TOP 10 BEST INDIAN SINGERS 2020

TOP 10 BEST INDIAN SINGERS 2020

India’s is the house of marvelous singers who had written their name in glorious letters as one of the best singers worldwide. The Indian music industry is largely dominated by Bollywood soundtracks, which account for nearly 80% of the country's music revenue. The industry was dominated by cassette tapes in the 1980s and 1990s, before transitioning to online streaming in the 2000s (bypassing CD and digital downloads). The first song recorded in India by Gauhar Jaan in 1902 and the first film made in Bollywood ‘Alaam Ara' in 1931 were under Saregama India Ltd., India’s oldest music label owned by RP Sanjiv Goenka Group of companies. As of 2014, the largest Indian music record label is T-Series (which has the world's most-viewed YouTube channel) with up to 35% share of the Indian market, followed by Sony Music India (the largest foreign-owned label) with up to 25% share, and then Zee Music (which has a partnership with Sony). As of 2017, 216 million Indians use music streaming services such as YouTube, Hungama, Gaana and Saavn.

India’s Bollywood industry is also known for releasing a greater number of films every year than countries like the United States and the United Kingdom combined. If this didn’t give you an idea about how big and talented Bollywood world is, take a look at our list of top 10 best Indian singers 2020.

But before we release the names, we would like to tell you that we are not listing the names based on the singer’s net worth. Just a disclaimer, we are only telling you how popular these singers are and how much people love them, do not fight with each other. Let’s get straight into the list of famous Indian singers of 2020.

10. Armaan Malik

Armaan Malik (born 22 July 1995) is a singer, songwriter and an actor. He is known for his singing in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Bengali, Gujarati & Marathi. A finalist on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs (2006), Armaan advanced to eighth place with public votes. He is the brother of composer Amaal Mallik. Previously represented by Universal Music India, he is now signed on by T-Series. He has also signed with Arista records. His first on-screen appearance was in the film Kaccha Limboo in the year 2011.

He was born in Mumbai to Indian Music Composer Daboo Malik and Jyothi Malik. Daboo Malik is the brother of Music Director and Singer Anu Malik.

The singer also featured as a coach on an Indian reality show, The Voice India, and became the youngest coach/judge in the history of Indian singing reality show.

Billboard.com announced on 12 March 2020 that Armaan has signed with Arista Records for his first official English-language single, "Control," out 20 March 2020. He is our choice for the tenth position in top 10 best Indian singers 2020.

Malik has dubbed for My Name Is Khan for the English boy and also lent voice for the character Salim in the radio version of Slumdog Millionaire for BBC Radio 1. In 2014, Armaan sang "Tumko Toh Aana Hi Tha", "Love You Till The End (House Mix)" and the "Title Track" for Salman Khan's movie Jai Ho. Apart from singing, Malik and his music composer brother Amaal Mallik also featured in the beginning of Jai Ho in the song "Love You Till The End". In that year, he sang "Naina" with Sona Mohapatra for the film Khoobsurat and "Auliya" for Ungli.

9. Yo Yo Honey Singh

Hirdesh Singh (born 15 March 1983), known by his professional name, Yo Yo Honey Singh or Honey Singh, started out as a session and recording artist, and became a bhangra music producer. Later, he got success with his music and started making songs for Bollywood films. Currently, he is one of the most paid artist in the Indian music industry. Today, any party or celebration is incomplete without his songs. Even though he has been in several controversies, he never focused on them and gave super hit songs one after another. And that’s the reason his talent has landed him in ninth position among the top 10 best Indian singers 2020.

In late 2014, Singh disappeared from the music scene, before making a comeback the following year, but mostly avoided the media. In March 2016, he attributed his 18-month long absence from the public to his bipolar disorder

His debut song in Bollywood films was Shakal Pe Mat Ja, featuring Gagan Sidhu. Singh charged Rs. 7 million for a song in the film Mastan. This was the largest amount paid to a song artist in Bollywood to date, making Singh one of the highest-paid musical artists in Bollywood.

