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The coolest, best, greatest, nigh iconic, nigh famous album covers of best. Information technology doesn't really matter what sort of adjective you want to put it in forepart of the words "album embrace," because lists of this sort of are always incredibly subjective. What nosotros can say for sure, though, is that anthology covers are vitally important to how a record is received by the public. (It's hard to imagine Sgt. Pepper'southward with the cover to the White Anthology and vice versa.) Even in today'due south digital age, a cool record comprehend can have a huge touch. (Artists equally varied every bit Young Thug and Drinking glass Animals tin adjure to that.) So, without further ado, here is our pick of just 100 of the greatest record covers of best.

100: The Flamin' Groovies: Supersnazz (design by Cyril Jordan)

Bandleader Cyril Jordan'southward terrific comic art has turned up on numerous The Flamin' Groovies covers and posters over the decades. On their 1969 debut, the cavorting characters were in that location to remind you how much fun stone'n'roll was supposed to be.

99: The Bee Gees: Odessa

If The Beatles could do a double "White Album," the Bee Gees could practice a fuzzy red ane. The cherry-red velvet embrace, with gilded embossed lettering, served notice that Odessa was going to exist unique and cute, which it was.

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98: The Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet (design by Barry Feinstein)

Beggars Feast is a rare instance where an anthology's ii famous covers really complement each other. Put the notorious bathroom cover together with the engraved invitation on the U.s.a. replacement, and you've got the yin and the yang of The Rolling Stones at the fourth dimension.

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97: Ol' Dirty Bastard: Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version (pattern by Alli Truch, photograph past Danny Clinch)

Whenever hip-hop started to take itself too seriously, ODB was there to disrupt, agitate, and give the middle finger to convention. Forgoing any blinged-out tropes, the former Wu-Tang member put a doctored version of his welfare ID card on the front encompass of his solo debut, as both a reminder of where he came from and to destigmatize being on public assistance. Every bit he rapped on Wu-Tang's "Domestic dog Sh_t,": "Got meals but still grill that old good welfare cheese."

96: Nick Lowe: Jesus of Cool/Pure Pop for Now People (pattern by Barney Bubbles)

On an album that fabricated a mad dash through the whole of popular history, Nick Lowe pictured himself in a bunch of different guises, from rockabilly hoodlum to sensitive balladeer (there were different pics on the Usa and Britain versions), all with tongue firmly in cheek.

95: Jefferson Airplane: Long John Argent (blueprint by Pacific Heart & Ear)

Jefferson Aeroplane'due south Long John Silverish hails from the gold age of elaborate album covers. Since people were already using LPs to store and clean marijuana, the Airplane gave yous a cardboard box holder for it, along with the pot, or at least a realistic-looking photograph.

94: Billie Eilish: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do Nosotros Go? (design by Kenneth Cappello)

Any artist who dares to look this terrifying on the cover of their first album deserves all the platinum success they get. Inspired by the album'due south themes of the subconscious, the dark sleeve of Billie Eilish'southward When We All Fall Comatose, Where Do We Become? served discover that Eilish was here to mess with your head.

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93: Parliament: Mothership Connection (photo by David Alexander, design by Gribbitth)

George Clinton's gonzoid have on outer-space adventure constitute its perfect match in the effortlessly absurd spaceship-party cover for Parliament's Mothership Connectedness . The fact that it looked remarkably low budget but made information technology funkier.

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92: Geto Boys: Nosotros Can't Be Stopped (design by Cliff Blodget)

Walking a razor-thin line between exploitation and cultural commentary was the Geto Boys' modus operandi, and nothing exemplified this dynamic more than than their famous 1991 album cover art. The graphic photograph of Bushwick Nib at the hospital was as unflinching as their music.

