Who is the best non-auto-tune singer in terms of commercial success today?
(please read all the rules before answering)
I am looking for a singer who fits all these rules:
1) Had the greatest commercial success (monetary income) related to music in calendar year 2019. Side-gigs can not be counted. If an artist has a clothing line or makeup named after him/her, then income from that does not count. If an artist is a paid actor in movies or television, then that income does not count. Generally, which artist made the most from music sales, tours (partially to promote music sales) and other income in 2019 directly related to SINGING????
2) Is definitely active for all of 2019 and 2020 (so far), and only records and performs songs in the English language.
3) Released at least one full-length album (more than 7 tracks) in the past 12 months
4) Is a solo artist, or performs the lead/main vocals for his/her band, on studio recordings
5) And...according to the best evidence available, this artist has NEVER used "auto-tune" in a studio recording. Not even to clean up a piece of ONE track.
I will allow artists who lip-sync live performances, or even auto-tune live performances. But to qualify as the most successful non-auto-tune artist for this question, the artist has to NOT use auto-tune (ever) in the studio recordings.
OK, who is it?
If I had to guess, I would say maybe Bruno Mars or Avril Lavigne. But then, I ran across references hinting that they use auto-tune, also. I also read that 99% of producers use it at all recording sessions. So it might be impossible to find a popular artist now who is not auto-tuned at the studio.