Rolling Stone’s 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century

Here is the full 250 list in an easier format to read and search:

1. Beyoncé - Lemonade
2. Radiohead - Kid A
3. Frank Ocean - Blonde
4. OutKast - Stankonia
5. Taylor Swift - Folklore
6. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city
7. SZA - SOS
8. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
9. Bad Bunny - Un Verano Sin Ti
10. The Strokes - Is This It
11. D’Angelo - Voodoo
12. Jay-Z - The Blueprint
13. Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
14. The White Stripes, ‘Elephant’
15. Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell!
16. Beyoncé - Beyoncé
17. Adele - 21
18. Missy Elliott - Under Construction
19. Bob Dylan - Love and Theft
20. Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster
21. Rihanna - Anti
22. Rosalía - El Mal Querer
23. Drake - Take Care
24. David Bowie - Black Star
25. Lorde - Melodrama
26. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
27. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell
28. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
29. SZA - CTRL
30. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
31. Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
32. Madvillan - Madvillany
33. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
34. Bad Bunny - YHLQMDLG
35. Charli XCX - Brat
36. Taylor Swift - Red
37. Beyoncé - Renaissance
38. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
39. Olivia Rodrigo - Sour
40. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour
41. Chappell Roan - The Rise and Fall of a Midwestern Princess
42. The Killers - Hot Fuss
43. Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
44. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
45. Daddy Yankee - Barrio Fino
46. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
47. Kanye West - The College Dropout
48. Miranda Lambert - Platinum
49. Mitski - Puberty 2
50. Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele
51. Robyn - Body Talk
52. Usher - Confessions
53. Paramore - Riot!
54. Jay-Z - The Black Album
55. Radiohead - In Rainbows
56. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
57. Arctic Monkeys - AM
58. J Dilla - Donuts
59. M.I.A. - Kala
60. Bruce Springsteen - The Rising
61. Ariana Grande - Thank U, Next
62. Lana Del Rey - Born To Die
63. Daft Punk - Discovery
64. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
65. Björk - Vespertine
66. Kendrick Lamar - Damn
67. Harry Styles - Harry’s House
68. Green Day - American Idiot
69. Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
70. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
71. PJ Harvey - Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
72. Taylor Swift - 1989
73. Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday
74. One Direction - Four
75. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
76. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
77. Adele - 25
78. Rosalia - Motomami
79. Jason Isbell - Southeastern
80. Britney Spears - Blackout
81. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
82. Lady Gaga - Born This Way
83. Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak
84. Cardi B - Invasion of Privacy
85. Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold
86. FKA Twigs - Magdalene
87. Chance the Rapper - Acid Rap
88. Madonna - Music
89. Future - DS2
90. Arcade Fire - Funeral
91. Alicia Keys - Songs in A Minor
92. Tyler, the Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost
93. Gorillaz - Demon Days
94. Victoria Monét - Jaguar II
95. Noname - Telefone
96. J Balvin - Energía
97. Young Thug - So Much Fun
98. Sky Ferreira - Night Time, My Time
99. The Weeknd - House of Balloons
100. Burial - Untrue
101. Lil Wayne - Da Drought III
102. Lucy Dacus - Home Video
103. Chris Stapleton - Traveller
104. Brian Wilson - Smile
105. Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
106. Tainy - Data
107. Deftones - White Pony
108. Mountain Goats - Tallahassee
109. Haim - Women In Music Pt. III
110. Lil Uzi Vert - Eternal Atake
111. Erykah Badu - Mama's Gun
112. Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion
113. My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
114. Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)
115. Miguel Kaleidoscope Dream
116. Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas
117. Beck - Sea Change
118. Drake - If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late
119. Lorde - Pure Heroin
120. Burna Boy - African Giant
121. Eric Church - Chief
122. Maxwell - Blacksummer'snight
123. Spoon - Kill The Moonlight
124. Chief Keef - Finally Rich
125. Tego Calderon - El Abayarde
126. Beyonce - Cowboy Carter
127. Big Thief - U.F.O.F.
128. Solange - A Seat at the Table
129. Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds
130. Brandi Carlile - By the Way, I Forgive You
131. Disclosure - Settle
132. BTS - Map of the Soul: 7
133. Sufjan Stevens - llinois
134. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
135. Fall Out Boy - From Under The Cork Tree
136. Migos - Culture
137. Pistol Annies - Interstate Gospel
138. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
139. Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
140. Juanes - Un Dia Normal
141. Mariah Carey - The Emancipation of Mimi
142. Asake - Mr. Money With The Vibe
143. Waxahatchee - St. Cloud
144. Playboi Carti - Die Lit
145. J. Cole - The Off Season
146. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
147. Kanye West - Yeezus
148. Tame Impala - Currents
149. Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways
150. Destiny's Child - Survivor
151. Stephan Malkmus and the Jicks - Mirror Traffic
152. Rich Gang - Tha Tour Pt. 1
153. Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers
154. Natalia Lafourcade - Hasta La Raiz
155. Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever
156. Koffee - Gifted
157. D'Angelo - Black Messiah
158. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
159. System of A Down - Toxicity
160. Jlin - Black Origami
161. Drive By Truckers - Southern Rock Opera
162. U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind
163. Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls
164. Missy Elliot - Miss E... So Addictive
165. Brandy Clark - 12 Stories
166. Danny Brown - XXX
167. The Postal Service - Give Up
168. Tierra Whack - Whack World
169. Manu Chao - Próxima Estación: Esperanza
170. My Morning Jacket - It Still Moves
171. Mastodon - Leviathan
172. Common - Like Water for Chocolate
173. Four Tet - Rounds
174. Aaliyah - Aaliyah
175. Girl Talk - Night Ripper
176. Shakira - Laundry Service
177. Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner
178. Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear
179. Paul Simon - So Beautiful, So What
180. Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music
181. Boygenius - The Record
182. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
183. Rapsody - Laia's Wisdom
184. Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse
185. Sophie 'Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides
186. Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer
187. Jamie XX - In Colour
188. Japandroids - Celebration Rock
189. Sean Paul - Dutty Rock
190. Alvvays - Alvvays
191. Karol G - Mañana Será Bonito
192. Converge - Jane Doe
193. Feist - Let It Die
194. Travis Scott - Astroworld
195. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
196. Taylor Swift - Speak Now
197. Popcaan - Where We Come From
198. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
199. Cam’ron - Come Home With Me
200. The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
201. Pusha T - Daytona
202. The Libertines - Up the Bracket
203. 50 Cent - Get Rich or Die Tryin
204. Jazmine Sullivan - Heaux Tales
205. The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
206. St. Vincent - St. Vincent
207. Maren Morris - Hero
208. Vince Staples - Suppertime '06'
209. Paul McCartney - Chaos and Creation in the Backyard
210. Joanna Newsom - Ys
211. The Streets - Original Pirate Material
212. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
213. Jessie Ware - What's Your Pleasure?
214. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
215. Julieta Venegas - Si
216. Halsey - Manic
217. The Black Keys - Brothers
218. A$AP Rocky - Long Live A$AP
219. Mac Miller - Swimming
220. Pink - M!ssundaztood
221. The National - High Violet
222. Tems - For Broken Ears
223. The Coup - Party Music
224. R.E.M. - Revival
225. Avril Lavigne - Let Go
226. Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs
227. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
228. Wizkid - Made in Lagos
229. Hop Along - Painted Shut
230. Miley Cyrus - Bangerz
231. Swearin' - Swearin'
232. Khalid - American Teen
233. Mach-Hommy - Pray for Haiti
234. C. Tangana - El Madrileno
235. Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia
236. Turnstile - Glow On
237. Ashlee Simpson - Autobiography
238. Kurt Vile - Smoking Ring for My Halo
239. Doja Cat - Hot Pink
240. Tyla - Tyla
241. MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks
242. Jenni Rivera - La Gran Senora
243. Pierce the Veil - Collide with the Sky
244. 21 Savage and Metro Boomin - Savage Mode
245. The 1975 - The 1975
246. Saba - Care for Me
247. Tyler Childers - Purgatory
248. Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial
249. Marina - Electric Heart
250. N'Sync - No Strings Attached

