Apple Music reveals top 10 albums of all time on 100 Best list

Might 22, 2024

UPDATE

Apple Music reveals high 10 albums of all time on 100 Greatest checklist

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill takes No. 1 spot

Particular visitor artists Nile Rodgers and Maggie Rogers sit down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden in a particular countdown finale

Apple Music’s 100 Greatest Albums checklist culminates right now with the much-anticipated reveal of the highest 10 albums of all time and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill topped No. 1.

Upon receiving the information, Lauryn Hill advised Apple Music, “That is my award, nevertheless it’s a wealthy, deep narrative, and entails so many individuals, and a lot sacrifice, and a lot time, and a lot collective love.”

To rejoice, Apple Music’s Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden sat down with legendary file producer, author, and performer Nile Rodgers and Grammy-nominated artist and producer Maggie Rogers to mirror on the checklist throughout a particular roundtable broadcasting globally right now on Apple Music. Watch the complete roundtable at music.apple.com.

Apple Music’s 100 Greatest Albums is a contemporary Twenty first-century rating of the best information ever made, crafted by Apple Music’s crew of specialists alongside a choose group of artists, songwriters, producers, and trade professionals. The checklist is an editorial assertion, totally impartial of any streaming numbers on Apple Music — a love letter to the information which have formed the world music lovers dwell and hear in.

Discover the highest 10 albums under.

10. Lemonade (2016), Beyoncé

Beyoncé’s genre-obliterating blockbuster sixth album is livid, defiant, anguished, weak, experimental, muscular, triumphant, humorous, and courageous — a vivid private assertion, launched with out warning in a time of public scrutiny and personal struggling. Each second of Lemonade deserves to be studied and celebrated.

Nile Rodgers (NR): This album was so monumental. And I say this with an enormous quantity of respect as a result of I do know what it takes to realize what she did right here.

Zane Lowe (ZL): It was large. Groundbreaking. It was the primary time I really feel that an artist of that magnitude, with that a lot consideration on them, determined to take the narrative and actually attempt to management it and share what they needed to share.

Maggie Rogers (MR): I used to be in faculty when this file got here out, and I bear in mind hitting play on my laptop computer in my condo, like my fifth-floor walkup within the East Village, and it was the primary time I skipped class as a result of I used to be midway by and I used to be like, I’m not leaving. I’ve to be right here right now… What I hear greater than something is her energy and the way in which it’s coupled together with her vulnerability. There’s such an exposition of feminine energy on this file.

9. Nevermind (1991), Nirvana 

Nevermind and its opening salvo “Smells Like Teen Spirit” didn’t simply mark an unlikely breakthrough for the Seattle trio, it upended well-liked tradition in methods by no means earlier than and by no means since. Punk grew to become pop, grunge grew to become world vernacular, trade partitions broke into rubble, and lead vocalist Kurt Cobain was anointed the reluctant voice of a era in want of catharsis — all seemingly in a single day.

ZL: When this album got here out, it made everybody who heard it and linked to it really feel like we lastly had a band, an actual band that was ours. And all of the issues we favored that appeared disconnected and appeared misplaced and weren’t being taken critically — it was like oh, you’re taking us critically now.

MR: The vulnerability of this file, coupled with the depth of the way in which it sounded and the cultural second that it bled into, touched one thing.

Ebro Darden (ED): They needed to be nice. They needed to write down nice songs. They needed to provide us the entire feels, proper? It felt actual.

8. Again to Black (2006), Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse’s presentation and otherworldly, timeless vocals make her music really feel totally different — not a lot an try and re-create the previous as to honor the music she cherished whereas nonetheless being true to the trash-talking, self-effacing millennial she was. The sound of Again to Black would possibly enchantment to retro-soul followers and jazz classicists, however the angle is nearer to rap. Sure, she was humorous. However she wasn’t kidding.

ZL: That is simply heartbreak for 35 minutes. Unrequited, painful heartbreak made at occasions for the dance ground, at occasions to sing alongside to, at occasions to sway to — don’t let the enjoyment of the music get it twisted. The songwriting is coming from a really painful place.

