Whoever the "ULL" is has some explaining to do.
Barstool Sports stirred up a hefty amount of controversy when they posted a photo with the caption, "Power Ranking the Top 10 Female Singers of All Time." According to the ranking, these are the best singers, in descending order: Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, JoJo, Lady Gaga, Aretha Franklin, Beyoncé, Ashlee Simpson, Tina Turner, Adele and Addison Rae.
Social media users expressed a mix of emotions ranging from anger to confusion. One Twitter user described the ranking as "the worst take in the history of takes," while another questioned, "How is Taylor Swift not on this list nor Alicia Keys I can't take this seriously."
People were even more perplexed by the addition of TikTok star Addison Rae, who released her debut single "Obsessed" in March 2021. One person tweeted about Addison ranking in tenth place, "why is addison rae on the same list as whitney houston, beyonce and aretha franklin yall are liars."
However, it seems this list might not be as legit as you'd think. In the bottom right corner of the ranking, Barstool Sports states, "Rankings generated from data gathered by the ULL."
A quick Google search of "ULL" took us to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, though it doesn't seem the university recently published any studies on female singers.
If the school did come to this conclusion, then it seems they might be a bit biased towards Louisiana natives—like Addison Rae, perhaps? The 21-year-old TikTok star hails from Lafayette, so it would make sense.
Nonetheless, the response to the ranking proves that these so-called ULL researchers need to do some recalculations.