I guess you'd have Beyonce, Kanye West who have been mega stars in their own right but nowhere near the legends like Bowie, Lennon, McCartney, Presley etc.
The way music has gone I doubt there will be another Bowie or anyone like him
I think that there is more to this than just talent.
When you look at the roll call of Presley, McCartney, Jagger and Bowie you are looking at a moment that has passed. An era when almost EVERY teenager watched Top of the Pops on a Thursday and talked about it in the playground on a Friday, when most people interested in music listened to the top 20 countdown on a Sunday afternoon. A time when NME sold 230,000 copies a week, and the mainstream print media ignored pop. The Guardian now sells just over 150,000 copies a day to give this some context. All that provided a concentrated focus on talent which no longer is possible.
In music there are times when talent, hardware, development and opportunity come together, then finishes. A golden era. For Opera it was probably the mid 19th century, for symphony writing, around the same time.
Cultural icons will reappear, but in a different way.