ED: Proper from the start, I felt like her voice was delivered to us from one other time. Like her vocal styling and what she was doing was timeless in a means.

MR: So many occasions after I hear an artist attempt to reference one thing up to now, I’m at all times like, I’d form of simply relatively have the unique factor… However Amy Winehouse did it in a means that truly took all that custom after which added one thing to it and moved it ahead.

7. good child, m.A.A.d metropolis (2012), Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar’s sophomore album good child, m.A.A.d metropolis is likely one of the defining hip-hop information of the Twenty first century. West Coast hip-hop elders like Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre anointed Lamar to hold on the legacy of gangsta rap, and the legacy of this album is an important instance of American storytelling that established the longer term Pulitzer Prize winner as maybe his era’s most achieved author.

ZL: This is likely one of the most fantastically curated, created, structured, and track-listed albums of the trendy period.

ED: Compton simply had delivered a lot hip-hop that there was a variety of stress on this child. The flexibility to ship tales, bars, vitality, efficiency on recorded materials… He delivered on a Black consciousness that you simply don’t at all times get in hip-hop. And that’s why I’m actually happy with the truth that it ranks the place it does on this checklist.

6. Songs within the Key of Life (1976), Stevie Marvel

In 1974, Stevie Marvel was essentially the most critically revered pop star on the planet; he was additionally contemplating leaving the music trade altogether. So when Songs within the Key of Life was launched two years later, demand was so excessive that it grew to become, on the time, the fastest-selling album in historical past. The album, which runs almost 90 minutes, is effortlessly melodic, broad in scope, and deeply private. Sonically, culturally, and emotionally, Songs within the Key of Life is rather more than a big assortment of songs — it varieties a complete worldview.

NR: For me, it doesn’t matter what instrument he’s taking part in, he kind of speaks with the identical voice. It’s an actual distinctive reward. His singing, his harmonica taking part in, his keyboard taking part in all seems like Stevie Marvel.

ZL: It’s iconic. He nonetheless continues to have such an infinite presence and affect on artists right now, younger and established.

MR: Songs within the Key of Life simply exists as this unbelievable piece of artwork. I can’t think about a world that doesn’t have this file in it.

5. Blonde (2016), Frank Ocean

Although Blonde packs 17 tracks into one fast hour, it’s a sprawling palette of concepts, a testomony to the intelligence of flying one’s personal inventive freak flag and trusting that audiences will meet them the place they’re at. They did. And Ocean established himself as a generational artist uniquely suited to the complexities and convulsive adjustments of the second decade of the Twenty first century.

ZL: It’s music placed on canvas. I take a look at the canvas by totally different mild at totally different occasions of the day, relying on how I really feel. And I see strokes of shade I by no means noticed earlier than and even knew existed. There’s so many layers and ideas and feelings and hooks and concepts that each one by some means make sense otherwise each single time.

MR: This file seems like smoke rising, it’s so delicate and so unpredictable and so exact.

4. Purple Rain (1984), Prince & The Revolution

With half its monitor checklist comprising high 10 singles, this soundtrack is what actually turned Prince Rogers Nelson into one of the immediately recognizable and distinctive pop artists ever. Prince usually drew comparisons to Jimi Hendrix for the way in which he combined music that felt Black and white, sacred and profane. The fact is that he had no precedent then and no comparability now.

ED: Prince is my favourite artist of all time. Undoubtedly. You would level to every thing that he does. He really performs the devices. He really writes the track. He’s really singing on stage. He’s really doing his personal artwork course. He did his personal vogue design. That was all him.

NR: When you consider artists who’ve had such a significant influence in your life — my relationship with Prince was a really peculiar one as a result of we had been so common, which is difficult to say as a result of he’s so irregular; he’s so irregular. However the music, the movie, simply every thing round this file was simply so superb. And it simply put me in such a spot of respect and happiness. And identical to, man, not solely you’re preserving the custom alive, however you’re taking us to a different stage. I used to be simply so proud to be on the planet the identical time he was on the planet.

