What is the best Motown act of all time?

Detroit's hit factory ran on harmony groups, teenage prodigies and a house band nobody put on the sleeve. Decide who actually carried the label.

1

The Jackson 5

The Gary, Indiana brothers whose first four Motown singles all went to number one in 1970.

2

The Supremes

Motown's biggest chart act, with twelve US number ones between 1964 and 1969.

3

The Temptations

Five-part harmony and footwork, from My Girl to the psychedelic soul of Papa Was a Rollin' Stone.

4

Stevie Wonder

Signed at eleven, and by the 1970s writing and producing his own run of classic albums.

5

Marvin Gaye

Motown's most searching voice, who fought the label to release What's Going On in 1971.

6

Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

Gave Motown its first million-seller and its most-covered songwriter.

7

The Four Tops

Levi Stubbs' lead voice on Reach Out I'll Be There and a lineup that held for four decades.

8

Gladys Knight & the Pips

Took I Heard It Through the Grapevine to number one before Marvin Gaye's version.

9

Martha and the Vandellas

Dancing in the Street became both a summer single and a civil-rights anthem in 1964.

10

Diana Ross

Left the Supremes in 1970 for a solo run of number ones and an Oscar nomination.

11

The Commodores

Funk band turned ballad machine, and Lionel Richie's launch pad.

12

The Marvelettes

Please Mr. Postman in 1961 gave Motown its very first number-one pop single.

13

Jr. Walker & the All Stars

The label's rawest act, built on Walker's honking tenor saxophone.

14

Mary Wells

Motown's first star, whose My Guy topped the chart in 1964.

15

Rick James

Brought punk-funk and Super Freak to the label in the early 1980s.

16

Boyz II Men

Signed to Motown in 1991 and broke the record for weeks at number one twice.