The following is a list of albums considered the most important or influential by reputable publications. It is based on all-time lists, usually involving the opinions of multiple music critics and authors. All of the published lists cited in this article date to the 2000s��coinciding with the end of the album era—thus there are no post-2010 albums included on this list.

Album	Artist	Artist image	Month and year	Genre	Notes	Cited list(s)
Dust Bowl Ballads	Woody Guthrie		July 1940	Singer-songwriter	Described as a blueprint for "modern folk music".[1] One of the first concept albums.[1]	[1]
1950s
In the Wee Small Hours	Frank Sinatra		April 1955	Vocal jazz	Its cohesiveness and popularity helped to establish the 12-inch LP format.[1]	[1]
Something Else!!!!	Ornette Coleman		September 1958	Free jazz	Influential to the start of free jazz.[1]	[1]
Time Out	The Dave Brubeck Quartet		December 1959	Cool jazz		[1]
1960s
Drums of Passion	Babatunde Olatunji		February 1960	African music	Began the American "world music" movement, and caused jazz musicians to explore African music.[1]	[1]
King of the Delta Blues Singers	Robert Johnson		September 1961[a]	Blues		[3][2]
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music	Ray Charles		April 1962	Country		[1]
Live at the Apollo	James Brown and the Famous Flames		May 1963	R&B		[1]
Bringing It All Back Home	Bob Dylan		March 1965	Folk rock[a 1]	The album "showed rock lyrics could be anything".[1]	[1]
Highway 61 Revisited	Bob Dylan		August 1965	Folk rock		[4]
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band	The Paul Butterfield Blues Band		October 1965	Blues		[1]
Rubber Soul	The Beatles		December 1965	Rock		[1]
Pet Sounds	The Beach Boys		May 1966	Pop	Influential through its lush instrumentation.[1]	[1][4]
Freak Out!	The Mothers of Invention		June 1966	Experimental rock[a 2]	One of the first rock concept albums.[a 3]	[1]
Revolver	The Beatles		August 1966	Rock		[4]
The In Sound From Way Out!	Perrey and Kingsley		October 1966	Electronic	First commercial album made of electronic music.[1]	[1]
Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)	Loretta Lynn		February 1967	Country		[1]
I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You	Aretha Franklin		March 1967	Soul		[4]
The Velvet Underground & Nico	The Velvet Underground and Nico		March 1967	Art rock	The first art rock album.[3]	[3][5][1][4]
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band	The Beatles		May 1967	Pop	Made the case "for pop music as an art form in itself".[3]	[3][1][4]
Are You Experienced?	The Jimi Hendrix Experience		May 1967			[4]
Sweetheart of the Rodeo	The Byrds		August 1968	Country rock		[1]
On the Street in Watts	The Watts Prophets		1969	Poetry	Known to be proto-hip hop.[1]	[1]
The Gilded Palace of Sin	The Flying Burrito Brothers		February 1969	Country rock		[4]
Hot Buttered Soul	Isaac Hayes		June 1969	Soul	Described as "soul music's first album-length auteur statement".[1]	[1]
In the Court of the Crimson King	King Crimson		October 1969	Progressive rock	First progressive rock album.[1]	[1]
Live/Dead	Grateful Dead		November 1969			[1]
1970s
Black Sabbath	Black Sabbath		February 1970	Metal		[5][1]
Bitches Brew	Miles Davis		March 1970	Jazz-rock		[1]
Fun House	The Stooges		July 1970	Proto-punk[a 4]	Influential to garage rock.[5]	[5]
Idlewild South	The Allman Brothers Band		September 1970	Southern rock	Influential to Southern rock.[1]	[1]
Tapestry	Carole King		February 1971			[1]
What's Going On	Marvin Gaye		May 1971	Soul		[3][5][1][4]
Blue	Joni Mitchell		June 1971	Singer-songwriter		[4]
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars	David Bowie		June 1972	Glam rock		[4]
The Harder They Come	Various artists	—	July 1972	Reggae		[1]
Autobahn	Kraftwerk		November 1974	Electronic	Combined pop elements with electronic "experimentalism".[1]	[5][1]
Horses	Patti Smith		November 1975	Punk rock[a 5]		[4]
Live!	Bob Marley and the Wailers		December 1975	Reggae		[4]
Ramones	Ramones		April 1976			[5][1][4]
Queens of Noise	The Runaways		January 1977			[5]
Trans-Europe Express	Kraftwerk		March 1977			[3][4]
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols	Sex Pistols		October 1977			[4]
The Second Annual Report	Throbbing Gristle		November 1977	Industrial		[1]
Unknown Pleasures	Joy Division		June 1979	Post-punk	Popularized post-punk.[5]	[5]
1980s
Damaged	Black Flag		November 1981	Hardcore punk		[5]
Thriller	Michael Jackson		November 1982	Pop	Became the best-selling album of all time.[1]	[1][4]
Now That's What I Call Music	Various artists	—	November 1983	Pop		[1]
Run-D.M.C.	Run-D.M.C.		March 1984	Hip hop		[5][1]
The Bristol Sessions	Various artists	—	1987[b]	Country		[2]
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back	Public Enemy		June 1988	Political hip hop		[1][4]
Straight Outta Compton	N.W.A		August 1988	Gangsta rap		[3][5][4]
Energy	Operation Ivy		May 1989	Ska punk[a 6]		[5]
1990s
No Depression	Uncle Tupelo		June 1990			[5]
Nevermind	Nirvana		September 1991	Alternative rock	Known for bringing independent music sounds to the mainstream.[1]	[1][4]
What's the 411?	Mary J. Blige		July 1992	Hip hop soul	Inspired an incorporation of hip-hop elements into pop.[1]	[1]
Artificial Intelligence	Various artists	—	July 1992	Intelligent dance music	Important to the creation of intelligent dance music.[1]	[1]
Rage Against the Machine	Rage Against the Machine		November 1992	Rap rock		[5]
The Chronic	Dr. Dre		December 1992			[1]
Diary	Sunny Day Real Estate		May 1994	Emo	Influential to emo music.[5]	[5]
The Greatest Tenor in the World	Enrico Caruso		1996[c]			[2]
Vol. 3: The Twenties from Broadway to Hollywood	Al Jolson		March 1996[d]			[2]
2000s
Hot Fives & Sevens	Louis Armstrong		August 2000[e]	Jazz		[2]
In Rainbows	Radiohead		October 2007	Art rock[a 7]	Received attention for its "pay-what-you-want" business model.[1]	[1]
808s & Heartbreak	Kanye West		November 2008	Hip-hop	Influential to hip hop and R&B.[1]	[1]
2010s
2020s