You might be shocked to find out the No. 1 album of all time according to Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums list.
After releasing 10 albums a day in an agonizingly slow bleed, Apple Music finally unveiled its top 10 Wednesday. The final installment is sure to get people talking, especially the No. 1 pick: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
Apple Music took care to justify every selection, though. DJs Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden spoke with guest artists Nile Rodgers and Maggie Rogers about the top 10.
Apple’s Music’s top 10 albums of all time
Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums is a 21st-century ranking of the greatest records ever made, crafted by Apple Music’s team of experts alongside a select group of artists, songwriters, producers and other industry professionals. The list is an editorial statement, fully independent of any streaming numbers on Apple Music — a love letter to the records that have shaped the world music fans live and listen in.
According to Apple Music, the top album of all time is Lauryn Hill’s 1998 record, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
If your reaction is WTF!, you’re not alone.
There’s a lot of great music in Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums list, but Hill’s album — great though it may be — would not likely top many bookies’ picks.
Apple Music DJ Lowe justified the pick, saying Hill’s album continues to be relevant.
“This album doesn’t just resonate with the people who were around when it came out and who hold it dear,” Lowe said. “It has not dated, not even a fraction. In fact, it feels more fresh and more relevant the more you listen to it…. There are a lot of young artists hearing it, and it’s becoming part of their artistic DNA. It’s inspiring and influencing them…. It’s timeless.”
Hill shared the love for her creative collaborators when Apple Music told her she took the top slot.
“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,” Hill said.
Apple Music is broadcasting a special roundtable to discuss the list on Apple Music. It features Apple Music DJs Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden, talking with legendary record producer and performer Nile Rodgers and Grammy-nominated artist and producer Maggie Rogers. The full roundtable is available at music.apple.com.
You can read more about every selection in the list of 100 by clicking on the albums and read more about the top 10 and what the luminaries had to say about them.
Apple Music’s top 10 albums of all time
10. Lemonade, Beyonce
9. Nevermind, Nirvana
8. Back to Black, Amy Winehouse
7. good kid, m.A.A.d city (Deluxe Version), Kendrick Lamar
6. Songs in the Key of Life, Stevie Wonder
5. Blonde, Frank Ocean
4. Purple Rain, Prince & The Revolution
3. Abbey Road, The Beatles
2. Thriller, Michael Jackson
1. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Lauryn Hill
What about country music … or jazz, or classical?
If there’s one thing a carefully curated list like the Apple Music 100 Best Albums shows, it’s that music and the people who love it are always changing over time. And, of course, that lists like this — especially the top 10 — will drive almost everyone crazy.
I’ve posted each fresh set of 10 albums every day since Apple started the countdown on May 13. As it went on, I nervously waited for certain important artists of this or that era to come up. Some eventually did, like David Bowie (but how about Hunky Dory, not Ziggy Stardust), Pink Floyd and The Smiths. Others didn’t, like The Who, The Band, REM, Queen, Tom Waits, Duke Ellington and, as a colleague pointed out, Willie Nelson.
In fact, we may have only dreamt of country music and its subgenres — which you could call the most popular music in the United States — because according to Apple Music’s list, they don’t exist. Outside of crossover artist Kacey Musgraves at No. 85, that is. And as another colleague pointed, even great artists’ country albums often come stuffed will filler tracks, so it’s hard to find one that’s great top to bottom.
I had already written off the most popular music of the middle of the last century, jazz and all its iterations, until it suddenly appeared with John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme (1965) at No. 54, oddly sandwiched between Rihanna’s Anti (2016) and The Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street (1972). That’s when I knew Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue (1959) would show up, and it did at No. 25, but that would be it for jazz. And it was.
And it wouldn’t be reasonable to try to include classical, would it? (Even though the first vinyl album ever released, in 1889, and the first LP ever released, a Mendelssohn concerto in 1948, were just that. At least Apple created a separate streaming service for the genre.)
You can’t please everybody … or anybody?
Well, you can’t please everybody. Actually, with a list like this, can you please anybody? It seems almost impossible. At any rate, Apple Music appears to be pleased with itself. And its list, including the top 10, is filled with excellent music.
Sources: My own sense of righteous indignation and Apple Music
