Apple Music has officially revealed what it has deemed as the greatest album of all time.
The music streaming service has finished sharing its list of the 100 best albums in history, by exclusively revealing the top 10 choices on TODAY May 22.
Lauryn Hill's 1998 masterpiece, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” earned the honor of the No. 1 album. “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” powered by singles “Doo Wop (That Thing),” “Ex-Factor” and “Everything Is Everything,” garnered 10 Grammy nominations, winning five, including album of the year and best R&B album. The album was Hill's first and only studio album.
“This is my award, but it’s a rich, deep narrative, and involves so many people, and so much sacrifice, and so much time, and so much collective love,” Hill told Apple Music about her spot at the top of the album list, per a press release.
In the release, Apple Music called the album “a seismic event ... a stunningly raw, profound look into the spiritual landscape not just of one of the era’s biggest stars, but of the era itself."
“She was, and remains, a once-in-a-generation talent whose inspiration and innovation can be heard through the decades," the release read. "Artists exhaust long discographies hoping for a cohesive piece of work resonant enough to reshape culture and inscribe its creator into the pantheon; Lauryn Hill did it in one.”
Michael Jackson's landmark 1982 effort, "Thriller," took the second spot on the list.
"There are few pop albums, or even works of art, that denote a wholesale shift in time and space the way Michael Jackson’s'Thriller'did in 1982," Apple Music described in the release.
"It did nothing less than define the modern pop blockbuster and redefine the scope and reach of music. Seven of its nine original cuts were top 10 singles, and it became one of the bestselling albums ever made."
The rest of the top 10 featured other big names, including Beyoncé, The Beatles and Nirvana. Find out where those albums placed on the top 10 list and which others made the cut on Apple Music's 100 Best Albums, below:
Apple Music’s Best Albums 1-10
10.“Lemonade” — Beyoncé
9.“Nevermind”— Nirvana
8.“Back to Black”— Amy Winehouse
7.“good kid, m.A.A.d city (Deluxe Version)”— Kendrick Lamar
6.“Songs in the Key of Life”— Stevie Wonder
5.“Blonde”— Frank Ocean
4.“Purple Rain”— Prince & The Revolution
3.“Abbey Road”— The Beatles
2.“Thriller”— Michael Jackson
1.“The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”— Lauryn Hill
What else is on Apple's Best Albums list?
On May 13, the streamer announced the albums 100-90 and has continued to reveal more LPs every day.
Taylor Swift’s “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” Jay-Z’s “The Blueprint” and Adele’s “21”— the latter of which is also on the list of the best-selling albums of all time according to Business Insider — also snagged spots in Apple Music’s top 20.
Apple’s Music 100 best albums list includes LPs from Elton John, Madonna, 2Pac, Prince, Janet Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Carole King, Rihanna, Beyoncé and more legendary artists. Recent releases like SZA’s “SOS” and Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti” also landed on the list.
