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The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

 

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The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time



 
 
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time is the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J....
 magazine published in November 2003.Related news articles:* The list was based on the votes of 273 rock musicians, critics and industry figures, each of whom submitted a weighted list of 50 albums. Various music genres were featured in the list, including pop
Pop music

Pop music is a music genre that features a noticeable rhythmic element, melodies and hook , a mainstream style and a conventional structure.The term "pop music" was first used in 1926 in the sense of "having popular appeal" , but since the 1950s it has been used in the sense of a musical genre, originally characterized as a lighter alternat...
, rock
Rock music

Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950's. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music and other influences....
, ska
Ska

Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and Calypso music with United States jazz and rhythm and blues....
, soul
Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the African American culture through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, Secularity testifying." The genre occasion...
, blues
Blues

Blues is a music genre based on the use of the blues chord progressions and the blue notes. Though several blues musical form s exist, the 12-bar blues chord progressions are the most frequently encountered....
, folk
Folk music

Folk music can have a number of different meanings, including:* Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous with the term "Traditional music", also often including World Music and Roots music; the term "Traditional music" was given its more specific meaning to distinguish it from the other definition...
, jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
, hip hop
Hip hop music

Hip hop music is a music genre typically consisting of a rhythmic vocal style called rapping which is accompanied with backing beats. Hip hop music is part of hip hop culture, which began in the Bronx, in New York City in the 1970s, predominantly among African Americans and Latino Americans....
, and combinations thereof.






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The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time is the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J....
 magazine published in November 2003.Related news articles:* The list was based on the votes of 273 rock musicians, critics and industry figures, each of whom submitted a weighted list of 50 albums. Various music genres were featured in the list, including pop
Pop music

Pop music is a music genre that features a noticeable rhythmic element, melodies and hook , a mainstream style and a conventional structure.The term "pop music" was first used in 1926 in the sense of "having popular appeal" , but since the 1950s it has been used in the sense of a musical genre, originally characterized as a lighter alternat...
, rock
Rock music

Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950's. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music and other influences....
, ska
Ska

Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and Calypso music with United States jazz and rhythm and blues....
, soul
Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the African American culture through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, Secularity testifying." The genre occasion...
, blues
Blues

Blues is a music genre based on the use of the blues chord progressions and the blue notes. Though several blues musical form s exist, the 12-bar blues chord progressions are the most frequently encountered....
, folk
Folk music

Folk music can have a number of different meanings, including:* Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous with the term "Traditional music", also often including World Music and Roots music; the term "Traditional music" was given its more specific meaning to distinguish it from the other definition...
, jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
, hip hop
Hip hop music

Hip hop music is a music genre typically consisting of a rhythmic vocal style called rapping which is accompanied with backing beats. Hip hop music is part of hip hop culture, which began in the Bronx, in New York City in the 1970s, predominantly among African Americans and Latino Americans....
, and combinations thereof. The accounting firm Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young

Ernst & Young is one of the largest professional services firms in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and KPMG....
 devised a point system to weigh votes for 1,600 submitted titles.

The list was released in book form in 2005, with an introduction written by Steven Van Zandt
Steven Van Zandt

Steven Van Zandt is an United States musician, songwriter, arranger, record producer, actor, and radio disc jockey, who frequently goes by the stage names Little Steven or Miami Steve....
. The book's list was slightly different, explained in the editor's foreword as the removal of some compilation albums and the consolidation of the two LPs of Robert Johnson's King of the Delta Blues Singers into The Complete Recordings, making room for eight additional albums on the list. Madonna
Madonna

Madonna may refer to:...
 is the only female artist to have four of her albums included on the list.

The list's apparent generational bias toward the 1960s and 1970s prompted a response. Following the publicity surrounding the list, rock critic Jim DeRogatis
Jim DeRogatis

James "Jim" DeRogatis is an United States music critic. DeRogatis has written articles for magazines such as Spin , Guitar World and Modern Drummer....
, a former Rolling Stone editor, published Kill Your Idols: A New Generation of Rock Writers Reconsiders the Classics (ISBN 1-56980-276-9) in 2004. This featured a number of younger critics arguing against the magazine's high evaluation of various "classic" albums, including DeRogatis taking on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the United Kingdom rock music band The Beatles. Recorded over a 129-day period beginning on 6 December 1966, the album was released on 1 June 1967 in the United Kingdom and the following day in the United States....
, which had been Rolling Stones top choice.

As with other similar lists from Rolling Stone, it is almost totally made up of the output of American and British artists. Only two albums produced in a non-English speaking country are included in it:
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express (album)

Trans-Europe Express is a 1977 in music album by Germany electronic music band Kraftwerk....
, by the German band Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from D?sseldorf, Germany. The signature Kraftwerk sound combines driving, Repetitive music rhythms with catchy melody, mainly following a Western classical music style of harmony, with a minimalism and strictly electronic instrumentation....
 (#253) and the Cuban production
Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club (album)

Buena Vista Social Club is a studio album by Cuban bandleader and musician Juan de Marcos Gonz?lez and American guitarist Ry Cooder with traditional Music of Cuba, released September 16, 1997 on World Circuit ....
(#260). Moreover, the first ten albums were all produced in the 1960s and 1970s. Notably, only five female artists are included in the first one hundred albums.

The list also includes many compilations such as "greatest hits" collections and soundtracks.

