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The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time was the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone magazine published in November 2003. The list was based on the votes of 273 rock musicians, critics and industry figures, each of whom submitted a weighted list of 50 albums. Several music genres were featured in the list, including rock, blues, jazz, hip hop, and combinations thereof.

The list was released in book form in 2005, with an introduction written by Steven Van Zandt. The book's list was slightly different, with the addition of such albums as Aquemini by OutKast. The order was also rearranged, with Chuck Berry's The Great Twenty-Eight being lower on the list.

The list's apparent generational bias toward the 1960s and 1970s prompted a response. 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 1569802769) in 2004. This featured a number of younger critics arguing against the magazine's high evaluation of various "classic" albums, including DeRogatis taking on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which had been Rolling Stone's top choice.

Besides four albums from The Beatles and two from Bob Dylan, the top 10 included albums from The Beach Boys, Marvin Gaye, The Rolling Stones, and The Clash.

Statistics

Artists with the most albums in the list

Acts with the highest percentage of their catalogue in the list

This list only contains artists who had at least 3 albums on the list and include the ones only at time of publication

  1. The Jimi Hendrix Experience (3/3), Nick Drake (3/3), The Stooges (3/3), and Big Star (3/3) - 100%
  2. The Beatles (11/13) - 85% (Including the American release of Meet the Beatles)
  3. The Smiths (4/5), The Police (4/5), The Velvet Underground (4/5) - 80%
  4. Cream (3/4) and Eminem (3/4) 75%
  5. The Who (7/11) - 64%
  6. Led Zeppelin (5/8) - 62.5%
  7. Bruce Springsteen (8/13) - 62%
  8. Nirvana (3/5), Simon and Garfunkel (3/5, excluding their Greatest Hits album) - 60%
  9. U2 (5/10), Roxy Music (4/8), Radiohead (3/6), and The Clash (3/6) - 50%
  10. The Rolling Stones (10/23) - 47%
  11. Creedence Clearwater Revival (3/7), Michael Jackson (3/7) - 43%

Number of albums from each decade

Number of albums by gender

  • Albums by predominantly male acts - 439 (87.8%)
  • Albums by predominantly female acts - 47 (9.4%)
  • Albums by evenly mixed acts - 14 (2.8%)

External links

Rolling Stone Magazine's lists | Lists of rated songs

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

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