Cover of the oversize companion book to the 2020 list.
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, 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]
Critics have accused the lists of lending disproportionate weight to artists of particular races and genders. In the original list, most of the selections were albums by white male rock musicians, with the top position held by the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). In 2012, Rolling Stone published a revised edition, drawing on the original and a later survey of albums released up until the early 2000s.[2]
Another updated edition of the list was published in 2020, with 269 new entries replacing albums from the two previous editions. It was based on a new survey and did not consider the surveys conducted for the 2003 and 2012 lists. The 2020 list featured more artists of color and female artists, topped by Marvin Gaye's What's Going On (1971).[2] It received similar criticisms as the previous lists.[3] Another revision was published in 2023.[4]
Since 2020 Rolling Stone has also produced a weekly podcast called Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums, which, according to magazine, is based on an "updated version of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums list".[5] The podcast is hosted by Brittany Spanos, a staff writer at the magazine.[6][7]
Background
The Beatles (pictured in 1964) had nine albums on the most recent list
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 ranked list of 50 albums. The accounting firm Ernst & Young devised a point system to weigh votes for 1,600 submitted titles.[8]The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band topped the list, with Rolling Stone's editors describing it as "the most important rock 'n' roll album ever made".[9]The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds (1966) was ranked second in recognition of its influence on Sgt. Pepper.[10] The list also included compilations and "greatest hits" collections.[8]
On May 31, 2012, Rolling Stone published a revised list, drawing on the original and a later survey of albums up until the early 2000s.[11] 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. The top listings remained unchanged.[citation needed]
On September 22, 2020, another revision of the list was published. It drew upon a new survey conducted with "more than 300 artists, producers, critics, and music-industry figures", including:[12]
Each voter was asked to submit a ranked list of 50 favorite albums.[13] This time, the list included more musicians who were female and people of color, with many such artists represented at higher rankings than on the previous lists.[2] 86 of the entries were 21st-century releases. One hundred fifty-four new entries were not on either of the two previous editions, and rap albums figured three times as much.[14]Marvin Gaye's What's Going On (1971) was featured at the number one spot.[12]
A revision to the 2020 list was created in 2023, replacing some older albums with newer releases from the 2020s.[4]
Reception
The original Rolling Stone 500 was criticized for being male-dominated, outmoded and almost entirely Anglo-American in focus.[15][16] Writing in USA Today, Edna Gundersen described the list as predictable and "weighted toward testosterone-fueled vintage rock".[8] 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.[17]
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", adding: "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."[18]
Responding to the 2020 revision, Consequence of Sound's Alex Young wrote that the lesser representation of white male rock musicians was "the biggest takeaway".[2] According to CNN's Leah Asmelash, "The change represents a massive shift for the magazine, moving to recognize more contemporary albums and a wider range of tastes."[19] Conversely, Jonathan McNamara of The Japan Times criticized the list for underrepresenting Asian and non-Anglophone artists, stating that "It seems a shame then that Rolling Stone's musical brain trust of writers and industry contributors [...] didn't take the opportunity to hold up albums from the world's non-English-speaking artists and bands."[20]
Statistics
Number of albums from each decade
2003 edition
Decade
Number of albums
Percentage
1950s
11
2.2%
1960s
126
25.2%
1970s
183
36.6%
1980s
88
17.6%
1990s
61
12.2%
2000s
13
2.6%
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%
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%
2023 edition
Decade
Number of albums
Percentage
1950s
9
1.8%
1960s
71
14.2%
1970s
155
31.0%
1980s
71
14.2%
1990s
101
20.2%
2000s
51
10.2%
2010s
36
7.2%
2020s
6
1.2%
Artists with the most albums
The following table lists the artists who had at least three albums included on at least one edition of the list (71 artists in total).
Comparison between the original 2003 "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" ranking made by the magazine Rolling Stone, and the updated 2020 ranking. This graph highlights the gender of the artists, gender of the voters from both rankings, and the decades in which these great albums were released.
↑ Biron, Dean. 2011. Towards a Popular Music Criticism of Replenishment. Popular Music & Society, 34/5: 661–682.
↑ Schmutz, Vaughan. 2005. Retrospective Critical Consecration in Popular Music: Rolling Stone's Greatest Albums of All Time. American Behavioral Scientist, 48/11: 1510–1523.
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