Chaka Khan rages as she's rated below Adele and Mariah Carey on top singers list

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Chaka Khan made her feelings known as she responded to the Rolling Stones top singers list (Image: Getty Images,)
Chaka Khan made her feelings known as she responded to the Rolling Stones top singers list (Image: Getty Images,)

Chaka Khan has unleashed a furious tirade after she discovered she was ranked below Adele, Mary J. Blige and Mariah Carey in a top singers list.

The 63-year-old singer, who's career has spanned more than five decades, made it known she was unimpressed with the ranking as she appeared on a podcast.

Ain't Nobody hit singer Chaka, who's real name is Yvette Marie Stevens, said she had never heard of theRolling Stones list before it was mentioned by the host.

The Rolling Stones released the list, called The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time, on New Years Day. Chaka was rated number 29 below Mary J. Blige, Adele, Beyoncé and Mariah Carey. Aretha Franklin was rated number one on the list.

As she was told Adele was rated above her in the 22 spot, she said on Los Angeles Magazine's podcast The Originals: "Okay, I quit".

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Chaka Khan rages as she's rated below Adele and Mariah Carey on top singers listChaka Khan hit out at being ranked below Adele, Mary J. Blige and Mariah Carey on a top singers list (Getty Images,)
Chaka Khan rages as she's rated below Adele and Mariah Carey on top singers listChaka said she 'quit' upon hearing she was ranked below Adele (Getty Images)

And, when she was told Mariah was ranked number five on the list, she said: "That must be payola or some s*** like that."

Then, after hearing Mary J. Blige was ranked above her at number 25, she fumed: "These b****es are blind as a motherf***ing bat! They need hearing aids.

"They don't have hearing aids? They have no eyes. They have no ears.

"They must have a - these b****es, you know what? These must be be the children of Helen Keller!," she said in references to the author Helen Keller who lost her sight and hearing after falling ill as a child.

Chaka Khan rages as she's rated below Adele and Mariah Carey on top singers listMariah was ranked at number 5 on the list (Getty Images for Global Citizen)
Chaka Khan rages as she's rated below Adele and Mariah Carey on top singers listChaka launched into a rant when she discovered Mary J. Blige was ranked above her (Getty Images for Sexy Fish Miami)

However, she remained silent when she was told Beyoncé had ranked above her – with the CUFF IT songstress landing the number eight spot.

Chaka said: "I'm not gonna comment on that," upon hearing of the ranking before she added: "I don't have anything to say about Beyoncé. She's a great singer, okay.

"She really has opportunity to be a great singer. She has what it takes. She got the chops, she does, okay?"

Chaka Khan rages as she's rated below Adele and Mariah Carey on top singers listChaka made her feelings known on a podcast (Getty Images)
Chaka Khan rages as she's rated below Adele and Mariah Carey on top singers listChaka said Aretha's top spot on the list was 'as it should be' (Michael Ochs Archives)

The Through The Fire singer has never had any public issues with Adele, 34, and and Mariah, 53, before – with Mariah even sampling Chaka's song This Is My Night in her tune It's Like That.

But, Chaka and Be Without You singer May have butted heads in the past.

Mary previously covered Chaka's tune Sweet Thing from her time in the 1975 band Rufus in 1992.

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However, it appeared Mary may not have got the seal of approval as Chaka began to introduce the tune at her concerts as "the song Mary J. Blige f***ed up".

It seems the pair patched things up by 2007 as they recorded duet Disrespectful together.

Elsewhere on the list, she said Debbie Harry "can't sing" as she was rated in the 160th spot while, after discovering Christina Aguilera was ranked at 141, she said: "Whatever. A lot of black people like Christina Aguilera. She's all right".

She piled on praise, however, when she found out the Queen of Soul Aretha, who died in 2018, took the top spot as she said: "As she f***ing should be", while she branded Whitney taking second place as "great".

Amy Denman

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