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Apple Music Counting Down 100 Best Albums of All Time

vipergts2207 said:
50. Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
49. U2 - The Joshua Tree
48. Beastie Boys - Paul’s Boutique
47. Drake - Take Care
46. Bob Marley and the Wailers - Exodus
45. Bjork - Homogenic
44. Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
43. Talking Heads - Remain in Light
42. Janet Jackson - Control
41. OutKast - Aquemini

Based on the average age for each set of 10 largely falling between the decade of 1988 to 1997, I think the folks that made the list actively tried to avoid having a bunch of older stuff all gathered at the top. I’m not sure if I agree with that decision though. We’ll see what happens in the Top 40 I guess. I mean we’re still missing a lot a huge acts. Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Johnny Cash, Van Halen, and of course the Beatles.

Boston’s Boston, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, MJ’s Thriller, and Nirvana’s Nevermind seem to be givens to make the list.

Even at one album a piece that would take up the 12 of the last 40 and they seem to be continuing the trend of sprinkling “newer” stuff throughout.
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Good points.

I'm deeply curious about the process that was used. For instance, did they just send out emails to their selected voters (with a Numbers spreadsheet on them), and simply say "make a list of what you consider the Best 100 Albums of All Time"? Or was there a larger list of albums that they were given to choose from? Obviously, there had to be some rules in place (e.g. no compilations/greatest hits/soundtracks, etc.). I do appreciate the effort, but I'm not a big fan of the hip-hop heavy list so far. If you listen to their accompanying shows, the through line is that those records are 'real', 'authentic', 'rough', 'gritty'.

Seems like more prolific artists might be at a disadvantage? For instance, Led Zeppelin's might get votes split across several of their great albums, and end up with few/none at the top?
 
vipergts2207 said:
Next 10 are out.

90. AC/DC - Back in Black
89. Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster
88. Nina Simone - I Put a Spell on You
87. Massive Attack - Blue Lines
86. Mary J Blige - My Life
85. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour
84. Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle
83. Patti Smith - Horses
82. 50 Cent - Get Rich or Die Tryin’
81. Neil Young - After the Gold Rush
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50 Cent above AC/DC's Back in Black 😂
 
40. Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
39. Nas - Illmatic
38. Carole King - Tapestry
37. Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
36. Beyonce - Beyonce
35. The Clash - London Calling
34. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
33. Radiohead - Kid A
32. The Notorious B.I.G - Ready to Die
31. Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill

30. Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
29. A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
28. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
27. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II
26. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
25. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
24. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
23. Daft Punk - Discovery
22. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
21. The Beatles - Revolver
 
Taylor Swift will beat the Beatles, David BOwie, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Aretha Franklin.

Daft Punk is an interesting one. I really like Discovery, but I don't see it as a great genre defining album, there's absolutely loads of music which came before this which is more deserving. It seems odd as a lone choice of electronic music.

Where are The Prodigy, Paul Oakenfold's 'Tranceport', Underworld, Moby, Chemical Brothers... ?
 
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Guess we won't be seeing much jazz, classical, early music, liquid drum & bass, or folk...
 
The average year of release for each decade now breaks down as follows:

91-100: 2004
81-90: 1990
71-80: 1997
61-70: 1990
51-60: 1989
41-50: 1988
31-40: 1989
21-30: 1984

The third to last set is the oldest on average so far. It also finally placed a lot acts that I believe were expected on the list, particularly Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis, and The Beatles. Revolver at 21 makes me think there will be a handful of artists with more than one album. In my mind there's absolutely no way that either Abbey Road or Sgt. Peppers aren't a top 10 album. By no means do I think the Beatles have to be placed at the number 1 album position, but to leave the Beatles out of the top 10 entirely would render this list completely unserious.
 
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johnhackworth said:
This list is nonsense.
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It pretty much is ridiculous.

I will say, though, that limiting a list to 'top 100 OF ALL TIME' worldwide is just insanely small. Maybe top 1,000, but I could still see many great albums being left unremarked.

Some of the 'musicians' on this list...I don't even know where to begin with what I think is wrong their selection. So many 'not greats'!
 
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20. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
19. Dr. Dre - The Chronic
18. Taylor Swift - 1989 (Taylor's Version)
17. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
16. Joni Mitchell - Blue
15. Adele - 21
14. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
13. JAY-Z - The Blueprint
12. Radiohead - OK Computer
11. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Another bunch of many expected acts/albums: Pet Sounds, Taylor Swift, Bob Dylan, and Rumours. Also, our first repeat with Radiohead's OK Computer.

Average year of release for 20-11:1986

At this point I think some of the top 10 is a given, though not necessarily the order. I'm fully expecting to see the following for sure:
Nevermind
Thriller
Abbey Road or Sgt. Peppers

Has a chance:
Zeppelin IV
Who's Next
Songs in the Key of Life
Purple Rain
Back to Black
Van Halen or 1984
 
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No Queen? Jean-Michel Jarre? They'd likely not be in the top ten of course.

Wish apple would have done this in a country-specific format.

I'd love to have looked through the best UK albums of all time, the best French, best German etc. curated by industry experts from those countries. Instead of Maren Morris, Harrell, J Balvin and Charli XCX deciding it all.
 
