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 |
| 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 |
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| Sadie Dupuis Speedy Ortiz |
The Edge U2 |
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| 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 |
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 |
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 |
| 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 |