The song "Angreji Beat" from Singh's album International Villager, featuring Gippy Grewal, was featured in Saif Ali Khan's film Cocktail.

Singh launched his single "Bring Me Back ft. Spoken Word" at the Video Music Awards India, which aired on MTV India. After the show, his song was premiered on the channel.

In late 2013, he produced songs in the films Chennai Express and Boss. He has also had songs in smaller-budget films such as Mere Dad Ki Maruti, Bajatey Raho and Fugly.

In February 2015 he released the songs "Birthday Bash", followed by songs in films including Gabbar is Back and Bhaag Johnny. He faced an accident in 2016 and was unavailable for any project, hence giving his opponents to go through, Honey Singh Returned in late 2018 with the song MAKHNA. The song became a major success, also the same year he sung and composed songs for movie Baazaar & Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety.

8. Shaan

Shantanu Mukherjee (born 30 September 1972), known as Shaan, is active in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Urdu, Telugu and Kannada films and a television host. He hosted the shows Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs, Star Voice of India and STAR Voice of India 2. In Music Ka Maha Muqabla, his team, Shaan's Strikers, finished as the runners up to Shankar Mahadevan's team. He had a heated argument with singer Mika Singh during this star plus reality show Music Ka Maha Muqabla. He is getting eight position among the top 10 best Indian Singer 2020

He was just 13 years old when he lost his father. Before becoming a professional singer, he worked in a boutique shop. He also started his career at a very young age of 17 years in the year 1989. He has been showered with titles such as "Golden Voice of India", "Voice of Paradise", "Magician of Melody", and "Voice of Youth". We won 2 Filmfare awards in the year 2006 and 2008.

He is considered as one of the most popular voices for romantic as well as melodious songs and is one of the most versatile singers. He has sung songs of different genres such as pop, sad songs, patriotic, jazz, ghazals, hip-hop, rock and many more. He has sung songs in Konkani, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Nepali, English, Hindi, Oriya, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Marathi and Assamese. He has also sung many Nepali and Pakistani songs.

7. Sunidhi Chauhan

Sunidhi Chauhan is marking her spot at the seventh place amid the top 10 best Indian singers 2020. Born in Delhi on 14 August 1983, She began performing in local gatherings at the age of 4 and made her career debut at the age of 12, with the film Shastra (1996). During the year, she won the first singing reality show titled Meri Awaz Suno and rose to prominence after recording "Ruki Ruki Si Zindagi" from Mast (1999). It won her Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent and was nominated for the Best Female Playback Singer. Lata Mangeshkar called her the “Numero Uno” singer of the entire generation.

She discontinued her studies right after schooling to pursue a career in the music industry. She said: "I quit because I did not feel like studying. I made the decision to pursue my dream as a singer and I don't regret it one bit".

When actress Tabassum spotted her, she made her sing live in her show Tabassum Hit Parade and asked her family to shift to Mumbai. She then introduced Chauhan to Kalyanji Virji Shah and Anandji Virji Shah. Upon meeting, Kalyanji changed her name from Nidhi to Sunidhi as he felt that it is a lucky name. When she was 11, her dad quit his job and brought her to Mumbai. Initially, the family had financial difficulties in adjusting life to the city. After that she worked in Kalyanji's academy for few years and became the lead singer in his "Little Wonders" troupe. She was then offered with many shows, though her father insisted on singing for films.

In 2012, Chauhan appeared in the Forbes Celebrity 100, a list based on income and popularity of India's celebrities. She was listed at the seventy-second spot in 2012, fifty-eighth spot in 2013, fifty-sixth spot in 2014, sixtieth spot in 2015. In 2013, Chauhan appeared in the list of "World's Sexiest Asian Woman" by FHM India at the twenty-eighth position, and was named the "Hottest Female Bollywood Lead Singer" by MensXP.com

In 2002, at the age of 18, Chauhan married director and choreographer Bobby Khan after working on the music video, Pehla Nasha. She and Khan separated a year later.