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Aves said:
and also because there is sooo much more music than just "english" music.
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I wish they'd make it clear it's the 100 best albums 'in american culture' or something like that.

As it's overwhelmingly English-language music and there's a bizarrely high amount of hip hop albums which are minimally relevant outside the US. (Europeans, Chinese, even non American English speaking nations aren't going to consider any Jay-Z album to be one of the best of all time).

But even for the US, where's country music? Kacey Musgraves but even that album is pop oriented.

You can tell it's Pharell and Charlie XCX's view on what the best albums are (with a bit of prompting from some Apple corporate drone "Guys you gotta include a Taylor swift album and please remember the Beatles and Radiohead so we have some credibility".)
 
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Marbles1 said:
I wish they'd make it clear it's the 100 best albums 'in american culture' or something like that.

As it's overwhelmingly English-language music, there's a bizarrely high amount of hip hop albums which are minimally relevant outside the US. (Europeans, Chinese, even non American English speaking nations aren't going to consider any Jay-Z album to be one of the best of all time).

But even for the US, where's country music? Kacey Musgraves but even that album is pop oriented.

You can tell it's Pharell and Charlie XCX's view on what the best albums are (with a bit of prompting from some Apple corporate drone "Guys you gotta include a Taylor swift album and please remember the Beatles and Radiohead so we have some credibility".)
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I'm not surprised it's America centric, but perhaps by discounting country music they tried to make the appeal a bit broader? With country and without hip hop it would have been criticised as being far "too white".

I can merrily criticise a bunch of inclusions on this list, but I must say that I've seen MUCH worse top 100 album lists compiled online before. Didn't Rolling Stone create a ridiculous and widely ridiculed list not long ago? I can't remember the specifics, but Rolling Stone lists in recent years have been car wrecks.
 
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Feek said:
I can't take any list seriously that has Taylor Swift higher than Pink Floyd, Bowie or Springsteen.
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🤷‍♂️Well as was mentioned this is US-centric and also 2024 specific. Many more US youngsters would listen to Taylor Swift than the other 3 you mentioned, I also regret it (even if I like some Taylor Swift songs) but this stuff is very subjective.
 
vipergts2207 said:
20. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
19. Dr. Dre - The Chronic
18. Taylor Swift - 1989 (Taylor's Version)
17. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
16. Joni Mitchell - Blue
15. Adele - 21
14. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
13. JAY-Z - The Blueprint
12. Radiohead - OK Computer
11. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Another bunch of many expected acts/albums: Pet Sounds, Taylor Swift, Bob Dylan, and Rumours. Also, our first repeat with Radiohead's OK Computer.

Average year of release for 20-11:1986

At this point I think some of the top 10 is a given, though not necessarily the order. I'm fully expecting to see the following for sure:
Nevermind
Thriller
Abbey Road or Sgt. Peppers

Has a chance:
Zeppelin IV
Who's Next
Songs in the Key of Life
Purple Rain
Back to Black
Van Halen or 1984
Click to expand...
Good summary. I'd like to see another Zeppelin album make it, but I don't know that this set of voters do. I'd expect Johnny Cash to squeak in somewhere? And probably Queen. While not a personal fan of these two, I'd humbly remove Van Halen for either of them.

While obviously not Top 10 material, I'm a little disappointed The Moody Blues didn't make it anywhere on this list. But Solange gets a 'Seat at the Table'?! And nothing from any of these bands at all?: Genesis, Rush, The Police, Dave Matthews Band, Foo Fighters
 
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The only thing I absolutely agree with, so far is, on this list is regarding Radiohead, and that is that OK Computer >>> Kid A.

But then again, I think Pablo Honey, too, is an order better than Kid A. :)
 
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Has Michael Jackson appeared yet? Even if you loathe the person, it's hard to deny that he created some of the most popular and influential albums of all time.
 
Marbles1 said:
I wish they'd make it clear it's the 100 best albums 'in american culture' or something like that.

As it's overwhelmingly English-language music and there's a bizarrely high amount of hip hop albums which are minimally relevant outside the US. (Europeans, Chinese, even non American English speaking nations aren't going to consider any Jay-Z album to be one of the best of all time).

But even for the US, where's country music? Kacey Musgraves but even that album is pop oriented.

You can tell it's Pharell and Charlie XCX's view on what the best albums are (with a bit of prompting from some Apple corporate drone "Guys you gotta include a Taylor swift album and please remember the Beatles and Radiohead so we have some credibility".)
Click to expand...
It’s a list developed for an English-speaking audience. I’m not sure why you’d expect anything else. English is also the most common second language, so a great many people can understand it, even if it’s not their primary tongue. Were you seriously expecting an album in Manderin to make the list???
 
And we have the complete list...

Michael Jackson's Thriller at N° 2 It's ok.

Abbey Road should be at N° 1. The Lauryn Hill album should be at N° 3 indeed.

Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet should had a place in the list. Also Michael Jackson's Bad.

There are many unknown albums that seriously never heard of.

And finally, Bad Bunny? Seriously?
 
Leaving off Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos is a travesty. Half the artists on the list wouldn't be on there without that album.
 
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