Top Ten albums

Pos.Album NameArtist
1
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the United Kingdom rock music band The Beatles. Recorded over a 129-day period beginning on 6 December 1966, the album was released on 1 June 1967 in the United Kingdom and the following day in the United States....
The Beatles
The Beatles

The Beatles were a rock music and pop music band from Liverpool, England that formed in 1960. During their career, the group primarily consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr ....
2
Pet Sounds
Pet Sounds

Pet Sounds is a 1966 in music recorded by United States popular music group The Beach Boys. The group's eleventh album, it has been widely ranked as one of the most influential records ever released in western pop music and has been ranked at number #1 in several music magazines' lists of greatest albums of all time, including New Musical...
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys are an American rock band. Formed in 1961, the group gained popularity for its close harmony and lyrics reflecting a California youth culture of cars and surfing....
3
Revolver
Revolver (album)

Revolver is the seventh album by The Beatles, released on 5 August 1966. The album showcased a number of new stylistic developments which would become more pronounced on later albums....
The Beatles
4
Highway 61 Revisited
Highway 61 Revisited

Highway 61 Revisited is Bob Dylan's sixth studio album, released in 1965 by Columbia Records. It is Dylan's first album to be recorded entirely with a full rock music band, after he experimented with the approach on half of Bringing It All Back Home....
Bob Dylan
5
Rubber Soul
Rubber Soul

Rubber Soul is the sixth U.K. studio album and the eleventh U.S. release by the UK rock music band The Beatles. Released in December 1965, and produced by George Martin, Rubber Soul was recorded in just over four weeks to make the Christmas market....
The Beatles
6
What's Going On
What's Going On

What's Going On is a studio album by Soul music musician Marvin Gaye, released May 21, 1971 on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in June 1970 and March?May 1971 at Hitsville U.S.A., Golden World and United Sound Studios in Detroit, Michigan and at The Sound Factory in West Hollywood, Ca...
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye

Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr., better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye was an United States singer-songwriter and instrumentalist with a three-octave vocal range....
7
Exile on Main St.
Exile on Main St.

Exile on Main St. is an album by the English rock music band The Rolling Stones. Released as a double album?and drawing on influences from rock & roll, blues, country music and soul music?Exile was initially greeted with lukewarm reviews, but is now widely considered the band's finest work and one of the defining masterpieces of the r...
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock music band formed in 1962 in London when multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones and pianist Ian Stewart were joined by vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards....
8
London Calling
London Calling

London Calling is the third album by English punk rock band The Clash, released 14 December 1979, on CBS Records in the UK and in January 1980 on Epic Records in the United States....
The Clash
The Clash

The Clash were an English Rock music band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk rock. Along with punk rock, they experimented with reggae, ska, Dub music, funk, Hip hop music and rockabilly....
9
Blonde on Blonde
Blonde on Blonde

Blonde on Blonde is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's seventh studio album, released in 1966 by Columbia Records.It is believed to be the first significant double album in rock music, its length forcing it to two Gramophone records, although some digital reissues fit the album on one compact disc....
Bob Dylan
10
The Beatles (The White Album)
The Beatles (album)

The Beatles is the ninth official U.K. album and the fifteenth U.S. album by The Beatles, a double album 1968 in music. It is more commonly known as The White Album as it has no text other than the band's name on its plain white sleeve....
The Beatles

Artists with the most albums in the list

(Numbers in parentheses represent actual number of studio albums by the artist while the other represents the number published by artist as the list was being decided. Actual number is subject to change without update.)

  • 11 The Beatles
    The Beatles

    The Beatles were a rock music and pop music band from Liverpool, England that formed in 1960. During their career, the group primarily consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr ....
     (with 4 in the top 10, including #1) – 10 of their 12 studio albums along with U.S. exclusive "
    Meet The Beatles!
    Meet the Beatles!

    Meet The Beatles! is the second the Beatles' album released in the United States, despite the "first album" claim on its cover. Released on 20 January 1964, it was the first Capitol Records Beatles album....
    "
  • 10 Bob Dylan (with 2 in the top 10) – 10 of his 31 studio albums (32)
  • 10 The Rolling Stones
    The Rolling Stones

    The Rolling Stones are an English rock music band formed in 1962 in London when multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones and pianist Ian Stewart were joined by vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards....
     (with 1 in the top 10) – 10 of their 21 studio albums (22)
  • 8 Bruce Springsteen
    Bruce Springsteen

    Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss", is an American songwriter, singer and musician. He has recorded and toured with the E Street Band....
     – 8 of his 12 studio albums (15)
  • 7 The Who
    The Who

    The Who are an England Rock music band formed in 1964. The primary lineup was guitarist Pete Townshend, vocalist Roger Daltrey, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon....
     – 6 of their 10 studio albums(11); 1 live album
  • 6 Elton John
    Elton John

    Sir Elton Hercules John Order of the British Empire is an England singer-songwriter, composer and pianist.In his four-decade career, John has been one of the dominant forces in rock and popular music, especially during the 1970s....
     – 5 of his 27 studio albums(29); 1 compilation album
  • 6 David Bowie
    David Bowie

    David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and Arrangement. Active in five decades of rock music and frequently reinventing his music and image, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s....
     – 5 of his 22 studio albums(23); 1 compilation album


Number of albums from each decade

  • 1950s and earlier – 29 albums (5.8%)
  • 1960s – 126 (25.2%) (with 7 of the top 10)
  • 1970s
    1970s in music

    Music of the 1970s saw the rise of Experimental music and minimalist music by classical composers. Funk, disco, Art rock, progressive rock, hard rock, glam rock, and punk music were also popular....
     – 183 (36.6%) (with 3 of the top 10)
  • 1980s – 88 (17.6%)
  • 1990s
    1990s in music

    The decade of the 1990s was possibly the most diverse period of pop music in history. Soon after the 1980s ended , musical trends quickly shifted from the 1980s standards, most notably from synthpop to house music from the years 1989 to 1991, the replacement of hair metal and classic rock with alternative rock and grunge music, and the popularity o...
     – 61 (12.2%)
  • 2000s – 13 (2.6%)


External links

  • on the Rolling Stone website.
  • - this list and many other greatest album charts.