Later, Chauhan began a romantic relationship with the music composer Hitesh Sonik whom she was friends with, since the days she won Meri Awaz Suno. After dating for more than two years, they married on 24 April 2012, at a low profile wedding ceremony in Goa.

6. Neha Kakkar

Neha Kakkar (born 6 June 1988) began performing at religious events at the age of four and participated in the second season of the singing reality show, Indian Idol, in which she was eliminated early. During the early days, her father, Rishikesh Kakkar used to sell samosa outside a college for a living while her mother Niti Kakkar was a homemaker. In the city, Kakkar shared a rented single room house with her whole family, in which they used to sleep and simultaneously convert to a kitchen by putting a table.

In the early 90s, Kakkar along with her family moved to Delhi, in order to try her luck in singing. At that time, the family was reeling under a financial crisis. Hoping to "contribute" to the family, Kakkar, at the age of four, started performing at local gatherings and religious event with her siblings which she credited for "boosting" her self-confidence

After several struggles, she made her Bollywood debut as a chorus singer in the film Meerabai Not Out. She rose to prominence upon the release of the dance track "Second Hand Jawani" from Cocktail which was followed by several other popular party songs including "Sunny Sunny" from Yaariyan and "London Thumakda" from Queen. She made her way to the sixth place amid the top 10 best Indian singers 2020.

She mostly performed party tracks like "Aao Raja" from Gabbar Is Back, "Tu Isaq Mera" from Hate Story 3, "Humne Pee Rakhi Hai" from Sanam Re and "Kar Gayi Chull" from Kapoor & Sons. She proved her versatility in musical range with the release of "Mile Ho Tum" from Fever which topped the list of most-viewed Bollywood songs on YouTube. She then released several chart-busters which made into the same list, including "Aankh Maarey" from Simmba, "Dilbar" from Satyameva Jayate , "Badri Ki Dulhania" from Badrinath Ki Dulhania, "Cheez Badi" from Machine, "Kala Chashma" for the film Baar Baar Dekho and the private single "Nikle Currant", all of which crossed over six hundred million views. Similarly, "Dilbar" marks the first Indian song to reach number three spot on the Billboard YouTube Music Chart.

5. Hariharan

Hariharan (born 3 April 1955) from Trivandrum, Kerala whose songs have been featured mainly in Tamil and Hindi. Also he sang notable songs in Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi and Bhojpuri films. He is an established ghazal singer and one of the pioneers of Indian fusion music. In 2004, he was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India and is a two-time National Award winner. Often considered as most versatile, he is regarded as one of the greatest indian singers of all time.

Hariharan, associating with Lesle Lewis, formed Colonial Cousins, a two-member band. They have cut many private music albums and also scored music for few feature films in Tamil cinema and Bollywood cinema.

On May 28, 2020, Hariharan and Late Gulshan Kumar's Hanuman Chalisa recorded under the label of T-Series crossed 1-billion views mark on YouTube - making it the first devotional song in the world to do so. He is grabbing the fifth position in top 10 best Indian singers 2020.

At the start of his career, Hariharan did the concert circuit and also performed on TV. He sang for a number of TV serials (e.g., Junoon). In 1977, he won the top prize in the "All India Sur Singaar Competition" and was promptly signed on by the late music director Jaidev to sing for his new Hindi film Gaman (1978). His debut song "Ajeeb Sa neha Mujh Par Guzar gaya yaaron" in that movie became such a hit that it won him an Uttar Pradesh State Film Award, as well as a National Award nomination

4. Alka Yagnik

Alka Yagnik (born 20 March 1966) is noted in Indian cinema for a career spanning over three decades. She holds a record of being the only nominee in the category of Female Playback Singer, as in the year 1994 she had three solo nominations and the fourth one was with Ila Arun. She is a record seven-time winner from a record of 36 nominations of the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer, a two-time recipient of the National Film Award as well as several other music awards and honours listed below. Further, as many as twenty of her tracks feature in BBC's "Top 40 Bollywood Soundtracks of all time" review. She is one of prolific female playback singer who has sung maximum number of female solos in her Bollywood career.

