Dolores O’Riordan named as the number one alternative female artist of last 30 years

The Cranberries - Wake Up and Smell the Coffee followed by solo careers

Former Cranberries star Dolores O’Riordan has been named as the number one female alternative artist of the last 30 years.

The US Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart has been going for three decades.

They have marked the occasion by announcing their list of the most successful women during that time – based on the amount of times they have featured in the weekly Alternative Songs chart.

Dolores O'Riordan

The list featured frontwomen of bands, solo artists and duos.

O’Riordan has eight entries including the huge hits Zombie (which topped the charts for six weeks) and Salvation.

She came out on top – ahead of some stellar names including Sinead O’Connor, Siouxsie Sioux, Shirley Manson, Kate Bush and Alanis Morrisette.

Both songs also featured in the top 300 songs of the last 30 years with Zombie reaching number 39 and Salvation number 280.

Alternative Songs Chart Top female performers

1 – Dolores O’Riordan (The Cranberries)
2 – Meg White (The White Stripes)
3 – Siouxsie Sioux (Siouxsie & the Banshees)
4 – Shirley Manson (Garbage)
5 – Alanis Morrissette
6 – Katie Pierson and Cindy Wilson (The B-52s)
7 – Gwen Stefani (No Doubt)
8 – Natalie Merchant (10,000 Maniacs)
9 – Nanna Bryndis Hilmarsdottir (Of Monsters and Men)

The Limerick singer tragically died earlier this year in the bath of a London hotel, aged just 46. Big names from the music world such as The Kinks’ Dave Davis, Duran Duran, Hozier and more paid tribute.

Irish president Michael D. Higgins also praised her for the ‘immense influence on rock and pop music in Ireland and internationally’ that she had.

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By Michael Kehoe

Michael Kehoe is a writer for Irish Music Daily and Ireland Calling. His favourite Irish Music bands are Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys.