My Favorite 100 Albums
Update 2026-01-14: Oh wow, am I going to use Tumblr again? I think I might! I need a place to write, have never been good at Twitter, and I pay every year for this domain. So yea, I’m thinking insert john wick.gif. To be clear, I again have not changed this list. I didn’t even know how to find it until I looked up how to find hidden Tumblr pages a few minutes ago. I’m going to put a link back in the footer so I or anyone else could find it. It’s trippy to the max that this list is over 15 years old. I haven’t listened to Kanye (intentionally) in about 4 years. I haven’t listened to Neutral Milk Hotel or Radiohead with much regularity in over a decade. Maybe I’ll make a new list… soon?
Update 2015-08-06: This page has been deprecated. Please refer to it as an historical document of someone’s taste circa end of first decade of 2000s.
Update 2013: I haven’t updated this list in a few years. For the best resume of my impeccable taste (/irony) just look at this link or my last.fm (which is itself skewed by years and years of scrobbling Pavement and Glenn Gould.
Just a note: I would honestly change a few of these listings. Really. But updating tables in HTML is unpleasant. So consider this list, which is already very provisional, even more provisional. I know there’s not a lot of music from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. And before that. And before that. For composers, I love Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Berg, Wagner, and Mozart, he’s my fave. Also, I think Stravinsky is perhaps the most important composer for modern pop music. I also go through phases. For a few days, I thought that one Rainer Maria album was my favorite album ever. It’s not, but it probably deserves to be a bit higher. Oh, and before you ask, YES: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy really is my favorite album of all-time, right now. Still.
Update on November 7, 2011: This list is about a year and a half out of date. Strangely — or perhaps not, if you think about it — I’d probably remove a bit of the 00s stuff and add some earlier classic rock/funk/soul stuff. I’ll get around to it. Someday.
| # | Artist | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 00. | Drake | Thank Me Later |
| 99. | The Mountain Goats | The Sunset Tree |
| 98. | Joanna Newsom | Have One On Me |
| 97. | Wes Montgomery | The Incredible Jazz Guitar… |
| 96. | Beach Boys | Smile |
| 95. | Beirut | The Gulag Orkestar |
| 94. | Spiritualized | Live At Royal Albert Hall |
| 93. | Cat Power | You Are Free |
| 92. | The Wrens | Meadowlands |
| 91. | Clipse | Hell Hath No Fury |
| 90. | Gang of Four | Entertainment! |
| 89. | Tom Waits | Rain Dogs |
| 88. | Fiona Apple | When The Pawn… |
| 87. | Be Bop Deluxe | Axe Victim |
| 86. | Beck | Odelay |
| 85. | Wolf Parade | Apologies To The Queen Mary |
| 84. | The National | Boxer |
| 83. | Jay-Z/Dangermouse | The Grey Album |
| 82. | Lambchop | Nixon |
| 81. | Songs: Ohia | Magnolia Electric Co. |
| 80. | Joanna Newsom | The Milk-Eyed Mender |
| 79. | Smashing Pumpkins | Siamese Dream |
| 78. | Björk | Post |
| 77. | Desaparecidos | Read Music/Speak Spanish |
| 76. | Trail Of Dead | Source Tags And Codes |
| 75. | Ghostface | Fishscale |
| 74. | The Darkness | Permission To Land |
| 73. | Madvillain | Madvillainy |
| 72. | Sonic Youth | Sonic Nurse |
| 71. | The Hold Steady | Boys And Girls In America |
| 70. | The Hold Steady | Separation Sunday |
| 69. | Belle And Sebastian | If You’re Feeling Sinister |
| 68. | Bob Dylan | Royal Albert Hall 1966 |
| 67. | Yeah Yeah Yeahs | Fever To Tell |
| 66. | LCD Soundsystem | Trilogy (sorry) |
| 65. | Third Eye Blind | Third Eye Blind |
| 64. | Jay-Z | The Blueprint |
| 63. | Rites of Spring | End on End |
| 62. | Velvet Underground | S/T |
| 61. | The Beatles | Abbey Road |
| 60. | Neutral Milk Hotel | On Avery Island |
| 59. | Radiohead | The Bends |
| 58. | Ghostface | The Pretty Toney Album |
| 57. | Beastie Boys | Paul’s Boutique |
| 56. | Moldy Peaches | The Moldy Peaches |
| 55. | PJ Harvey | Rid Of Me |
| 54. | The Streets | A Grand Don’t Come For Free |
| 53. | My Bloody Valentine | Loveless |
| 52. | Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy | I See A Darkness |
| 51. | Palace Brothers | Days In The Wake |
| 50. | Jeff Buckley | Grace |
| 49. | R.E.M. | New Adventures In Hi-Fi |
| 48. | Spoon | Kill The Moonlight |
| 47. | New Pornographers | Twin Cinema |
| 46. | Blur | Blur |
| 45. | Sleater-Kinney | The Woods |
| 44. | Nirvana | In Utero |
| 43. | Joy Division | Unknown Pleasures |
| 42. | The Knife | Silent Shout |
| 41. | Silver Jews | The Natural Bridge |
| 40. | The Rolling Stones | Exile On Main Street |
| 39. | David Bowie | Ziggy Stardust |
| 38. | Wu-Tang Clan | Enter The 36 Chambers |
| 37. | The Fiery Furnaces | EP |
| 36. | Why? | Elephant Eyelash |
| 35. | Pixies | Doolittle |
| 34. | Dirty Projectors | Bitte Orca |
| 33. | White Stripes | White Blood Cells |
| 32. | Dismemberment Plan | Emergency & I |
| 31. | Arcade Fire | Funeral |
| 30. | Modest Mouse | The Moon And Antarctica |
| 29. | Animal Collective | Sung Tongs |
| 28. | Girl Talk | Night Ripper |
| 27. | Casiotone For The… | Etiquette |
| 26. | Bright Eyes | Fevers And Mirrors |
| 25. | Animal Collective | Strawberry Jam |
| 24. | Bright Eyes | Letting Off The Happiness |
| 23. | Liz Phair | Exile In Guyville |
| 22. | Weezer | Weezer (blue) |
| 21. | Wire | Pink Flag |
| 20. | Ryan Adams | Heartbreaker |
| 19. | Silver Jews | American Water |
| 18. | Pavement | Slanted And Enchanted |
| 17. | The Strokes | Is This It? |
| 16. | The Blow | Paper Television |
| 15. | The Microphones | The Glow, Pt. 2 |
| 14. | The National | Alligator |
| 13. | The Replacements | Let It Be |
| 12. | Talking Heads | The Name of This Band… |
| 11. | Broken Social Scene | You Forget It In People |
| 10. | Radiohead | OK Computer |
| 9. | Guided By Voices | Bee Thousand |
| 8. | Wilco | Yankee Hotel Foxtrot |
| 7. | Radiohead | Kid A |
| 6. | Pavement | Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain |
| 5. | Neutral Milk Hotel | In The Aeroplane Over The Sea |
| 4. | Miles Davis | Live-Evil |
| 3. | Nas | Illmatic |
| 2. | The Flaming Lips | The Soft Bulletin |
| 1. | Kanye West | MBDTF |