This one was a tight one to the very end, with three singers running neck-and-neck. Then our eventual winner pulled away over the past few days, winning easily.

Like our earlier Listening Room polls, we received tons of entries for our Best Male Singer poll. And they were all over the place, from Al Jolson and Mario Lanza, to Jason Mraz and Jay Z.

That’s what happens when you make it an open contest, but we wanted to be fully democratic about the whole thing and didn’t want to limit it by genre. After all, a voice is a voice regardless of when it was deployed.

In the end we had one clear winner. We weren’t so much surprised by who the winner was — he’s a hallmark crooner who more than earned his stripes. What surprised us was who voted for him: It wasn’t just the old timers who put him over the top, because we had a pretty good number of 20-somethings and 30-somethings who put this singer on their lists as well. The man obviously has some mass appeal.

So, with a total of 40 votes, our winner is none other than Old Blue Eyes himself, legendary singer, Rat Packer and award winning actor Frank Sinatra.

Sinatra was part of a trio of singers who pulled away from the pack. In fact, it was anybody’s race until Tuesday, when Sinatra put some distance between himself and the others. Those runners up were:

• Elvis Presley, with 30 votes
• Freddie Mercury, with 28 votes

Rounding out the top 10 were:

• Nat King Cole, 16 votes
• John Lennon, 14 votes
• Robert Plant, 14 votes
• Otis Redding, 13 votes
• Ray Charles, 12 votes
• Sam Cooke, 12 votes
• Eddie Vedder, 12 votes

But we had nearly 250 singers submitted in all, so that’s hardly the whole story. We’ve given you the complete list below, along with the total number of votes each singer received. We broke it down alphabetically within the vote totals.

And keep in mind that this is hardly our last poll — we’ve already done best guitar player and best album. Stay tuned for our next one, which will ask you for your list of the Best Female Singers of all time. We’ll follow the same rules for that one.

Anyway, Happy Holidays to our readers, and thank you for reading. To those of you who voted in the poll, a special thanks.

And to those of you who didn’t vote, we hope you enjoy leafing through the results and we hope you’ll put your list in for our future readers polls.

In the meantime, here’s our complete Best Male Singers list:

11 – Dean Martin
11 – Roy Orbison
10 – Bing Crosby
10 – Marvin Gaye
9 – Tony Bennett
9 – Jeff Buckley
9 – Paul McCartney
9 – Rod Stewart
8 – Michael Jackson
8 – Bob Marley
8 – Steve Tyler
8 – Luther Vandross
8 – Thome Yorke

7 – Al Green
7 – Van Morrison
7 – Smokey Robinson
6 – Johnny Cash
6 – Chris Cornell
6 – Roger Daltrey
6 – Elton John
6 – Steve Perry
6 – James Taylor
6 – Stevie Wonder

5 – Bono
5 – David Bowie
5 – Harry Connick Jr.
5 – Elvis Costello
5 – Bob Dylan
5 – Luciano Pavarotti
5 – Layne Staley

4 – James Brown
4 – Josh Groban
4 – Johnny Mathis
4 – Ozzy Osbourne
4 – Prince
4 – Cat Stevens
4 – Jackie Wilson
4 – Neil Young
3 – Jon Bon Jovi
3 – Enrico Caruso
3 – Joe Cocker
3 – Perry Como
3 – Bryan Ferry

3 – Robert Goulet
3 – Sammy Hagar
3 – James Hetfield
3 – Billy Joel
3 – Al Jolson
3 – Mario Lanza
3 – Geddy Lee
3 – Maxwell
3 – Jim Morrison
3 – Axl Rose
3 – Paul Simon
3 – Bruce Springsteen
3 – Levi Stubbs
3 – B.J. Thomas
3 – Mel Torme
3 – Frankie Valli

3 – Tom Waits
3 – Barry White
3 – Bill Withers
2 – Louis Armstrong
2 – Charles Aznavour
2 – Michael Buble
2 – Tevin Campbell
2 – Leonard Cohen
2 – Alice Cooper
2 – Johnny Copeland
2 – Sammy Davis Jr.
2 – Neil Diamond
2 – John Fogerty
2 – Peter Gabriel

2 – Dave Gahan
2 – Art Garfunkle
2 – Rob Halford
2 – Richie Havens
2 – John Hiatt
2 – Howlin’ Wolf
2 – Mick Jagger
2 – Tom Jones
2 – Frankie Lane
2 – Little Richard
2 – Lyle Lovett
2 – Brian McKnight

