Albums Ranked

Studio albums only. No compilations.

AC/DC (Top 8):

1. Highway To Hell
2. Back In Black
3. Powerage
4. Let There Be Rock
5. High Voltage
6. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
7. For Those About To Rock
8. The Razor’s Edge

Aerosmith (Top 5):

1. Rocks
2. Toys In The Attic
3. Get Your Wings
4. Pump
5. Draw The Line

Alice Cooper (Top 5):

1. Killer
2. Billion Dollar Babies
3. Love It To Death
4. Welcome To My Nightmare
5. School’s Out

Alice In Chains (Top 5):

1. Dirt
2. Jar Of Flies
3. Alice In Chains
4. Facelift
5. Black Gives Way To Blue

Note: Although it’s technically considered an EP, Jar Of Flies is an LP-like 30 minutes so I’m including it. Sap is pretty great too but is clearly only an EP at 16 minutes so it was not considered here.

Arcade Fire (Top 5):

1. Funeral
2. Neon Bible
3. The Suburbs
4. Reflektor
5. Everything Now

The Band (Top 5):

1. The Band
2. Music From Big Pink
3. Northern Lights-Southern Cross
4. Stage Fright
5. Cahoots

Note: Rock Of Ages (especially the expanded reissue) and The Last Waltz are essential live albums as well.

The Beach Boys (Top 10):

1. Pet Sounds
2. Smile
3. Sunflower
4. Today!
5. Surf’s Up
6. Wild Honey
7. 20/20
8. Holland
9. All Summer Long
10. Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)

The Beatles (Top 10):

1. Revolver
2. Abbey Road
3. Rubber Soul
4. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
5. The Beatles (The White Album)
6. Magical Mystery Tour
7. A Hard Day’s Night
8. Help!
9. Let It Be
10. Meet The Beatles

Beck (Top 5):

1. Odelay
2. Sea Change
3. Mutations
4. Modern Guilt
5. Midnight Vultures

Jeff Beck (Top 5):

1. Truth
2. Blow By Blow
3. Wired
4. Beck-Ola
5. Rough and Ready

Belle & Sebastian (Top 5):

1. If You’re Feeling Sinister
2. Dear Catastrophe Waitress
3. The Life Pursuit
4. The Boy With The Arab Strap
5. Tigermilk

Note: Their Push Barman To Open Old Wounds compilation of EP output is also essential.

The Black Crowes (Top 10):

1. The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion
2. Amorica
3. Shake Your Money Maker
4. Lost Crowes
5. Before The Frost…
6. Croweology
7. By Your Side
8. Three Snakes and One Charm
9. Warpaint
10. Lions

Note: Their Live At The Greek live album with Jimmy Page is also highly recommended.

Black Sabbath (Top 10):

1. Paranoid
2. Sabotage
3. Heaven and Hell
4. Master Of Reality
5. Vol. 4
6. Black Sabbath
7. The Mob Rules
8. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
9. Technical Ecstasy
10. 13

Blur:

1. Parklife
2. Modern Life Is Rubbish
3. Blur
4. The Great Escape
5. The Magic Whip
6. Think Tank
7. 13
8. Leisure

David Bowie (Top 10):

1. Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
2. Station To Station
3. Low
4. Blackstar
5. Hunky Dory
6. Aladdin Sane
7. The Man Who Sold The World
8. Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
9. Heroes
10. Heathen

Jackson Browne (Top 5):

1. Late For The Sky
2. For Everyman
3. Running On Empty
4. The Pretender
5. Jackson Browne (aka Saturate Before Using)

The Byrds (Top 10):

1. Younger Than Yesterday
2. The Notorious Byrd Brothers
3. Mr. Tambourine Man
4. Fifth Dimension
5. (Untitled)
6. Turn! Turn! Turn!
7. Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde
8. Sweetheart Of The Rodeo
9. Ballad Of Easy Ryder
10. Byrds

The Cars (Top 5):

1. The Cars
2. Candy-O
3. Heartbeat City
4. Shake It Up
5. Panorama

Chicago (Top 5):

1. Chicago Transit Authority
2. Chicago II
3. Chicago VII
4. Chicago V
5. Chicago III

Eric Clapton (Top 5 Studio Solo Albums):

1. 461 Ocean Boulevard
2. From The Cradle
3. Slowhand
4. Journeyman
5. Eric Clapton

Coldplay (Top 5):

