Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine Rolling Stone. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in a special issue of the magazine in 2003 and a related book in 2005.[1]
Critics have accused the lists of lending disproportionate weight to artists of particular races and genders. In the original list, most of the selections were albums by white male rock musicians, with the top position held by the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). In 2012, Rolling Stone published a revised edition, drawing on the original and a later survey of albums released up until the early 2000s.[2]
Another updated edition of the list was published in 2020, with 269 new entries replacing albums from the two previous editions. It was based on a new survey and did not consider the surveys conducted for the 2003 and 2012 lists. The 2020 list featured more artists of color and female artists, topped by Marvin Gaye's What's Going On (1971).[2] It received similar criticisms as the previous lists.[3] Another revision was published in 2023.[4]
Since 2020 Rolling Stone has also produced a weekly podcast called Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums, which, according to magazine, is based on an "updated version of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums list".[5] The podcast is hosted by Brittany Spanos, a staff writer at the magazine.[6][7]
Reception[edit]
The original Rolling Stone 500 was criticized for being male-dominated, outmoded and almost entirely Anglo-American in focus.[15][16] Writing in USA Today, Edna Gundersen described the list as predictable and "weighted toward testosterone-fueled vintage rock".[8] Following the publicity surrounding the list, rock critic Jim DeRogatis, a former Rolling Stone editor, published Kill Your Idols: A New Generation of Rock Writers Reconsiders the Classics in 2004. The book featured a number of critics arguing against the high evaluation of various "great" albums, many of which had been included in the list.[17]
Jonny Sharp, a contributor to NME's own 500 greatest albums list, described the 2012 Rolling Stone list as a "soulless, canon-centric [list] of the same tired old titles", adding: "looking at their 500, when the only album in their top 10 less than 40 years old is London Calling, I think I prefer the NME's less critically-correct approach."[18]
Responding to the 2020 revision, Consequence of Sound's Alex Young wrote that the lesser representation of white male rock musicians was "the biggest takeaway".[2] According to CNN's Leah Asmelash, "The change represents a massive shift for the magazine, moving to recognize more contemporary albums and a wider range of tastes."[19] Conversely, Jonathan McNamara of The Japan Times criticized the list for underrepresenting Asian and non-Anglophone artists, stating that "It seems a shame then that Rolling Stone's musical brain trust of writers and industry contributors [...] didn't take the opportunity to hold up albums from the world's non-English-speaking artists and bands."[20]