Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

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Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" magazine cover

"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring music ranking of the finest albums in history as compiled by the American magazine Rolling Stone. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in a special issue of the magazine in 2003 and a related book in 2005.[1]

The list has had two major revisions. In 2012, Rolling Stone published a revised edition of the list drawing on the original and a later survey of albums up until the early 2000s. As with the original list, the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) remains at the top.[2]

Another updated edition of the list was published in 2020, with 154 new entries not on either of the two previous editions. It was based on a new survey and does not factor in the two that were conducted for the previous lists. This time, the top ten of the list had several black and female artists, with Marvin Gaye's What's Going On (1971) featured at the number one spot.[2]

Background

The Beatles (1964)

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 weighted list of 50 albums. The accounting firm Ernst & Young devised a point system to weigh votes for 1,600 submitted titles. The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) and the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds (1966) were the list's front-runners, with Pet Sounds ranked second in recognition of its influence on Sgt. Pepper.[3] The list includes a few compilations, and "greatest hits" collections.[4]

An amended list was released in book form in 2005, with an introduction written by Steven Van Zandt. As the editor's foreword explains, 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. The Complete Recordings would be reinstated to the list in the 2012 edition.[citation needed]

On May 31, 2012, Rolling Stone published a revised edition of the list drawing on the original and a later survey of albums up until the early 2000s.[5] 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.[citation needed]

Marvin Gaye (1973)

Another revision of the list was published on September 22, 2020. It drew upon a new survey conducted with "more than 300 artists, producers, critics, and music-industry figures", including:[6]

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This time, the list favored black and female musicians, with many such artists represented at higher rankings than on the previous lists.[2] 86 of the entries were 21st-century releases. 154 new entries were not on either of the two previous editions, and rap albums figured three times as much.[7] Marvin Gaye's What's Going On (1971) was featured at the number one spot.[6]

Reception

The original Rolling Stone 500 was criticized for being male-dominated, outmoded and almost entirely Anglo-American in focus.[8][9] Writing in USA Today newspaper, Edna Gundersen described the list as predictable and "weighted toward testosterone-fueled vintage rock".[full citation needed] Only 12 of the 50 highest-ranking albums were by artists of non-white ethnicity, none of whom were female, and only three albums by white women figured in the top 50.[2] 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.[10]

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," noting: "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."[11]

Responding to the 2020 revision, Consequence of Sound's Alex Young wrote that "the biggest takeaway is that it’s no longer dominated by white dudes who played rock music."[2]

Statistics

Number of albums from each decade

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2003 edition
Decade Number of
albums		 Percentage
1950s 29 5.8%
1960s 126 25.2%
1970s 183 36.6%
1980s 88 17.6%
1990s 61 12.2%
2000s 13 2.6%

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2012 edition
Decade Number of
albums		 Percentage
1950s 10 2.0%
1960s 105 21.0%
1970s 186 37.2%
1980s 84 16.8%
1990s 73 14.6%
2000s 40 8.0%
2010s 2 0.4%

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2020 edition
Decade Number of
albums		 Percentage
1950s 9 1.8%
1960s 74 14.8%
1970s 157 31.4%
1980s 71 14.2%
1990s 103 20.6%
2000s 50 10.0%
2010s 36 7.2%

Artists with the most albums (2020 revision)

9 albums

8 albums

  • Bob Dylan (one credited to Bob Dylan and the Band; one in the top 10 at the No. 9 spot)

7 albums

6 albums

5 albums

4 albums

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3 albums

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Artists with the most albums (2003 and 2012 revisions)

11 albums

  • Bob Dylan (one credited to Bob Dylan and the Band; two in the top 10 at the No. 9 and No. 4 spots)

10 albums

8 albums

7 albums

6 albums

5 albums


4 albums

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3 albums

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See also

References

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  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/09/rolling-stone-top-500-albums/
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ "It's Certainly a Thrill: Sgt. Pepper Is Best Album", USA Today, November 17, 2003.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/09/22/rolling-stone-new-500-greatest-albums-marvin-gaye-beach-boys/3495555001/
  8. ↑ Biron, Dean. 2011. Towards a Popular Music Criticism of Replenishment. Popular Music & Society, 34/5: 661–682.
  9. ↑ Schmutz, Vaughan. 2005. Retrospective Critical Consecration in Popular Music: Rolling Stone's Greatest Albums of All Time. American Behavioral Scientist, 48/11: 1510–1523.
  10. ↑ (ISBN 1-56980-276-9)
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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