91: The Cars: Candy-O (pattern past Alberto Vargas)

Alberto Vargas was already the virtually famous pin-upward artist before designing the famous cover for The Cars classic 1979 anthology Candy-O, merely this painting of a fashionable redhead, on a auto of form, became his almost famous piece. Candy-O is one of the two best uses of pin-upwardly art on a rock record, along with…

90: Courtney Love: America's Sweetheart (pattern by Olivia De Berardinis)

For her debut solo album, Courtney Love took the Cars' concept a step farther by enlisting the younger, edgier pivot-upward artist (known professionally every bit Olivia) to paint her. Of grade, information technology got an extra dimension past playing with Love'due south own image at the time.

89: The Rolling Stones: Their Satanic Majesties Asking (design past Michael Cooper)

The Rolling Stones probably couldn't beat the Beatles for a psychedelic album in 1967, but they arguably had the cooler album cover, the first 3D sleeve in rock. Ten points if you tin observe where the Beatles are hiding in the 3D image on Their Satanic Majesties Request.

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88: Public Epitome Ltd: The Flowers of Romance

PiL's follow-up to their famous Metal Box album cover was even cooler, showing non-performing bandmember Jeanette Lee with a rose in her teeth, a weapon in her paw, and a murderous await in her optics.

87: The Velvet Clandestine: The Velvet Undercover & Nico (design past Andy Warhol)

It was weird, information technology was witty, it was Warhol. The famous minimalism of The Velvet Hole-and-corner & Nico peel-abroad banana album cover became an influence on punk visual style many years later and remains 1 of the greatest anthology covers.

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86: The Miracles: Hi, Nosotros're The Miracles (blueprint by Wakefield & Mitchell)

The cool album cover for The Miracles' 1961 debut encapsulates the old-school showbiz that Motown would soon lead the world away from. Simply information technology's so cheerful that you still have to love information technology.

85: The Go-Gos: Beauty & the Trounce (pattern by Ginger Canzoneri, Mike Doud, Mick Haggerty, Vartan)

The Go-Go'due south sense of playful subversion extended to their sendup of glamorous cover photos on their hit debut, Beauty & The Beat . It was their party; you could join if they let yous.

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84: Dr. Dre: The Chronic (blueprint by Michael Benabib)

This famous album cover did wonders with its elementary strategy. On his Dr. Dre's solo debut The Chronic , the design assumed that Dre was already an icon and presented him appropriately.

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83: Quincy Jones: The Dude (blueprint by Fanizani Akuda)

Jeff Bridges' got nix on the original "The Dude," the effortlessly cool and quixotic anthology encompass graphic symbol that appears on Quincy Jones' genre-blending solo debut. Q always had an ear for talent – as his cross-cultural LP proved – but he also had an centre for blueprint. (He spotted the eponymous "Dude" statue at an art gallery and took it abode for inspiration.)

82: Cocteau Twins: Heaven or Las Vegas (design by Paul West)

The design-centric 4AD characterization did some of its finest work for the Cocteau Twins album covers. This shimmering epitome is undeniably cute, yet yous never know just what information technology ways…but like their music.

81: James Brown: Hell (blueprint by Joe Belt)

Arriving 1 year afterwards his milestone album The Payback , Brown delivered the double-album Hell, which chosen out societal ills both on record and on the elaborately illustrated comprehend. Designed by creative person Joe Belt, who made his proper name capturing the characters of the Wild West, Belt trained his aim on another nighttime chapter of American history, depicting fallen soldiers, addicts, and an imprisoned populace. 1 of the most famous funk album covers ever.

fourscore: Slayer: Reign in Blood (blueprint past Larry Carroll)

One of the greatest metal covers ever designed, designer Larry Carroll packed a thousand nightmares into this Bosch-like painting for Slayer's thrash masterpiece Reign in Blood , which influenced metallic imagery for decades to come up.

79: Male monarch Ruddy: In the Court of the Carmine King (design by Barry Godber)

Robert Fripp saw this dramatic painting afterward In the Courtroom of the Crimson King was completed and knew it perfectly suited the music, with the crazed cover figure as the 21st century schizoid man. Sadly, the artist passed away simply months afterwards.