1. A Rush Of Blood To The Head
2. Viva la Vida or Death And All His Friends
3. Parachutes
4. X&Y
5. Mylo Xyloto

Counting Crows (Top 5):

1. August and Everything After
2. This Desert Life
3. Recovering The Satellites
4. Hard Candy
5. Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

Creedence Clearwater Revival:

1. Cosmo’s Factory
2. Green River
3. Willy and the Poor Boys
4. Bayou Country
5. Creedence Clearwater Revival
6. Pendulum
7. Mardi Gras

The Cure (Top 10):

1. Disintegration
2. Wish
3. Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
4. The Head On The Door
5. Pornography
6. Boys Don’t Cry
7. Faith
8. Seventeen Seconds
9. Bloodflowers
10. The Cure

The Decemberists (Top 5):

1. The Crane Wife
2. Picaresque
3. The Hazards Of Love
4. Castaways and Cutouts
5. The King Is Dead

Deep Purple (Top 5):

1. Machine Head
2. In Rock
3. Burn
4. Fireball
5. Deep Purple

Def Leppard (Top 5 1980-1992):

1. Pyromania
2. High n’ Dry
3. Hysteria
4. On Through The Night
5. Adrenalize

Dire Straits:

1. Making Movies
2. Dire Straits
3. Love Over Gold
4. Brothers In Arms
5. Communique
6. On Every Street

Note: Alchemy is an essential live album as well.

The Doors:

1. The Doors
2. L.A. Woman
3. Strange Days
4. Morrison Hotel
5. Waiting For The Sun
6. The Soft Parade

Bob Dylan (Top 10):

1. Blood On The Tracks
2. Highway 61 Revisited
3. Blonde On Blonde
4. Bringing It All Back Home
5. John Wesley Harding
6. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
7. Time Out Of Mind
8. Desire
9. “Love and Theft”
10. Oh Mercy

The Eagles:

1. Hotel California
2. On The Border
3. One Of These Nights
4. Desperado
5. The Long Run
6. The Eagles
7. Long Road Out Of Eden

Electric Light Orchestra:

1. A New World Record
2. Eldorado
3. Out Of The Blue
4. Face The Music
5. On The Third Day
6. Time
7. Discovery
8. ELO 2
9. No Answer

Faith No More (Top 5):

1. Angel Dust
2. The Real Thing
3. King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime
4. Album Of The Year
5. Introduce Yourself

Fleetwood Mac (Top 10):

1. Rumours
2. Then Play On
3. Fleetwood Mac
4. Bare Trees
5. Tusk
6. Future Games
7. Tango In the Night
8. Mystery To Me
9. Say You Will
10. Mirage

Foo Fighters (Top 5):

1. The Colour and the Shape
2. Foo Fighters
3. Wasting Light
4. There’s Nothing Left To Lose
5. In Your Honor

Peter Gabriel (excluding soundtracks and covers albums):

1. Peter Gabriel 3: Melt
2. Peter Gabriel 4: Security
3. So
4. Peter Gabriel 2: Scratch
5. Us
6. Peter Gabriel 1: Car
7. Up

Genesis (Top 10):

1. Selling England By The Pound
2. Foxtrot
3. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
4. Nursery Cryme
5. A Trick Of The Tail
6. Abacab
7. Genesis
8. Trespass
9. Invisible Touch
10. …And Then There Were Three

Hüsker Dü (Top 5):

1. New Day Rising
2. Flip Your Wig
3. Zen Arcade
4. Warehouse: Songs and Stories
5. Candy Apple Grey

Iron Maiden (Top 10):

1. The Number Of The Beast
2. Piece Of Mind
3. Iron Maiden
4. Powerslave
5. Killers
6. Brave New World
7. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
8. Somewhere In Time
9. The Book Of Souls
10. A Matter Of Life and Death

Billy Joel (Top 5):

1. The Stranger
2. Turnstiles
3. An Innocent Man
4. Glass Hourse
5. 52nd Street

Elton John (Top 5):

1. Tumbleweed Connection
2. Honky Chateau
3. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
4. Madman Across The Water
5. Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy

Led Zeppelin:

1. Led Zeppelin IV
2. Physical Graffiti
3. Led Zeppelin I
4. Houses Of The Holy
5. Led Zeppelin II
6. Led Zeppelin III
7. In Through The Out Door
8. Presence
9. Coda

John Lennon (Top 5):

1. Plastic Ono Band
2. Imagine
3. Walls and Bridges
4. Double Fantasy (with Yoko Ono)
5. Mind Games

Lynyrd Skynyrd (Top 5):

1. pronounced ‘leh-‘nérd ‘skin-‘nérd
2. Street Survivors
3. Second Helping
4. Nuthin’ Fancy
5. Gimme Back My Bullets

Megadeth (Top 5):

1. Rust In Peace
2. Countdown To Extinction
3. Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?
4. Youthanasia
5. Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good!

