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Music

Who Voted for the 500 Greatest Albums?

More than 300 artists, journalists, and industry figures — everyone from Beyoncé to Taylor Swift to members of U2 — helped determine the all-new list

Read: The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

Voters were asked to submit ranked ballots listing their 50 favorite albums of all time. Votes were tabulated, with the highest-ranked album on each list receiving 300 points, the second highest 290 points, and so on down to 44 points for number 50. More than 3,000 albums received at least one vote.

Artists, Songwriters, and Producers
9th Wonder Johntá Austin A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie
Mick Avory
The Kinks
Glen Ballard Alice Bag
Bas Jon Batiste Big Boi
Beyoncé Branko Michael Brun
Eric Burdon
The Animals
John Cale
The Velvet Underground
Patrick Carney
The Black Keys
Alessia Cara Desmond Child Brandy Clark
Adam Clayton
U2
Casanova Jimmy Cliff
Chicano Batman Cool & Dre Alice Cooper
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Taylor Swift performs onstage during Z100’s Jingle Ball 2012 at Madison Square Garden on December 7, 2012 in NYC. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

Stewart Copeland
The Police
Wayne Coyne
The Flaming Lips
Katie Crutchfield
Waxahatchee
John Darnielle
The Mountain Goats
Ani DiFranco Raheem DeVaughn
Antonio Dixon Lamont Dozier Dino D’Santiago
DJ Dahi DJ Drama DJ Pierre
DJ Premier DJ Shadow Drumma Boy
Ronnie Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Elliot Easton
The Cars
Sadie Dupuis
Speedy Ortiz
The Edge
U2
Billie Eilish Ella Mai El-P
Run the Jewels
Kalaf Epalanga
Buraka Som Sistema
Oak Felder Ace Frehley
Kiss
Lukas Forchhammer
Lukas Graham
Richie Furay
Buffalo Springfield
Billy Gibbons
ZZ Top
Girl Ultra Diana Gordon K-Ci Hailey
K-Ci and JoJo
Hanson Lzzy Hale
Halestorm
Rob Halford
Judas Priest
Anthony Hamilton Herbie Hancock Ben Harper
David “Swagg R’Celious” Harris Hutch Harris
The Thermals
Mickey Hart
Grateful Dead
Eva Hendricks
Charly Bliss
H.E.R. Hinds
Patterson Hood
Drive-by Truckers
Robert Hood
House music producer
Adam Horovitz
Beastie Boys
Brittany Howard
Alabama Shakes
Marshall Jefferson Shooter Jennings
Carly Rae Jepsen J.I.D Lindsey Jordan
Snail Mail
Juanes Wynonna Judd Juvenile
Lenny Kaye Clark Kent Kesha
Kelis Marcus King Greta Kline
Frankie Cosmos
Savan Kotecha Louis York Mario
Stuart Matthewman
Sade
Lauren Mayberry
CHVRCHES
Roger McGuinn
The Byrds
Brian McKnight John McLaughlin Rich Medina
Lin-Manuel Miranda MNEK Moby
Monsieur Periné Morrissey Mr. Eazi
Bob Mould
Hüsker Dü
Stuart Murdoch
Belle and Sebastian
Graham Nash
Stevie Nicks Olu
EarthGang
Organized Noize
Finneas O’Connell Steve Perry Robert Pollard
Guided by Voices
Poo Bear James Poyser
The Roots
David Prowse
Japandroids
Questlove
The Roots
Raekwon
Wu-Tang Clan
Nile Rodgers
Ariel Rechtshaid August Rigo Rodrigo Y Gabriela
Salaam Remi Pete Rock Royce da 5’9”
Rex Rideout Frank Rogers Andrew Savage
Parquet Courts
Emily Saliers
Indigo Girls
Ketch Secor
Old Crow Medicine Show
Kevin Shields
My Bloody Valentine
Saweetie Sha Money XL Slick Rick
Mike Shinoda
Linkin Park
Gene Simmons
Kiss
Zak Starkey
Robert Smith
The Cure
Ronnie Spector Johnny Stevens
Highly Suspect
Dave Stewart
Eurythmics
Elizabeth Stokes
The Beths
Jazmine Sullivan
Taylor Swift Sylvan Esso Tainy
Take a Daytrip Tony Touch Justin Tranter
Lili Trifilio
Beach Bunny
Francisca Valenzuela Louie Vega
Butch Vig Carlos Vives Rufus Wainwright
U-God
Wu-Tang Clan
Lars Ulrich
Metallica
Rick Wakeman
Yes
Kamasi Washington Paul Wall Kelsey Waldon
Kokayi Walker Brady Watt Gregg Wattenberg
Gerard Way
My Chemical Romance
Faye Webster Adam Weiner
Low Cut Connie
Tierra Whack Andrew Pop Wansel Lucinda Williams
Charlie Wilson
Gap Band
Dan Wilson
Semisonic
Yebba
Jon Wurster
Superchunk, The Mountain Goats
Wowgr8
EarthGang
Yola
Charlie Worsham
Old Crow Medicine Show
Nick Zinner
Yeah Yeah Yeahs

 

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The Roots’ Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson performs during an Independence Day celebration Saturday, July 4, 2015, in Philadelphia. Matt Rourke/AP

