My Top 50 Album Covers Of All Time

A couple days ago, Billboard's disastrously bad list of the "Top 100 Album Covers of All Time" popped up again in my Twitter feed, and upon revisiting their less than stellar selections, I felt compelled to share my own list. This is not at all an attempt at any sort of objectivity; these are 50 of the album covers that I personally love. The order is alphabetical, and an album's placement on this list has no bearing on whether or not I enjoy the actual music within (though most of them are pretty damn good). I think that for an article of this kind, pictures are definitely worth more than words, so enjoy my picks for my Top 50 Favorite Album Covers of all time!

1. Frank - Amy Winehouse (2003)

2. Since I Left You - The Avalanches (2000)

3. Music From Big Pink - The Band (1968)

4. Paul's Boutique - Beastie Boys (1989)

5. Undercurrent - Bill Evans & Jim Hall (1962)

6. Hiding Places - billy woods & Kenny Segal (2019)

7. Post - Björk (1995)

8. Freetown Sound - Blood Orange (2016)

9. Acidrap - Chance the Rapper (2013)

10. Invention - Daedelus (2002)

11. Low - David Bowie (1977)

12. Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030 (2000)

12. Kaputt - Destroyer (2011)

13. Endtroducing..... - DJ Shadow (1996)

14. Stratosphere - Duster (1998)

15. 'Out to Lunch!' - Eric Dolphy (1964)

16. Mama's Gun - Erykah Badu (2000)

17. Pure Comedy - Father John Misty (2017)

18. LP1 - FKA Twigs (2014)

19. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (2008)

20. Giles Corey - Giles Corey (2015)

21. Art Angels - Grimes (2015)

22. Donuts - J Dilla (2006)

23. Ys - Joanna Newsom (2006)

24. Blue - Joni Mitchell (1971)

25. Riceboy Sleeps - Jónsi & Alex Somers (2009)

26. Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division (1979)

27. To Pimp a Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar (2015)

28. Hud Dreems - Knxwledge (2015)

29. Pray For Haiti - Mach-Hommy (2021)

30. What's Going On - Marvin Gaye (1971)

31. MM..FOOD - MF DOOM (2004)

32. Kala - M.I.A. (2007)

33. Illmatic - Nas (1994)

34. Power, Corruption & Lies - New Order (1983)

(Keep it a secret, but this might be Number 1)

35. Murder Ballads - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1996)

36. Return to the 36 Chambers - Ol' Dirty Bastard (1995)

37. Stankonia - Outkast (2000)

38. Stranger in the Alps (2017)

39. Things Fall Apart - The Roots (1999)

40. Diamond Life - Sade (1984)

41. Actor - St. Vincent (2009)

42. Songs in the Key of Life - Stevie Wonder (1976)

43. Breakfast in America - Supertramp (1979)

44. Ctrl - SZA (2017)

45. The Low End Theory - A Tribe Called Quest (1991)

46. Days Before Rodeo - Travis Scott (2014)

47. Flower Boy - Tyler, the Creator (2017)

48. Just Another Diamond Day - Vashti Bunyan (1970)

49. And Then You Pray For Me - Westside Gunn (2023)

50. The Ecstatic - Yasiin Bey (2009)