The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever

~ Release group series

Annotation

As appeared in The Guardian - UK daily broadsheet newspaper, on September 19th 1997.

As voted for by a panel of judges including Artists, Critics & DJ's from around the world.

Annotation last modified on 2020-12-14 16:55 UTC.

Release groups

#	Year	Title	Artist	Type	Rating	Releases
1	1971	What’s Going On	Marvin Gaye	Album	4.65	43
2	1966	Revolver	The Beatles	Album	4.6	54
3	1977	Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols	Sex Pistols	Album	4.4	50
4	1991	Nevermind	Nirvana	Album	4.45	88
5	1989	The Stone Roses	The Stone Roses	Album	4.3	35
6	1966	Pet Sounds	The Beach Boys	Album	4.35	54
7	1972	The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars	David Bowie	Album	4.6	57
8	1967	The Velvet Underground & Nico	The Velvet Underground & Nico	Album	4.5	38
9	1968	The Beatles (The White Album)	The Beatles	Album	4.35	55
10	1968	Astral Weeks	Van Morrison	Album	4	16
11	1965	Highway 61 Revisited	Bob Dylan	Album	4.25	34
12	1991	Blue Lines	Massive Attack	Album	4.05	20
13	1971	Hunky Dory	David Bowie	Album	4.4	35
14	1959	Kind of Blue	Miles Davis	Album	4.55	121
15	1995	The Bends	Radiohead	Album	4.15	32
16	1991	Screamadelica	Primal Scream	Album	3.15	17
17	1979	London Calling	The Clash	Album	4.2	42
18	1995	(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?	Oasis	Album	3.95	29
19	1967	Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band	The Beatles	Album	4.55	67
20	1988	It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back	Public Enemy	Album	3.6	25
21	1994	Definitely Maybe	Oasis	Album	4.4	31
22	1969	Abbey Road	The Beatles	Album	4.6	61
23	1972	Transformer	Lou Reed	Album	4.25	25
24	1966	Blonde on Blonde	Bob Dylan	Album	4.25	57
25	1972	Exile on Main St.	The Rolling Stones	Album	4.3	52
26	1992	Automatic for the People	R.E.M.	Album	3.75	30
27	1969	Let It Bleed	The Rolling Stones	Album	4.3	36
28	1986	The Queen Is Dead	The Smiths	Album	4.15	32
29	1968	Electric Ladyland	The Jimi Hendrix Experience	Album	4.25	54
30	1967	Are You Experienced	The Jimi Hendrix Experience	Album	4.1	49
31	1974	Natty Dread	Bob Marley & The Wailers	Album	3.45	18
32	1975	Horses	Patti Smith	Album	4.3	24
33	1977	Marquee Moon	Television	Album	4.2	20
34	1977	The Clash	The Clash	Album	4.05	25
35	1971	Blue	Joni Mitchell	Album	4.25	25
36	1994	Dummy	Portishead	Album	4.4	18
37	1973	The Dark Side of the Moon	Pink Floyd	Album	4.75	119
38	1976	Songs in the Key of Life	Stevie Wonder	Album	4.45	32
39	1975	Blood on the Tracks	Bob Dylan	Album	4.25	27
40	1995	A Northern Soul	The Verve	Album	4	5
41	1970	John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band	John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band	Album	4	22
42	1979	Unknown Pleasures	Joy Division	Album	4.4	28
43	1980	Remain in Light	Talking Heads	Album	4.3	29
44	1975	Born to Run	Bruce Springsteen	Album	4.15	68
45	1965	A Love Supreme	John Coltrane	Album	4.6	37
46	1968	Queen of Soul	Aretha Franklin	Album + Compilation		9
47	1970	After the Gold Rush	Neil Young	Album	4.65	27
48	1995	Jagged Little Pill	Alanis Morissette	Album	4.1	38
49	1969	Trout Mask Replica	Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band	Album	4	11
50	1990	Fear of a Black Planet	Public Enemy	Album	3.6	14
51	1978	All Mod Cons	The Jam	Album	4	8
52	1977	Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track	Various Artists	Album + Soundtrack	4.5	28
53	1973	Innervisions	Stevie Wonder	Album	5	33
54	1984	Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and The Wailers	Bob Marley & The Wailers	Album + Compilation	4.15	66
55	1995	Garbage	Garbage	Album	4.25	39
56	1979	Off the Wall	Michael Jackson	Album	3.85	41
57	1987	The Joshua Tree	U2	Album	4.3	57
58	1971	Who’s Next	The Who	Album	4.35	60
59	1986	Licensed to Ill	Beastie Boys	Album	4.15	21
60	1969	Led Zeppelin II	Led Zeppelin	Album	4.45	60
61	1985	Steve McQueen	Prefab Sprout	Album	2	11
62	1977	Low	David Bowie	Album	4.4	24
63	1995	Maxinquaye	Tricky	Album	4.15	13
64	1977	New Boots and Panties!!	Ian Dury	Album	3.5	12
65	1976	Ramones	Ramones	Album	4.15	21
66	1970	Sunflower	The Beach Boys	Album	3.8	8
67	1990	Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches	Happy Mondays	Album	3.15	17
68	1996	Second Toughest in the Infants	Underworld	Album	3.85	14
69	1986	Graceland	Paul Simon	Album	4.35	45
70	1967	Younger Than Yesterday	The Byrds	Album	3.2	10
71	1991	Achtung Baby	U2	Album	4.35	36
72	1975	Marcus Garvey	Burning Spear	Album	3	5
73	1984	The Smiths	The Smiths	Album	4.5	17
74	1968	Live At The Apollo - Volume II	James Brown and The Famous Flames	Album + Live		9
75	1995	Different Class	Pulp	Album	3.8	17
76	1967	The Doors	The Doors	Album	4.55	42
77	1977	“Heroes”	David Bowie	Album	4.15	23
78	1977	Rumours	Fleetwood Mac	Album	4.4	68
79	1975	Live! (Live at the Lyceum)	Bob Marley and The Wailers	Album + Live	3	25
80	1977	Exodus	Bob Marley & The Wailers	Album	4.3	46
81	1968	Beggars Banquet	The Rolling Stones	Album	4.4	30
82	1995	Timeless	Goldie	Album	4.35	11
83	1989	Doolittle	Pixies	Album	4.5	26
84	1973	1962–1966 (“The Red Album”)	The Beatles	Album + Compilation	4.6	31
85	1984	Treasure	Cocteau Twins	Album	4.15	11
86	1987	Sign “☮︎” the Times	Prince	Album	4.1	19
87	1979	Specials	The Specials	Album	3.65	20
88	1982	The Lexicon of Love	ABC	Album	3.5	22
89	1971	[Led Zeppelin IV]	Led Zeppelin	Album	4.8	78
90	1973	Raw Power	Iggy and The Stooges	Album	3.5	25
91	1970	Loaded	The Velvet Underground	Album	4	18
92	1980	Kings of the Wild Frontier	Adam and the Ants	Album	3.8	13
93	1980	Searching for the Young Soul Rebels	Dexys Midnight Runners	Album	5	10
94	1956	Songs for Swingin’ Lovers!	Frank Sinatra	Album	4	21
95	1980	Closer	Joy Division	Album	4.3	26
96	1980	Pretenders	Pretenders	Album	4	22
97	1991	Out of Time	R.E.M.	Album	3.9	28
98	1992	Connected	Stereo MC’s	Album	4	7
99	1971	Imagine	John Lennon	Album	4	43
100	1974	This Is Augustus Pablo	Augustus Pablo	Album		7

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The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever

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