78: Moby Grape: Wow (design by Bob Cato)

One of the psych era'south great hallucinations, the famous album embrace for Moby Grape's 1968 double LP Wow showed an otherworldly landscape with the world'due south largest bunch of grapes. Wow indeed.

77: Kayne West: Yeezus (design by Kanye West and Virgil Abloh)

1 of the near famous album covers of recent vintage. Kanye West brings the minimalist "White Album" concept to the CD era. You could also see Yeezus equally the final celebration of the physical CD earlier it disappeared.

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76: Elvis Presley: 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Incorrect (design by Bob Jones)

Ultra-cool Elvis (in his shiny gold Nudie suit) gets multiplied in one of the most enduring early on 60s images and greatest album covers. If at that place are that many Elvis fans, we will, of course, need xv Elvises.

75: Blackness Flag: My War (blueprint past Raymond Pettibon)

Blackness Flag's trailblazing punk-metallic wouldn't have been the same without Pettibon'due south grisly comic images, though in this case, not quite as grisly as the album itself.

74: Talking Heads: Speaking in Tongues (blueprint by Robert Rauschenberg)

The abstraction of the Talking Heads' beautiful, moving-parts cover for their 1983 tape Speaking in Tongues couldn't accept better represented the music within. It would have been rated higher if the thing wasn't so tough to store.

73: The Mothers of Invention: We're Just In It for the Money (blueprint by Cal Schenkel)

Frank Zappa wrapped his skewering of hippie culture We're Just In Information technology for the Coin in an equally vicious parody of the famous Sgt. Pepper album comprehend to great success.

72: The Pogues: Peace and Love (design past Simon Ryan)

One of the greatest joke album covers, the boxer was already a perfect image for the Pogues, merely don't miss the subtle bit of play here. (The give-and-take "peace" of class has five letters.)

71: Rush: Moving Pictures (design by Hugh Syme)

Rush'due south greatest album covers expressed both their grand concepts and their cerebral humour. In this staged cover for Moving Pictures , which features many of the characters from the songs, nosotros detect at least iii different visual plays on the album'south title.

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70: The Beatles: Abbey Route (design past John Kosh)

Equally it turns out, The Beatles were just also lazy to get to Mt. Everest – yes, that was the original plan – so they came upwardly with something just equally memorable by leaving the studio and crossing the street, resulting in the famous Abbey Road anthology encompass. Information technology's since gone done as one of the greatest of all time.

69: Marvin Gaye: I Want You (pattern past Ernie Barnes)

All of Marvin Gaye's cool album covers are works of fine art in a mode, but Ernie Barnes's 'Sugar Shack,' which graces the encompass of I Want You lot , is the only 1 currently hanging in a museum. Barnes'south sensual figures and jubilant dancers reflected the carnal nature of Gaye's 1976 album.

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68: Joe Jackson: I'm the Human being (design past Michael Ross)

At that place'south plenty of punk attitude on Joe Jackson's anthology cover for I'm the Homo, where he portrays the hero of the title song – a sleazy character who'll sell you lot anything – as long every bit you don't really need it.

67: The Beatles: Yesterday and Today (design by Robert Whitaker)

Okay, so information technology was a footling graphic and provocative, simply as the single virtually controversial thing The Beatles ever did (and the nearly expensive for an original), the embrace of Yesterday and Today surely earns a place on a listing of the greatest album covers.

66: Alice Cooper: School'due south Out (design by Craig Braun)

There were nearly as many copies of Alice Cooper's School'southward Out in 1970s high schools as there were bodily school desks. 10 points if you got the original with the underwear inner sleeve.

65: Aerosmith: Describe the Line (pattern past Al Hirshfeld)

Anyone who went to plays or read the New York Times in the 70s will recognize the work of the line-drawing caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, who did his magic on Aerosmith'southward members here. As e'er, his girl Nina's name was hidden a few times in this famous album embrace.

