Lauryn Hill, Michael Jackson and The Beatles sit atop the top 10 albums from Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums of All Time List.
The streaming giant’s experts worked alongside a select group of artists, songwriters, producers and industry professionals to curate the list, fully independent of any streaming numbers on Apple Music.
The former’s only solo album, 1998’s timeless classic, ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’, is in first place.
Upon receiving the accolade, Lauryn said: “This is my award, but it’s a rich, deep narrative, and involves so many people, and so much sacrifice, and so much time, and so much collective love.”
Few albums have come close to the late King of Pop’s legendary 1982 LP ‘Thriller’ in terms of influence and domination, with the record positioned at number two.
Apple Music’s Zane Lowe commented: “Not only did it outsell everything in its opening year, it outsold everything in its second year. It changed the way people approached making music, releasing music, distributing, marketing music, and no one ever caught up to it. It set the bar so high.”
CHIC legend Nile Rodgers said: “When Michael dropped this record, to me, the world changed. It was a seismic shift. Having a Black artist do a music video on the level of ‘Thriller’ just changed the world.”
At number three is The Beatles’ 1969 studio album, ‘Abbey Road’; a cultural behemoth that transcends time.
Nile said: “There’s something about the Beatles that’s always really magical to me. Believe it or not, the first song I ever actually learned to play on guitar was a Beatles song. I knew at that moment that I was going to be a guitar player. Prior to that, I played the clarinet.”
Zane said: “The amount of songs that have stayed with people as they’ve lived their lives to a point… played at anniversaries, weddings, funerals, fall in love to, broken up to. There are lots of songbooks that speak to many times in life. I think The Beatles have the songbook of life.”
The list is completed by Prince and The Revolution’s ‘Purple Rain’, Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’, Stevie Wonder’s ‘Songs in the Key of Life’, Kendrick Lamar’s ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city (Deluxe Version)’, Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back to Black’, Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’, and ‘Lemonade’ by Beyoncé.
Listen now on Apple Music: https://100best.music.apple.com/us.
Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums (Top 10):
10. Lemonade – Beyoncé
9. Nevermind – Nirvana
8. Back to Black – Amy Winehouse
7. good kid, m.A.A.d city (Deluxe Version) – Kendrick Lamar
6. Songs in the Key of Life – Stevie Wonder
5. Blonde – Frank Ocean
4. Purple Rain – Prince and The Revolution
3. Abbey Road – The Beatles
2. Thriller – Michael Jackson
1. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill – Lauryn Hill
