Now that Aretha's dead

Vivian Vance

How dare you! How very dare you!

How dare you indeed? The Queen is not yet in the ground. A little R E S P E C T, please.

Plenty of time to decide which of the pretenders (none of whom can carry Miss Franklin's water, btw) comes close let alone is reluctantly crowned.

Gladys Knight. But I voted Jennifer Hudson to make the Bey bots insane

Usher

Gladys is known as the Empress Of Soul I suspect because Aretha held the Queen moniker. Gladys is the de facto Queen but really, no one else can be Queen but Aretha. Personally I have always adored Gladys over Aretha but even I know how influential and game changing Aretha was. None of the choices even come close.

Adele

I know its sacrilege, but I prefer Gladys' voice over Aretha's, but yes, Aretha was a true force of nature.

Queen Bey, hands down. Her voice is like an instrument. And like a fine wine gets better with age.

Some of those names don't even belong in the same vicinity, OP

Beyionbitch? Please!

No. One. Not one of those bitches you list is fit to inherit the Queen's crown.

Just leave it.

r10, You're insane. Just look at this masterpiece.

And then do this.

Oh lord we got a Beyonce stan troll.

Gurl, I love Beyonce just as much as the next whore, but she ain't no soul singer.

Do yall realize that Mary J. cannot even stay in tune half the time when she sings live anymore. And I love me some 90s Mary. People are just voting for who they think seems the most soulful and blackish.

SZA.

There is No One, Retire the Crown of Soul. Glady’s can take it out from time to time.

Place it next to the retired Crown of Pop after Whitney died.

The Divas would like a word, OP.

Fuck Be-whore-cey. Don't use her name in the same sentence as Aretha Franklin.

Seriously. Bey ain't no Ree Ree and she'll never even come close.

None of the above, stupid cunt.

Nobody. Aretha will forever be the Queen of Soul. That title does not get passed down.

None of them are soul singers. Norah Jones might be the closest to a modern day soul singer.

r23, do you know what a soul singer is. Mary J. Blidge, Beyonce, Jhud, Alicia Keys are all soul singers. norah Jones does pop jazz and sometimes bluesy tunes. Lemonade and 4 are both soul albums.

The correct answer is the little-known Calista Day. Re would approve

As there will never be another King of Rock, you can't name a new Queen of Soul. She will always be the QOS and that isn't changing.

Some of those aren't even in the universe of Aretha.

Gladys

The Egyptian art doesn't belong here, OP. The ancient Egyptians weren't black Africans, they were from the Near East. DNA has finally proven it as of 2016.

ADELE

Janet Jackson can scarcely sing and Gladys Knight is somewhat overrated. I like her but she's not really one of the all time greats.

Oh ye of little faith, it's always been me!!

Moms Mabley was always the Queen of Soul.

And a lesbian to boot.

Janelle.

When Moms Mabley sang it made Streisand and the others shake in their boots.

Beth Hart

Boy George.

Aretha will always be the Queen of Soul....they can all vie for Queen of R&B

Real soul music takes a soul it is not a mis-en-scene or style. Weirdest collection of nominees ever, OP.

R24 It doesn't matter what genre you put them in, Beyonce and Alicia Keys are both horrible singers.

r39, Sad. You must be tone deaf. Queen Bey never even sings off key. Here she is impressing dL fav, Babs, with a perfectly executed tribute of The Way We Were.

Mavis Staples is the correct answer.

I can do soul.

Are people still talking about that negro singer that died?

Nikki Manage

You all know it’s Cardi, Cardi.

None of them even come close!

There's a whole generation of singers inspired by Aretha and her contemporaries, who are already pretty legendary in their own right, who never get the recognition or accolades they really deserve

Kelly Price

Faith Evans

Jill Scott

Erykah Badu

India Arie

Toni Braxton

Ledisi

Angie Stone

Thank you for that r39 although I can enjoy Alicia's voice more than Bey's.

The best Broadway has ever produced...

Jennifer Holliday

This is blasphemy

Aretha will always be the Queen

You forgot Miss Patti, heffa!

Calling her Queen Bey pretty much validates the fact that she can't sing. You are just another delusional fan R40. Oh yea and she can't act either. Why don't you tell me about the time she actually gave birth?

The REAL Queen is still living, bitches!

Anyone who says Queen Bey can't sing is clearly tone death.

It should’ve been Lauryn Hill but she couldn’t handle the success.

Beyonce is dull

Why isn't there a "None of the Above, Let's Clone Aretha" option?

R28, the researchers who did that dna study included one giant caveat with their findings. ALL of their genetic data was obtained from a SINGLE site in Middle Egypt and may not be representative for all of ancient Egypt. You shouldn't shoot your mouth off until you've gotten all the facts, dummy.

Patti and Gladys are good choices.

I'd add Irma Thomas, who still sounds great. And Barbara Lynn. Both more obscure but big talents.

What the fuck with these results? Mariah, Janet, and Diana are the most successful of the bunch. Beyonce's career as a solo artist has been relatively short and her singles have been DOA for years now. Rihanna's been around for less time, but has achieved greater commercial success than Beyonce. If your going by technical achievement alone, then Mariah would still trounce all the others at her peak.

Mariah lost her voice more than a decade ago and now lipsyncs every “performance”

Mary J. Bilge has the gritty, earthy image. Beyonce is too phony and contrived and Janet, as we all know, lacks the vocal chops to even be considered to be listed in this group. Mariah has a mental disorder of some sort and she makes a fool out of herself whenever she appears onstage. Jennifer Holliday? Her career has been too inconsistent and she doesn’t have an arsenal of hit songs.

I could give a fuck about the rest of them.

Hudson, not Holliday, sorry.

r60, you know nothing about the industry. Rihanna's debut album came out 2 years after Queen Bey's solo explosion. Rihanna may have more number #1 singles, but thats hardly any measure of overall success. Queen Bey's albums have sold more, and she has had the biggest tours of the year. Just because Beyonce stop catering to American Top 40 senses doesn't mean she hasn't been wildly successful. In fact she doesn't even need pop singles to sell records. Rihanna has not been more commercially successful than Queen Bey.

Nobody makes soul music anymore. All of OP's candidates in his poll are pop singers, not soul singers.