Recently Apple Music released their top 100 albums of all time, and all things considered it wasn’t a bad list. While I disagreed with some of the choices, Rolling Stone, and many other publications have lists that are far worse. None of the albums were bad albums, and they stayed away from hot takes.

Musical tastes are extremely subjective of course. There are people out there with terrible taste in my opinion, and others with great taste. If you polled 1,000 people you would get 1,000 different combinations.  

(Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame )

Criteria To Make The Top 10 Albums List

My criteria for my top 10 albums are simple, but difficult to reach. There can be 0 skips on the album.

I disagree with Apple making the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill their #1 album because of the skits. They are all skippable to me. It is a great album, but it can’t be in my top 10 for that reason. There can be skits, but they must be much shorter OR much better like in the Wu Tang universe. I am not going to pretend that I would rather listen to a Lauryn Hill skit than Thriller.

Related: Tyrone Johnson’s 10 Favorite Wrestlers of All Time

good kid, m.A.A.d city isn’t the 7^th best album of all time, but there are three rap albums in my top 10. Again, great album, but I see two skips. They had Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black at #8. Just Friends is too easy to skip. It’s not a good song in my opinion.

I of course have a Michael Jackson & Prince album in my top 10, but different than who Apple and many others picked.  

Mandatory Credit: Rick Stewart /Allsport

My choices are just my choices and would imagine that many will disagree with them. That doesn’t bother me at all. What hits my ears sonically should be different from everyone else. I will defend my top 10 to the death, but I recognize I will get pushback.

All I ask of those who disagree with me is to provide a superior-top ten.  

Tyrone’s Top 10 Albums Of All Time

• 10. Ghostface – Supreme Clientle

  This is an incredible album, from the best member of the Wu-Tang. The best track is Cherchez LaGhost and not because it was the hit. Ghostface does a tremendous job with the skits as well, and he doesn’t let them go too long. This is an amazing body of work.

• 9. The Brand New Heavies – Shelter

  This is the album that the least of you have listened to, but it is spectacular. Hell, some of you have never heard of them period. Crying Water is the best track, but again there are no skips. They never got their full due.

• 8. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

  Kanye was a genius before mental illness took its unfortunate toll. Years of great work culminated with this masterpiece. The best track is Runaway, but you could make an argument for All of Lights, Monster, or Lost in the World.

• 7. Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon

  The album holds up after all this time. There are people who underrate Pink Floyd to try to look cool, but they are all foolish. The best track is Time, even though Money is the most popular.

• 6. Beatles – Abbey Road

  Some say the White album is superior, but to me nothing tops this for them. They saved the best for last. Btw, it was Paul’s fault that they broke up and it was pinned on Yoko Ono. Picking the best track is difficult, Come Together is the most iconic, but Here Comes the Sun is just as good. I Want You (She’s so Heavy) has an argument as well.

• 5. Queens of the Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf

  The greatest rock band of all time comes out ahead of Pink Floyd and the Beatles. QOTSA don’t have a bad song, let alone a bad album. On this beautiful body of work, No One Knows is the best track, followed by Go with the Flow, and Hangin’ Tree. Again, they are the best rock band of all time.

• 4. Jay-Z – The Blueprint

  Some would argue that Reasonable Doubt was a better album, but I disagree. The Blueprint is not only the best Jay-Z album of all time, but also the best hip-hop album of all time. Song Cry is the best track. You can make the argument that Renegade has the best back and forth in music period. This album has everything.

• 3. Michael Jackson – Off the Wall

  While Thriller is the biggest selling album of all time (greatest hits albums don’t count), I have always thought Off the Wall was the better body of work. Rock With You is the best track, but you can’t go wrong. I Can’t Help It is the best ballad of his career.

• 2. Stevie Wonder – Songs in the Key of Life

  Nobody had a better run than Stevie did in the 70s. He has become the most underrated artist in music history, even though he is the best living musician. This is his best album and could easily have been #1. As is the best track but Knocks Me off My Feet is right there. This album also includes Sir Duke and I Wish.

• 1- Prince – Sign O’ the Times

  Purple Rain gets the fanfare but Sing O’ The Times is the best album of all time. It is a more mature version of Prince, and not as easily digested, which is a good thing in my opinion. Adore is the best track, and one of the few songs that are impossible to cover well. TLC did a nice job covering If I Was Your Girlfriend for example, but when you compare the tracks, you see the clear difference in ability. It is fitting that the GOAT artist, has the GOAT album.

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