Metallica:

1. Ride The Lightning
2. Master Of Puppets
3. …And Justice For All
4. Kill ‘Em All
5. Metallica
6. Garage Inc.
7. Death Magnetic
8. Load
9. Hardwired…To Self-Destruct
10. Reload
11. St. Anger
12. Lulu (with Lou Reed)

Joni Mitchell (Top 5):

1. Court and Spark
2. Blue
3. Hejira
4. The Hissing Of Summer Lawns
5. For The Roses

Van Morrison (Top 5):

1. Astral Weeks
2. Moondance
3. Saint Dominic’s Preview
4. Veedon Fleece
5. Into The Music

Motley Crue (Top 5 1980s albums):

1. Shout At The Devil
2. Too Fast For Love
3. Dr. Feelgood
4. Girls, Girls, Girls
5. Theater Of Pain

My Morning Jacket (Top 5):

1. It Still Moves
2. Z
3. At Dawn
4. The Tennessee Fire
5. The Waterfall

Note: Their live album Okonokos is essential too.

The National (Top 5):

1. Boxer
2. High Violet
3. Alligator
4. Trouble Will Find Me
5. Sleep Well Beast

Randy Newman (Top 5):

1. Sail Away
2. Good Old Boys
3. 12 Songs
4. Bad Love
5. Little Criminals

Nirvana:

1. Nevermind
2. In Utero
3. Unplugged In New York (I’m making an exception with this one re: “studio albums only”)
4. Bleach
5. Incesticide

Oasis:

1. (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
2. Definitely Maybe
3. The Masterplan
4. Don’t Believe The Truth
5. Be Here Now
6. Heathen Chemistry
7. Standing On the Shoulders Of Giants
8. Dig Out Your Soul

Ozzy Osbourne (Top 5):

1. Diary of a Madman
2. Blizzard Of Ozz
3. No More Tears
4. Bark At The Moon
5. No Rest For The Wicked

Pavement:

1. Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
2. Slanted and Enchanted
3. Brighten The Corners
4. Wowee Zowee
5. Terror Twilight

Pearl Jam:

1. Ten
2. Vs
3. No Code
4. Yield
5. Vitalogy
6. Backspacer
7. Pearl Jam (i.e. Avocado)
8. Riot Act
9. Lightning Bolt
10. Binaural

Tom Petty (Top 5)

1. Full Moon Fever
2. Wildflowers
3. Damn The Torpedoes
4. Into The Great Wide Open
5. Echo

Pink Floyd (Top 10):

1. The Wall
2. Wish You Were Here
3. The Dark Side Of The Moon
4. Animals
5. Meddle
6. Atom Heart Mother
7. Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
8. The Final Cut
9. The Division Bell
10. A Saucerful Of Secrets

Queens Of The Stone Age:

1. Songs For The Deaf
2. …Like Clockwork
3. Rated R
4. Era Vulgaris
5. Queens Of The Stone Age
6. Lullabies To Paralyze

Note: I haven’t heard Villains yet.

R.E.M. (Top 10):

1. Automatic For The People
2. Murmur
3. Out Of Time
4. Reckoning
5. Lifes Rich Pageant
6. New Adventures In Hi-Fi
7. Document
8. Fables Of The Reconstruction
9. Accelerate
10. Green

Radiohead:

1. OK Computer
2. Kid A
3. In Rainbows
4. The Bends
5. A Moon Shaped Pool
6. Hail To The Thief
7. Amnesiac
8. The King Of Limbs
9. Pablo Honey

The Rascals (Top 5):

1. Groovin’
2. Once Upon A Dream
3. See
4. Collections
5. Freedom Suite

Red Hot Chili Peppers (Top 5):

1. Californication
2. By The Way
3. Blood Sugar Sex Magik
4. Stadium Arcadium
5. Mother’s Milk

The Replacements (Top 5):

1. Tim
2. Let It Be
3. Pleased To Meet Me
4. All Shook Down
5. Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash!

The Rolling Stones (Top 10):

