BBC Music Magazine recently polled 100 of the world's leading conductors and asked them to vote for history's greatest conductors. The poll led to a ranking of the 20 greatest conductors of all time, and here's the final ranking as published in January 2017.
- Carlos Kleiber (1930-2004)
- Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
- Claudio Abbado (1933-2014)
- Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989)
- Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1929-2016)
- Sir Simon Rattle (b. 1955)
- Wilhelm Furtwängler (1896-1954)
- Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957)
- Pierre Boulez (1925-2016)
- Carlo Maria Giulini (1914-2005)
- Sir John Eliot Gardiner (b. 1943)
- Sir John Barbirolli (1899-1970)
- Terenc Fricsay (1914-1963)
- George Szell (1897-1970)
- Bernard Haitink (b. 1929)
- Pierre Monteux (1875-1964)
- Yevgeny Mravinsky (1903-1988)
- Sir Colin Davis (1927-2013)
- Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961)
- Sir Charles Mackerras (1925-2010)
- Claudio Abbado (1933-2014)
- John Barbirolli (1899-1970)
- Daniel Barenboim (b. 1942)
- Thomas Beecham (1879-1961)
- Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
- Karl Böhm (1894-1981)
- Pierre Boulez (1925-2016)
- Adrian Bolt (1889-1983)
- Sergiu Celibidache (1912-1996)
- Riccardo Chailly (b.1943)
- Colin Davis (1927-2013)
- Gustavo Dudamel (b. 1981)
- Ferenc Fricsay (1914-1963)
- Wilhelm Furtwängler (1896-1954)
- John Eliot Gardiner (b. 1943)
- Valery Gergiev (b. 1953)
- Carlo Maria Giulini (1914-2005)
- Bernard Haitink (b. 1929)
- Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1929-2016)
- Christopher Hogwood (1941-2014)
- Mariss Jansons (b. 1943)
- Eugen Jochum (1902-1987)
- Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989)
- Carlo Kleiber (1930-2004)
- Otto Klemperer (1985-1973)
- Serge Koussevitzky (1874-1951)
- Rafael Kubelík (1914-1996)
- James Levine (b. 1943)
- Lorin Maazel (1930-2014)
- Charles Mackerras (1925-2010)
- Neville Marriner (1924-2016)
- Zubin Mehta (b. 1936)
- Willem Mengelberg (1871-1951)
- Pierre Monteux (1875-1964)
- Yevgeny Mravinsky (1903-1988)
- Charles Munch (1891-1968)
- Riccardo Muti (b. 1941)
- Arthur Nikisch (1855-1922)
- Eugene Ormandy (1899-1985)
- Seiji Ozawa (b. 1935)
- Antonio Pappano (b. 1959)
- Simon Rattle (b. 1955)
- Fritz Reiner (1888-1963)
- George Solti (1912-1997)
- Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977)
- George Szell (1897-1970)
- Michael Tilson Thomas (b. 1944(
- Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957)
- Bruno Walter (1876-1962)
- Günter Wand (1912-2002)
- Marin Alsop (video)
- Gisèle Ben-Dor (video)
- Karina Canellakis (video)
- Elim Chan (video)
- Odaline de la Martinez (video)
- Sian Edwards (video)
- Laurence Equilby (video)
- JoAnn Falletta (video)
- Alice Farnham (video)
- Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla (video)
- Barbara Hannigan (video)
- Jane Glover (video)
- Emmanuelle Haïm (video)
- Sarah Ioannides (video)
- Susanna Mälkki (video)
- Alondra de la Parra (video)
- Andrea Quinn (video)
- Simone Young (video)
- Xian Zhang (video)