Top 10 Rip-Offs in Music

chipower These are music stars who whose celebrated works were actually stolen. Some even have Grammies for these stolen works.

The Top Ten

1 Madonna Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. She influenced a lot of singers such as: Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Beyonce Knowles and Britney Spears . She is known as Queen of Pop and at modern pop culture specifically in 2012 "Madge" or MDNA . She has ...read more.

A lot of tears and law suits have followed Madonna's career - by others. Songs like 'Like a virgin', 'Vogue' and many others have had court cases tied to them, some of which have been settled inside or outside court. - chipower

2 Coldplay Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in 1996. The band consists of Chris Martin (lead vocalist and pianist), Jonny Buckland (lead guitarist), Guy Berryman (bassist) and Will Champion (drummer and backing vocalist). Manager Phil Harvey is often considered an unofficial fifth member. The band renamed ...read more.

I agree this band is one of the biggest plagiarizers ever. I get that Led Zeppelin plagiarized a lot as well, but at least they did not steel every single song, like Coldplay does. And at least Led Zeppelin got better with not plagiarizing their music later on in their career. Coldplay's early work was nothing but a rip-off of U2, and Radiohead. While their more recent work is just ripping off all the rest of the modern pop/alt/indie rock bands out there. I will never get the hype behind this band for many reasons, but one of the reasons is defiantly is the fact that they are one of the most unoriginal bands ever. - RogerWatersfan1999

I heard they ripped off almost every song they made from something

Coldplagiarism would be a better name for them - christangrant

So by that analyst there this centuries Led Zeppelin, oh course! - htoutlaws2012

3 Jay Z Jay Z Shawn Corey Carter, known by his stage name JAY-Z, is an American rapper, entrepreneur and investor. He is best known for his album Reasonable Doubt.

So many law suits for copyright infringement have followed Jay Z. Toni Braxton asked for a remake of a song. Next, thing Jay Z and Beyonce were singing 'Me and my girlfriend' (Bonny and Clyde) and smiling to the bank. - chipower

4 Beyonce Beyonce Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter, is an American singer and actress, who started out in the popular pop/r&b girl group Destiny's Child. They had multiple top 5 hits such as "No, No, No", "Say My Name", "Bills, Bills, Bills", "Survivor", "Independent Women", "Bootylicious", and "Jumpin', Jumpin" from ...read more.

Since her 'Destiny's Child' days, her name has been attached to songs she did not write. It continued in her solo days. Then,the law suits started pouring in. Even her ex- band mate, Kelly Rowland said that their names were put on songwriting lists, so they could get royalties and hand them to their manager - Beyonce's father. He is not her manager anymore but the law suits have continued with each new album. - chipower

5 Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group consisted of Robert Plant (Vocal), Jimmy Page (Guitar), John Paul Jones (Bass, Keyboard) and John Bonham (Drums). The band's heavy, guitar-driven sound, rooted in blues and psychedelia on their early albums, has earned them recognition ...read more.

I don't know why did they even rip off other artists. All the ripped of song's lyrics were mediocre. Especially Whole Lotta Love, "You need love, I need love. We all need love" blah blah. Boring. Their original lyrics were far better than that. Kashmir, Stairway to Heaven, Tangerine etc. The only artist I have seen who ripped off to become bad. - zxm

Led Zeppelin is no stranger to song theft. Their first song 'Whole lotta love' was admitted by them to have been stolen from ''Willie Dixon". Front-man, Robert Plant said that it was the successful ones that got caught.Dixon got paid and shares song writing credit. - chipower

Ok maybe some lyrics of whole lotta love were copied but for the last time... DAZED AND CONFUSED WAS A COVER! Led zeppelin are still the greatest band of all time - InsertCleverName

6 Vanilla Ice Vanilla Ice Robert Matthew Van Winkle, known by his stage name, Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, actor and television host.

The song 'Ice, Ice Baby' got us singing but it sampled the David Bowie - Queen song 'Under Pressure'. Vanilla got sued though he denied copying anyone.D.J Mario also sued for songwriting credit and a settlement was reached. - chipower

7 One Direction One Direction One Direction (commonly abbreviated as 1D) were a British-Irish pop boy band based in London, composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously, Zayn Malik until his departure from the band on 25 March 2015. The group signed with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Records ...read more.

They have ripped of several songs Baba o Riley, We Will Rock You, Pour Some Sugar on Me, Should I Stay or Should I Go and several more I made a list about it. - christangrant

8 Elvis Presley Elvis Presley Elvis Presley was a American musician and actor. Known as "The King" He was mostly known for his number 1 singles including "Heartbreak Hotel" "Hound Dog" "Jailhouse Rock" "Love me Tender" Elvis debuted in the movie "Love me Tender" and focused less on his music and continued that way. ...read more.

Accused of ripping off from Chuck Berry (The true king of rock), Muddy Waters, Big Momma Thornton and more. - THC13

Recorded over 500 songs... none were original.
Why is he the king of rock and roll, someone remind me - InsertCleverName

9 Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold is an American alternative rock band, that was formed 1999 in California. Their longest lineup of members was M. Shadows (Vocals), Synyster Gates (Lead Guitar), Zacky Vengeance (Rhythm Guitar), Johnny Christ (Bass Guitar), and The Rev (Drums). ...read more.

See the Hail to the King Album an album filled with ripoffs of other songs - christangrant

10 Sam Smith Sam Smith Samuel Frederick "Sam" Smith is an English singer-songwriter. He rose to fame in October 2012 when he was featured on Disclosure's breakthrough single "Latch", which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart.

Sam's song 'Stay with me' more than borrows from Tom Petty's 'I won't back down'. Sam and his co-writers claimed not to know Petty's song but with lawyers intervening, Petty and his co-writer now get song writing credit and royalties. - chipower

The Contenders

11 Pharrell Williams Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams is an American singer, rapper, and record producer. Williams and Chad Hugo make up the record production duo the Neptunes, producing soul, hip hop and R&B music.

The song 'Blurred Lines' got Marvin Gaye's family suing because it sounded like Marvin's 'Got to give it up' and Pharrel and co. had to pay up. Even the video for 'Happy' was a stolen concept. Anne Marsen had a 24hr of fun video 4 years earlier and 'Happy is a rip off of that video; from the choir robes to the hallway dancing and general spontanaiety. Marvin Gaye's family says that 'Happy' sounds like Marvin's 'Ain't it peculiar' and are thinking of suing. - chipower

12 The Verve The Verve The Verve were an English rock band formed in Wigan in 1990 by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bass guitarist Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboard player Simon Tong became a member at a later date.

The song 'Bittersweet symphony' by The Verve was taken from 'The last time' by the Rolling Stones. It opened up many court cases and the Rolling Stones themselves were to later be sued for a song theft of their own! - chipower

13 George Harrison George Harrison George Harrison was an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and music and film producer who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles.

Harrison's song 'My sweet Lord was considered a rip-off of the 'Chiffon's song 'He is so fine'. After much argument he had to pay up but in a remarkable show of goodwill, the Chiffon's recorded their own version of 'My sweet lord'. - chipower

14 Ray Parker Jr.

His song "Ghostbusters" was considered a plagiarized work of Huey Lewis' "I Want A New Drug." I believe that they settled out of court. - clusium

15 Michael Bolton

The Isley Brother's song 'Love is a wonderful thing' was recorded by Michael Bolton who used everything up to the title yet claimed not to know the song. He was sued and gave up the royalties and 28% of album profits. - chipower

16 Sean Combs Sean Combs

Ripped of ‘Every Breath You Take’ by the Police for that god awful song ‘I’ll be missing you’ - InsertCleverName

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