EW Top 100 albums of all time

Tim Simmons

Have at it.

100. Ramones, Ramones
99. Erykah Badu, Mama’s Gun
98. Queens of the Stone Age, Songs for the Deaf
97. Dusty Springfield, Dusty in Memphis
96. Dixie Chicks, Home
95. Various Artists, Saturday Night Fever
94. Beyonce, B’Day
93. N.W.A. Straight Outta Compton
92. Elliott Smith, Either/Or
91. Sly and the Family Stone, There’s a Riot Goin’ On
90. The White Stripes, White Blood Cells
89. Sleater-Kinney, Dig Me Out
88. New Order, Power, Corruption and Lies
87. Dolly Parton, Coat of Many Colors
86. PJ Harvey, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
85. Tom Waits, Rain Dogs
84. Patti Smith, Horses
83. James Brown, In the Jungle Groove [anthology]
82. Pavement, Slanted and Enchanted
81. Pixies, Doolittle
80. Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
79. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV
78. Bjork, Post
77. My Bloody Valentine, Loveless
76. Talking Heads, Remain in Light
75. Elvis Costello, My Aim is True
74. Amy Winehouse, Back to Black
73. Various Artists,The Harder They Come
72. Beastie Boys, Paul’s Boutique
71. The Kinks, The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society
70. Iggy and the Stooges, Raw Power
69. Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation
68. Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
67. Neil Young, After the Gold Rush
66. Hole, Live Through This
65. Love, Forever Changes
64. Nine Inch Nails, The Downward Spiral
63. Television, Marquee Moon
62. The Replacements, Let It Be
61. De La Soul, 3 Feet High and Rising
60. Beck, Odelay
59. Metallica, Master of Puppets
58. Dr. Dre, The Chronic
57. Alicia Keys, Songs in A Minor
56. Arcade Fire, Funeral
55. Nas, Illmatic
54. R.E.M., Lifes Rich Pageant
53. The Flaming Lips, The Soft Bulletin
52. A Tribe Called Quest, The Low End Theory
51. Chuck Berry, The Great Twenty-Eight [anthology]
50. The Smiths, The Queen is Dead
49. LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
48. Outkast, Stankonia
47. The Cure, Disintegration
46. The Beatles, Rubber Soul
45. Radiohead, OK Computer
44. Michael Jackson, Off the Wall
43. Madonna, Madonna
42. AC/DC, Back in Black
41. Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP
40. John Lennon, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
39. The Who, Who’s Next
38. The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground & Nico
37. Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon
36. Jay-Z, The Blueprint
35. The Rolling Stones, Some Girls
34. David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
33. Wu-Tang Clan, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
32. Guns N’ Roses, Appetite for Destruction
31. The Notorious B.I.G., Ready to Die
30. Otis Redding, Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul
29. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours
28. Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
27. Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited
26. Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced
25. Bob Marley and the Wailers, Catch a Fire
24. Daft Punk, Discovery
23. U2, Achtung Baby
22. The Beatles, Abbey Road
21. Stevie Wonder, Innervisions
20. The Rolling Stones, Beggars Banquet
19. Al Green, Call Me
18. Paul Simon, Graceland
17. Adele, 21
16. Elvis Presley, Sunrise [anthology]
15. Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run
14. Johnny Cash, At Folsom Prison
13. Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On
12. The Beatles, The White Album
11. Joni Mitchell, Blue
10. Nirvana, Nevermind
9. The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
8. Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (TOO HIGH? TOO SOON? or CAN WE GET MUCH HIGHER? )
7. Aretha Franklin, Lady Soul
6. Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks
5. The Clash, London Calling
4. Michael Jackson, Thriller
3. The Rolling Stones, Exile on Main Street
2. Prince, Purple Rain
1. The Beatles, Revolver

Tim Simmons

Its a pretty good list actually if it wasn't ranked.

A few glaring errors,

- Adele is way to high. I get why its included, but its should be in the 95-100 area given that its there only because of its immediate cultural impact and sales numbers.