Here's a look at the rest of the list, with albums 11 through 100:
100. “Body Talk” — Robyn
99. “Hotel California” — The Eagles
98. “ASTROWORLD” — Travis Scott
97. “Rage Against The Machine” — Rage Against The Machine
96. “Pure Heroine” — Lorde
95. “Confessions” — USHER
94. “Untrue” — Burial
93. “A Seat at the Table” — Solange
92. “Flower Boy” — Tyler, The Creator
91. “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1” — George Michael
90. “Back in Black” — AC/DC
89. “The Fame Monster (Deluxe Edition)” — Lady Gaga
88. “I Put a Spell on You” — Nina Simone
87. “Blue Lines” — Massive Attack
86. “My Life” — Mary J Blige
85. “Golden Hour” — Kacey Musgraves
84. “Doggystyle” — Snoop Dogg
83. “Horses” — Patti Smith
82. “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” — 50 Cent
81. “After the Gold Rush” — Neil Young
80. “The Marshall Mathers LP” — Eminem
79. “Norman F****** Rockwell!” — Lana Del Rey
78. “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” — Elton John
77. “Like A Prayer” — Madonna
76. “Un Verano Sin Ti” — Bad Bunny
75. “Supa Dupa Fly” — Missy Eliott
74. “Downward Spiral” — Nine Inch Nails
73. “Aja” — Steely Dan
72. “SOS” — SZA
71. “Trans-Europe Express” — Kraftwerk
70. “Straight Outta Compton” — N.W.A
69. “Master of Puppets (Remastered)” — Metallica
68. “Is this It” — The Strokes
67. “Dummy” — Portishead
66: “The Queen Is Dead” — The Smiths
65: “3 Feet High and Rising” — De La Soul
64. “Baduizm” — Erykah Badu
63. “Are You Experienced?” — The Jimi Hendrix Experience
62. “All Eyez on Me” — 2Pac
61. “Love Deluxe” — Sade
60. “The Velvet Underground and Nico (45th Anniversary Edition)” — Velvet Underground & Nico
59. “AM” — Arctic Monkeys
58. “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory” — Oasis
57. “Voodoo” — D’Angelo
56. “Disintegration (Remastered)” — The Cure
55. “ANTI” — Rihanna
54. “A Love Supreme” — John Coltrane
53. “Exile on Main Street (2010 Remaster)” — The Rolling Stones
52. “Appetite for Destruction” — Guns ‘N Roses
51. “Sign O’The Times” — Prince
50. “Hounds of Love (2018 Remaster)” — Kate Bush
49. “The Joshua Tree” — U2
48. “Paul’s Boutique” — Beastie Boys
47. “Take Care (Deluxe Version)” — Drake
46. “Exodus (2013 Remaster)” — Bob Marley & The Wailers
45. “hom*ogenic” — Björk
44. “Innervisions” — Stevie Wonder
43. “Remain in Light” — Talking Heads
42. “Control” — Janet Jackson
41. “Aquemini” — OutKast
40. “I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You” — Aretha Franklin
39. “Illmatic” — Nas
38. “Tapestry” — Carole King
37. “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (Expanded Edition) — Wu-Tang Clan
36. “BEYONCÉ” — Beyoncé
35. “London Calling” — The Clash
34. “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” — Public Enemy
33. “Kid A” — Radiohead
32. “Ready to Die (The Remaster)” — Notorious B.I.G.
31. “Jagged Little Pill (Remastered)” — Alanis Morissette
30. “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?” — Billie Eilish
29. “The Low End Theory” — A Tribe Called Quest
28. “The Dark Side of the Moon” — Pink Floyd
27. “Led Zeppelin II” — Led Zeppelin
26. “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” — Kanye West
25. “Kind of Blue” — Miles Davis
24. “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (2012 Remaster)” — David Bowie
23. “Discovery” — Daft Punk
22. “Born to Run” — Bruce Springsteen
21. “Revolver” — The Beatles
20. “Pet Sounds” — The Beach Boys
19. “The Chronic” — Dr. Dre
18. “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” — Taylor Swift
17. “What’s Going On” — Marvin Gaye
16. “Blue” — Joni Mitchell
15. “21” — Adele
14. “Highway 61 Revisited” — Bob Dylan
13. “The Blueprint” — Jay-Z
12. “OK Computer” — Radiohead
11. “Rumours” — Fleetwood Mac
How did Apple Music compile its 100 Best Albums list?
Apple Music sifted through decades of unforgettable music to create its list of the 100 best albums of all time, expanding across a multitude of genres.
The music platform’s team of experts worked with songwriters, producers, industry professionals and a group of award-winning hitmakers, like Maren Morris, Pharrell Williams and J Balvin, to determine which albums stood out among the countless number released throughout the years.
Apple Music described the list in a May 13 press release as an “editorial statement, fully independent of any streaming numbers” on its platform and “a love letter to the records that have shaped the world music lovers live and listen in.”
Ariana Brockington
Ariana Brockington is a trending news reporter at TODAY digital. She is based in Los Angeles.
