Editorial music curation is one of Apple Music’s strong suits, as evidenced by the service’s excellent playlists. Apple is taking that to the next level now, with the release of a list of it 100 best albums of all time. You can find a link to the list in the Apple Music app, but rather annoyingly, the list itself can only be viewed on a webpage, much like the Apple Music Replay collection.
If you ask a hundred people to make a list of their favorite albums, you’ll get 100 different lists. The same is true for Apple Music’s list of 100 best albums. There are plenty of great albums in this list, but you could spend the rest of your life arguing about the order. For example, I think albums such as Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue should be in the top 10, but you may think they’re fairly placed in the twenties. Another problem with this list is that it appears to be focused on English albums. If you’re a fan of music from other languages or non-English speaking regions, you’re not going to find much representation in Apple Music’s list. Apple hasn’t detailed the exact methodology for this list, but it has offered this explanation: “Assembled with the help of artists and experts, it’s a modern love letter to the records that have shaped the world we live and listen in today.”
What one can’t dispute is that the list includes some top-notch albums. If you enjoy music, you’ll definitely find lots of great albums in Apple Music’s list.
The Apple Music app is good enough for most people, but it’s not well-suited for people who dislike playlists and prefer listening to albums exclusively. Since Apple’s list is all about music albums, you might want to consider using a third-party Apple Music app instead of the official one. Albums (free, $19/year for premium features) is a great app that lets you keep the focus off playlists and on the album order songs were released in.
While the free tier should be good enough for most, the premium tier includes Last.fm integration, better stats, and improved customization.
Apple Music’s 100 best albums of all time
With that out of the way, here are Apple Music’s 100 best albums of all time, starting from Apple’s favorite and working down. Each album links to Apple Music’s website, where you can sign in and listen as long as you have an active Apple Music subscription.