She is ranked No. 1 in the YouTube's Music Charts & Insights list of top global artists as of 12 March 2020. She has been on the chart for 182 weeks with 348 million views. She is getting fourth position in top 10 best Indian singers 2020.

Yagnik was born in Kolkata on 20 March 1966 to a Gujarati family. Her father's name is Dharmendra Shankar. Her mother Shubha was a singer of Indian classical music. In 1972 at age six, she started singing for Akashvani (All India Radio), Calcutta. At age 10, her mother brought her to Mumbai as a child singer. She was advised to wait until her voice matured, but her mother remained determined. On a subsequent visit, Yagnik got a letter of introduction to Raj Kapoor from his Kolkata distributor. Kapoor heard the girl and sent her with a letter to noted music director Laxmikant. Impressed, Laxmikant gave her two alternatives – an immediate start as a dubbing artist or a later break as a singer; Shubha chose the latter for her daughter. Yagnik mentioned that she was a bright student but didn't like studies.

Yagnik married Shillong-based businessman Neeraj Kapoor in 1989 and has a daughter named Syesha Kapoor. She and her husband were separated for four to five years but they later reunited. She compliments her husband for understanding her career in singing.

3. Sonu Nigam

Sonu Nigam (born 30 July 1973) is is widely regarded as one of the best Bollywood singers of all time. He sings predominantly in Hindi and Kannada language films. He has also sung in English, Bengali, Odia, Manipuri, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Nepali, Maithili, Malayalam and various Indian languages. Nigam has also released Indian pop albums and acted in a number of Hindi films. He is also regarded as the "Lord of Chords". Nigam has always been the first choice of movie directors for all types of songs. His talent and mesmerizing voice can make anyone his fan instantly. He is occupying third position on the list of top 10 best Indian singers 2020.

Nigam gave his first stage performance at the tender age of 3 on the popular song “Kya Hua Tera Vaada”. He was initially trained by classical singer Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan. At the age of 10, Sonu Nigam made his Bollywood debut as an actor by playing the role of young Shatrughan Sinha in the film ‘Taqdeer’ (1983).

He has been awarded the National Award for the song ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’ from the film ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’ (2003). When he went to receive the National Award, he had a the hairstyle similar to that of the then President of India Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam.

Sonu is often considered to be one of the best playback singers in Bollywood of all time, and is widely considered to have inspired new singers in the Bollywood industry. He is often compared to legendary singer Mohammad Rafi for similar voice and texture. Among the old generation of singers, legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar considers him one of the very best, comparable to that of Kishore Kumar and Mohammad Rafi.

Music director Himesh Reshammiya believes that Sonu is the best singer in the industry. Shekhar of Vishal-Shekhar duo considered him as the finest live performer. Singer Armaan Malik idolises Sonu Nigam and takes a lot of inspiration from him. Singer and musician Ankit Tiwari cites Sonu Nigam as one of his musical inspirations and considers him the best singer in India.

Actors Shah Rukh Khan have been seen heaping praises on Sonu whom he consider a true artiste, who has lend his voice on many of their hit songs. Shankar Mahadevan considers Sonu Nigam as his favourite singer in recent times.

2. Arijit Singh

Arijit Singh (born 25 April 1987) He sings predominantly in Hindi and Bengali but has also performed in various other Indian languages.

Singh began his career when he participated in the contemporary reality show, Fame Gurukul in 2005, and was discovered by filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Kumar Taurani. At the start of his singing career, he received nominations for the Upcoming Male Vocalist of the Year award at the 2013 Mirchi Music Awards for renditions of "Phir Le Aya Dil" and "Duaa", winning the award for the latter. Singh received widespread recognition with the release of "Tum Hi Ho" and "Chahun Main Ya Naa" in 2013. Singh was declared the most-streamed Indian artist of the year 2019 by Spotify. He is the obvious choice for the second position for top 10 best Indian singers 2020.

