American Beauty (1970), Europe 72 (Life, 1972), Wake of the Flood (1973), Grateful Dead from the Mars Hotel (1974), Blues for Allah (1975), Steal Your Face (1976), Terrapin Station (1977), Shakedown Street (1978), In the Dark (1987), Built to Last (1989), Dark Star (2012), Fare Thee Well (2015)
Greatest Hits: Uncle John’s Band (1970); Truckin (1970); Dire Wolf (1981); Touch of grey (1987); Hell in a bucket (1987); Throwing stones (1987); Foolish heart (1989) |
| Green Day 🇺🇸 USA 1987 |
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Albums: 39/Smooth (1990), Kerplunk! (1992), Dookie (1994), Insomniac (1995), Nimrod (1997), Warning (2000), American Idiot (2004), Bullet in a Bible (2005), 21st Century Breakdown (2009), Uno! (2012), Dos! (2012), Tré! (2013), Revolution Radio (2016)
Greatest Hits: Basket Case (1994), When I Come Around (1995), Good Riddance (1997), Boulevard of Broken Dreams (2005), The Saints are Coming (2006), Know your Enemy (2009), 21 Guns (2009) |
| Guns N‘ Roses 🇺🇸 USA 1985 |
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Albums: Appetite for Destruction (1987), G N‘ R Lies (1988), Use your Illusion I (1991), Use your Illusion II (1991), The Spaghetti Incident? (1993), Chinese Democracy (2008)
Greatest Hits: Welcome to the Jungle (1987), Paradise City (1988), Sweet Child o’ Mine (1988), Patience (1989), Don‘t Cry (1991), You Could be Mine (1991), Live and Let Die (1992), November Rain (1992), Knockin on Heaven‘s Door (1992), Yesterdays (1992), Sympathy for the Devil (1994), Chinese Democracy (2008) |
| Hot Chocolate 🇬🇧 UK 1969 |
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Albums: Cicero Park (1974), Hot Chocolate (1975), Man to Man (1976), Every 1‘s a Winner (1978), Going Through the Motions (1979), Mystery (1982), Love Shot (1983)
Greatest Hits: Brother Louie (1973); Emma (1974); You Sexy Thing (1976); Don’t Stop It Now (1976); So You Win Again (1977); Put Your Love in Me (1977); Every 1‘s a Winner (1978); I’ll Put You Together Again (1978); No Doubt About It (1980); It Started with a Kiss (1982); Girl Crazy (1982) > Find more best pop bands on next page! |
| INXS 🇦🇺 Australia 1977-2012 |
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Albums: INXS (1980), Underneath the Colours (1981), Shabooh Shoobah (1982), Dekadance (1983), The Swing (1984), Listen Like Thieves (1985), Kick (1987), X (1990), Live Baby Live (1991), Welcome Wherever You Are (1992), Full Moon, Dirty Hearts (1993), Elegantly Wasted (1997); Switch (2005)
Greatest Hits: Need you Tonight (1987), Devil Inside (1988), New Sensation (1988), Suicide Blonde (1990), Disappear (1990) |
| Iron Maiden 🇬🇧 UK 1975 |
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Albums: Iron Maiden (1980), Killers (1981), The Number of the Beast (1982), Piece of Mind (1983), Powerslave (1984), Somewhere in Time (1986), Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988), No Prayer for the Dying (1990), Fear of the Dark (1992), The X Factor (1995), Virtual XI. (1998), Brave New World (2000), Dance of Death (2003), A Matter of Life and Death (2006), The Final Frontier (2010), The Bock of Souls (2015)
Greatest Hits: Run to the Hills (1982), The Number of the Beast (1982), Aces High (1984), Can I Play with Madness (1988), Bring Your Daughter … to the Slaughter (1990), Be Quick or Be Dead (1992), The Wicker Man (2000), Wildest Dreams (2003) |
| Jamiroquai 🇬🇧 UK 1992 |
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Albums: Emergency on Planet Earth (1993), Return of the Space Cowboy (1995), Traveling Without Moving (1996), Synkronized (1999), A Funk Odyssey (2001), Dynamite (2005), Rock Dust Light Star (2010), Automaton (2017)
Greatest Hits: Virtual Insanity (1997), Cosmic Girl (1997), Deeper Underground (1999), Canned Heat (1999), Little L (2001), Runaway (2006) |
| Jethro Tull 🇬🇧 UK 1967-2014 |
