I have listened to a great number of albums and have a piss-poor memory unrelated. Thus, I find it helpful to keep a grouping of my absolute favorite albums, for both my sake and for making easy recommendations! Every album on this list is one I would whole-heartedly recommend.
To make this list, the album needs to stand out in some manner to me. Having a lot of very good songs is one way, of course, but not every album with a really impactful song makes it onto this list. Cohesiveness is awarded, and there are some albums that I recommend more as a whole experience than as a sum of their parts. Emotional attachment is also a factor on if an album makes it onto the list - thus there is some slight bias towards music I simply have listened to a lot. Lastly, I have a few trimming rules for what albums I want to include. Eligible for the list:
Ineligible for the list:
One more note on the list: albums can move pretty fluidly in the rank! Every once in a while I tend to do a big scan of the order, and some albums go way down or up. The list begins more towards albums that are very solid but maybe I don't have a lot to say about. The top twenty are usually pretty rigid and hard to dislodge.
Albums are listed here in reverse-rank (further down means better!). Albums here are limited to one-per-artist! Click the link at the end of the row for more details and thoughts on the album. For a list that includes more than one album per artist, click here.
List Last Updated: 08/01/2023
Rank | Art | Album | Artist | Year | Genre | Favorite Song | More |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
50 | American Capitalist | Five Finger Death Punch | 2011 | Groove Metal | American Capitalist | [TBA] | |
49 | Rage Against the Machine | Rage Against the Machine | 1992 | Rap Metal | Killing in the Name | [TBA] | |
48 | Painkiller | Judas Priest | 1990 | Heavy Metal | One Shot at Glory | [TBA] | |
47 | 7 Wishes | Night Ranger | 1985 | Hard Rock | Faces | [TBA] | |
46 | Pure Heroine | Lorde | 2013 | Electronica | Royals | [TBA] | |
45 | A Sailor's Guide to Earth | Sturgill Simpson | 2016 | Country | Brace for Impact (Live a Little) | [TBA] | |
44 | Black Celebration | Depeche Mode | 1986 | Synth-Pop | Stripped | [TBA] | |
43 | WYSIWYG | Chumbawamba | 2000 | Pop Rock | Pass It Along | [TBA] | |
42 | 21 | Adele | 2011 | Pop Soul | Rolling in the Deep | [TBA] | |
41 | Blackbird | Alter Bridge | 2007 | Alternative Metal | Blackbird | [TBA] | |
40 | Throwing Copper | Live | 1994 | Alternative Rock | I Alone | [TBA] | |
39 | John Henry | They Might Be Giants | 1994 | Alternative Rock | A Self Called Nowhere | [TBA] | |
38 | Pyromania | Def Leppard | 1983 | Glam Metal | Foolin' | [TBA] | |
37 | Random Access Memories | Daft Punk | 2013 | Disco | Giorgio by Moroder | [TBA] | |
36 | Demon Days | Gorillaz | 2005 | Alternative Rock | Dare | [TBA] | |
35 | 7800° Fahrenheit | Bon Jovi | 1985 | Hard Rock | (I Don't Wanna Fall) To the Fire | [TBA] | |
34 | La Roux | La Roux | 2009 | Synth Pop | Tigerlily | [TBA] | |
33 | Beauty Behind the Madness | The Weeknd | 2014 | Alternative R&B | The Hills | [TBA] | |
32 | Warrior | Kesha | 2012 | Electropop | Dirty Love | [TBA] | |
31 | Visions of Bodies Being Burned | Clipping. | 2020 | Experimental Hip-Hop | Enlacing | [TBA] | |
30 | Lungs | Florence + The Machine | 2009 | Baroque Pop | Howl | [TBA] | |
29 | Green | R.E.M. | 1998 | Alternative Rock | I Remember California | [TBA] | |
28 | Civilisation | Kero Kero Bonito | 2021 | Electropop | When the Fires Come | [TBA] | |
27 | Riot! | Paramore | 2005 | Pop Punk | Fences | [TBA] | |
26 | Dirty Computer | Janelle Monáe | 2018 | Pop Funk | Americans | [TBA] | |
25 | American Idiot | Green Day | 2004 | Pop Punk | Wake Me Up When September Ends | [TBA] | |
24 | The Fragile | Nine Inch Nails | 1999 | Industrial | The Great Below | [TBA] | |
23 | Meliora | Ghost | 2015 | Heavy Metal | Cirice | [TBA] | |
22 | Songs for the Deaf | Queens of the Stone Age | 2002 | Stoner Rock | Mosquito Song | [TBA] | |
21 | Black Holes and Revelations | Muse | 2006 | Alternative Rock | City of Delusion | [TBA] | |
20 | Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell | Meat Loaf | 1993 | Hard Rock | Life Is a Lemon (And I Want My Money Back) | [TBA] | |
19 | Footloose (soundtrack) | Various Artists | 1984 | Pop Rock | Holding Out for a Hero | [TBA] | |
18 | The Wall | Pink Floyd | 1979 | Progressive Rock | Another Brick in the Wall Part II | [TBA] | |
17 | Speak for Yourself | Imogen Heap | 2005 | Electropop | Hide and Seek | [TBA] | |
16 | 2.0 | Big Data | 2013 | Electropop | Automatic | [TBA] | |
15 | The Fame Monster | Lady Gaga | 2009 | Electropop | Monster | [TBA] | |
14 | Emotion | Carly Rae Jepsen | 2015 | Dance pop | Run Away With Me | [TBA] | |
13 | Master of Puppets | Metallica | 1986 | Thrash Metal | Master of Puppets | [TBA] | |
12 | Hybrid Theory | Linkin Park | 2000 | Nu Metal | Papercut | [TBA] | |
11 | CUTIE MARKS (AND THE THINGS THAT BIND US) | Vylet Pony | 2021 | Hyperpop | I DON'T NEED TO BE FIXED | [TBA] | |
10 | Death of a Bachelor | Panic! at the Disco | 2016 | Pop Rock | LA Devotee | [TBA] | |
9 | Folie à Deux | Fall Out Boy | 2008 | Pop Punk | Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes | [TBA] | |
8 | Stop Making Sense | Talking Heads | 1984 | New Wave | Life During Wartime | [TBA] | |
7 | Stranger Heads Prevail | Thank You Scientist | 2016 | Progressive Rock | A Wolf in Cheap Clothing | [TBA] | |
6 | WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? | Billie Eilish | 2019 | Electropop | bury a friend | [TBA] | |
5 | Octavarium | Dream Theater | 2005 | Progressive Metal | Octavarium | [TBA] | |
4 | The Black Parade | My Chemical Romance | 2006 | Pop Punk | Sleep | [TBA] | |
3 | Frances the Mute | The Mars Volta | 2005 | Progressive Rock | L'via L'Viaquez | [TBA] | |
2 | 10,000 Days | Tool | 2006 | Alternative Metal | 10,000 Days (Wings Pt. 2) | [TBA] | |
1 | Aquarius | Haken | 2010 | Progressive Metal | The Point of No Return | Link |