 

Yeesh

 

Brutal top 10 lol

 

Have Rolling Stone ever made a good list? The answer is no, Rolling Stone have never made a good list.

 

the original 500 ever list is kinda worthwhile (or was) as a guiding canon, but it was too rock focused. The overcorrection into poptimism in recent years is worse, though

 

The only Sufjan being Illinois at #133 is wild, Carrie & Lowell definitely should be on here somewhere.

Also no Death Cab, Julien Baker (Sprained Ankle should have been on here somewhere IMHO), Caroline Polachek, Grimes, Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, The Antlers, Mount Eerie, Mac DeMarco, Weyes Blood, Perfume Genius, Blood Orange, Fleet Foxes, Beach House, King Krule (just thinking off the top of my head of artists I could have seen placed on here)

 

we WILL be talking about this on my green day podcast

 

lol @ Sour

 

A lot of worthy albums on that list but they are in such strange places.

im also not used to lists like this having so many albums I’ve actually heard haha

 

Getting some real "kiss the ring" vibes from this list, especially that top 10.

 

Looking more closely, the ranking that might make me roll my eyes most (I mean, other than that number 1, but I'm coming to terms with the fact that I'll just never get the Beyonce worship) is Adele's 25 making it all the way to 77. A C+ album at best that is only notable because it followed up a cultural behemoth and sold a lot of copies in its first week.

 

Even though I love a lot of these artists the order of the ranking is insane, am I suppose to believe some of these albums are superior as albums to pimp a butterfly or in rainbows? This feels like what is the most popular albums in the last 25 years than the best of.

 

Still Linkin Park gets snubbed.

 

Actually some surprisingly good picks in here that I wouldn’t have expected. More to like 101-250 than the top 100, which is really bad.

 

Kid-A rules. Cool

White Pony. Cool.

American Idiot is too low.

Riot! is too high, but also like...IDK if it should even be on the list since they have so many better albums haha.

 

beside the ???? ranking, including Extraordinary Machine but no Fetch the Bolt Cutters is a very odd to me

 

Picking the worst the 1975 record is a choice

 

that too lol

 

There is a humongous dearth of any kind of heavy music on that list. Toxicity and White Pony are low hanging fruit that, don't get me wrong, are great albums but they also strike me as the albums critics think they can allow on a list without losing any "credibility". I'm surprised Mastodon made it too, but that's it, apparently. Nothing else.

 

Cowboy Carter???

 

I'm torn between wanting that album to win AOTY at the Grammys so that people stop complaining about how much the Grammys hate Beyonce and wanting it to lose because there are like five better albums nominated. Tough choice.

 

Pierce the Veil? Ashlee Simpson?