64: Eric B. & Rakim: Paid in Full (design by Ron Contarsy)

Betwixt the rappers' Gucci-mode outfits and the piles of money in the background, the comprehend for Eric B. and Rakim'south sophomore album Paid in Full said it all almost going bigtime in 1987 and is considered one of the greatest album covers in hip-hop.

63: Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures (design by Peter Saville)

The embrace of Joy Segmentation's 1979 debut record is an bodily delineation of radio waves. This stark black-and-white cover became so iconic that it's now worn proudly on T-shirts by teens who've never heard of the band.

62: Funkadelic: Maggot Brain (photo by Joel Brodsky, pattern by The Graffiteria/Paula Bisacca)

P-funk's wild fusion of funk, surrealism, and pop fine art extended beyond music, resulting in some of the near provocative LP covers of the era. Model Barbara Cheeseborough'southward screaming visage on the embrace captured the swirling anarchy of the 70s and searing funk-rock of Maggot Encephalon.

61: Family unit: Fearless

Ah, the days when bands had the money to bear out their wildest ideas. The cover for the British prog-stone outfit Family's 1971 album is a multi-foldout extravaganza and features an early computer graphic, adding the individual band photos to each other until they get the pretty blur at top right.

60: The Beatles: Run across the Beatles! (design by Robert Freeman)

The somber, adumbral photo featured on both the United states and United kingdom anthology version of Come across The Beatles! was just the opposite of the grinning pic that everybody expected to run into, and the first of many carry-overs from the Beatles' art-school days.

59: Pink Floyd: Ummagumma (design past Hipgnosis)

Virtually of Pink Floyd's covers would be in the running for a list of the greatest album covers, merely we wanted to highlight something that wasn't Night Side of the Moon. This burst of Storm Thorgerson / Hipgnosis imagination features four versions of the same photo (except that the band rotates ane position in each), matching their sense of surrealism.

58: Metallica: …And Justice For All (design by Stephen Gorman)

Metallica'due south trademark mix of shock value and social commentary had few better expressions than this image of a mod have on Lady Justice for their famous 1988 anthology encompass to …And Justice For All .

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57: The Mamas & The Papas: If You lot Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (design by Guy Webster)

With all 4 bandmembers together in a bathtub, the comprehend said more about The Mamas & The Papas than what was probably intended. The toilet on the original encompass of If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears also proved to be a no-no in 1966.

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56: Madonna: Madonna (blueprint past Carin Goldberg)

All of Madonna'due south album covers are striking in their own manner, but there's something special about her 1983 self-titled debut. She looks like she tin see everything that's going to happen to her in the adjacent twoscore years.

55: 10cc: Ten Out Of 10 (design by Hipgnosis)

The cover for Ten Out Of 10 remains one of Hipgnosis' fiendishly clever 10cc covers and one of their more than disregarded albums. Here they're on the 10th floor of a hotel continuing at the precipice, and only one of the guys seems concerned well-nigh it.

54: Thelonious Monk: Underground (photograph past Horn Grinner Studios; art direction/design: John Berg and Richard Mantel)

A nod to how Thelonious Monk must've felt every bit a pioneering jazz artist, Underground casts the pianist as a French Resistance fighter in WWII. Columbia Records fine art managing director John Berg was responsible for iconic covers like Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits and Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run, but this was likely ane of his more expensive: They built an entire prepare, complete with costumed extras, to create Monk's arresting anthology comprehend.

53: Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin II (design by David Juniper)

It was an art-school friend of Jimmy Page's who created this mythic cover by superimposing the bandmembers over a famous shot of WWI German fighter pilot the "Carmine Baron" and his crew. Many Americans wondered what Lucille Ball was doing there just it was really French actress Delphine Seyrig.

52: The Small Faces: Ogden's Nut Gone Flake (design by Nick Tweddell and Pete Brown)

One of the first circular covers, the tobacco-tin design for this psychedelic gem stood out in the racks and prepared you for the cheerful surrealism of the album's principal suite.

