Benjamin Jones
Lauryn Hill’s “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” was named the best album ever made, according to a new list released by Apple Music. And the rest of the top 10 shows a strong push toward hip-hop and R&B artists, and away from the classic rock titans that have long dominated similar canonical rounds.
Apple Music called Hill’s 1998 LP an “incredibly raw and profound look at the spiritual landscape of not just one of the era’s biggest stars, but the era itself”, praising Hill for being a “unique talent in a generation whose inspiration and innovation can be heard throughout the decades.”
Hill’s album is his solo debut after achieving international success with The Fugees won five Grammy awards upon its initial release, setting a new record for the most Grammys won by a female artist in a single ceremony.
Apple Music’s new roster was determined with input from artists, songwriters, producers, industry professionals and members of Apple’s own editorial team. Apple Music emphasized that it shouldn’t be considered a reflection of the platform’s most streamed offerings, but rather “a love letter to the records that shaped the world music lovers live and listen to.”
Top 100 albums lists have long been a staple of music industry media, popularized by outlets like Rolling Stone, whose own lists over the decades have cemented the “all-time” reputations of Baby Boomer stalwarts like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and the Beach Boys.
In contrast, Apple Music’s new roster is more heavily centered on female artists and artists of color. Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Kendrick Lamar and Frank Ocean all rank highly among Hill’s runners-up, although the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” and Nirvana’s “Nevermind” earned rock its place in the top 10 overall:
- Lauryn Hill, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” (1998)
- Michael Jackson, “Thriller” (1982)
- Beatles, “Abbey Road” (1969)
- Prince and the Revolution, “Purple Rain” (1984)
- Frank Ocean, “Blonde” (2016)
- Stevie Wonder, “Songs in the Key of Life” (1976)
- Kendrick Lamar, “Good Kid, Bad City” (2012)
- Amy Winehouse, “Back to Black” (2006)
- Nirvana, “Forget” (1991)
- Beyoncé, “Lemonade” (2016)
Beyoncé, Prince, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles and Radiohead are the only artists with more than one album represented on the overall Top 100 list.
Apple Music’s top 10 features four 21st century albums, while even the most recent edition of List of Rolling Stone’s best albums (which positioned Hill’s album at #10) remained predominantly a pre-Y2K zone. The 1990s was the most represented decade overall, with 23 albums included. The oldest album on the list: “Kind of Blue”, by Miles Davis, from 1959.
As for Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones, their included albums ranked 14th (“Highway 61 Revisited”), 20th (“Pet Sounds”) and 53rd (“Exile on Main Street”).
The most represented genre in the top 100, according to Apple Music’s own tags, is hip-hop; more than a fifth of the list is made up of albums in that genre, compared to 18% albums marked as rock and 16% classified as pop.
Those who follow Lamar’s fight with rapper Drake You’ll notice that the latter, although it’s on the overall 100 albums list, is much lower than its sparring partner – Drake’s 2011 album “Take Care” comes in at No. 47.
Swifties can rest easy because Taylor Swift made the list, coming in at number 18 with “1989 (Taylor’s Version).”
