Suede Sing
Extremes

The record holders

The widest spans, deepest floors and highest ceilings among 357 famous voices — and why these particular numbers deserve the most scepticism.

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Read these with the most caution

Record figures are the least reliable entries in any range collection, and for a structural reason: a number only becomes a record by being the most extreme claim in circulation, so the selection process actively favours whichever source exaggerated most. The rankings below are the figures fans and journalists repeat, not measurements.

The two specific things to distrust: a span this wide usually splits across registers a listener would not call the same voice — a six-octave figure typically runs from a growled subharmonic to a whistle — and the extreme note is often a single recorded moment, sometimes one produced with studio help, rather than anything the singer performs nightly.

Widest cited span

Measured from the lowest cited note to the highest, regardless of register. This is the number people mean by “who has the widest vocal range”, and the one that rewards the most generous source.

  1. 1Mike PattonBaritone · D#1–D#76.0 oct
  2. 2Axl RoseTenor · F1–A#65.4 oct
  3. 3Mariah CareySoprano · F2–G75.2 oct
  4. 4Mitch GrassiCountertenor · F2–C74.6 oct
  5. 5Minnie RipertonSoprano · D3–F#74.3 oct
  6. 6Stevie WonderTenor · C2–E64.3 oct
  7. 7Ariana GrandeSoprano · D3–E74.2 oct
  8. 8Michael JacksonTenor · D#2–F64.2 oct
  9. 9Yma SumacSoprano · B2–C#74.2 oct
  10. 10Bobby McFerrinBaritone · E2–E64.0 oct
  11. 11Christina AguileraMezzo-soprano · C3–C74.0 oct
  12. 12Freddie MercuryBaritone · F2–F64.0 oct
  13. 13Ivan RebroffBass · F1–F54.0 oct
  14. 14Jacob CollierBaritone · D2–D64.0 oct
  15. 15Avi KaplanBass · D#1–C#53.8 oct
Deepest cited floor

Very low notes are easier to claim than to use: below roughly F2 the voice loses volume fast, so many cited floors are audible only in isolation or with a microphone doing much of the work.

  1. 1Avi KaplanBass · D#1–C#5D#1
  2. 2Mike PattonBaritone · D#1–D#7D#1
  3. 3Axl RoseTenor · F1–A#6F1
  4. 4Ivan RebroffBass · F1–F5F1
  5. 5Ray CharlesTenor · C2–A#5C2
  6. 6Stevie WonderTenor · C2–E6C2
  7. 7Barry WhiteBass · D2–E4D2
  8. 8Eddie VedderBaritone · D2–E5D2
  9. 9Jacob CollierBaritone · D2–D6D2
  10. 10Leonard CohenBass-baritone · D2–E4D2
  11. 11VBaritone · D2–D5D2
  12. 12BonoTenor · D#2–C#5D#2
  13. 13Michael JacksonTenor · D#2–F6D#2
  14. 14StingTenor · D#2–E5D#2
  15. 15Bob DylanTenor · E2–A4E2
Highest cited ceiling

Nearly everything at the top of this list is whistle register or developed falsetto rather than full voice — a different mechanism from the one doing the work lower down.

  1. 1Mariah CareySoprano · F2–G7G7
  2. 2Minnie RipertonSoprano · D3–F#7F#7
  3. 3Ariana GrandeSoprano · D3–E7E7
  4. 4Mike PattonBaritone · D#1–D#7D#7
  5. 5Yma SumacSoprano · B2–C#7C#7
  6. 6Christina AguileraMezzo-soprano · C3–C7C7
  7. 7Mitch GrassiCountertenor · F2–C7C7
  8. 8SohyangSoprano · E3–C7C7
  9. 9Axl RoseTenor · F1–A#6A#6
  10. 10Freddie MercuryBaritone · F2–F6F6
  11. 11Joan SutherlandSoprano · G3–F6F6
  12. 12Kristin ChenowethSoprano · G3–F6F6
  13. 13Michael JacksonTenor · D#2–F6F6
  14. 14MisiaSoprano · F3–F6F6
  15. 15Amy LeeMezzo-soprano · E3–E6E6
Highest full voice

The more meaningful ranking for most singers: the top of the belted, chest-dominant register rather than the top of the whole range. Restricted to the 183 voices here with a cited full-voice ceiling.

  1. 1SohyangSoprano · E3–C7C6
  2. 2Karen Clark SheardSoprano · F3–D#6A#5
  3. 3Patti LaBelleSoprano · A#2–E6A#5
  4. 4Ann WilsonMezzo-soprano · G2–E6A5
  5. 5Demi LovatoMezzo-soprano · C#3–D6A5
  6. 6Floor JansenSoprano · E3–E6A5
  7. 7Jennifer HudsonMezzo-soprano · A2–C6A5
  8. 8Jessie JMezzo-soprano · C#3–C6A5
  9. 9Kim BurrellMezzo-soprano · E3–D6A5
  10. 10Yma SumacSoprano · B2–C#7A5
  11. 11Jazmine SullivanMezzo-soprano · A2–C#6G#5
  12. 12SiaMezzo-soprano · C3–C6G#5
  13. 13Aretha FranklinMezzo-soprano · G2–E6G5
  14. 14BeyoncéMezzo-soprano · B2–D#6G5
  15. 15Bruce DickinsonTenor · E2–C6G5
Whistle register

The 9 singers here documented using whistle register — a separate mechanism above the head voice, and the reason the top of this library reaches as far as it does.

Where you fit

None of these numbers is a target. The useful comparison is your own measured range against singers whose repertoire you actually want to sing — which the range test and the main chart do together.

Find my rangeThe full chart