Entertainment Weekly's 100 All Time Greatest Albums

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
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

 

Any word on who voted or what criteria were used?

Nice to see, in any event, that the right Beatles album topped the chart for a change, and that (at first glance anyway) Pepper didn't even make the list.

 

Terrible list, but I own 26 of them.

 

Staff-produced. Criteria were no writing fees, pandering to readers in search of empty calories, the mindless ease of producing listicles with summer vacations beckoning, voiceless critical cowardice, easy access to stock photography and cheap caricature illustrations, and a general conforming to the plummeting standards of the once-proud print magazine profession,

 

How is it terrible? Because 74 albums that you don't own are included?

 

Well, I would quibble particularly with Purple Rain at #2 and Adele at #17 (among some others), but not the worst list I've ever seen. I count around 75 of them in my collection...

 

Interesting to see Blood on the Tracks and no BoB. Lists are silly.

 

yes!
this is what makes me happy too.
Revolver is my favorite album and Pepper never impressed me, so tired of its constant dominance in this type of lists.

top 10 was good for me .... until I reached the position of number 8

 

Purple Rain at #2

They must be Prince fans.

 

Not a bad list, even if some of it seems to be more based on sales than artistic merit - Adele in the top 20 and Kanye West (much as though as I like his music) at #8? If you're going to have three Rolling Stones albums, why Some Girls in place of the infinitely superior Sticky Fingers or Let it Bleed? Finally, Beyonce has no business being anywhere near a top 1000, let alone 100 - might as well throw in some Katy Perry, Rihanna or Britney Spears for good measure.

Still, it's a marked improvement over its Rolling Stone counterpart, if nothing else because of its greater willingness to accommodate more current music and non-rock genres, with no artists really dominating (unlike the RS list, which included 7 Beatles albums in its top 100 alone!).

 

Well, at this point in pop music history we need TOP 1,000 lists (which I wouldn't want to wade through).

It seems to me there's too many albums now to consider; for these "small" lists.

 

Not too bad a list IMHO; I've got 44 of 'em...

 

Agreed that Pepper is not the greatest Beatles album but it is certainly better than at least 50 of the records on the list. Not to pick on the Dixie Chicks but is their records actually better than Pepper or any Who album? ? Sorry I missed Who's Next. But better than Tommy or Who Sell Out? I don't think so.

 

Depends on who ya ask and that's why these lists are silly.

 

As always, the first criteria would be to select the albums their readership would presume to be correct, because nothing makes readers think they can't relate to a magazine faster than telegraphing that you know something they don't.
Second, enough "hip" artists that they've been drooling ink over throughout the years, because nothing makes readers think they can't believe a magazine more than reality not matching up with their previous positions.
Then, the albums would be ordered according to readers' awareness of the artists, because nothing makes readers think a magazine is wrong more than trying to tell readers it is they that are wrong.
To round it out, enough oddball picks are scattered evenly throughout the list for people to argue about, because nothing makes readers think a magazine isn't popular more than not seeing discussions pop up on the boards they read.
And finally, the boss (editor, managing editor, or editor in chief) gets to put in who he wants...because nothing makes readers think a magazine is BS easier...than printing a list with no scientific criteria involved.




Now playing on Ariel Stream: Kate Bush - Pi

 

A lot of that music is crap, IMO, and being on a list won't change my mind.

 

I don't put a lot of stock in these lists, but I find it interesting what is not there: Sgt. Pepper, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Band on the Run, From Elvis In Memphis, Sticky Fingers, All Things Must Pass, about a half dozen more Dylan albums. I also find it hard to believe a singles artist such as Beyoncé would be included on a Greatest Albums list.

 

I have 49. I give em credit for acknowledging the existence of the 21st century. London Calling at No. 5 is a pretty good pick, too.

Jeff

 

I have exactly half of the albums on this list, but I still think that this is a largely incoherent mish-mash of material, trying to be all things to all people, with many of the predictable favorites and critics' darlings alongside trendy new picks. There's undeniably a lot of great stuff here, but what possible purpose does a list like this serve? I could see doing a survey of a particular genre or time period, but these arbitrary Greatest Albums of All Time lists are a waste of time, a vain exercise in canonization, IMO.

 

The only thing this list gets right - IMHO - is Revolver at number 1.

 

I have 71 on the list. Lists are lists, but Hole Live Through This? I like it, but not top 100 by any means. And does anyone here think Lifes Rich Pageant is R.E.M.'s best album? I love it, but not as much as 3-4 others.

 

I saw at least one clear mistake there. Kanye West should be no higher than 50,000,000,000,000th.

 

So boring and predictable that a Beatles record always has to be number one all the time. Much better singer/songwriters and albums out there.

 

...Like who pray tell?

 

Kanye West.