Frank Sinatra – In the Wee Small Hours
By the middle of the 1950s, Frank Sinatra had already experienced more highs and lows than most artists encounter in an entire lifetime. Once…
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Year
- 1955 1
- 1956 5
Duke Ellington – Ellington at Newport
Few live albums have altered the course of a musician’s career quite like Ellington at Newport. Recorded on July 7, 1956, at the legendary…
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Elvis Presley – Elvis Presley
When Elvis Presley was released in March 1956, popular music was in the middle of a revolution. Rock and roll was still in its…
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Frank Sinatra – Songs for Swingin’ Lovers!
Just one year after exploring heartbreak and loneliness on In the Wee Small Hours, Frank Sinatra made a dramatic change in mood with Songs…
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Louis Prima – The Wildest!
Few entertainers have ever embodied pure joy quite like Louis Prima. A singer, trumpeter, bandleader, comedian, and consummate showman, Prima built his reputation on…
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The Louvin Brothers – Tragic Songs of Life
Country music has never shied away from heartbreak, loss, or hardship, but few albums embrace those themes as completely—or as beautifully—as Tragic Songs of…
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- 1957 6
Fats Domino – This Is Fats
Few artists helped shape the sound of early rock and roll as profoundly—or as effortlessly—as Fats Domino. While some of his contemporaries built their…
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Little Richard – Here’s Little Richard
If rock and roll had a heartbeat in the mid-1950s, it was probably pounding somewhere inside Here’s Little Richard. Released in 1957, this explosive…
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Miles Davis – Birth of the Cool
Few albums have altered the course of jazz as profoundly as Birth of the Cool. Although the recordings were made between 1949 and 1950…
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Sabu – Palo congo
When discussions turn to the greatest jazz albums of the 1950s, names like Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, and Charles Mingus usually dominate the conversation.…
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The Crickets – The Chirping Crickets
When people think of the birth of rock and roll, names like Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry usually dominate the conversation. Yet…
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Thelonious Monk – Brilliant Corners
By 1957, Thelonious Monk had spent years earning the admiration of fellow musicians while remaining something of an enigma to the broader jazz audience.…
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- 1958 8
Billie Holiday – Lady in Satin
When Lady in Satin was released in 1958, Billie Holiday was nearing the end of a career that had forever changed the art of…
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Count Basie and His Orchestra + Neal Hefti Arrangements The Atomic Mr. Basie
By the late 1950s, Count Basie had already secured his place among the giants of jazz. His original orchestra had defined the Kansas City…
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Machito – Kenya
Machito & His Afro-Cubans: Kenya — The Album That Redrew the Map of Jazz Released 1957 (Roulette Records) | Genre: Afro-Cuban Jazz / Mambo…
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Ramblin’ Jack Elliott – Jack Takes the Floor
Long before the folk revival reached its commercial peak in the early 1960s, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott was already carrying traditional American songs from coffeehouses…
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Ravi Shankar – The Sounds of India
By the late 1950s, Indian classical music remained largely unfamiliar to Western audiences. While jazz, classical, and folk traditions had begun crossing cultural boundaries,…
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Ray Charles – The Genius of Ray Charles
By 1959, Ray Charles had already transformed rhythm and blues with a string of groundbreaking hits that blended gospel, blues, jazz, and country into…
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Sarah Vaughan and Her Trio At Mister Kelly’s
Live jazz albums often reveal an artist more completely than even the finest studio recordings. Without endless retakes or carefully edited performances, the singer…
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Tito Puente – Dance Mania
By the late 1950s, few musicians had done more to bring Afro-Cuban and Latin dance music into the American mainstream than Tito Puente. A…
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- 1959 5
Dave Brubeck – Time Out
Jazz was evolving rapidly during the late 1950s. Bebop had already rewritten the rules of improvisation, hard bop was flourishing, and artists like Miles…
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Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book
The Great American Songbook has inspired countless recordings, but very few have achieved the artistic ambition and enduring brilliance of Ella Fitzgerald Sings the…
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Marty Robbins – Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs
Western music had been a cornerstone of American culture for decades before Marty Robbins released Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs in 1959, but few…
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Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
Some albums define a genre. Others redefine what music itself can be. Kind of Blue belongs firmly in the latter category. Released in 1959,…
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Ray Charles – The Genius of Ray Charles
By 1959, Ray Charles had already transformed rhythm and blues with a string of groundbreaking hits that blended gospel, blues, jazz, and country into…
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- 1960 4
Elvis Presley – Elvis Is Back!