2 – Meatloaf
2 – Willie Nelson
2 – David Ruffin
2 – Sting
2 – Joe Strummer
2 – Serj Tankian
2 – Geoff Tate
2 – Scott Weiland
2 – Hank Williams
1 – Brian Adams
1 – Marc Anthony
1 – Billy Joe Armstrong
1 – Fred  Astaire
1 – Dan Auerbach

1 – Baby Face
1 – Marty Balin
1 – Matthew Bellamy
1 – Chuck Berry
1 – Jussi Bjoering
1 – Jay Black
1 – Ruben Blades
1 – Bobby Bland
1 – Andrea Bocelli
1 – Michael Bolton
1 – Robert Bradley
1 – Jackson Browne
1 – Tim Buckey
1 – Eric Burdon
1 – Solomon Burke
1 – Cab Calloway
1 – Eric Carmen

1 – Julian Casablancas
1 – Nick Cave
1 – Peter Cetera
1 – Eric Clapton
1 – Gene Clarke
1 – Willie Colon
1 – David Coverdale
1 – Jim Croce
1 – David Crosby
1 – Joe Cuba
1 – Burton Cummings
1 – D’Angelo
1 – Rick Danko
1 – Bobby Darin
1 – Ray Davies
1 – Jon Davis
1 – John Denver

1 – Ronnie James Dio
1 – Denny Doherty
1 – Placido Domingo
1 – Oscar D’Leon
1 – Jeremy Enigk
1 – Farinelli
1 – Marc Farre
1 – Cheo Feliciano
1 – Vincente Fernandez
1 – Carlos Gardel
1 – Barry Gibb
1 – Benianimo Gigli
1 – Johnny Gill
1 – Vince Gill
1 – Matt Giraud
1 – David Gray
1 – Herbert Gronemeyer
1 – Juan Luis Guerra

1 – Merle Haggard
1 – Anthony Hamilton
1 – Donny Hathaway
1 – Warren Haynes
1 – Jimi Hendrix
1 – Don Henley
1 – Chris Hillman
1 – Roscoe Holcomb
1 – Buddy Holly
1 – Mick Hucknall
1 – Ian Hunter
1 – Billy Idol
1 – Iggy Pop
1 – Chris Isaak
1 – Al Jarreau
1 – Joe (Joe Louis Thomas)
1 – David Johansen
1 – Howard Keel
1 – Tom Keifer
1 – Gene Kelly
1 – R Kelly
1 – Anthony Kiedis

1 – Lemmy Kilmister
1 – Ben E. King
1 – Ray LaMontagne
1 – Hector Lavoe
1 – Leadbelly
1 – Gerald Levert
1 – Jerry Lee Lewis
1 – Gordon Lightfoot
1 – Li’l Wayne
1 – Fabio Lione
1 – Michael MacDonald
1 – Shane MacGowan
1 – Antonio Machin
1 – Johnny Maestro
1 – Raul Malo
1 – Barry Manilow
1 – Steve Marriott
1 – Dave Matthews

1 – Curtis Mayfield
1 – Gordon MacCrea
1 – Bill Medley
1 – Robert Merrill
1 – George Michael
1 – Sam Moore
1 – Jason Mraz
1 – Muddy Waters
1 – Mark Murphy
1 – Musiq Souchild
1 – Graham Nash
1 – Aaron Neville
1 – Tito Nieves
1 – Bill O’Brien
1 – Robert Palmer
1 – Teddy Pendergrass

1 – Wilson Pickett
1 – Arnel Pineda
1 – Gene Pitney
1 – Popa Chubby
1 – John Raitt
1 – Lou Reed
1 – Terry Reed
1 – Lionel Richie
1 – Ismael Rivera
1 – Robbie Robertson
1 – Gilberto Santa Rosa
1 – Neil Sedaka
1 – Tommy Shaw
1 – Richard Shindell
1 – Robert Smith

1 – Jimmy Somerville
1 – J.D. Souther
1 – Ralph Stanley
1 – Patrick Stump
1 – Robin Thicke
1 – Teddy Thompson
1 – Joe Lynn Turner
1 – Billy Vera
1 – Rufus Wainright
1 – Joe Walsh
1 – Paul Westerberg
1 – Jack White
1 – Joe Williams
1 – Steve Winwood
1 – Dwight Yoakum
1 – Jay-Z

That does it for this one. Happy Holidays and thanks for reading. It’s okay to start your list of best female singers. We’ll post that one after the first of the year.

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