51: Dave Mason: Alone Together (design by Barry Feinstein and Tom Wilkes)

This album cover was more than of a multimedia assemblage, incorporating the dice-cut edges and the marble-swirled disc into the overall pattern and giving an instant visual paradigm to the top-hatted Dave Mason.

50: Elton John: Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Histrion (pattern past David Larkham and Michael Ross)

Some of Elton's greatest anthology covers were a bit splashy, others a lilliputian somber. The one for Don't Shoot Me I'yard Only the Piano Player was just correct, cartoon from his soon-to-be-legendary dear of movies.

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49: Ian Dury: New Boots and Panties!! (pattern by Barney Bubbles)

I of many keen Stiff Records album covers, this caught Ian Dury's personality and stood in stark dissimilarity to the elaborate sleeves on the market place at that time. Barney Bubbling also did the handwritten notes, frequently mistaken for Dury's.

48: Dave Brubeck: Time Out (cover by Neil Fujita)

Dave Brubeck'south 1959 album Fourth dimension Out is likely the most famous apply of pop art on a jazz embrace. In this case, the interlocking geometric shapes are a visual answer to the album's innovative time signatures.

47: Wendy Carlos: Switched-On Bach (design by Chika Azuma)

Sporting a photograph of JS Bach with a Moog synthesizer, Wendy Carlos' pioneering electronic album Switched-On Bach was unlike anything people had seen (or heard) before in 1968. As the starting time classical album to go platinum in America, Carlos helped to bring Bach… to the future. Raise your hand if you lot too thought the true cat was a head of lettuce.

46: Pink Floyd: Animals (design by Hipgnosis)

Not every ring would fly a pig over Battersea Power Station, merely few other bands would brand an album that admittedly called for it.

45: Hüsker Dü: Warehouse: Songs and Stories (design past Daniel Corrigan, Hüsker Dü)

The album cover for Hüsker Dü's final studio album is ane of those cases where a cover is exactly like the anthology: vivid, colorful and jarring in a welcoming way.

44: Chelsea Wolfe: Hiss Spun (design past John Crawford)

Like all goth-influenced artists, Chelsea Wolfe has a stiff sense of the dramatic. The coiled-up body on the embrace of her 2017 album embodies all the personal changes the songs bargain with.

43: Blondie: Parallel Lines (blueprint by Ramey Communications)

The swell matter nigh the famous Blondie Parallel Lines album cover isn't just the black-and-white composition but the style Debbie Harry (the but one non smiling) exudes power, while all the guys look a bit goofy.

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42: Utopia: Swing to the Right (design by John Wagman)

This Reagan-era concept album makes its visual betoken by using a photo of Beatles records being burned that followed John Lennon'due south "more popular than Jesus" remarks. But in this instance, the photo is a Mobius strip, and the anthology they're burning is the very ane they're standing in.

41: Taylor Swift: 1989 (design by Austin Unhurt and Amy Fucci)

On a throwback-themed album, Taylor Swift presents an one-time Polaroid of herself, but incomplete and out of focus. The mysterious prototype on 1989 'southward cover was an like shooting fish in a barrel 1 for her fans to copy, and they did.

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xl: Humble Pie: Rock On (design by John Kelly)

Why in the globe did Apprehensive Pie become a agglomeration of policemen to form a human being pyramid? Because they could, of form.

39: The Rascals: In one case Upon a Dream (design by Dino Danelli)

One of the many imaginative trips from the late 60s, this assemblage – past the band's drummer – represents various personal dreams of the band members.

38: PJ Harvey: To Bring You My Beloved (design by Valerie Phillips)

It may exist a more than glamorous embrace subsequently her first two, but this photo of PJ Harvey – in which she could easily be mistaken for Shakespeare's Ophelia – implied that a newer, softer image comes at a cost.