Military service temporarily interrupted Elvis Presley’s meteoric rise to superstardom, but it did nothing to diminish his talent. When he returned to the recording…
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Joan Baez – Joan Baez
When Joan Baez released her self-titled debut album in 1960, the American folk revival was still gathering momentum. Coffeehouses were beginning to fill with…
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Muddy Waters – Muddy Waters at Newport 1960
Electric blues had already transformed Chicago’s music scene by the time Muddy Waters stepped onto the stage at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1960,…
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The Everly Brothers – A Date With The Everly Brothers
Rock and roll was barely five years old when the Everly Brothers released A Date with The Everly Brothers in 1960, yet Don and…
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- 1961 2
Bill Evans Trio – Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Few live albums have captured the fragile magic of musical conversation as completely as Sunday at the Village Vanguard. Recorded on June 25, 1961,…
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Miriam Makeba – Miriam Makeba
Some debut albums introduce a talented new performer. Others introduce an entirely new musical world. Miriam Makeba accomplished both. Released in 1960, the album…
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- 1962 3
Booker T. & The M.G.’s – Green Onions
Sometimes a single song is so iconic that it overshadows the album it came from. That’s certainly true of Green Onions. The title track…
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Ray Charles- Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
Few albums have challenged musical boundaries as boldly—or as successfully—as Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. Released in 1962, Ray Charles took a…
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Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd – Jazz Samba
Some albums don’t simply become successful—they change the direction of music. Jazz Samba, released in 1962, is one of those rare records. Long before…
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- 1963 5
Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
Few albums have altered the course of popular music as profoundly as The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. Released in 1963, it transformed a relatively unknown…
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James Brown – ‘Live’ at the Apollo
Some live albums capture a great performance. Others redefine what a live album can be. James Brown’s Live at the Apollo belongs firmly in…
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Jimmy Smith – Back at the Chicken Shack
By the dawn of the 1960s, Jimmy Smith had already accomplished something extraordinary. In just a few years, he had transformed the Hammond B-3…
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Ray Price – Night Life
Ray Price had already established himself as one of country music’s finest vocalists by the time Night Life arrived in 1963, but this album…
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The Beatles – With The Beatles
Success can be a difficult thing to follow, but The Beatles barely paused long enough to acknowledge it. Just eight months after releasing their…
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- 1964 1
Dusty Springfield – A Girl Called Dusty
Dusty Springfield’s arrival as a solo artist could hardly have been more impressive. After finding success as a member of the Springfields, she stepped…
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- 1965 1
Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited
Popular music was changing at a breathtaking pace in 1965, and no artist was driving that transformation more aggressively than Bob Dylan. Having already…
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- 1966 1
The Mama’s and The Papa’s – If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears
Few debut albums have captured the spirit of an era as completely as If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears. Released in 1966,…
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- 1967 1
The Monkees – Headquarters
The Monkees spent much of their early career fighting a reputation they didn’t entirely deserve. Created for television and initially relying heavily on session…
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- 1968 1
Iron Butterfly – In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Psychedelic rock evolved at an astonishing pace during the late 1960s, with bands constantly searching for new ways to stretch the boundaries of popular…
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- 1969 2
Sly & The Family Stone – Stand!
By 1969, popular music was becoming increasingly fragmented. Rock, soul, funk, psychedelic music, and rhythm and blues were all evolving in different directions, each…
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The Stooges – The Stooges
The late 1960s produced some of rock’s most ambitious and elaborate recordings. Bands were filling albums with orchestras, extended solos, philosophical lyrics, and increasingly…
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- 1970 1
Derek and The Dominos – Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Some albums become legendary because of their commercial success. Others achieve greatness because they capture an artist at an emotional breaking point. Layla and…
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- 1971 1
Don McLean – American Pie
Some albums become cultural landmarks because of a single unforgettable song. Others endure because the music surrounding that hit proves just as compelling. American…
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- 1972 1
Curtis Mayfield – Superfly
Movie soundtracks often exist to support the story on screen, but every once in a while an album becomes larger than the film it…
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- 1973 1
Bob Marley & The Wailers – Catch a Fire
Before Catch a Fire, reggae was largely viewed outside Jamaica as a regional curiosity. Within a year of its release in 1973, that perception…
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- 1974 1
Eric Clapton – 461 Ocean Boulevard
After years of personal turmoil, addiction, and a lengthy absence from the spotlight, Eric Clapton returned in 1974 with an album that surprised nearly…
