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The 100 Best Albums of All Time

The 100 Best Albums of All Time

Public Opinion
June 20, 2024

A Note from Jack

This week was a major pinch me moment at Track Star HQ… we did a project with Apple Music. Maybe you saw their list of 100 Best Albums? It certainly stirred up some controversy online. Rankings aside, I love that the list promoted the idea of an album vs singles. Artists release singles to get your attention, but they release albums to make a statement. We decided to record real New Yorkers listening to entire albums from the 100 Best list for the first time. The results tell you everything you need to know about the list, but if you have some concerns about who made the cut, read down below to see a few that were missed. Also if you agree with Lauryn Hill making number one, you need to watch this.

Five Revisionist Additions to Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums

By Quinn Moreland

Ranked lists make people angry and Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums project was bound to get steam coming out of the ears of rockists and poptimists alike. Claiming to be a “definitive list of the greatest albums ever made,” the list was apparently created independent of streaming numbers which raises the question: what does “best” even mean in this case?

According to Ebro Darden, the Global Editorial Head of Hip-Hop and R&B at Apple Music, voters were encouraged to consider the following parameters: albums should represent a cultural moment of the artist or genre; be more substantial than a collection of hit singles; inspire a generation to create music; represent culture in production and lyrics; represent the strongest storytelling, production, recording, etc; and be both genre-defying and timeless.

Sure, lists are subjective but I found some of the rankings to be frustrating. Adele’s 21 over Pet Sounds? The Arctic Monkeys’ AM over The Velvet Underground and Nico, an album that had terrible sales upon release in 1967 but, as Brian Eno once said, “everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band.” Why is Astroworld on any top 100 list?

In lieu of creating my own 100 Best Albums list, here are a few stone cold classics that I wrongly assumed would appear on Apple Music’s list.

Fiona Apple - Tidal

Singer-songwriters are an underrepresented bunch on Apple’s list. An easy fix would be adding some Fiona Apple. And if you think ranking 100 albums is hard, good luck choosing between her five A+ albums. Apple was only 18 when she released her 1996 debut, Tidal, but the album’s songs of self-realization established her as a sensitive and sharp songwriter wise beyond her years. For fans excited to see Billie Eilish and Lana Del Rey on the list, Fiona Apple is the blueprint.

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless

Apple Music users should absolutely be blasting Loveless out of their AirPods. The second album from the shoegaze group sounds as gorgeously disruptive today as it did upon release in 1991, not that I was around to hear it. Led by guitarist and vocalist Kevin Shields, My Bloody Valentine’s groundbreaking record blends wall-of-sound guitars, tape loops, and dream pop vocals into something at once ethereal and abrasive.

Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volume II

The only crumbs of electronic music offered on Apple Music’s list are Daft Punk’s Discovery and Burial’s Untrue. I would add Aphex Twin’s 1994 classic Selected Ambient Works Volume II to the fold. The second collection of atmospheric electronica from the iconically mysterious Richard B. James is a minimalist snowglobe that reshaped ambient music by stripping it down to the bone.

Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis

Adele and Amy Winehouse both appear in the top 20 of Apple’s list but where is one of the soul divas to pave the way, Dusty Springfield? After establishing herself with pop pleasantries, by the late ’60s the British singer was looking to revitalize her career. Inspired by her idol, Aretha Franklin, Springfield signed with Atlantic and headed to the U.S. to record with an all-star R&B band. The result is a masterpiece.

Madvillain - Madvillainy

Give MadvillainyAstroworld’s spot! Better yet, give it something higher than No. 98. Released in 2004, it’s the only full-length collaboration between two of hip-hop’s most influential eccentrics, rapper MF Doom and producer Madlib. It remains an entrancing listen today, an idiosyncratic work of art that paved the way for oddballs like Tyler, the Creator and Flying Lotus.