In addition to being able to sell albums, Kanye makes music that has had incredible influence. Not to mention, this is the least important part of the greatness criteria. He may not sell as much as other artists, such as Eminem or Drake, but Kanye definitely moves enough units to check off sales part of the greatness.
He has sold 21 million albums and has amassed over 100 million digital downloads. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Kanye has seven platinum albums, six of which are solo albums. While he may not be the best artist for some of the categories, even though he is for one of them, his total scores across the board are the reason that he is a cut above the rest of the field.įirst, Kanye is a great artist because of his ability to sell records.
Like I said in the opening, there are three things that make an artist great: sales, influence, and success. The reason why Kanye is the greatest artist of this century is because of how well he checks the boxes of what it takes to be a great artist. However, all of the knocks people have against him are never rooted in his lack of artistic ability.ĭenying Kanye’s artistic genius is simply ignorant, and today I am going to try to enlighten you, the reader, on why the title for greatest artist of the 21st century goes to the one and only Mr. Whether it is his braggadocious attitude, his crazy antics, or just his seeming inability to fail, people always find a reason to hate on him or knock him. He rocketed his way onto the music mainstream back in 2004 with his debut album, ‘The College Dropout,’ and has maintained relevance on the music scene and beyond ever since. Kanye West is unarguably the definition of a successful artist. Kanye West hits every mark that makes somebody one of the greatest artists of all time.