Yes - genius is a differential, not a scalar. It's not about absolute popularity, it's about cultural leverage. Beyond his music, Beethoven changed the idea of

Yes - genius is a differential, not a scalar. It's not about absolute popularity, it's about cultural leverage. Beyond his music, Beethoven changed the idea of what a composer did. It was as much a social and cultural shift as a musical change. The Beach Boys - and especially The Beatles - changed the idea of what pop music could be. There's been an endless stream of imitators copying the tropes that defined the music of The Beatles, but copying a trope makes you an imitator, not an innovator. No one since has had the same cultural impact. Genius is not a technical exercise. It doesn't even matter if you're unusually competent. (Art and music schools turn out hundreds of unusually competent people every year.) The real medium is culture itself - concentrating and distilling existing tropes, and inventing completely new tropes that have lasting cultural impact. Being a novelty isn't enough. Being clever isn't enough. Technical mastery of the medium isn't enough. You only clear the bar by transforming the techniques and systems that other creatives use in a way that matters to audiences for generations afterwards. Not many people get there.