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37: Haven: Definitely Peradventure (design by Brian Cannon)

Their debut album pictured Oasis in the world'south coolest crash pad, showing every band of the era how information technology ought to exist living.

36: Grace Jones: Island Life (pattern by Jean-Paul Goude)

Graphic designer and fine art director Jean-Paul Goude met his match, and his muse, with Grace Jones. Goude'southward visual re-imagining of the androgynous singer led to some of the all-time album covers in music history, from Nightclubbing to Slave to the Rhythm and the arabesque grandeur of Isle Life. "It looked correct to me and how I felt," said Jones. "Athletic, creative, and alien."

35: A Tribe Called Quest: Midnight Marauders (photograph past Terrence A Reese, design by Nick Gamma)

Like a proto XXL "Freshman Class", the iii alternate covers of A Tribe Call Quest'south classic third album Midnight Marauders featured a collage of 71 hip-hop personalities from Afrika Bambaataa to the Beastie Boys, like the Sgt Pepper of hip-hop. Concepted by Q-Tip, the Afrocentric embrace came to fruition with the help of Nick Gamma, the former fine art director at Jive Records.

34: Fleetwood Mac: Rumours (blueprint by Desmond Strobel)

Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood looked impeccably stylish doing whatsoever it was they were doing on the famous Rumours album embrace. It's fair that the cover was a picayune mysterious since the songs revealed everything else.

33: Steely Dan: Pretzel Logic (pattern by Raeanne Rubenstein)

Though Steely Dan was long associated with Los Angeles, the cover for Pretzel Logic (really shot at 5th Avenue and 79th Street) looks, feels, and tastes like New York.

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32: Smashing Pumpkins: Adore (blueprint by Yelena Yemchuk)

Corking Pumpkins' anthology covers were often softer and prettier than the music, but this cover (created by Billy Corgan'south and so-girlfriend) is the perfect translation of the obsessively romantic theme of Adore.

31: Ohio Players: Climax (design past Joel Brodsky)

All the Ohio Players covers were legendary, and the early Westbound ones were considerably more daring than the hit-era ones for Mercury. As the band frequently claimed, fewer people would have bought the albums if they'd put themselves on the covers.

xxx: The Louvin Brothers: Satan is Real (pattern by Ira Louvin)

Modern death metal bands got nothing on state duo The Louvin Brothers, who went to the inferno in 1959 and looked great in white suits while doing information technology.

29: David Bowie: Heroes (blueprint by Masayoshi Sukita)

David Bowie has at least five of the most iconic album covers of all time. From the lightning bolt on Aladdin Sane to Ziggy Stardust, it'due south hard to selection. Just the sublime strangeness of this David Bowie photo tells you everything you lot need to know about the creative madness of his Berlin period. The cover was memorably defaced by Bowie himself decades later on.

28: Kate Bush-league: The Boot Inside (design by Jay Myrdal)

The more than ordinarily known US comprehend is squeamish plenty but makes it look similar a conventional singer-songwriter album and Kate Bush is anything but. Nosotros're referring to the original Britain "kite" embrace that introduced the strangeness and sensuality that Bush was all well-nigh.

27: Janelle Monáe: Dirty Computer (design by Joe Perez )

The perfect cover for a absurd, sensual and futuristic concept album, this captures Janelle Monáe'southward depth and mystery and is a beautiful piece of art in its own correct.

26: Miles Davis: Bitches Brew (design by Mati Klarwein)

Since Miles Davis' Bitches Brew sounded similar no other previous jazz albums, information technology couldn't look similar i either. It took a German painter schooled in surrealism to create its mix of African folk art and psychedelia.

25: David Bowie: The Adjacent Day (design by Jonathan Barnbrook)

Every fan did an firsthand double-have when they saw Bowie's act of self-sabotage here. Past defacing the Heroes cover, Bowie found the most dramatic way of saying "that was so, this is at present".

