'The Voice,' 'Idol' & 'X Factor': All 26 Judges, Ranked
As Gwen Stefani & Pharrell Williams join 'The Voice,' we rank the coaches who came before them.
Starting Monday night (Sept. 22), there are two new kids on the singing-competition block: Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams, who will make their debut as coaches on The Voice. They're arguably two of the most famous and relevant faces to sit on a reality-show panel ever, but we've learned over the years that superstardom isn't all it takes to make a good judge. Actually, it's not even really a requirement (see our No. 1 below, who wasn't even known in the U.S. when his show debuted).
Billboard Cover: 'The Voice' Is Making Bigger Stars of Its Judges
It remains to be seen where Gwen and Pharrell will fall in the history of singing-contest judges, but before their debut, let's rank all 26 personalities who have come before them.*A few housekeeping notes: We only included the three U.S. shows that have more than one season (sorry, Rising Star and The Next) and are on a major network. We also left out The Sing Off, since it features such a specific style of singing, but obviously Ben Folds would have been pretty high on the list.
Let's judge the judges!