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