Industry
Nate Albert
Warner Records
Nicole Alvarez
KROQ
Derrick Aroh 
RCA Records
Jeffrey Azoff
Full Stop Management
Shawn Barron
Motown/Capitol Records
Tuma Basa
YouTube
Mike Biggane
Universal Music
Ken Bunt
Disney Music Group
Cliff Burnstein
Q Prime
David Buttle
Mr. Bongo
Carlos Cancela
Interscope Records
Norva Denton
Warner Records
Yaasiel Success Davis
Atlantic Records
Peter Edge
RCA
John Esposito
Warner Music Nashville
Phylicia Fant
Columbia Records
Alex Gallardo
President, Sony Music Latin
Pete Ganbarg
Atlantic Records
Julie Greenwald
Atlantic Records
John Dee Hammond
Paradigm
Kirk Harding
Bad Habit Music
Mike Herard
Shady Records
Jeriel Johnson
The Recording Academy
Craig Kallman
Atlantic Records
Bruce Kalmick
Triple 8 Mgmt
Dominique Keegan
Kobalt Music
Adam Kornfeld
Artist Group International
Michael Knox
Peermusic
Jon Landau
Jon Landau Management
Camilo Lara
Mexican Institute of Sound
Latoya Lee
Atlas Music Publishing
Mollie Lehman
Atlantic Records
Rebeca Leon
Lionfish Entertainment
Jeff Levin
Atlantic Records
Monte Lipman
Universal Republic Records
Edgar Machuca
Atlantic Records
Mac McCaughan
Merge Records
Merck Mercuriadis
Hipgnosis
Brian Monaco
Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Andy Mooney
Fender Musical
Instruments Corporation
Vincent Tuff Morgan
Peermusic
Keith Naftaly
RCA Records
Jacob Pace
Flighthouse
Bob Pittman
iHeartMedia
Mark Pitts
RCA Records
Nicole Plantin
Rostrum Records
Peter Robinson
Dome Records
Bruce Resnikoff
Universal Music
Ebrahim (Abe) Rasheed
eOne
Ronald “Slim” Williams
Cash Money Records
Leo Sacks
Sony Music
James Supreme
Universal Music
Publishing Group
Shani Fuller Tillman
RCA Records/Sony Music
Matt Zingler
Rolling Loud
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The Edge of U2 performs during “The Joshua Tree Tour 2017” at MetLife Stadium on June 28, 2017 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Taylor Hill/FilmMagic
Journalists
Hanif Abdurraqib Celia Almeida Stacey Anderson
Ken Barnes Judy Berman
TIME
Stuart Berman
Graham Betts Alvin aqua Blanco
HipHopWired
Alison Boron
Robert Christgau Jerilyn Jordan Cook
Detroit Metro Times
Cameron Crowe
Sharon Davis Anthony DeCurtis Steve Devereux
Carola Dibbell Morgan Enos Sean Fennessey
The Ringer
Stephen Thomas Erlewine Alison Fensterstock Bill Flanagan
Andrew Flory Ted Fox Leor Galil
Chicago Reader
David Fricke Sasha Geffen Michael A. Gonzales
Mikal Gilmore Joe Gross Kyle Harris
Denver Westword
Lizzy Goodman Peter Guralnick Rob Harvilla
The Ringer
Mike Hilleary Hua Hsu
The New Yorker
Steven Hyden
UPROXX
Kevin C. Johnson
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Stephen Kearse Kristen Yoonsoo Kim
Chuck Klosterman Jonathan Lethem Alan Light
Jason Lipshutz
Billboard
Kurt Loder Marissa Lorusso
Tirhakah Love Zoe Madonna Greil Marcus
Michaelangelo Matos Paula Mejia
Texas Monthly
Marissa R. Moss
Marcus J. Moore Keith Murphy David Nathan
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Beyonce performs onstage during “The Formation World Tour” at the Rose Bowl on May 14, 2016 in Pasadena, California. Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Brad Nelson Matthew Perpetua Isabela Raygoza
Amy Phillips
Pitchfork
Sheldon Pearce
The New Yorker
Jenn Pelly
Pitchfork
Alex Pappademas Ross Raihala
Mosi Reeves Jayson Rodriguez
Evan Rytlewski Danny Schwartz Jesse Serwer
Alfred Soto Greg Tate Rob Tannenbaum
Laura Snapes
The Guardian
Jes Skolnik
Bandcamp Daily
Erik Thompson
City Pages (Minneapolis)
Barry Walters Susan Whitall Christopher R. Weingarten
Adam White Lois Wilson Allison Wolfe
Mikael Wood Briana Younger Warren Zanes
Rolling Stone Staff
Jonathan Bernstein Jon Blistein David Browne
Jon Dolan Patrick Doyle Brenna Ehrlich
Suzy Exposito Jason Fine Jon Freeman
Brian Hiatt Samantha Hissong Christian Hoard
Charles Holmes Joseph Hudak Andy Greene
Kory Grow Daniel Kreps Elias Leight
Angie Martoccio Ethan Millman Jerry Portwood
Jason Newman Claire Shaffer Rob Sheffield
Hank Shteamer Simon Vozick-Levinson Alison Weinflash

 

 


Contributors
Jonathan Bernstein, Pat Blashill, Jon Blistein, Nathan Brackett, David Browne, Anthony DeCurtis, Matt Diehl, Jon Dolan, Chuck Eddy, Ben Edmonds, Gavin Edwards, Jenny Eliscu, Brenna Ehrlich, Suzy Exposito, David Fricke, Elisa Gardner, Holly George-Warren, Andy Greene, Kory Grow, Will Hermes, Brian Hiatt, Christian Hoard, Charles Holmes, Mark Kemp, Greg Kot, Elias Leight, Joe Levy, Angie Martoccio, David McGee, Chris Molanphy, Tom Moon, Jason Newman, Rob O’Connor, Park Puterbaugh, Jody Rosen, Austin Scaggs, Karen Schoemer, Bud Scoppa, Claire Shaffer, Rob Sheffield, Hank Shteamer, Brittany Spanos, Rob Tannenbaum, David Thigpen, Simon Vozick-Levinson, Barry Walters, Jonah Weiner

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