Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

The Beatles (pictured in 1964) had nine albums on the most recent list

The first version of the list, published as a magazine in November 2003, was based on the votes of 273 rock musicians, critics, and industry figures, each of whom submitted a ranked list of 50 albums. The accounting firm Ernst & Young devised a point system to weigh votes for 1,600 submitted titles.[4] The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band topped the list, with Rolling Stone's editors describing it as "the most important rock 'n' roll album ever made".[5] The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds (1966) was ranked second in recognition of its influence on Sgt. Pepper.[6] The list also included compilations and "greatest hits" collections.[4]

An amended list was released as a book in 2005, with an introduction by guitarist Steven Van Zandt. Some compilation albums were removed, and Robert Johnson's The Complete Recordings was substituted for both of his King of the Delta Blues Singers volumes, making room for a total of eight new entries on the list.[nb 1]

On May 31, 2012, Rolling Stone published a revised list, drawing on the original and a later survey of albums up until the early 2000s.[7] It was made available in "bookazine" format on newsstands in the US from April 27 to July 25. The new list contained 38 albums not present in the previous one, 16 of them released after 2003. The top listings remained unchanged.

Marvin Gaye (1973)

Most of the albums on the initial lists were by white male rock musicians. Among the top 50 rankings, only 12 entries were by artists of color, none of whom were female, and only three albums by white women figured in the top 50.[2]

On September 22, 2020, another revision of the list was published. It drew upon a new survey conducted with "more than 300 artists, producers, critics, and music-industry figures", including:[8]

Each voter was asked to submit a ranked list of 50 favorite albums.[9] This time, the list included more musicians who were female and people of color, with many such artists represented at higher rankings than on the previous lists.[2] 86 of the entries were 21st-century releases. One hundred fifty-four new entries were not on either of the two previous editions, and rap albums figured three times as much.[10] Marvin Gaye's What's Going On (1971) was featured at the number one spot.[8]

The original Rolling Stone 500 was criticized for being male-dominated, outmoded and almost entirely Anglo-American in focus.[11][12] Writing in USA Today, Edna Gundersen described the list as predictable and "weighted toward testosterone-fueled vintage rock".[4] Following the publicity surrounding the list, rock critic Jim DeRogatis, a former Rolling Stone editor, published Kill Your Idols: A New Generation of Rock Writers Reconsiders the Classics in 2004. The book featured a number of critics arguing against the high evaluation of various "great" albums, many of which had been included in the list.[13]

Jonny Sharp, a contributor to NME's own 500 greatest albums list, described the 2012 Rolling Stone list as a "soulless, canon-centric [list] of the same tired old titles", adding: "looking at their 500, when the only album in their top 10 less than 40 years old is London Calling, I think I prefer the NME's less critically-correct approach."[14]

Responding to the 2020 revision, Consequence of Sound's Alex Young wrote that the lesser representation of white male rock musicians was "the biggest takeaway".[2] According to CNN's Leah Asmelash, "The change represents a massive shift for the magazine, moving to recognize more contemporary albums and a wider range of tastes."[15] Conversely, Jonathan McNamara of The Japan Times criticized the list for underrepresenting Asian and non-Anglophone artists, stating that "It seems a shame then that Rolling Stone's musical brain trust of writers and industry contributors [...] didn't take the opportunity to hold up albums from the world's non-English-speaking artists and bands."[16]

• Album era
• All Time Top 1000 Albums
• Critic's Choice: Top 200 Albums
• NME's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
• 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
• Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
• Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time
• Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time

• Paul Donoughue, "Rolling Stone's 500 'greatest albums of all time' list makes us question the meaning of classic", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, September 26, 2020.
• "Internet reacts to Rolling Stone's more inclusive 500 Greatest Albums list", Radio X, September 24, 2020.
• "'Rolling Stone' Updates Its List of the Greatest Albums of All Time", National Public Radio, September 25, 2020.
• Sheldon Pearce, "The Futility of Rolling Stone's Best-Albums List", The New Yorker, October 2, 2020.

• 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2020 edition) by Rolling Stone