Updated now , the first list was 2003. I am surprised by some in the top 50 such as rap.
I browsed the top 50. Clearly they have a radically different set of criteria than I would have if I were making that list.
Why would rap surprise you? It’s the center of mainstream music today, so obviously it will be highly represented in a 2020 list of Greatest Albums.
That being said, I’d move My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy into the top 10.
I think they probably added some Rap to make sure they looked like they were picking a diverse list. Rap is certainly popular but I don’t think I would say it’s at the center of mainstream music.
It’s not the list I would make, either. But I don’t think there’s anything there (at least in the top 50) that surprises me.
(I’m not surprised by the inclusion of rap. I don’t know enough about rap (or hip-hop or related genres) to know which are the great albums, but at least there weren’t any artists in the top 50 that I’d never heard of.)
Say wha? How about we expand it to Hip Hop then?
Do we have a head exploding emoji?
At least half of all weeks, a rap artist has the number one album on Billboard. This has been true for many years.
Rap is mainstream music now.
I think a more glaring issue is the lack any hard rock/metal albums other than Nevermind, or even a single electronic record.
Look, I’m as old and folk-rock as they get, but if Nirvana is the closest they’ve got to Metal, than even I know they’ve got a serious deficiency… No Master of Puppets (Metallica)? No Paranoid (Sabbath)? No Megadeth, Crüe, Judas Priest?
Aha, I just found a Rolling Stone Metal list (but it’s from 2017), that has my top two as theirs:
But then why not include a single one of them on their Best Albums list? But then throw in a jazz album?
Yeah, they did… I was very surprised to see Miles Davis on the list. Are they including jazz, and if so, what about the top dozen jazz albums?
I don’t get it…
Jann Wenner still runs Rolling Stone and he has never been a fan of metal / hard rock. Just look at who is in the RR hall of fame for example and he as a strong influence on who gets in. V
Did you peruse the whole list? Zeppelin is on there three times, Black Sabbath at least twice, Metallica, AC/DC, even Rush made the list with Moving Pictures. Black Flag, Radiohead, Bjork, Nin Inch Nails, Yes, Rage Against The Machine, I think I even remember seeing Kraftwerk in there. There are a lot of seminal albums, and though rap/hip-hop is not my bag, there are bits and pieces in there that make me say, “Yeah, I can see that”. Britney Spears being on the list notwithstanding 
ETA: Motorhead made it, as well. Plenty of punk roots in there, as well.
There’s some metal in there, but it’s a bit further down the list.
- Metallica
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- Master of Puppets - #97
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- Metallica (Black Album) #235
- Sabbath
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- Paranoid #139
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- Masters of Reality #234
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- Black Sabbath (debut) #355
- Van Halen’s debut #292 - only VH album I saw.
- Appetite for Destruction (Guns n Roses ) #62
- Ace of Spades (Motorhead) - #408
As for punk, the Ramones debut got a Top 50 showing (#47) and London Calling (The Clash) got #16, but most of the other stuff is a lot lower. At least Black Flag, X, and the Minutemen all made the list. I remember being pissed back in the day over how Rolling Stone would slobber over the NYC CBGB’s bands, but shit all over the LA hardcore scene.
The rankings also appear to be influenced by current events, rather than an all-time overview. 6 months ago in a pre-George Floyd world, there’s no way Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On would have taken the top spot. Top 20, sure, but not #1.
Also nice to see the Sgt. Pepper hype wearing off and it settling down to a more realistic ranking (#24). Both Abbey Road (#5) and Revolver (#11) are deservedly higher. Move Rubber Soul (#35) above Pepper and I’d agree with the relative rankings of the top Beatles albums.
Grumble… The Kink’s Village Green Preservation Society is only at #384. Harumph…
Reviewed the list and two questions came to mind:
- Assuming they are now, how much longer will albums still be a thing?
- If Rolling Stone is still around in other 10 or 20 years, will they put together another Top 500 Album list?
It certainly has been the last twenty to thirty years. It would be genuinely bizarre not to have many rap albums on the list.
I think I agree with ALL the new top ten albums, which if I am not mistaken are:
“Rumours,” Fleetwood Mac
“Purple Rain,” Prince and the Revolution
“Nevermind,” Nirvana
“The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” Lauryn Hill
“Songs in the Key of Life,” Stevie Wonder
“Blue,” Joni Mitchell
Well, maybe not “Blue,” that’s an odd choice. Still, the Top Ten was previously mostly just Beatles and Bob Dylan, plus Pet Sounds, What’s Going On, and London Calling. It was a stupid top ten, really, obviously written entirely by Boomers who didn’t like what the kids had been listening to. Whether or not you agree with the new list, it is much likelier to be generally correct.
- Sure. And it will primarily reflect the current hotness like this one.
We could guess, or we could just read the two paragraphs which preceded the list, notably:
To do so, we received and tabulated Top 50 Albums lists from more than 300 artists, producers, critics, and music-industry figures (from radio programmers to label heads, like Atlantic Records CEO Craig Kallman). The electorate includes Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Billie Eilish; rising artists like H.E.R., Tierra Whack, and Lindsey Jordan of Snail Mail; as well as veteran musicians, such as Adam Clayton and the Edge of U2, Raekwon of the Wu-Tang Clan, Gene Simmons, and Stevie Nicks.
So Gaye at number one is the result a more diverse electorate, and a process that surely began well before George Floyd.
Well, any list like this is tailor-made to stir up an argument, but I scanned the top 50 expecting to be really annoyed and…I wasn’t. The inclusion of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, to take just one example, very much pleased me. Outstanding album, managed to fuse hip-hop and soul in a way I thought would profoundly change music for decades (it really didn’t) - good choice, rightly very high.
When I get the time I will peruse the full list.
j
Oh well, I’m not quite ready to comment the list, as I only read the list from spot 500 to 400 thoroughly, but I have to say that I enjoyed the choices very much so far. It seems to make for a more inclusive top 500 than the one from 2003, which I also studied and hadn’t many objections to, but now I see that this list was flawed. I’m eagerly looking forward to working my way up to #1 in the list.
ETA: I always love those lists because they give me endless inspiration for albums to add to my streaming queue. There are always albums that I’d never heard of, even by acts I know well.
Just the top 50. I assumed there were some heavy albums further down the list, but you can’t tell me there isn’t a single heavy album that goes in the top 50. And again, no electronica in the top 50 at all, even though modern pop music is essentially defined by 70s-80s synth-based music. Not a single Depeche Mode or Kraftwerk album?
Is there a plain text 1-500 list anywhere?