In the summer of 1969, a mail sorter at a New York post office received a letter addressed "To The Greatest Drummer in the World." There was no address or return address and the sorter wasn't sure what to do.
Fortunately, there was a former drummer who worked the front counter of the Post Office who promptly found Max Roach's address and forwarded the letter.
Max Roach received the letter and said, "Oh no, I'm not the greatest drummer in the world."
Max then promptly forwarded the letter to Gene Krupa, who said "Somebody must've made a mistake."
Gene then forwarded the letter on to Buddy Rich.
Of course, Buddy had been waiting his entire life for that moment. He read the words "To The Greatest Drummer in the World" and smiled from ear-to-ear as he ripped open the envelope.
It occurs to me that drummer polls are flawed on two accounts. Firstly most posters will know squat about drumming and therefore cannot assess technical aspects. And of course just being technically fab should not be the sole judgement. Secondly, most people will stick to their fave genre and/or fave band.
Being totally biased I will vote for Nicko McBrain from Iron Maiden. Huge flash kit and having had the pleasure of meeting him twice a huge friendly personality too!
Not a fan of drum solos generally but I do like Brian Downeys on Sha La La La from Lizzy's Live and Dangerous Rainbow gig. I also liked Level 42 when Messrs King, Lindup and Gould did the freeway with the roto toms in their early days.
The best drummers are the ones that lay done a good groove behind the frontmen, but don't get the focus of attention on them. i.e.Joe Morello, Ed Thigpen and Philly Jo Jones from the jazz world spring to mind.