Monday, June 16, 2025

Top 100 Albums of the 20th Century

Dave’s Music Database:

The Top 100 Albums of the 20th Century

In 2014, I published the book The Top 100 Albums of All Time (click to see details on that book). Ten years later, I’ve revisited that book with an updated list. I changed the focus to albums just from the 20th century as the original book only included one post-1999 album (Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP). That album got moved to my in-the-works book The Top 100 Albums of the 21st Century.

I aggregated even more best-of lists from all manner of music publications and entities and crunching those figures into a database along with sales figures, chart results, critical ratings, and various awards. (Click links to see detailed sources).

While there were relatively few changes, there were ten albums that racked up enough points to make it into the new listing. The book indicates which albums are new to the list as well as the previous rankings of albums already on the list. Albums new to the list are marked with an asterisk (*). Finally, the book still includes those ten titles which were bumped below #100. The new rankings are below.

Note: this list is also the basis of the Classic Albums Meetup group. Those albums which have been discussed (or are scheduled to be discussed as of 6/16/2025) by the group are highlighted.

Also – check out the sequel to this book, The Top 100 Albums of the 21st Century.

1. The Beatles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
2. Michael Jackson Thriller (1982)
3. Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
4. Nirvana Nevermind (1991)
5. Fleetwood Mac Rumours (1977)
6. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV (1971)
7. The Beatles Abbey Road (1969)
8. U2 The Joshua Tree (1987)
9. David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
10. Prince & the Revolution Purple Rain (1984)

11. The Jimi Hendrix Experience Are You Experienced? (1967)
12. The Beatles Revolver (1966)
13. The Beach Boys Pet Sounds (1966)
14. The Beatles The Beatles (aka “The White Album”) (1968)
15. The Clash London Calling (1979)
16. Velvet Underground & Nico Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
17. The Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977)
18. Guns N’ Roses Appetite for Destruction (1987)
19. The Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street (1972)
20. Marvin Gaye What’s Going On (1971)

21. Radiohead OK Computer (1997)
22. Bee Gees/Various Artists Saturday Night Fever (soundtrack, 1977)
23. The Doors The Doors (1967)
24. Eagles Hotel California (1976)
25. Bruce Springsteen Born to Run (1975)
26. AC/DC Back in Black (1980)
27. Carole King Tapestry (1971)
28. Simon & Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970)
29. Various Artists South Pacific (cast album: 1949, soundtrack: 1958)
30. Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life (1976)

31. The Beatles Rubber Soul (1965)
32. Pink Floyd The Wall (1979)
33. The Who Who’s Next (1971)
34. Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
35. Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde (1966)
36. R.E.M. Automatic for the People (1992)
37. The Jimi Hendrix Experience Electric Ladyland (1968)
38. Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill (1995)
39. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin II (1969)
40. Pearl Jam Ten (1991)

41. Miles Davis Kind of Blue (1959)
42. Bruce Springsteen Born in the U.S.A. (1984)
43. Elton John Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
44. The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers (1971)
45. Various Artists The Sound of Music (cast album: 1959, soundtrack: 1965)
46. Paul Simon Graceland (1986)
47. The Smiths The Queen Is Dead (1986)
48. Oasis (What’s the Story) Morning Glory (1995)
49. Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks (1975)
50. Various Artists West Side Story (cast album: 1957, soundtrack: 1961)

51. The Police Synchronicity (1983)
52. The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed (1969)
53. Ramones Ramones (1976)
54. Patti Smith Horses (1975)
55. U2 Achtung Baby (1991)
56. Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
57. Joni Mitchell Blue (1971)
58. Prince Sign ‘O’ the Times (1987)
59. Robert Johnson The Complete Recordings (compilation: 1936-37, released 1990) *
60. Dire Straits Brothers in Arms (1985)

61. Van Morrison Astral Weeks (1968)
62. Television Marquee Moon (1977)
63. The Stone Roses The Stone Roses (1989)
64. Metallica Metallica (aka ‘The Black Album’) (1991)
65. Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here (1975)
66. Neil Young After the Gold Rush (1970)
67. Bob Marley & the Wailers Legend (compilation: 1973-83, released 1984)
68. Derek and the Dominos Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs (1970)
69. Queen A Night at the Opera (1975)
70. Stevie Wonder Innervisions (1973)

71. Meat Loaf Bat Out of Hell (1977)
72. Jeff Buckley Grace (1994)
73. Love Forever Changes (1967)
74. Neil Young Harvest (1972)
75. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin I (1969)
76. James Brown Live at the Apollo Volume 1 (live, 1962)
77. Michael Jackson Off the Wall (1979) *
78. The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet (1968)
79. David Bowie Hunky Dory (1971)
80. Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young Déjà Vu (1970)

81. Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti (1975)
82. The Who Tommy (1969)
83. Lauryn Hill The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)
84. Radiohead The Bends (1995)
85. Talking Heads Remain in Light (1980)
86. Green Day Dookie (1994) *
87. Shania Twain Come on Over (1997) *
88. Various artists (Whitney Houston e al) The Bodyguard (soundtrack, 1992) *
89. Various Artists (including Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta) Grease (soundtrack, 1978)
90. Bon Jovi Slippery When Wet (1986) *

91. The Clash The Clash (1977)
92. Van Halen Van Halen (1978)
93. R.E.M. Murmur (1983) *
94. The Band The Band (1969)
95. Black Sabbath Paranoid (1970)
96. The Beatles A Hard Day’s Night (soundtrack, 1964) *
97. Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991) *
98. Beck Odelay (1996)
99. Joy Division Closer (1980)
100. The Pixies Doolittle (1989) *