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- 1975 1
Willie Nelson – Red Headed Stranger
Sometimes the boldest artistic statement comes not from doing more, but from doing less. At a time when country music was dominated by the…
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- 1976 1
Stevie Wonder – Songs in the Key of Life
Every generation has a handful of albums that transcend the boundaries of genre and become cultural landmarks. Songs in the Key of Life is…
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- 1977 1
Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell
Rock albums rarely arrive with the confidence to sound like nothing else on the radio. Bat Out of Hell, released in 1977, was exactly…
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- 1978 1
Blondie – Parallel Lines
Punk rock was never meant to be polished, and disco certainly wasn’t supposed to coexist with it. Yet in 1978, Blondie managed to bridge…
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- 1979 1
Michael Jackson – Off the Wall
Long before Thriller became the biggest-selling album of all time, Michael Jackson made the record that truly announced his arrival as an adult artist.…
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- 1980 1
Adam and the Ants – Kings of the Wild Frontier
The late 1970s and early 1980s were overflowing with musical movements. Punk was evolving into post-punk, new wave was finding its commercial footing, and…
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- 1981 1
Go-Go’s – Beauty and the Beat
When Beauty and the Beat was released in 1981, few expected an all-female band that had emerged from Los Angeles’ punk scene to dominate…
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- 1982 1
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – The Message
Hip-hop changed forever in 1982. Before The Message, rap records were largely built around party anthems, boasts, and dancefloor energy. They celebrated DJs, MCs,…
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- 1983 1
Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes
Some debut albums arrive with polished professionalism and years of major-label refinement. Others explode onto the scene with raw energy, youthful anxiety, and an…
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- 1984 1
Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A.
Few albums have ever been so commercially successful while being so widely misunderstood. Released in 1984, Born in the U.S.A. transformed Bruce Springsteen from…
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- 1985 1
The Smiths – Meat Is Murder
If The Smiths’ self-titled debut announced the arrival of one of Britain’s most distinctive bands, Meat Is Murder confirmed they were far more than…
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- 1986 1
Paul Simon – Graceland
Few albums have reinvented an artist’s career as dramatically as Graceland. By the mid-1980s, Paul Simon was already recognized as one of America’s greatest…
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- 1987 1
Michael Jackson – Bad
Following the biggest-selling album in history is an impossible task. After Thriller rewrote the record books and transformed Michael Jackson into the world’s biggest…
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- 1988 1
Fishbone – Truth and Soul
Some bands defy categorization so completely that trying to assign them to a single genre becomes an impossible task. Fishbone has always been one…
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- 1989 1
Madonna – Like a Prayer
By 1989, Madonna had already conquered pop music. She had become one of the biggest stars in the world through a string of blockbuster…
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- 1990 1
L.L. Cool J – Mama Said Knock You Out
By the end of the 1980s, many critics believed LL Cool J’s best days were behind him. After helping define hip-hop’s first wave with…
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- 1991 1
U2 – Achtung Baby
Very few bands survive becoming the biggest rock group in the world. Even fewer reinvent themselves at the height of their success. After the…
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- 1992 1
Pantera – Vulgar Display of Power
Heavy metal has produced countless albums that claim to be aggressive, but only a handful genuinely redefine what heaviness can sound like. Pantera’s Vulgar…
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- 1993 1
Sheryl Crow – Tuesday Night Music Club
Breakthrough albums often arrive after years of struggle, and few debut successes were as hard-earned as Sheryl Crow’s Tuesday Night Music Club. Before becoming…
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- 1994 1
Green Day – Dookie
Punk rock had always thrived on the fringes of popular music, but in 1994, Green Day kicked the door wide open. Dookie didn’t just…
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- 1995 1
2Pac – Me Against the World
Great hip-hop albums often reveal an artist’s strengths. The rarest ones reveal their soul. Released in 1995 while Tupac Shakur was incarcerated and just…
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- 1996 1
Marilyn Manson – Antichrist Superstar
Few albums have generated as much controversy—or as many misconceptions—as Antichrist Superstar. Released in 1996, the second full-length album from Marilyn Manson arrived at…
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- 1997 1
Daft Punk – Homework
Electronic music had already produced countless club classics by the mid-1990s, but few artists had successfully translated underground dance culture into a complete album…
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- 1998 1
Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Solo albums from members of successful groups often struggle to escape the shadow of their previous work. Lauryn Hill accomplished the opposite. Following the…
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- 1999 1
Britney Spears – …Baby One More Time
Pop music has always produced breakout stars, but very few debut albums redefine an entire generation. Released in 1999, …Baby One More Time didn’t…
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- 2000 1
Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP
Success changes artists, but few have ever responded to overnight superstardom the way Eminem did. Following the explosive breakthrough of The Slim Shady LP,…
