Best Albums of the 1990s

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Explore the best albums of the 1990s, based on over 2 million album rankings across 61,000 charts. Last updated: 5 hours ago

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1990s decade summaryThe best artists of the 1990s were Radiohead, Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins, Neutral Milk Hotel, Oasis, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., My Bloody Valentine, Nick Cave and Björk.

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OK Computer

Radiohead

"Close your eyes, throw on some headphones, and float away..." Reply

- FleaRHCP97 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 30

Year of Release:

1997

Appears in:

4,481 charts

Rank Score:

59,003

Rank in 1997:

Rank in 1990s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Nirvana

""Nevermind" by Nirvana is currently ranked by the Rolling Stone magazine as the 17th greatest album of all time. This is due entirely to ignorance and bias. First off, the main riff of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is stolen from Venom. Venom is Metallica's biggest influence, along with every other e..."""Nevermind" by Nirvana is currently ranked by the Rolling Stone magazine as the 17th greatest album of all time. This is due entirely to ignorance and bias. First off, the main riff of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is stolen from Venom. Venom is Metallica's biggest influence, along with every other early-mid 80's black, death, and thrash metal band. Among extreme metal enthusiasts, Venom's "Black Metal" album is widely considered to be among the very best the genres have to offer, on which the song "Countess Bathory" can be heard. Its riff has the same exact melody of the main riff of "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Besides the fact that it's stolen and therefore invalid to begin with, the song's lyrics couldn't be worse: a mulato an albino a mosquito my libido, yeah hey [x3] Don't forget the other chorus: hello, hello, hello, how low [x2] Most choruses on this album are nonsensical 2-3 word phrases like this. The song does have a great solo, and even an intro! Even if the intro is just the main riff (still stolen) in acoustic form. Sadly, this is more than I can say for the rest of the album. "Come As You Are," the 2nd most popular song from this album, is also stolen. This time it's stolen from Killing Joke, another band widely considered to be responsible for influencing an entire genre. The song is called "Eighties," and while the melody isn't identical, it's still the same notes, the same sound, but just slightly switched up. There's also the fact that the "chorus" of "Come As You Are" is just 1 simple word, repeated a few times.... The next most popular song on the album might be "Lithium." At least it's not stolen, but there's no great riff to speak of anyway. this one's chorus goes, "yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah......" He says it 24 times. Oh, this is also another of Nirvana's songs that has more than 1 chorus. The 2nd chorus goes like this, "I [X] you, I'm not gonna crack." Substitute "X" for simple go-to words like "kill," "like," "miss," and "love." Repeat 8, yes EIGHT, full times. It seems to be popular for its soft verses followed by hard choruses. I'll dare to say that The Pixies have done it better on Doolittle. I'm not quite sure how I could do this, but it might have something to do with the fact that the "loud rocking choruses" here are meaningless and empty repetitions of "yeah" that gives me the gall.... I don't even believe Kurt Cobain himself liked the album. I take the message of the song "In Bloom" to be "this is pop trash, but you morons are all going to sing along with it, aren't you?" the chorus: he's the one who likes all our pretty songs and he likes to sing along and he likes to shoot his gun but he knows not what it means [x3] when I say "yeah" It's also got this to say in one of its very short verses: we can have some more nature is a whore He isn't much of a poet, is he? You might think that I'm biased and just quoting the very worst of it to make it look bad, but honestly the rest of it isn't much better. Let's take a look at "Breed" for example. The song's structure isn't, "intro, verse 1, bridge, solo, chorus, verse 2, chorus, outro," or something similar that you'd expect from a great song.... This one goes, "chorus 1, chorus 2, chorus 1, chorus 2." To each their own, I suppose. Besides that though, let's take a look at these choruses: I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care care if it's sold I don't mind, I don't mind, I don't mind, I don't mind, I don't mind don't have a mind Ugh, actually enough of that one. Next chorus: even if you have even if you need I don't mean to stare we don't have to breed we can plant a house we can build a tree Ugh, ditto for this one. It seems like giving it too much credit to even call it poetry's all time low. First grade grammar and vocabulary to boot. It doesn't get any worse. The nouns, like most on the album, couldn't be any more generic. The verbs couldn't be any more common. I'm not even talking about the overuse of the verb "is" or its forms. When they're using other verbs, they're as ineffective as "plant," and "build." These words are actually bigger than the average word he uses as well. The lines of this simple chorus (4-5 words long) are longer than the lines of his average verse. Take "Polly" for example. The chorus: Isn't me have a seat let me clip dirty wings let me take a ride cut yourself want some help please myself got some rope haven't told promise you I'll be true let me take a ride cut yourself want some help please myself Mostly 2-3 word phrases using exclusively elementary school vocabulary. The music behind it is just as simple. There is little to no bass or drums. The guitar is the same 3 second melody played from the first to the very last second of the song. It's truly terrible. The verses are all 4 short lines each, and just go to show that he can't rhyme and have meaning at the same time. This is one of the few times where he chooses meaning over rhyme, and it's just disturbing: she asked me to untie her a chase would be nice for a few Notice how it's still simple.... The verses do devolve though, somehow. It's incredible that they could become any weaker, but in "Territorial Pissings" (huge words for this album, by the way!) the verses are a single sentence each. I'll nominate this one for the worst verse of all time while I'm at it: never met a wise man, if so it's a woman Thinking about it, it becomes clear why he usually sticks to collections of 2 and 3 word phrases. "If, then" statements don't even work like that, didn't anyone tell him to maybe change the lyrics? How do you logically come to the conclusion that, given something that has never happened, if it were to happen, it would have happened in such a way as to make the statement that it never happened still technically true? It's just logically impossible. He also seems to forget mid sentence what tense he's using. How many things could possibly be wrong with 1 verse, especially seeing as how it's just 1 sentence? It's just awful. I challenge anyone to find more wrong with any verse in history (per word of the verse). The album closes with a weird, experimental track. Kurt admits influence from John Lennon, but hasn't anyone noticed the connection with this final song? How could it not immediately bring to mind the last track of "Revolver" (what I believe to be The Beatles' best album, why The Rolling Stone has it below "Pet Sounds" I can only guess to be because they didn't want 2 Beatles albums in a row on their list....). There's not much more I can say about the rest of the songs that wouldn't sound like I'm repeating myself more than it already does. I will point out the fact that "Stay Away" ends with the less-than-poignant: god is gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-ay I guess it rhymes with the previous lyric "stay away"? It's laughable, really. Part of me almost feels like these guys are too stupid to even honorably poke fun at, and I wouldn't if it wasn't so highly rated (or if I cared in the slightest for honor). Something just needs to be said though.... "Nevermind" is by far the most overrated album of all time and this needs to get out. It deserves far less credit than it gets. Its popularity is due to 90's teens in their "I DON'T CARE, WHATEVER! NO MOM, GIVE ME SOME DAMN SPACE WHY DON'T YOU? LIKE, NO I DON'T WANT ANY COOKIES! I'M GOING THROUGH SOME SERIOUS *&^% RIGHT NOW! NOBODY UNDERSTANDS ME!" phase that only pathetic, angsty, immature children can go through. It deserves no more recognition than any Backstreet Boys album has gotten. I'm sorry if the truth was too hurtful, but it's not "just opinion" any more than "Jimi Hendrix is a better guitarist than my grandmother" is an "opinion." It's an unforgivable insult to every album above it on the greatest list in Rolling Stone magazine. I'm asking society to please rethink it. Is it too soon to criticize it yet? Will I have to wait another generation? Do yourself a favor, get out of denial, and accept the facts already: Nevermind sucks. The world will be a much better place." Reply

