How to listen through Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums
Two editions, two different number ones, and about 375 hours of music. Here’s how the lists differ and how to actually get through one.
One list, three editions
Rolling Stone first published its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003, from the ballots of 273 musicians, critics and industry figures, each ranking their top 50. A 2012 revision added 38 albums, 16 of them released after 2003, and left the top of the list as it was.
In 2020 the magazine started again. It polled more than 300 artists, producers, critics and industry figures, and the result was a different list. Rolling Stone counted 154 entries that hadn’t appeared in either earlier edition, and 86 albums from the 21st century. A light update followed in December 2023, swapping in a handful of more recent releases.
So when someone says “the Rolling Stone 500”, it’s worth asking which one.
Two different number ones
The 2003 list put Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band at number one, followed by Pet Sounds, Revolver, Highway 61 Revisited and Rubber Soul. Four of its top ten were Beatles albums.
The 2020 list put Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On at number one, up from sixth. Pet Sounds held second, and Joni Mitchell’s Blue came third, followed by Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life and Abbey Road.
The rest of the old top ten is still on the 2020 list, lower down. Sgt. Pepper’s fell to 24, Revolver to 11, Rubber Soul to 35 and the White Album to 29. Highway 61 Revisited dropped to 18 and Blonde on Blonde to 38. (Ranks here are from the 2020 edition. The 2023 update may have shifted some by a few places.)
What moved
Comparing the 2012 revision with the 2020 list shows where the voters’ tastes shifted. Hip-hop and R&B records climbed hardest:
- Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: 353 to 17
- Wu-Tang Clan, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers): 387 to 27
- D’Angelo, Voodoo: 481 to 28
- Amy Winehouse, Back to Black: 451 to 33
- Nas, Illmatic: 402 to 44
- OutKast, Aquemini: 500 to 49
Greatest-hits collections fell furthest. Muddy Waters’ The Anthology went from 38 to 483 and Al Green’s Greatest Hits from 52 to 456. Arcade Fire’s Funeral went from 151 to exactly 500.
The decade mix moved too. The 1960s and 1970s lost ground, and the 1990s and the 21st century gained it:
Which edition to listen through
The 2020 list is the broader one: more hip-hop and R&B, more women and artists of colour, and more recent records. If you want the list that best reflects how critics and musicians hear albums now, start here.
The older list is the classic-rock canon as it stood at the turn of the century: heavier on the 1960s and 1970s, with more compilations. It’s the better guide to the records that shaped rock criticism.
Both is more interesting than either. About two thirds of the 2020 list was on the earlier editions too, so doing both adds fewer albums than you’d think, and the disagreements are where the arguments are.
A realistic plan for 500 albums
At one album a day, 500 albums takes about sixteen months. At five a week, closer to two years. If the average record runs about 45 minutes, the whole list is roughly 375 hours of music. It’s a long project, so set it up to survive:
- Pick an order. Counting down from 500 to 1 saves the most famous records for last and front-loads the discoveries. Going decade by decade shows how music changed. Random keeps every day different.
- Count the ones you know. If you already know an album well, mark it and move on, or relisten and count it then. Either is fine; decide once.
- Allow a skip, but come back. Some records won’t land on the day. Move them to the end rather than forcing them.
- Keep it to one album a day. Two a day feels productive for a week and then stops. The album-a-day habit is what gets people to the end.
- Listen properly. Whole albums, in order, without shuffle or autoplay. That’s how they were meant to be heard, and it’s the only way a list like this means anything.
Expect a few entries that are hard to play as albums. Both editions include compilations, live records and soundtracks, and some catalogues differ between countries or editions. In the US store, about 487 of the 2020 list and 474 of the 2012 revision are there as the album named; here’s which ones aren’t.
Work through the list in Spinworthy
Spinworthy has both Rolling Stone lists built in, the 2020 list and the earlier one, alongside more than eighty others. Open a list to add its albums to your crate. Each entry is matched to Apple Music by artist and title, and when there’s no close match, Spinworthy shows nothing rather than a near miss.
Every album you play all the way through is counted, with the date. It needs an Apple Music subscription and is free on iPhone.
Put this into practice with Spinworthy
Spinworthy brings both Rolling Stone lists built in, with every album you finish counted right into your practice — so you can put this into action, not just read about it.