The Most Famous

SINGERS from India

This page contains a list of the greatest Indian Singers. The pantheon dataset contains 4,381 Singers, 60 of which were born in India. This makes India the birth place of the 12th most number of Singers behind Russia, and Canada.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Indian Singers of all time. This list of famous Indian Singers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Indian Singers.

1. Lata Mangeshkar (1929 - 2022)

With an HPI of 66.64, Lata Mangeshkar is the most famous Indian Singer. Her biography has been translated into 75 different languages on wikipedia.

Lata Mangeshkar (Hindi pronunciation: [ləˈtaː məŋˈɡeːʃkər] ; born Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Her contribution to the Indian music industry in a career spanning eight decades gained her honorific titles such as the "Queen of Melody", "Nightingale of India", and "Voice of the Millennium". Mangeshkar recorded songs in over thirty-six Indian languages and a few foreign languages, though primarily in Hindi, Bengali and Marathi. She received several accolades and honors throughout her career. In 1989, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award was bestowed on her by the Government of India. In 2001, in recognition of her contributions to the nation, she was awarded the Bharat Ratna, becoming only the second singer to receive India's highest civilian honour. In 2007, France made her an Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, the country's highest civilian award. She was the recipient of three National Film Awards, 15 Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards, four Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards, before declining further ones, two Filmfare Special Awards, the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award amongst others. In 1974, she became the first Indian playback singer to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England. She appeared in the Guinness World Records as the most recorded artist in history before being replaced by her sister, Asha Bhosle.

2. Engelbert Humperdinck (b. 1936)

With an HPI of 60.29, Engelbert Humperdinck is the 2nd most famous Indian Singer. His biography has been translated into 45 different languages.

Arnold George Dorsey (born 2 May 1936), known professionally as Engelbert Humperdinck, is a British pop singer described by AllMusic as "one of the finest middle-of-the-road balladeers around". He achieved international prominence in 1967 with his recording of "Release Me". Starting as a performer in the late 1950s under the name "Gerry Dorsey", he later adopted the name of German composer Engelbert Humperdinck as a stage name and found success after he partnered with manager Gordon Mills in 1965. His recordings of the ballads "Release Me" and "The Last Waltz" both topped the UK Singles Chart in 1967, selling more than a million copies each. Humperdinck scored further major hits in rapid succession, including "There Goes My Everything" (1967), "Am I That Easy to Forget" (1968) and "A Man Without Love" (1968). In the process, he attained a large following, with some of his most devoted fans calling themselves "Humperdinckers". Two of his singles were among the best-selling of the 1960s in the UK. During the 1970s, Humperdinck had significant North American chart successes with "After the Lovin'" (1976) and "This Moment in Time" (1979). Having garnered a reputation as a prolific concert performer, he received renewed attention during the 1990s lounge revival with his recordings of "Lesbian Seagull" for the soundtrack of Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996), and a dance album (1998). The new millennium brought a range of musical projects for the singer, including the Grammy-nominated gospel album Always Hear the Harmony: The Gospel Sessions (2003) and a double album of duets, Engelbert Calling (2014). In 2012, Humperdinck represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku with the song "Love Will Set You Free", and placed 25th out of 26. After marking more than 50 years as a successful singer, Humperdinck continues to record and tour, having sold more than 140 million records worldwide.

3. Kishore Kumar (1929 - 1987)

With an HPI of 58.64, Kishore Kumar is the 3rd most famous Indian Singer. His biography has been translated into 42 different languages.

Kishore Kumar (born Abhas Kumar Ganguly; ; 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer, musician and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of modern Indian music. Kumar was one of the most popular singers in the Indian subcontinent, notable for his yodelling and ability to sing songs in different voices. He used to sing in different genres but some of his rare compositions, considered classics, were lost in time. Besides Hindi, he sang in many other Indian languages, including Bengali, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Malayalam, Odia and Urdu. He also released a few non-film albums in multiple languages, especially in Bengali, which are noted as all-time classics. According to his brother and legendary actor Ashok Kumar, Kishore Kumar was successful as a singer because his "voice hits the mike, straight, at its most sensitive point". Kumar was also active in acting too. His first film appearance was in Shikari (1946), in which his brother, Ashok played the lead role. Kumar played his first lead in the Bombay Talkies film Andolan (1951). Although he got some acting assignments with the help of his brother, he was more interested in becoming a singer. After the success of films such as Ladki, Char Paise and Baap Re Baap that Kumar developed an interest in acting seriously, which resulted in him having successful films as the lead actor between 1955 and 1966. Kumar starred in Bimal Roy's Naukari (1954) and Hrishikesh Mukherjee's directorial debut Musafir (1957). As an actor, his best period was between 1954 and 1968. He won 8 Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer out of 28 nominations and holds the record for winning and nominating the most Filmfare Awards in that category. He was awarded the Lata Mangeshkar Award by the Madhya Pradesh government in 1985. In 1997, the Madhya Pradesh Government initiated an award called the "Kishore Kumar Award" for contributions to Hindi cinema. In 2012, his unreleased last song sold for ₹15.6 lakh ($185,000 USD) at the Osian's Cinefan Auction in New Delhi.

