Spin: 125 Best Albums of the Past 25 Years
SPIN's editors rank the top releases since the magazine's beginning in 1985
01 // U2 - Achtung Baby (1991)
02 // Prince - Sign O’ the Times (1987)
03 // The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (1986)
04 // Nirvana - Nevermind (1991)
05 // Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)
06 // Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
07 // Guns N’ Roses - Appetite for Destruction (1987)
08 // PJ Harvey - Rid of Me (1993)
09 // Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted (1992)
10 // Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral (1994)
11 // The Replacements - Tim (1985)
12 // OutKast - Stankonia (2000)
13 // Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988)
14 // Beastie Boys - Paul’s Boutique (1989)
15 // Hüsker Dü - New Day Rising (1985)
16 // Pixies - Doolittle (1989)
17 // De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)
18 // The Strokes - Is This It (2001)
19 // Jay-Z - The Blueprint (2001)
20 // My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (1991)
21 // Oasis - (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? (1995)
22 // Eric B. & Rakim - Paid in Full (1987)
23 // Daft Punk - Discovery (2001)
24 // Metallica - Master of Puppets (1986)
25 // Nas - Illmatic (1994)
26 // Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand (1994)
27 // Nirvana - In Utero (1993)
28 // Radiohead - The Bends (1995)
29 // Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994)
30 // A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory (1991)
31 // Massive Attack - Blue Lines (1991)
32 // Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
33 // Björk - Debut (1993)
34 // Beck - Odelay (1996)
35 // R.E.M. - Automatic for the People (1992)
36 // The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy (1985)
37 // Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville (1993)
38 // Run-DMC - Raising Hell (1986)
39 // Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet (1990)
40 // Tricky - Maxinquaye (1995)
41 // Pulp - Different Class (1995)
42 // Green Day - Dookie (1994)
43 // The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die (1994)
44 // Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill (1986)
45 // Pixies - Surfer Rosa (1988)
46 // N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton (1988)
47 // Portishead - Dummy (1994)
48 // Elliott Smith - Either/Or (1997)
49 // D’Angelo - Voodoo (2000)
50 // Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt (1996)
51 // Rage Against the Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles (1999)
52 // Kanye West - The College Dropout (2004)
53 // The Cure - The Head on The Door (1985)
54 // Dinosaur Jr. - You’re Living All Over Me (1987)
55 // Hole - Live Through This (1994)
56 // Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (1999)
57 // White Stripes - Elephant (2003)
58 // DJ Shadow - Endtroducing (1996)
59 // Belle and Sebastian - If You’re Feeling Sinister (1998)
60 // Fugazi - 13 Songs (1989)
61 // Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (1993)
62 // U2 - The Joshua Tree (1987)
63 // R.E.M. - Fables of the Reconstruction (1985)
64 // The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin (1999)
65 // Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
66 // Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004)
67 // Tom Waits - Rain Dogs (1985)
68 // Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… (1995)
69 // The Stone Roses - Stone Roses (1991)
70 // Pearl Jam - Ten (1991)
71 // Oasis - Definitely Maybe (1994)
72 // Lucinda Williams - Lucinda Williams (1988)
73 // The Pogues - Rum Sodomy & the Lash (1985)
74 // Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out (1997)
75 // Björk - Post (1995)
76 // OutKast - Aquemini (1998)
77 // Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded (1987)
78 // Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)
79 // The Breeders - Last Splash (1993)
80 // The Fall - This Nation’s Saving Grace (1985)
81 // Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
82 // Dr. Dre - The Chronic (1992)
83 // Steve Earle - Guitar Town (1986)
84 // LL Cool J - Radio (1985)
85 // Missy ‘Misdemeanor’ Elliott - Supa Dupa Fly (1997)
86 // TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain (2006)
87 // The White Stripes - White Blood Cells (2002)
88 // Jeff Buckley - Grace (1994)
89 // Basement Jaxx - Remedy (1999)
90 // Elliott Smith - XO (1998)
91 // The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come (1987)
92 // Jay-Z - The Black Album (2003)
93 // Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole (1997)
94 // Jane’s Addiction - Ritual De Lo Habitual (1990)
95 // Soundgarden - Superunknown (1994)
96 // The Roots - Things Fall Apart (1999)
97 // Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (2007)
98 // Johnny Cash - American Recordings (1994)
99 // PJ Harvey - Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea (2000)
100 // Kanye West - Late Registration (2005)
101 // Blur - Parklife (1994)
102 // Queen Latifah - All Hail the Queen (1989)
103 // M.I.A. - Arular (2005)
104 // The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs Vol. 1, 2 & 3 (1999)
105 // Massive Attack - Mezzanine (1998)
106 // Fiona Apple - When the Pawn Hits… (1999)
107 // Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)
108 // Fugees - The Score (1996)
109 // The Chills - Submarine Bells (1990)
110 // Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (1997)
111 // Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque (1991)
112 // Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights (2002)
113 // Danger Mouse - The Grey Album (2004)
114 // Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)
115 // OutKast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003)
116 // Against Me! - New Wave (2007)
117 // The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
118 // Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It’s Blitz! (2009)
119 // Green Day - American Idiot (2004)
120 // Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III (2008)
121 // Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R (2000)
122 // LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (2007)
123 // The Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious (2002)
124 // Prince - Paul A Prince Among Thieves (1999)
125 // Moby - Play (1999)