Singh's musical career began when his guru Rajendra Prasad Hazari, who felt that "Indian classical music was a dying tradition", insisted he leave his hometown and participate in the reality show Fame Gurukul (2005) at the age of 18. He was eliminated by audience polling, finishing in sixth place.

During the show, filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali recognized his talent and had him sing "Yun Shabnami" a song scheduled to be used in his upcoming film Saawariya. During production, the script changed and the song was no longer required. It was never released. After the Fame Gurukul, Kumar Taurani, the head of Tips, signed him for an album which was never released.

He participated in another reality show 10 Ke 10 Le Gaye Dil and won. He chose to move to Mumbai in 2006 to freelance, staying in a rented room in the Lokhandwala area of the city. He invested the prize money of ₹10 lakh from 10 ke 10 Le Gaye Dil to build his recording studio. He became a music producer and began composing music and singing pieces for advertisements, news channels and radio stations.

In 2020 in the January month itself his 10 songs released. Out of these, two songs are chartbusters "Shayad" and "Haan Main Galat", which are composed by Pritam from the film Love Aaj Kal; Title Track of Chhapaak along with "Khulne Do" and "Sab Jhulas Gaya" composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy written by Gulzar; "Dua Karo" from the film Street Dancer 3D is sang along with Bohemia; "Chal Ghar Chalen" is a song from the movie Malang composed by Mithoon; He has sung the songs "Azaadi Ke Liye" and "Mere Watan" from the Amazon Originals ‘The Forgotten Army’.

Vishal Dadlani of the music director duo Vishal-Shekhar said Singh is a phenomenal singer. In another interview, he said "Arijit has the ability and the openness needed to make every recording a genuine collaboration. He's also a really nice guy, with no ego. That helps". Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali in an Interview said, "Arijit Singh is very special". Shreya Ghoshal remarked that he "is versatile and has a soulful voice".

1. Shreya Ghoshal

Shreya Ghoshal (born 12 March 1984) is one of the India's most popular playback singers who has received four National Film Awards, four Kerala State Film Awards, two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, seven Filmfare Awards including six for Best Female Playback Singer and ten Filmfare Awards South. She has recorded songs for film music and albums in various Indian languages and has established herself as a leading playback singer of Indian cinema. She is our natural choice for the first place in top 10 best Indian singers 2020.

Ghoshal aspired to become a playback singer from an early age. At the age of four, she started learning music. At the age of six, she started her formal training in classical music. At the age of sixteen, she was noticed by the mother of film-maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali when she entered and won the television singing reality show Sa Re Ga Ma. Following that, she made her Bollywood playback singing debut with Bhansali's romantic drama Devdas (2002) for which she received a National Film Award, a Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer and a Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent.

She has been honored by the United States state of Ohio, where Governor Ted Strickland declared 26 June 2010 as "Shreya Ghoshal Day". In April 2013, she was honoured in London by the selected members of House of Commons of the United Kingdom. She also featured five times in the Forbes list of the top 100 celebrities from India. In 2017, Ghoshal became the first Indian singer to have her wax figurine in Madame Tussauds Museum.

On 5 February 2015, Ghoshal married her childhood friend Shiladitya Mukhopadhyaya in a traditional Bengali ceremony. Before getting married, Ghoshal dated him for almost 10 years. According to Ghoshal, apart from being a singer, she loves to travel and read books but it's cooking that has a healing effect on her.

In 2012, Ghoshal appeared in the Forbes Celebrity 100, a list based on income and popularity of India's celebrities. She remained in the top fifty spots for five consecutive years, listed at the forty-second spot in 2012–13, the twenty-eighth spot in 2014, the thirty-third spot in 2015 and the twenty-eighth spot in 2016. In 2013, Forbes India placed her in their "Top 5 Celeb100 Singers and Musicians" list. She is the only Indian singer to include in the list of Verve’s 50 Power Women Of 2016" list.

*Disclaimer : The choices are purely personal