- I love Kanye, and the album deserves to be on the list, but MBDTF is not a top 10 of all time.

- I guess I should probably note there is no PJ.

- Some album choices over other are odd. Life's Rich Pageant? They didn't want to consider Murmur or Automatic first? For 90s grunge, it was Nirvana and HOLE? Not Ten or Siamese?

- I'm sure everyone can debate until they are blue in the face about actual placement (Jay Z better than DSOTM?!?! lolwtf:emoticon), but looking at it as a list of the 100 best album of all time covering all eras, and trying to fair to touch everything thats worthy (I'm sure someone could make an argument that every Zeppelin album should be here, but come on, that would make a boring list), its decent.

youngster

No Beastie Boys License to Ill?

No Pearl Jam? Not even Ten?

And Led Zeppelin IV is the ONLY Zeppelin album? And it's at #7fricken9?

This list is laughable.

Tim Simmons

It looks like, unless you were the Beatles or Stones they limited an artists appearance to 1 album.

Which is fine I guess.

Tim Simmons

Also, I think Pauls Boutique was a better choice for the Beasties. It basically created Sampling culture.

BIGDaddyWil

Tim Simmons wrote:

Also, I think Pauls Boutique was a better choice for the Beasties. It basically created Sampling culture.

Agreed!!! :thumbup:

EdsonNascimento

I stopped at 99. Erycha Badu? Really? There's not 99 better albums of ALL time?

EdsonNascimento

I lied I skimmed. Kanye West in the top 10 albums of ALL (did I mention ALL?) time.


Good lord.

Newch91

Kanye in the top 10. :fp: Especially ahead of "Pet Sounds." :fp: :fp:

No Coder

These lists can be argued about for a lifetime, and whilst I can see a good range of Albums, I fail to see the quality in a few. I am unsure how Alicia Keys, Songs in A Minor, is on the list- some good songs, but as an album? The same goes for Beyonce, B'day. A few stellar singles does not make a great album.

How is Led Zep so low and only Led Zep IV?????????

I don't se how Hole is on the list at all. Especially if front of other great albums from the 90's scene (Ten, Badmotorfinger, Siamese, Dirt, No Code)

Radiohead should also be higher and other albums considered. Agree about wrong albums for certain artists too - REM, Beasties.

No RATM, Faith No More, Oasis, Run DMC, Sabbath? Plus others I'm sure - although there are only 100 spots

Thankfully, Jeff Buckley, Grace, wasn't on the list. I have that album and whilst I think Hallelujah, Last Goodbye and Lover, you should have come over are great songs, this album is not a masterpiece (IMO)

jumbojet

I am pretty much used to PJ being overlooked in this kind of top-100 lists. Maybe it'll make to top-500 lists. This doesn't bother me anymore. I like to be in the minority.

SatansFuton

These lists are usually always the same, it's like they all use the same list then make their own minor adjustments. Beatles are almost always #1, the only question is will it be Sgt Pepper, Revolver or Rubber Soul. After that the top 10 will usually be rounded out by The Stones (usually Exile, sometimes Aftermath), Pet Sounds, Purple Rain, a Dylan album, Thriller and London Calling.

This list, by their own admission on the site, was adjusted to include newer artists and appeal to younger readers as well as the older. To pit the "hipsters against the fogies" as they put it. Which I understand, but sort of takes the "best" part out of the list when you set a condition on it based on demographics and not quality of the material. Not to say the new stuff isn't quality material, but the ranks and number of such albums might seem a little high (for some of the albums) for that reason. It's not the best albums, it's an attempt to list albums a wide variety of readers can recognize.

I don't listen to a lot of Kanye, but I have my doubts about him being that high. I've heard a lot of his stuff on the radio and when he performs on SNL or whatever, and I think he's a hell of an entertainer, but nothing to indicate he should be in the top 10 of greatest albums ever. Maybe I'm listening to the wrong stuff of his though. Adele I'm not too familiar with outside the James Bond theme (which was really good) so I'll have to take their word for it that she belongs at the 17 spot.