The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

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

"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005. The lists presented were compiled based on votes from selected rock musicians, critics, and industry figures, and predominantly feature music from the 1960s and 1970s. From 2007 onwards, the magazine published similarly titled lists in other countries around the world.

Background

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 list includes a few compilations, and "greatest hits" collections.

The following authors contributed to the citations made of each album:

• Pat Blashill
• Anthony DeCurtis
• Ben Edmonds
• Gavin Edwards

• Jenny Eliscu
• David Fricke
• Mark Kemp
• Greg Kot

• Joe Levy
• Parke Puterbaugh
• Austin Scaggs
• Karen Schoemer

• Bud Scoppa
• Rob Sheffield
• David Thigpen
• Barry Walters

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.

List statistics

Artists with the most albums

• 11 The Beatles (with 4 in the top 10, including 3 in the top 5) – 10 of their 12 studio albums along with U.S. exclusive Meet The Beatles!
• 10 Bob Dylan (with 2 in the top 10, including 1 in the top 5) – 10 of his 31 studio albums
• 10 The Rolling Stones (with 1 in the top 10) – 10 of their 21 studio albums
• 8 Bruce Springsteen – 8 of his 12 studio albums
• 7 The Who – 6 of their 10 studio albums (11); 1 live album
• 6 David Bowie
• 6 Elton John

Number of albums from each decade

• 1950s and earlier – 29 albums (5.8%)
• 1960s – 126 (25.2%) (with 7 of the top 10 and all of the top 5)
• 1970s – 183 (36.6%) (with 3 of the top 10)
• 1980s – 88 (17.6%)
• 1990s – 61 (12.2%)
• 2000s – 13 (2.6%)

Reception

Writing in USA Today newspaper, Edna Gundersen described the list as predictable and "weighted toward testosterone-fueled vintage rock".

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 (ISBN 1-56980-276-9) in 2004. This featured a number of generally younger critics arguing against the high evaluation of various "great" albums some of which, of course, had been included in the list including DeRogatis taking on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which had been Rolling Stone's top choice.

International lists

2007

• Rolling Stone Brazil's Os 100 maiores discos da música brasileira
• Rolling Stone Argentina's, 100 mejores discos del rock nacional
• Rolling Stone Indonesia's 150 Album Indonesia Terbaik
• Rolling Stone Japan's 100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums

2008

• Rolling Stone Chile's Los 50 mejores discos chilenos

2010

• Rolling Stone France's 100 disques essentiels du rock français
• Rolling Stone Spain's Los 50 mejores discos del rock español
• Rolling Stone Germany's Die 50 besten deutschen Alben

See also

• All Time Top 1000 Albums, a similar list
• Albums considered the greatest ever, a discussion of this and similar lists
• The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, also from Rolling Stone magazine