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Albums: This Was (1968), Stand up (1969), Benefit (1970), Aqualung (1971), Thick as a Brick (1972), A Passion Play (1973), War Child (1974), Minstrel in the Gallery (1975), Too Old to Rock ’n’ Roll: Too Young to Die! (1976), Songs from the Wood (1977), Heavy Horses (1978), Stormwatch (1979), A (1980), The Broadsword and the Beast (1982), Under Wraps (1984), Crest of a Knave (1987), Rock Island (1989), Catfish Rising (1991), Roots to Branches (1995), J-Tull Dot Com (1999), The Jethro Tull Christmas Album (2003)
Greatest Hits: Living in the Past (1969), Sweet Dream (1969), Locomotive Breath (1971), Aqualung (1971) |
| Journey 🇺🇸 USA 1973 |
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Albums: Journey (1975), Look into the Future (1976), Next (1977), Infinity (1978), Evolution (1979), Departure (1980), Captured (Live 1981), Escape (1981), Frontiers (1983), Raised on Radio (1986), Trial by Fire (1996), Arrival (2001), Generations (2005), Revelation (2008), Eclipse (2011)
Greatest Hits: Wheel in the Sky (1978), Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’ (1979), Don’t Stop Believin’ (1981), Who’s Crying Now (1981), Open Arms (1981), Separate Ways (1983), Be Good to Yourself (1986), When you Love a Woman (1996) |
| Kinks, The 🇬🇧 UK 1964 |
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Albums: Kinks (1964), Kinda Kinks (1965), The Kink Kontroversy (1965), Face to Face (1966), Something Else by the Kings (1967), The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968), Arthur Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire (1969), Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part I (1970), Muswell Hillbillies (1971), Everybody’s in Show-Biz (1972), Preservation Act 1 (1973), Preservation Act 2 (1974), Soap Opera (1975), Schoolboys in Disgrace (1976), Sleepwalker (1977), Misfits (1978), Low Budget (1979), Give the People What They Want (1981), State of Confusion (1983), Word of Mouth (1984), Think Visual (1986), UK Jive (1989), Phobia (1993)
Greatest Hits: You Really Got Me (1964), All Day and All of the Night (1964), Tired of Waiting for You (1965), Sunny Afternoon (1966), Dandy (1966), Waterloo Sunset (1967), Death of a Clown (1967), Lola (1970), Apeman (1970), Don’t Forget to Dance (1983) |
| Kiss 🇺🇸 USA 1973 |
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Albums: KISS (1974), Hotter Than Hell (1974), Dressed to Kill (1975), Alive I. (Live 1975), Destroyer (1976), Rock‘n‘Roll Over (1976), Love Gun (1977), Alive II (Live 1977), Double Platinum (1978), Dynasty (1979), Unmasked (1980), Music from the Elder (1981), Creatures of the Night (1982), Lick it Up (1983), Animalize (1984), Asylum (1985), Crazy Nights (1987), Hot in the Shade (1989), Revenge (1992), Alive III (Live 1993), Carnival of Souls (1997), Psycho Circus (1998), Sonic Boom (2009), Monster (2012)
Greatest Hits: Rock’n Roll all Nite (1975), I was Made for Loving you (1979), God Gave Rock ’n’ Roll to You II (1991), Unholy (1992) |
| Kool & the Gang 🇺🇸 USA 1969 |
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Albums: Kool and the Gang (1969), Music Is the Message (1972), Good Times (1973), Wild and Peaceful (1973), Light of Worlds (1974), Spirit of the Boogie (1975), Open Sesame (176), Behind the Eyes (1976), The Force (1977), Everybody’s Dancin’ (1978), Ladies‘ Night (1979), Celebrate (1980), Something Special (1981), As One (1982), In the Heart (1983), Emergency (1984), Forever (1986), Sweat (1989), Unite (1993), State of Affairs (1996), Gangland (2001), Still Kool (2007)
Greatest Hits: Ladies Night (1979); Too Hot (1980); Celebration (1980), Get Down on it (1981), Joanna (1983); Cherish (1985), Fresh (1985); Victory (1986) |
See also: Greatest Bands L-Q… | Best Rock Bands A-D… | Famous American Bands T-Z…
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- Best Pop Bands in German: Beste Pop Bands aller Zeiten
- ADDucation’s list of best pop bands was compiled by Robert Junker, last updated 18 Aug 2024.
- Spotted a mistake or do you have a suggestion to improve our best pop bands list? Let us know in the comments below…
