#24: Max Martin
As a later-era closer, Max Martin makes sense precisely because he belongs to a different chapter of the producer story. He did not define the classic album age in the way Quincy Jones or George Martin did, but he became central to late-1990s and 2000s hit pop on an almost startling scale. Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, and later many other major acts benefited from his gift for melody, structure, and chorus design.
