Donna Summer is most iconic Boston artist

Music

Mission Hill’s homegrown superstar defeated Aerosmith in the championship round of Boston.com’s music bracket.

After four rounds and more than 40,000 votes cast, Boston.com readers have picked the Boston-based artist they feel is the region’s most iconic pop or rock star. And they really do love to love her.

Yes, Boston’s own Donna Summer — daughter of Andrew and Mary Gaines, a butcher and a schoolteacher in Mission Hill — wound up besting undeniable rock superstars Aerosmith in the championship round of our Boston music bracket, notching 60% of the more than 9,000 votes cast in that round.

“Donna for the win,” declared a commenter on our Facebook page. “Her music inspired a generation. Featured in countless movies. Her music has been part of everyone’s prom, wedding or bar mitzvah since ‘Last Dance’ came out.”

The undisputed 1970s “Queen of Disco,” Donna Summer sold 100 million records and had 32 chart singles in her lifetime, with 14 hitting the top 10, and four going all the way to number one. She also, as we pointed out in our recent poll to determine her best song, engineered a vibe that helped define an era, brought people to their feet around the world, and exuded an unflappable positivity — not to mention a romantic flair, and even a raw sensuality that sometimes raised an eyebrow or two.

And her influence still seems fondly felt in her hometown. “I painted my bedroom walls with the titles and lyrics of her songs,” recalled Alisha J. of Dorchester, now Cambridge. And Jule N. of Haverhill shared, “I had the ‘On the Radio’ album and I listened to it whenever I was in my bedroom. I was 11 years old and my record player created magic when I put that on … I tried to hit the high notes and sustain them along with Donna Summer. I loved her!”

Not that Aerosmith are slouches by any means. Besting every other round to make our championship contest, the bad boys of rock ’n’ roll have sold 150 million albums, including two that went to No. 1 on the charts, and had a No. 1 single in 1998 with  “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.” And their signature song, “Dream On,” has racked up 1.18 billion — yes, billion, with a “b” — streams on Spotify.

“No one dislikes Donna Summer. But Aerosmith is near the top of the rock pantheon, up there with the Stones, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and a small handful of others,” argued one fan on Facebook.

Meanwhile, several other iconic artists came close along the way: Boston was barely beaten by Donna Summer in the second round, and the Pixies just squeaked by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones back in Round 1. And no one can say that the J. Geils Band — arguably the most genuinely “local” local band on the list — didn’t hold its own, racking up 45% of the vote vs. the mighty Aerosmith in the Final Four.

But in the end it was Donna who won the day. Though she sadly died of lung cancer at her home in Naples, Florida in 2012 at age 63, she lives on in the larger-than-life mural in Nubian Square, the disco party the city holds in her honor each summer outside City Hall, and, clearly, in the hearts of Bostonians.

See all of the results at our bracket of Boston’s best music. To sample some of the most popular tracks from the Sweet 16 of our Boston music bracket, plus 22 other local artists that got votes in our initial poll, check out the playlist below.