3. Abbey Street (1969), The Beatles

The Beatles’ Abbey Street is an ageless, unmatched assortment of songs by a world-changing band at their inventive peak. The band’s eleventh and penultimate album seems like nothing roughly than 4 extraordinarily gifted people taking part in one indelible track after one other in the identical room collectively.

MR: There’s something so particular about making music the place you’ve a track that’s describing a number of the best human ache or sorrow subsequent to a track that you’d fortunately play on your 3-year-old, subsequent to one of many best love songs… It’s timeless, however not simply in the way in which that it’s going to final eternally, however in the way in which that there’s one thing for each second of humanity and each human feeling on this file. It’s for individuals of all ages.

NR: There’s one thing concerning the Beatles that’s at all times actually magical to me. Consider it or not, the primary track I ever really discovered to play on guitar was a Beatles track. I knew at that second that I used to be going to be a guitar participant. Previous to that, I performed the clarinet.

ZL: The quantity of songs which have stayed with individuals as they’ve lived their lives to some extent… performed at anniversaries, weddings, funerals, fall in like to, damaged as much as. There are many songbooks that talk to many occasions in life. I feel The Beatles have the songbook of life.

2. Thriller (1982), Michael Jackson

There are few pop albums, and even artistic endeavors, that denote a wholesale shift in time and house the way in which Michael Jackson’s Thriller did in 1982. It did nothing lower than outline the trendy pop blockbuster and redefine the scope and attain of music. Seven of its 9 unique cuts had been high 10 singles, and it grew to become one of many bestselling albums ever made.

ZL: Not solely did it outsell every thing in its opening yr, it outsold every thing in its second yr. It modified the way in which individuals approached making music, releasing music, distributing, advertising music, and nobody ever caught as much as it. It set the bar so excessive.

NR: When Michael dropped this file, to me, the world modified. It was a seismic shift. Having a Black artist do a music video on the extent of “Thriller” simply modified the world.

1. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998), Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill’s debut — and solely — solo studio album was a seismic occasion in 1998: a stunningly uncooked, profound look into the religious panorama not simply of one of many period’s largest stars, however of the period itself. She was, and stays, a once-in-a-generation expertise whose inspiration and innovation may be heard by the many years. Artists exhaust lengthy discographies hoping for a cohesive piece of labor resonant sufficient to reshape tradition and inscribe its creator into the pantheon; Lauryn Hill did it in a single.

ZL: This album doesn’t simply resonate with the individuals who had been round when it got here out and who maintain it expensive. It has not dated, not even a fraction. The truth is, it feels extra recent and extra related the extra you hearken to it… There are a variety of younger artists listening to it, and it’s turning into a part of their inventive DNA. It’s inspiring and influencing them… It’s timeless.

MR: Lauryn introduced everyone together with her on this file. She introduced her group. She introduced her buddies and her household. You’re within the kitchen; you’re in the lounge together with her. You hear individuals; you hear the voices speaking… It’s so open and so expansive and so direct… To have an artist like Lauryn Hill be the primary, meaning loads.

ED: It’s very private. This album delivers on so many ranges. It exemplifies and captures well-liked music of the final 25 years, holistically. It’s R&B, it’s hip-hop, it’s impartial ladies, sturdy ladies, it’s topical, it’s sampling… I feel that’s why it received voted primary.

NR: She’s superb. This file is superb.

Watch the complete roundtable dialog with Nile Rodgers, Maggie Rogers, Zane Lowe, and Ebro Darden at music.apple.com.

As a further reward to music followers, Apple Music created 100 audio vignettes telling the story of every album and contextualizing its significance and place on the checklist. Written by a crew of music specialists and edited by award-winning audio editors, these vignettes are sonic companions to Apple Music’s 100 Greatest Albums. Hearken to the tales behind every of the albums and extra on Apple Podcasts at apple.co/100BestRadio.

Music lovers may also entry 100 Greatest Albums particular content material throughout the Apple ecosystem on the App Retailer, Apple Information, Apple Retail, apple.com, and extra. Moreover, they’ll discover a 100 Greatest Albums devoted house on Apple Books, which celebrates titles by and about artists from the checklist.

Press Contacts

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Apple

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