1. Sticky Fingers
2. Exile On Main Street
3. Let It Bleed
4. Beggar’s Banquet
5. Aftermath
6. Some Girls
7. Goats Head Soup
8. Out Of Our Heads
9. Tattoo You
10. Between The Buttons

Todd Rundgren (Top 5):

1. A Wizard, A True Star
2. Something/Anything?
3. The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren
4. Todd
5. The Hermit Of Mink Hollow

Rush (Top 10):

1. Moving Pictures
2. 2112
3. Permanent Waves
4. A Farewell To Kings
5. Hemispheres
6. Signals
7. Grace Under Pressure
8. Clockwork Angels
9. Fly By Night
10. Rush

The Smashing Pumpkins:

1. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
2. Siamese Dream
3. Adore
4. Pisces Iscariot
5. Gish
6. Machina: The Machines Of God
7. Machina II: The Friends & Enemies Of Modern Music
   
8. Oceania
9. Zeitgeist

The Smiths:

1. The Queen Is Dead
   
2. Hatful Of Hollow
   
3. Louder Than Bombs
   
4. The Smiths
   
5. Meat Is Murder
   
6. Strangeways, Here We Come
   

Sonic Youth (Top 10):

1. Daydream Nation
2. Sister
3. Washing Machine
4. EVOL
5. Goo
6. Dirty
7. Murray Street
8. Sonic Nurse
9. Rather Ripped
10. A Thousand Leaves

Soundgarden:

1. Superunknown
2. Badmotorfinger
3. Down On The Upside
4. King Animal
5. Louder Than Love
6. Ultraomega OK

Stone Temple Pilots (with Scott Weiland):

1. Purple
2. Tiny Music…Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop
3. Core
4. Stone Temple Pilots (2010)
5. No. 4
6. Shangri-La Dee Da

Bruce Springsteen (Top 10):

1. Born To Run
2. The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle
3. Darkness On The Edge Of Town
4. Nebraska
5. The Rising
6. Born In The U.S.A.
7. The River
8. Magic
9. The Promise
10. Tunnel Of Love

Styx (Top 5):

1. The Grand Illusion
2. Pieces Of Eight
3. Equinox
4. Paradise Theater
5. Crystal Ball

Tame Impala:

1. Lonerism
2. Currents
3. Innerspeaker
4. The Slow Rush

Traffic:

1. John Barleycorn Must Die
2. The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys
3. Traffic
4. Shootout At The Fantasy Factory
5. Mr. Fantasy
6. When The Eagle Flies
7. Last Exit

Vampire Weekend:

1. Modern Vampires Of The City
2. Vampire Weekend
3. Father Of The Bride
4. Contra

Van Halen:

1. Van Halen I
2. Fair Warning
3. 1984
4. Van Halen II
5. Women and Children First
6. 5150
7. A Different Kind Of Truth
8. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
9. Diver Down
10. OU812
11. Balance
12. Van Halen III

The Velvet Underground (Top 5):

1. The Velvet Underground & Nico
2. The Velvet Underground
3. Loaded
4. White Light/White Heat
5. VU

Note: Their 1969 live album(s) are essential too.

U2 (Top 10):

1. The Joshua Tree
2. The Unforgettable Fire
3. Achtung Baby
4. War
5. All That You Can’t Leave Behind
6. Boy
7. Zooropa
8. How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
9. Rattle and Hum
10. Pop

Weezer (Top 5):

1. Weezer (The Blue Album)
2. Pinkerton
3. Weezer (The White Album)
4. Weezer (The Green Album)
5. Everything Will Be Alright In The End

The White Stripes:

1. Elephant
2. White Blood Cells
3. Icky Thump
4. De Stijl
5. Get Behind Me Satan
6. The White Stripes

Wilco (Top 10):

1. Summerteeth
2. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
3. Being There
4. A Ghost Is Born
5. Mermaid Avenue (with Billy Bragg)
6. Sky Blue Sky
7. The Whole Love
8. Mermaid Avenue II (With Billy Bragg)
9. A.M.
10. Wilco (The Album)

Neil Young (Top 10):

1. After The Gold Rush
2. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
3. Tonight’s The Night
4. On The Beach
5. Ragged Glory
6. Zuma
7. Rust Never Sleeps
8. Harvest
9. Harvest Moon
10. Comes A Time

ZZ Top (Top 5):

1. Tres Hombres
2. Degüello
3. Eliminator
4. Rio Grande Mud
5. Fandango!