Marvin Gaye
Image: Rob Verhorst/Redferns

Rolling Stone Have Updated Their Best 500 Albums List, With Marvin Gaye Taking The Top Spot

Rolling Stone has published a new edition of their Top 500 Albums of All-Time list. The most notable difference between it and its original 2003 version is a significant increase in the amount of records by women and people of colour in its top spots.

The list’s original top five included three albums by The Beatles alone, punctuated by The Beach Boys‘ Pet Sounds at the #2 spot and Bob Dylan‘s Highway 61 Revisited at #4. Marvin Gaye’s 1971 opus What’s Going On, which originally appeared at #6 on the list, now sits at the #1 spot.

New additions to the top 10 list include Joni Mitchell‘s Blue at #3, Stevie Wonder‘s Songs in the Key of Life at #5, Nirvana‘s Nevermind at #6, Fleetwood Mac‘s Rumours at #8, Prince and the Revolution‘s Purple Rain at #9 and Lauryn Hill‘s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill at #10.

The new list was formulated with input from 300 musicians, producers, journalists and other music industry figures. Artists involved in the voting process included Beyoncé, Wayne Coyne, Billie Eilish, Carly Rae Jepsen, Adam Horovitz, Stevie Nicks, Raekwon, Kevin Shields, Robert Smith and many more. You can see the full list of voters here.

Check out the updated top 50 below. You can see the full, new Top 500 list here, and the 2003 version here.

Rolling Stone’s Top 50 Albums of All Time (2020)

1. Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On

2. The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds

3. Joni Mitchell – Blue

4. Stevie Wonder – Songs in the Key of Life

5. The Beatles – Abbey Road

6. Nirvana – Nevermind

7. Fleetwood Mac – Rumours

8. Prince and the Revolution – Purple Rain

9. Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks

10. Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

11. The Beatles – Revolver

12. Michael Jackson – Thriller

13. Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

14. The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street

15. Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

16. The Clash – London Calling

17. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

18. Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited

19. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly

20. Radiohead – Kid A

21. Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run

22. The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready to Die

23. The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground

24. The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

25. Carole King – Tapestry

26. Patti Smith – Horses

27. Wu-Tang Clan – Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

28. D’Angelo – Voodoo

29. The Beatles – White Album

30. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced?

31. Miles Davis – Kind of Blue

32. Beyoncé – Lemonade

33. Amy Winehouse – Back to Black

34. Stevie Wonder – Innervisions

35. The Beatles – Rubber Soul

36. Michael Jackson – Off the Wall

37. Dr. Dre – The Chronic

38. Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde

39. Talking Heads – Remain in Light

40. David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars

41. The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed

42. Radiohead – OK Computer

43. A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory

44. Nas – Illmatic

45. Prince – Sign O’ the Times

46. Paul Simon – Graceland

47. Ramones – Ramones

48. Bob Marley and the Wailers – Legend

49. OutKast – Aquemini

50. Jay-Z – The Blueprint

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