4. Mohammed Rafi (1924 - 1980)

With an HPI of 55.29, Mohammed Rafi is the 4th most famous Indian Singer. His biography has been translated into 50 different languages.

Mohammed Rafi (Punjabi: [mʊɦəˈməd̪ ɾəˈfi]; 24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and range of voice; his songs varied from fast peppy numbers to patriotic songs, sad numbers to highly romantic songs, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans to classical songs. He was known for his ability to mould his voice to the persona and style of the actor lip-syncing the song on screen in the movie. He received six Filmfare Awards and one National Film Award. In 1967, he was honored with the Padma Shri award by the Government of India. In 2001, Rafi was honoured with the "Best Singer of the Millennium" title by Hero Honda and Stardust magazine. In 2013, Rafi was voted for the Greatest Voice in Hindi Cinema in the CNN-IBN's poll. He recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and in many Indian languages as well as some foreign languages, though primarily in Urdu and his native Punjabi, over which he had a strong command. He recorded as many as 7,000 songs throughout his career, spanning several languages and dialects such as Konkani, Assamese, Bhojpuri, Odia, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Kannada, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Magahi, Maithili, etc. Apart from Indian languages, he also sang in some foreign languages, including English, Persian, Arabic, Sinhala, Mauritian Creole, and Dutch.

5. M. S. Subbulakshmi (1916 - 2004)

With an HPI of 55.15, M. S. Subbulakshmi is the 5th most famous Indian Singer. Her biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi (16 September 1916 – 11 December 2004) was an Indian Carnatic singer. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna - India's highest civilian honour, the first Indian musician to receive the Ramon Magsaysay award in 1974 and the first Indian to perform at the United Nations General Assembly in 1966.

6. Asha Bhosle (b. 1933)

With an HPI of 54.77, Asha Bhosle is the 6th most famous Indian Singer. Her biography has been translated into 51 different languages.

Asha Bhosle (Marathi pronunciation: [ˈaːʃaː ˈbʱos(ə)le]; née Mangeshkar; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur, actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in the media as one of the greatest and most influential singers in Hindi cinema. In her career spanning over eight decades she has recorded songs for films and albums in various Indian languages and received several accolades including two National Film Awards, four BFJA Awards, eighteen Maharashtra State Film Awards, nine Filmfare Awards including a Lifetime Achievement Award and a record seven Filmfare Awards for Best Female Playback Singer, in addition to two Grammy nominations. In 2000, she was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in the field of cinema. In 2008, she was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian honour of the country. The Guinness Book of World Records acknowledged her in 2011 as the most recorded artist in music history. Bhosle is the sister of playback singer Lata Mangeshkar and belongs to the prominent Mangeshkar family. Renowned for her soprano voice range and often credited for her versatility, Her work includes film music, pop, ghazals, bhajans, traditional Indian classical music, folk songs, qawwalis, and Rabindra Sangeet. Apart from Hindi, she has sung in over 20 Indian and foreign languages. In 2013, she made her debut as an actress in the film Mai, and received critical acclaim for her performance. In 2006, she stated that she has recorded over twelve thousand songs in her career, a figure repeated by several other sources.

7. Udit Narayan (b. 1955)

With an HPI of 53.26, Udit Narayan is the 7th most famous Indian Singer. His biography has been translated into 37 different languages.

Udit Narayan Jha (born 1 December 1955) is an Indian playback singer whose songs have been featured mainly in Hindi films. He has also sung in various other languages including Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Bengali, Sindhi, Odia, Bhojpuri, Nepali, Malayalam, Assamese, Bagheli and Maithili. He has won four National Film Awards and five Filmfare Awards with twenty nominations among many others. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 2009 and the Padma Bhushan in 2016 for his contribution towards arts and culture. As many as 21 of his tracks feature in BBC's "Top 40 Bollywood Soundtracks of all time". He got to sing with Mohammed Rafi in his Hindi playback debut in Unees-Bees in 1980 and also with Kishore Kumar in the 1980s. He finally made his mark in the 1988 film Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak starring Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla, his song "Papa Kehte Hain" was his notable performance which earned him his first Filmfare Award in the 1980s and he established himself in Bollywood Playback Singing. The soundtrack became one of the highest selling albums in the 1980s. The soundtrack was a breakthrough for the careers of Anand–Milind, as well as T-Series, one of India's leading record labels. after which he was one of the favourites of music directors. In the 1990s he sung for a thousands of songs including Hindi and Nepali languages. Recognising his contribution, the King of Nepal Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev honoured him with the Order of Gorkha Dakshina Bahu in 2001 after his contribution to Indian cinema and music, and Chitragupta Cineyatra Samman 2015 for his contribution towards Bhojpuri cinema. He is the only male singer in the history of the Filmfare Awards to have won in over three decades (the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s).