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- 2001 1
Destiny’s Child – Survivor
Few pop groups have ever faced as much public turmoil at the height of their success as Destiny’s Child. Lineup changes, lawsuits, media scrutiny,…
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- 2002 1
Justin Timberlake – Justified
Leaving one of the biggest boy bands in the world is always a gamble. Success as part of a group rarely guarantees success as…
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- 2003 1
The Darkness – Permission to Land
Rock music in the early 2000s had largely shifted toward post-grunge, nu metal, and garage rock revival. While those genres dominated radio and MTV,…
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- 2004 1
Kanye West – The College Dropout
Before The College Dropout, Kanye West was already one of hip-hop’s most sought-after producers, crafting hits for Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and countless others.…
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- 2005 1
Amy Winehouse – Back to Black
Every so often, an album arrives that feels completely out of step with its era in the best possible way. In the mid-2000s, mainstream…
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- 2006 1
Muse – Black Holes and Revelations
By 2006, Muse had already earned a reputation as one of rock’s most ambitious bands. Their first three albums showcased a fearless willingness to…
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- 2007 1
LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
Dance music and indie rock had crossed paths before, but few artists merged the two with the wit, intelligence, and emotional depth of James…
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- 2008 1
MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
Every so often, an album emerges that captures the mood of an entire generation while sounding unlike anything else on the radio. Released in…
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- 2009 1
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
Reinvention is one of the hardest things for a successful band to pull off. After earning acclaim with the garage-punk fury of Fever to…
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- 2010 1
The Black Keys – Brothers
For nearly a decade, The Black Keys had built a loyal following through relentless touring and a series of gritty, blues-infused garage rock albums.…
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- 2011 1
Adele – 21
Heartbreak has inspired countless great albums, but few have captured its emotional highs and devastating lows as completely as Adele’s 21. Released in 2011,…
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- 2012 1
Frank Ocean – channel ORANGE
Some albums announce the arrival of a major talent. Others redefine the possibilities of an entire genre. Frank Ocean’s channel ORANGE accomplished both. Released…
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- 2013 1
Beyonce – BEYONCE
By 2013, Beyoncé had already achieved almost everything a pop superstar could hope for. She had dominated the charts as a member of Destiny’s…
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- 2014 1
Taylor Swift – 1989
By 2014, Taylor Swift had already become one of the biggest names in country-pop, earning critical acclaim and commercial success through deeply personal songwriting…
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- 2015 1
Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly
Released on March 15, 2015, To Pimp a Butterfly arrived with enormous expectations. Kendrick Lamar had already established himself as one of hip-hop’s brightest…
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- 2016 1
David Bowie – Blackstar
Released on January 8, 2016—David Bowie’s 69th birthday—Blackstar initially seemed like another bold reinvention from an artist who had spent five decades staying one…
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- 2017 1
Lorde – Melodrama
When Lorde released her debut album, Pure Heroine, in 2013, she seemed almost impossibly self-assured. At just 16 years old, she dismantled pop clichés…
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- 2018 1
Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour
Before Golden Hour, Kacey Musgraves had already established herself as one of country music’s most gifted songwriters. Her first two albums, Same Trailer Different…
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- 2019 1
Ariana Grande – Thank U, Next
Few pop albums arrive under more extraordinary circumstances than Ariana Grande’s thank u, next. Released on February 8, 2019, less than six months after…
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- 2020 1
Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia
Timing has a way of reshaping how albums are remembered. When Dua Lipa released Future Nostalgia on March 27, 2020, much of the world…
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- 2021 1
Tyler the Creator – Call Me If You Get Lost
By the time Call Me If You Get Lost arrived in 2021, Tyler, the Creator had already completed one of the most remarkable artistic…
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- 2022 1
Taylor Swift – Midnights
By the time Midnights arrived in October 2022, Taylor Swift had already accomplished something few artists ever achieve. She had successfully reinvented herself multiple…
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- 2023 1
Sincere Engineer – Cheap Grills
Some albums announce themselves with grand artistic statements or elaborate concepts. Others earn their place through honesty. Cheap Grills, the third full-length album from…
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- 2024 1
Charli XCX – Brat
Few artists have spent the past decade pushing pop music forward as relentlessly as Charli XCX. While many know her from massive hits like…
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- 2025 1
Sabrina Carpenter – Man’s Best Friend
Following the breakthrough success of Emails I Can’t Send and the global pop phenomenon Short n’ Sweet, Sabrina Carpenter entered one of the most…
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- 2026 1
Olivia Rodrigo – You Seem Seem Pretty Sad Got a Girl So In Love
With SOUR and GUTS, Olivia Rodrigo established herself as one of the defining songwriters of her generation, pairing brutally honest lyrics with explosive pop-rock…
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