100 Albums That Rocked My World
A highly subjective, genre-agnostic list of inspiring, trail-blazing records
House rules
Only one album per artist/band. Many on this list have made several outstanding albums, but for the sake of diversity, I settled for my favorite out of their catalogue – or the one I listened to the most.
This list is not ranked, but chronologically ordered. It makes no sense for me to rank music from different genres at this level.
Every album still excites me today. Many other albums were once important to me, but I wouldn’t bother sitting through them now.
No compilations, soundtracks, DJ mixes or posthumously released albums.
The oldest record in this list is from 1959 – the stereo LP as we know it was introduced in 1957/58. There are great older recordings, but they don’t qualify as “albums” in my book.
The newest is from 2023. Yes, albums still rock my world, every once in a while.
This is my subjective take and not designed as a general greatest albums list, so don’t get mad. Have fun with it – I certainly did.
Miles Davis Kind of Blue (Columbia, 1959)
Ornette Coleman The Shape of Jazz to Come (Atlantic, 1959)
Stan Getz & João Gilberto Getz/Gilberto (Verve, 1964)
Wayne Shorter Speak No Evil (Blue Note, 1964)
Eric Dolphy Out to Lunch! (Blue Note, 1964)
John Coltrane A Love Supreme (Impulse!, 1965)
Herbie Hancock Maiden Voyage (Blue Note, 1965)
Sun Ra The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 1 (ESP-Disk, 1965)
Don Cherry Complete Communion (Blue Note, 1966)
Cecil Taylor Unit Structures (Blue Note, 1966)
The Doors The Doors (Elektra, 1967)
The Velvet Underground & Nico The Velvet Underground & Nico (Verve, 1967)
David Axelrod Song of Innocence (Capitol, 1968)
Pharoah Sanders Karma (Impulse!, 1969)
Alice Coltrane Ptah, The El Daoud (Impulse!, 1970)
Cluster Cluster ‘71 (Sky, 1971)
Popul Vuh In den Gärten Pharaos (Cherry Red, 1971)
Neu! Neu! (Brain, 1972)
Arthur Verocai Arthur Verocai (Continental, 1972)
Chick Corea Return to Forever (ECM, 1972)
Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon (Capitol, 1973)
Can Future Days (United Artists, 1973)
Harmonia Musik von Harmonia (Brain, 1974)
Fela Kuti & Africa 70 Expensive Shit (Editions Makossa, 1975)
Brian Eno Another Green World (Island, 1975)
Weather Report Heavy Weather (Columbia, 1976)
The Upsetters Super Ape (Island, 1976)
Augustus Pablo & King Tubby King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown (Clocktower, 1976)
David Bowie Low (RCA, 1977)
Harold Budd The Pavilion of Dreams (Obscure, 1978)
Joy Division Unknown Pleasures (Factory, 1979)
Throbbing Gristle 20 Jazz Funk Greats (Industrial, 1979)
Talking Heads Remain in Light (Sire, 1980)
Young Marble Giants Colossal Youth (Rough Trade, 1980)
Cabaret Voltaire Red Mecca (Mute, 1981)
Grace Jones Nightclubbing (Island, 1981)
The Cure Pornography (Fiction, 1982)
Roxy Music Avalon (Virgin, 1982)
Meat Puppets Meat Puppets II (SST, 1984)
Kate Bush Hounds of Love (EMI, 1985)
Depeche Mode Black Celebration (Mute, 1986)
Bad Brains I Against I (SST, 1986)
Sisters of Mercy Floodland (Merciful, 1987)
Talk Talk Spirit of Eden (Parlophone, 1988)
Dead Can Dance The Serpent’s Egg (4AD, 1988)
Nuno Canavarro Plux Quba (Ama Romanta, 1988)
Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (Def Jam, 1988)
De La Soul 3 Feet High and Rising (Tommy Boy, 1989)
Fugazi Repeater (Dischord, 1990)
Jane’s Addiction Ritual De Lo Habitual (Warner, 1990)
John Zorn Naked City (Nonesuch, 1990)
Cocteau Twins Heaven or Las Vegas (4AD, 1990)
Nirvana Nevermind (Geffen, 1991)
Slint Spiderland (Touch & Go, 1991)
A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory (Jive, 1991)
Massive Attack Blue Lines (Virgin, 1991)
Sonic Youth Dirty (Geffen, 1992)
Beastie Boys Check Your Head (Capitol, 1992)
Björk Debut (One Little Independent, 1993)
Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works Vol. II (Warp, 1994)
Nas Illmatic (Columbia, 1994)
Portishead Dummy (Go! Beat, 1994)
Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (Loud, 1995)
Tricky Maxinquaye (4th & B’way, 1995)
DJ Shadow Endtroducing… (Mo Wax, 1996)
Company Flow Funcrusher Plus (Rawkus, 1997)
Stereolab Dots and Loops (Elektra, 1997)
Outkast Aquemini (Arista, 1998)
Tortoise TNT (Thrill Jockey, 1998)
To Rococo Rot The Amateur View (City Slang, 1999)
Mos Def Black On Both Sides (Rawkus, 1999)
Radiohead Kid A (Capitol, 2000)
Erykah Badu Mama’s Gun (Motown, 2000)
Cannibal Ox The Cold Vein (Definitive Jux, 2001)
Autechre Confield (Warp, 2001)
William Basinski The Disintegration Loops (2062, 2002)
Boards of Canada Geogaddi (Warp, 2002)
Dizzee Rascal Boy in da Corner (XL, 2003)
Madvillain Madvillainy (Stones Throw, 2004)
J Dilla Donuts (Stones Throw, 2006)
Burial Untrue (Hyperdub, 2007)
Grouper Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill (Type, 2008)
HTRK Marry Me Tonight (Blast First, 2009)
Ben Frost By The Throat (Bedroom Community, 2009)
Roc Marciano Marcberg (Fat Beats, 2010)
Flying Lotus Cosmogramma (Brainfeeder, 2010)
Tycho Dive (Ghostly, 2011)
Beach House Bloom (Sub Pop, 2012)
Frank Ocean Channel Orange (Def Jam, 2012)
Warpaint Warpaint (Rough Trade, 2014)
Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly (Interscope, 2015)
2814 Birth of a New Day (Dream Catalogue, 2015)
Floating Points Elaenia (Luaka Bop, 2015)
Solange A Seat at the Table (Columbia, 2016)
Huerco S. For Those Of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have) (Proibito, 2016)
Four Tet New Energy (Text, 2017)
Armand Hammer Paraffin (backwoodz, 2018)
Space Afrika Honest Labour (Dais, 2021)
Mabe Fratti Se Ve Desde Aqui (Unheard of Hope, 2022)
ML Buch Suntub (15 Love, 2023)
Fantastic list, loads of stuff I’ve never listened to but will check out now.
So glad to see the s/t by Warpaint on there, it’s a classic in my books.
Very excited to listen to all of them! For my list, I'd have a really hard time deciding whether my favorite Brian Eno album is Another Green World, Taking Tiger Mountain, or Here Come The Warm Jets.