8. S. P. Balasubrahmanyam (1946 - 2020)

With an HPI of 52.64, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam is the 8th most famous Indian Singer. His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020), commonly known as SPB or Balu, was an Indian playback singer, television presenter, actor, music composer, dubbing artist, and film producer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Indian singers of all time. He predominantly worked in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi films and sang in a total of 16 languages. Balasubrahmanyam was born into a Telugu family with a strong musical background in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh. Despite initially pursuing engineering, his passion for music led him to a successful career in playback singing, starting with his debut in the Telugu film Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna in 1966, composed by his mentor, S. P. Kodandapani. Over his career, he received six National Film Awards for Best Male Playback Singer for his performances in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi, along with 25 Andhra Pradesh state Nandi Awards for his work in Telugu cinema. Additionally, he was honoured various state awards from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments, four Filmfare Awards South and a Filmfare Award. According to some sources, he held the Guinness World Record for recording the highest number of songs by a singer with over 50,000 songs in 16 languages. On 8 February 1981, he set a record by recording 28 songs in Kannada in a single day, along with 19 songs in Tamil and 16 in Hindi, which has also been called a record. In recognition of his contributions, Balasubrahmanyam received the NTR National Award from the Government of Andhra Pradesh in 2012, the Harivarasanam Award from the Government of Kerala in 2015, and was named the Indian Film Personality of the Year at the 47th International Film Festival of India in 2016. The Government of India honored him with the Padma Shri in 2001, the Padma Bhushan in 2011, and the Padma Vibhushan posthumously in 2021. He died on 25 September 2020 in Chennai after complications from COVID-19.

9. Jagjit Singh (1941 - 2011)

With an HPI of 51.59, Jagjit Singh is the 9th most famous Indian Singer. His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Jagjit Singh (born Jagmohan Singh Dhiman; 8 February 1941 – 10 October 2011) was an Indian composer, singer and musician. He composed and sang in numerous languages and is credited for the revival and popularity of ghazal, an Indian classical art form, by choosing poetry that was relevant to the masses and composing them in a way that laid more emphasis on the meaning of words and melody evoked by them. In terms of Indian classical music, his style of composing and gayaki (singing) is considered as Bol-pradhan, one that lays emphasis on words. He highlighted this in his music for films such as Prem Geet (1981), Arth (1982), and Saath Saath (1982), and TV serials Mirza Ghalib (1988) and Kahkashan (1991). Singh is considered to be among the most successful ghazal singers and composers of all time in terms of critical acclaim and commercial success. With a career spanning five decades and many albums, the range and breadth of his work has been regarded as genre-defining. Singh's 1987 album, Beyond Time, was the first digitally recorded release in India. He was regarded as one of India's most influential artists. With sitar player Ravi Shankar and other leading figures of Indian classical music and literature, Singh voiced his concerns over politicisation of arts and culture in India and lack of support experienced by the practitioners of India's traditional art forms, particularly folk artists and musicians. He lent active support to several philanthropic endeavours such as the library at St. Mary's School, Mumbai, Bombay Hospital, CRY, Save the Children and ALMA. Singh was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the government of India in 2003 and in February 2014, the government released a set of two postal stamps in his honour.

10. Bhimsen Joshi (1922 - 2011)

With an HPI of 51.53, Bhimsen Joshi is the 10th most famous Indian Singer. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi ( ; BHEEM-SAYN joe-SHEE; 4 February 1922 – 24 January 2011), also known by the honorific prefix Pandit, was one of the greatest Indian vocalists from Karnataka in the Hindustani classical tradition. He is known for the khayal form of singing, as well as for his popular renditions of devotional music (bhajans and abhangs). Joshi belongs to the Kirana gharana tradition of Hindustani Classical Music. He is noted for his concerts, and between 1964 and 1982 Joshi toured Afghanistan, Italy, France, Canada and USA. He was the first musician from India whose concerts were advertised through posters in New York City. Joshi was instrumental in organising the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival annually, as homage to his guru, Sawai Gandharva. In 1998, he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, the highest honour conferred by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama. Subsequently, he received the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, in 2009.

People

Pantheon has 80 people classified as Indian singers born between 1873 and 1999. Of these 80, 50 (62.50%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Indian singers include Engelbert Humperdinck, Asha Bhosle, and Udit Narayan. The most famous deceased Indian singers include Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, and Mohammed Rafi. As of April 2024, 19 new Indian singers have been added to Pantheon including Pratima Barua Pandey, Vinjamuri Anasuya Devi, and Dipali Barthakur.