Monday, November 13, 2006

Time Magazine’s All-TIME 100 Albums

First posted 11/13/2006; updated 8/13/2020.

Time Magazine:

All-TIME 100 Albums

This list, created by Time magazine, was not a ranked list. Instead, it was presented in chronological order. However, compilations were listed by release year, meaning a collection like Sam Cooke’s Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964 is listed as a 2003 release. Dave’s Music Database has adjusted that so that such albums are listed by the final year covered by the collection (in the case of Cooke, 1964) instead of the release date. After all, it is a bit odd to see artists like Sam Cooke and Hank Williams, who’ve been dead for more than four decades, show up with new millennium releases.

Note: you can click on an album title to go to a DMDB page for more about that album. If you click on TIME after the album title, that will take you to the article from the Time magazine list about that album.

Also, check out annual picks for album of the year.


The 1930s – 1950s

1. Robert Johnson King of the Delta Blues Singers (archives: 1936-37, released 1961) TIME
2. Hank Williams Turn Back the Years: The Essential Collection (compilation: 1947-52, released 2005) TIME
3. Frank Sinatra In the Wee Small Hours (1955) TIME
4. Elvis Presley The Sun Sessions (archives: 1954-55, released 1976) TIME
5. Frank Sinatra Songs for Swingin’ Lovers! (1956) TIME
6. Little Richard Here’s Little Richard (1957) TIME
7. Miles Davis Kind of Blue (1959) TIME


The 1960s

8. Ray Charles Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (1962) TIME
9. James Brown Live at the Apollo Volume 1 (live, 1962) TIME
10. Sam Cooke Portrait of a Legend (compilation: 1951-64, released 2003) TIME
11. John Coltrane A Love Supreme (1965) TIME
12. Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited (1965) TIME
13. Otis Redding Otis Blue (1965) TIME
14. The Beatles Rubber Soul (1965) TIME
15. Chuck Berry The Great Twenty-Eight (compilation: 1955-64, released 1982) TIME
16. The Beach Boys Pet Sounds (1966) TIME
17. Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde (1966) TIME
18. The Beatles Revolver (1966) TIME
19. Velvet Underground & Nico Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) TIME
20. Aretha Franklin I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967) TIME

21. The Jimi Hendrix Experience Are You Experienced? (1967) TIME
22. The Beatles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) TIME
23. Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison (live, 1968) TIME
24. Aretha Franklin Lady Soul (1968) TIME
25. The Beatles The Beatles (aka “The White Album”) (1968) TIME
26. Van Morrison Astral Weeks (1968) TIME
27. Sly & the Family Stone Stand! (1969) TIME
28. The Band The Band (1969) TIME
29. The Beatles Abbey Road (1969) TIME
30. Various Artists produced by Phil Spector Back to Mono (box set: 1958-69, released 1991) TIME


The 1970s

31. Simon & Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970) TIME
32. Van Morrison Moondance (1970) TIME
33. Miles Davis Bitches Brew (1970) TIME
34. Neil Young After the Gold Rush (1970) TIME
35. Black Sabbath Paranoid (1970) TIME
36. John Lennon Plastic Ono Band (1970) TIME
37. Carole King Tapestry (1971) TIME
38. The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers (1971) TIME
39. Marvin Gaye What’s Going On (1971) TIME
40. Joni Mitchell Blue (1971) TIME

41. The Who Who’s Next (1971) TIME
42. Dolly Parton Coat of Many Colors (1971) TIME
43. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV (1971) TIME
44. David Bowie Hunky Dory (1971) TIME
45. The Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street (1972) TIME
46. David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972) TIME
47. Stevie Wonder Talking Book (1972) TIME
48. Muddy Waters The Anthology (compilation: 1947-72, released 2001) TIME
49. Jimmy Cliff et al The Harder They Come (soundtrack, 1972) TIME
50. Al Green Call Me (1973) TIME

51. Elton John Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) TIME
52. Willie Nelson Red Headed Stranger (1975) TIME
53. Bruce Springsteen Born to Run (1975) TIME
54. Patti Smith Horses (1975) TIME
55. Ramones Ramones (1976) TIME
56. Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life (1976) TIME
57. Eagles Hotel California (1976) TIME
58. Fleetwood Mac Rumours (1977) TIME
59. Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977) TIME
60. Elvis Presley 30 #1 Hits (compilation: 1956-77, released 2002) TIME
61. Funkadelic One Nation Under a Groove (1978) TIME
62. The Clash London Calling (1979) TIME


The 1980s

63. AC/DC Back in Black (1980) TIME
64. Michael Jackson Thriller (1982) TIME
65. Talking Heads Stop Making Sense (live soundtrack, recorded 1983, released 1984) TIME
66. Bob Marley & the Wailers Legend (compilation: 1973-83, released 1984) TIME
67. Prince & the Revolution Purple Rain (soundtrack, 1984) TIME
68. James Brown Star Time (box set: 1956-84, released 1991) TIME
69. Metallica Master of Puppets (1986) TIME
70. Run-D.M.C. Raising Hell (1986) TIME

71. Paul Simon Graceland (1986) TIME
72. U2 The Joshua Tree (1987) TIME
73. Prince Sign ‘O’ the Times (1987) TIME
74. Eric B. & Rakim Paid in Full (1987) TIME
75. R.E.M. Document (1987) TIME
76. Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988) TIME
77. N.W.A. Straight Outta Compton (1989) TIME
78. Madonna Like a Prayer (1989) TIME
79. The Stone Roses The Stone Roses (1989) TIME
80. Beastie Boys Paul’s Boutique (1989) TIME


The 1990s

81. R.E.M. Out of Time (1991) TIME
82. Garth Brooks Ropin’ the Wind (1991) TIME
83. Nirvana Nevermind (1991) TIME
84. A Tribe Called Quest The Low-End Theory (1991) TIME
85. U2 Achtung Baby (1991) TIME
86. Pavement Slanted and Enchanted (1992) TIME
87. Dr. Dre The Chronic (1992) TIME
88. Hole Live Through This (1994) TIME
89. The Notorious B.I.G. Ready to Die (1994) TIME
90. Mary J. Blige My Life (1994) TIME

91. Oasis (What’s the Story) Morning Glory (1995) TIME
92. DJ Shadow Endtroducing… (1996) TIME
93. Radiohead OK Computer (1997) TIME
94. Bob Dylan Time Out of Mind (1997) TIME
95. Lucinda Williams Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (1998) TIME


The 2000s

96. Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) TIME
97. Radiohead Kid A (2000) TIME
98. PJ Harvey Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000) TIME
99. OutKast Stankonia (2000) TIME
100. Kanye West The College Dropout (2004) TIME


Resources and Related Links:

  • Time Magazine (11/13/2006). “All-TIME 100 Albums” with commentary by Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light

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