- jackbrown8786 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 19

Year of Release:

1991

Appears in:

3,263 charts

Rank Score:

35,803

Rank in 1991:

Rank in 1990s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

87 (4,382 votes)

Comments:

413

In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

Neutral Milk Hotel

"I think it is safe to say that this album is Jeff's Mangum opus... :D" Reply

nachosbob | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 25

Year of Release:

1998

Appears in:

2,440 charts

Rank Score:

29,619

Rank in 1998:

Rank in 1990s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

"One of the greatest albums of the 90s and perhaps of all time, Radiohead truly demonstrated it's maturity and ability to create great music with this album. Unlike most Radiohead albums, which generally challenge the listener to delve into their minds( Kid A, Ok Computer, Amnesiac) this album bri..." Reply

- 5432juan | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 17

Year of Release:

1995

Appears in:

2,702 charts

Rank Score:

27,209

Rank in 1995:

Rank in 1990s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

"Pure classic. And a milestone for Shoegazing and heavy distortion Alternative music. I must say that this album isn't for everyone, it isn't an easy album to listen to the first time and enjoy. And if you enjoy this record, you enjoyed it the more you played it. Even if you may not think this alb..." Reply

- | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 11

Year of Release:

1991

Appears in:

2,187 charts

Rank Score:

26,627

Rank in 1991:

Rank in 1990s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

86 (2,509 votes)

Comments:

313

Automatic For The People

R.E.M.