24: Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick (blueprint past Roy Eldridge)

Largely written by bandmembers Ian Anderson, John Evan, and Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond (with assistance from Chrysalis staffer and old announcer Roy Eldridge), the famous paper cover of Thick as a Brick is full of cross-references and cerebral wit – just like the music – and Anderson said it took merely equally much work.

23: Nirvana: Nevermind (design past Robert Fisher)

The prototype of a baby grasping at a dollar nib became one of grunge's coolest and well-nigh enduring symbols, an album comprehend that captured the mental attitude of Nevermind and the era. The baby in question, Spencer Elden, fifty-fifty recreated the photo 25 years later.

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22: The Who: Who's Adjacent (design by Ethan Russell)

The iconic cover for Who'due south Next worked on two levels: first every bit a futuristic epitome of The Who against a monolith; and 2nd, when you noticed their zippers and realized what the guys had been doing.

21: Uriah Heep: The Magician's Birthday (pattern by Roger Dean)

This cover is Roger Dean at his most vivid. When you walked into a record store, you could see this album clear beyond the room.

20: Cream: Disraeli Gears (cover by Martin Sharp)

Psychedelic album covers were an fine art form in themselves, and the explosion of color (with the band looking suitably avuncular) made Foam'south Disraeli Gears one of the definitive ones. The designer besides wrote 1 of the album'southward most vivid lyrics on "Tales of Dauntless Ulysses."

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19: Santana: Lotus (blueprint by Tadanori Yokoo)

Y'all don't necessarily get a matter of rare beauty when y'all load a encompass with every bit many fold-out panels and elaborate paintings as an xi-inch disc tin can hold, but Santana certainly did in this case, thanks to famed Japanese designer Tadanori Yokoo. Recorded alive during Santana's performances in Osaka, Japan, the full sleeve art is an amalgamation of Buddhist and Christian imagery, along with Yokoo'south signature pop art way.

18: 10cc: How Cartel You! (blueprint past Hipgnosis)

The ubiquitous Hipgnosis squad outdid itself with this ultra-clever 10cc sleeve, which is not merely inspired by one of the songs (the telephone sex-themed "Don't Hang Upward") but is full of hidden gags, with the same people turning upwardly in each of the 4 principal photos.

17: XTC: Go ii (pattern past Hipgnosis)

Another Hipgnosis job, the famous album cover for XTC's Go 2 boasts a dense cake of typed re-create that taunts and messes with the album buyer's head. No wonder the clever lads in XTC loved it.

sixteen: Bruce Springsteen: Built-in to Run (pattern by Eric Meola)

It'south hard to choice 1 Bruce Springsteen cover, when so many have ascended to iconic status. It could have simply as easily been Born in the USA, with its Annie Liebovitz photo and Bruce in a white t-shirt and blue jeans in front end of an American flag. Nosotros decided to go instead with this kinetic photo that captured the camaraderie of the band and the sense of rock'due north'roll mission. While the album made an instant star out of Springsteen, the cover did the same for East Street Band's sax human Clarence Clemons.

15: Ramones: Ramones (design by Roberta Bayley)

The cover of The Ramone'southward 1976 self-titled debut is pure punk stone in all its black-and-white grittiness. A proficient encompass became a slap-up one the moment when a bored Johnny Ramone decided to requite the photographer the finger.

fourteen: Pixies: Surfer Rosa (design past Vaughan Oliver)

The Pixies' debut cover is sexy, sinister, and full of secret meanings, starting with a vintage-looking softcore photo that was staged for the cover shoot.

xiii: Yes: Relayer (design past Roger Dean)

Roger Dean'south fantasy paintings became as much a role of prog-rock iconography equally the music. He fittingly put his coolest album encompass on Yes' about creative anthology, an icy winterscape that illuminates the anthology'due south war-and-peace theme.

12: Frank Sinatra: Come up Fly With Me (design by Jon Jonson)

Each i of Sinatra's Capitol-era album covers was absurd and archetype in its own fashion, from the lonely scenes on the ballad albums to the visual swagger on the swingers. The encompass of Come Fly With Me caught both Sinatra's natural charisma and the allure of the jet-prepare era.

