Apple Music names the 10 greatest albums of all time
Music trends shift and reform like the tides, but somehow, the classics will always be classics.
Apple Music has put together a team of its own experts alongside a "select group of artists, songwriters, producers, and industry professionals" to determine what albums can be said to be in the top 100 of humanity's output.
The online music store avowed the results weren't influenced by their own streaming data, but only the opinions of the assembled music pros and lovers.
And here are the top 10.
10. "Lemonade", Beyonce, 2016
Beyonce's seismic Lemonade exploded across the cultural landscape in 2016.
Longtime record producer Nile Rodgers, part of Apple's panel, called it "monumental".
9. "Nevermind", Nirvana, 1991
Grunge became mainstream when Nirvana released its second studio album.
The lead single, Smells Like Teen Spirit in particular turned the band into superstars, a status singer Kurt Cobain was particularly reluctant to embrace.
"The vulnerability of this record, coupled with the intensity of the way it sounded and the cultural moment that it bled into, touched something," Grammy winner Maggie Rogers told Apple.
8. "Back to Black", Amy Winehouse, 2006
Made amid the tumult of a break-up with her future husband, Amy Winehouse's second and final album was full of heartbreak and grief.
Singles included Rehab and Tears Dry On Their Own, with the album selling more than 16 million copies to date.
7. "good kid, m.A.A.d. city", Kendrick Lamar, 2012
The Pulitzer Prize was still in Kendrick Lamar's future when the rapper released his second album.
"This is one of the most beautifully curated, created, structured, and track-listed albums of the modern era," Apple Music's Zane Lowe said.
6. "Songs in the Key of Life", Stevie Wonder, (1976)
Stevie Wonder was among the most popular musicians in the world when this album came out in 1976, and its inclusion here re-affirms him as a titan of music.
He had considered quitting the business in the mid-'70s before signing what was then the biggest record deal ever with Motown.
This was the first album delivered under that agreement and it won Album of the Year at the Grammys.
5. "Blonde", Frank Ocean, 2016
It's not the first time Frank Ocean's masterpiece has graced a list like this one.
Pitchfork named the album the best of the 2010s in 2020, and on Rolling Stones' most recent update to the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, Ocean landed at 79.
4. "Purple Rain", Prince and The Revolution, 1984
Half of the track list of this album eventually became Top 10 singles, catapulting Prince to superstar status.
"He actually plays the instruments. He actually writes the song. He's actually singing on stage. He's actually doing his own art direction. He did his own fashion design. That was all him," Apple Music's Ebro Darden said.
3. "Abbey Road", The Beatles, (1969)
The oldest album on the list and maybe the one with the most iconic cover - certainly it's generated its share of conspiracy theories.
Come Together, Octopus' Garden, and Maxwell's Silver Hammer just scratch the service of this landmark Beatles record.
1. "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill", Lauryn Hill, 1998
The debut, and only, solo album from Fugees frontwoman Lauryn Hill made it to the top of the pile.
The album was "a seismic event in 1998: a stunningly raw, profound look into the spiritual landscape not just of one of the era's biggest stars, but of the era itself," Apple Music said in its review.
"(Hill) was, and remains, a once-in-a-generation talent whose inspiration and innovation can be heard through the decades."
When told of her album's pre-eminence, Hill praised all who had been involved with it.
"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," she said.
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