"Fast moving, the flicker of a slide show, dismal in places and down right dead in the grey in others. This was the biggest show for them. They broke the barriers more so than the 'Out Of Time' one. 'Drive' is obviously longing for something and if it had been written by one of the Pitchfork's 201..." Reply

- | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 3

Year of Release:

1992

Appears in:

1,863 charts

Rank Score:

18,454

Rank in 1992:

Rank in 1990s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

84 (2,241 votes)

Comments:

178

Ten

Pearl Jam

"Someone unfamiliar with Pearl Jam might confuse this with a greatest hits album. This is just about as good as debut albums get. Certainly top 5 debut of all time. Very emotional, powerful stuff from these guys. Their best." Reply

AAL2014 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 6

Year of Release:

1991

Appears in:

1,885 charts

Rank Score:

17,959

Rank in 1991:

Rank in 1990s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

82 (2,369 votes)

Comments:

183

Grace

Jeff Buckley

"I actually feel like I'm in love whenever I listen to this album. No other work of music can do that." Reply

sszwalbenest | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 10

Year of Release:

1994

Appears in:

1,761 charts

Rank Score:

17,533

Rank in 1994:

Rank in 1990s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

84 (1,997 votes)

Comments:

173

Siamese Dream

The Smashing Pumpkins

"The song Mayonaise is one of the great songs of all time, and I personally hate the condiment mayonnaise. The rest of the album is a blast, as well. I can't play it with my wife around, though--she seems to think it's noisy and boring." Reply

- Rhett | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 5

Year of Release:

1993

Appears in:

1,642 charts

Rank Score:

16,997

Rank in 1993:

Rank in 1990s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

85 (1,974 votes)

Comments:

153

10.

In Utero

Nirvana

"What can I say about this one that hasn't already been said? Other than its my preference from their catalog and by extension, one of my favourites from the decade itself. Amongst the crushing and dense milieu of Cobain's self-deprecation, he consistently instills an idea. This idea being; the on..." Reply

Komorebi-D | Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 7

Year of Release:

1993

Appears in:

1,804 charts

Rank Score:

16,907

Rank in 1993:

Rank in 1990s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

85 (2,707 votes)

Comments:

179

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Total albums: 1,000. Page 1 of 100

Best Albums of the 1990s composition

Year	Albums	%

1990	86	9%
1991	83	8%
1992	106	11%
1993	104	10%
1994	125	13%
1995	102	10%
1996	111	11%
1997	94	9%
1998	103	10%
1999	86	9%

Artist	Albums	%

The Flaming Lips	6	1%
Neil Young	6	1%
Blur	6	1%
R.E.M.	5	1%
Pearl Jam	5	1%
The Smashing Pumpkins	5	1%
Manic Street Preachers	5	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	535	54%
	271	27%
	40	4%
	24	2%
	24	2%
	16	2%
	13	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	985	99%
Yes	15	2%

Live?	Albums	%
No	980	98%
Yes	20	2%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	991	99%
Yes	9	1%

Best Albums of the 1990s chart changes

Biggest climbers Biggest climbers in top 100 since last month
Up 5 from 87th to 82nd The Fat Of The Land by The Prodigy
Up 4 from 84th to 80th Soundtracks For The Blind by Swans
Up 3 from 102nd to 99th Purple by Stone Temple Pilots

Biggest fallers Biggest fallers in top 100 since last month
Down 4 from 81st to 85th To Bring You My Love by PJ Harvey
Down 3 from 72nd to 75th Rust In Peace by Megadeth
Down 3 from 83rd to 86th I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One by Yo La Tengo

New entries New entries in top 100 since last month
Up 3 from 102nd to 99th Purple by Stone Temple Pilots

Leavers Leavers from top 100 since last month
Down 2 from 99th to 101st The Division Bell by Pink Floyd

« View best albums of the 1980sView best albums of the 2000s »

Best Albums of 1982

1. Thriller by Michael Jackson

2. The Dreaming by Kate Bush

3. The Number Of The Beast by Iron Maiden

4. Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen

5. Pornography by The Cure

6. 1999 by Prince

7. Avalon by Roxy Music

8. Rio by Duran Duran

9. Love Over Gold by Dire Straits

10. The Nightfly by Donald Fagen