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11: Patti Smith: Horses (design by Robert Mapplethorpe)

If Horses wasn't enough to make Patti Smith an instant icon of bohemian cool, the Robert Mapplethorpe album cover certainly was. Nobody ever slung a jacket over their shoulder that well.

x: Talking Heads: Trivial Creatures (design by Howard Finster)

Howard Finster'south uniquely Southern folk art was a perfect match for Talking Heads' back-to-roots album (and for R.Due east.1000.'south Reckoning around the same fourth dimension). While some of Finster'south work had a darker streak, for this anthology he appropriately chose sunshine and wonderment.

9: John Coltrane: Blue Train (design by Reid Miles, photo by  Francis Wolff)

Most of the classic Blue Note covers were full of vivid graphics and exuberant photos (and lots of assertion marks!). Non so with John Coltrane's Blue Train, whose cool album embrace photograph and mood lighting marked information technology as a piece of work to have seriously.

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eight: Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass: Whipped Cream & Other Delights (design by Peter Whorf Graphics)

This iconic album comprehend said it all almost coy mid-60s sexuality, bachelor-pad mode. Despite its daring appearance, if you looked closely, the whipped-cream clad model was actually wearing a wedding dress.

seven: Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp A Butterfly (photograph past Denis Rouvre, blueprint by Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free)

Finding anthology art that captured the genre-pushing ambition of To Pimp A Butterfly was a alpine order, but Kendrick Lamar and TDE were up to the task, equally Thou dot assembled his hometown coiffure for a victorious political party on the White Firm backyard, stomping on the symbol of a weaponized criminal justice system.

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6: The Rolling Stones: Let It Drain (design by Robert Brownjohn)

The Rolling Stones ever had cool, attending-grabbing anthology covers. Only while Sticky Fingers has a great story, Let It Bleed was equally unique and surreal. Taking its inspiration from the album's original title Automatic Changer, the front end has the album on a turntable stacked with all sorts of other things. We assume the mess on the backside happened after someone pressed "start."

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five: Big Blood brother & the Property Company: Cheap Thrills (blueprint by R. Crumb)

Arguably the coolest 60s album cover of all, the fine art for Big Blood brother & the Holding Company's sophomore record was also most people'southward introduction to the mode of underground comic art perfected by R. Nibble. This mode of fine art would be associated with psychedelic music from here on out, though Nibble was a bit anti-hippie himself.

iv: The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lone Hearts Guild Band (design by Peter Blake)

Peter Blake'south pop-art aggregation on Sgt. Pepper's famous album changed record covers forever, and kept many of us occupied for weeks trying to identify everybody at the ceremony.

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3: Elvis Presley: Elvis Presley (pattern by Robertson & Fresch)

RCA wasted no time in cleaning up Elvis, who'd look completely respectable on all future albums. Meanwhile, his debut allowed him to await like the crazed hillbilly everyone'southward parents feared he was, captured in mid-song at the Fort Homer Hesterly Arsenal in Tampa, Florida. Which of course leads u.s. to…

2: The Clash: London Calling (photo by Pennie Smith, pattern past Ray Lowry)

A rare instance where a parody (of the above Elvis cover) becomes a work of art in itself. The effortlessly cool album cover epitome of bassist Paul Simonon smashing his guitar practically screams rock'n'roll, simply like the music inside.

ane: The Beastie Boys: Paul's Boutique (blueprint by Nathaniel Hornblower/Jeremy Shatan)

This beautiful, panoramic view of Ludlow Street in NYC on the album cover of Paul's Boutique did everything possible to put you right into the Beastie Boys' earth, making it look both funky and inviting. Information technology besides made information technology essential to own the original, fold-out vinyl.

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Looking for more than? Discover the worst album covers of all time.

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Source: https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/the-100-greatest-album-covers/

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