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A quarter of a century ago, back when it was only his suit that was white,
Michael Jackson released Thriller. He was already famous, of course, and had
been for most of his life, first as a member of the Jackson Five, then as a
solo artist. But Thriller was something else again. As its birthday is
celebrated with the release of an expanded edition of the original album, we
will doubtless hear a lot about just how many copies it has sold.
With the former Frank Sinatra arranger/ conductor Quincy Jones behind the
mixing desk, Jackson fashioned an album that ranged from a pop duet with
Paul McCartney (The Girl Is Mine) to a rock crossover with Eddie Van Halen
on guitar (Beat It), alongside soul ballads (Human Nature) and funky R&B
(Billie Jean). He then invested heavily (financially and creatively) in the
promo videos. If you were setting out a strategy for making the
biggest-selling album of all time – and Jackson has since claimed he was –
this is how you would do it.
But the sales units aren’t what’s really important here (unless you’re a
fading star desperate for royalties on your back catalogue to prop up an
extravagant lifestyle). What matters is that Thriller redrew the map of pop.
The most effective fusion of white and black popular music since Elvis
Presley, Thriller took elements of pop, rock, soul and R&B, and melded
them together to create something new. Twenty-five years later, you can
still hear the Thriller sound all over the charts, sometimes blatantly, as
in the faithful recreations of Justin Timberlake, but, less overtly, in
almost all of the chart-dominating music that looks for the middle course
between pop and R&B: from Gwen Stefani’s whoops on The Sweet Escape to
Rihanna’s rock guitars on Shut Up and Drive. The collaborators and remixers
on the expanded Thriller’s new tracks – Akon, Kanye West, Will.i.am – surely
aren’t there because hooking up with Jackson is a great career move; they’re
there because they know the debt they owe him.
Perhaps you’re thinking that if you sell that many copies, then of course
you’re going to influence everybody. But take a look at our two tables. The
bestselling albums of all time include several that never influenced
anybody; our list of the most influential albums contains a few that never
troubled the charts. Patti Smith’s Horses, the Flying Burrito Brothers’
Gilded Palace of Sin, The Velvet Underground & Nico – these were not
megasellers, but each has carved out a vital place for themselves over time,
as generation after generation of artists looked back to them for
inspiration.
Just a note on our methodology here. Discrepancies between different
countries’ measurement systems make it hard to get a definitive list of the
world’s bestselling albums that everyone will agree with (estimates of the
global sales for Thriller, for example, vary from 40m to 100m). So, we’ve
taken the American chart and extrapolated it, essentially by removing those
acts whose nonUS sales aren’t in proportion to their Stateside success – so
goodbye, Hootie and the Blow-fish. We’ve also ditched the greatest-hits
sets. Our list of influential albums was compiled by a survey of
Culture-section regulars.
There’s a scene in the first of the modern Batman movies where the Joker,
played by Jack Nicholson, breaks into a museum. As the doors burst open, he
says to his hench-men: “Gentlemen, let’s broaden our minds.” This serves as
a good definition of what we mean by “influential” – this list contains the
albums that revealed a new world to their listeners and opened up new
territory for subsequent musicians. The Velvet Underground & Nico
broadened minds in terms of its sound (the mix of distorted guitars, droning
viola and minimalist drumming), its unusual lyrical subject matter (from
sado-masochism to heroin addiction), its production quality (lo-fi
scuzziness) and the band’s image (leather, shades, blank expressions). The
influential albums are the ones that – on their original release – made
people think “How did they do that?” (Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles), “I didn’t
know you could do that” (Bob Dylan, the Ramones), “What’s going on here?”
(Kraft-werk, Bowie, Public Enemy), or all three (Velvet Underground).
Pop music has always been about much more than just music; so, in our list,
we’ve taken a broad view of what these albums are influencing. If we had
limited ourselves exclusively to musical influence, for example, we might
have removed Ziggy Stardust (musicians inspired by glam tend to favour Marc
Bolan as a template) and replaced it with Bowie’s Low, which sowed the
musical seeds for the next decade. But Ziggy was the album that changed our
world. It told us that if you didn’t like the way you were, you could just
reinvent yourself.
In a similar way, many of the albums on that list essentially announced the
arrival of a new generation. “You don’t have to do it that way any more, you
can do it like this” is the message implicit in Never Mind the Bollocks and
Nevermind, in Revolver and It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.
A list of influential albums isn’t the same as a list of influential artists.
Elvis – who kicked the doors open before anyone – isn’t here because his
influence came through a series of singles. It’s also worth mentioning that,
while we tended to favour older works (it takes a while for an album’s
influence to be truly felt), a couple of brave, and perhaps prescient, souls
put forward Radiohead’s In Rainbows, on the basis that it will dramatically
influence the way music is distributed in the future.
The 20 bestselling albums
1 Michael Jackson, Thriller As thrilling today as it ever was.
2 Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV Still worth a listen? Ask the millions
who fought for tickets last year.
3 Pink Floyd, The Wall The alienation of the modern world? Yup, still
relevant.
4 AC/DC, Back in Black A great guitar riff never really goes out of
fashion.
5 Shania Twain, Come on Over Er, actually, we’re kind of busy right
now . . .
6 The Beatles, The Beatles (White Album) Its eclectic brilliance is
still the target that ambitious bands aim for.
7 Fleetwood Mac, Rumours You can still feel the intra-band heartbreak
behind the smooth pop songs.
8 Whitney Houston, Bodyguard OST You may think you’ve heard that song
enough now.
9 Boston, Boston Has found its rightful home on classic rock stations.
10 Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill We thought it was going to be
the beginning of a brilliant career. Oh, well.
11 Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti Many people’s favourite Zep album.
12 Eagles, Hotel California Overexposed, and soon to be over here
again.
13 Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon The album that shot the Floyd
into the super league.
14 Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA Far from his best work (try
Nebraska), but still capable of setting off those “fist pumping in the air”
reflexes.
15 Bee Gees, Saturday Night Fever OST Silly hair, silly voices, yet
somehow magnificent.
16 Guns N’ Roses, Appetite for Destruction It certainly sounds
dated now; mind you, it sounded dated even then.
17 Santana, Supernatural A remarkable resurgence late in his career,
but head instead for the early albums.
18 Meat Loaf, Bat out of Hell More is more.
19 Britney Spears, Baby One More Time Back when she was a singer, not
an increasingly distressing news story.
20 Prince, Purple Rain Before the squiggles and record-company
wrangles, he was capable of timeless genius.
The 20 most influential albums
1 The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground & Nico Hardly
anybody bought it, as the saying goes, but everyone who did formed a band.
2 Beatles, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Created the idea
of using the recording studio as an instrument.
3 David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from
Mars The arrival of postmodernism in rock’s most glamorous
self-fulfilling prophecy.
4 Patti Smith, Horses Pioneered vast new territories for women in
popular music.
5 Beach Boys, Pet Sounds The instrumentation, the harmonies, the
arrangements, the sheer ambition.
6 Beatles, Revolver Goodbye “pop group”, hello “rock band”.
7 The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced? Shaped our sonic
world – the template for guitar heroes everywhere.
8 Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited How does it feel? Like a whole new
world just opened up.
9 Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back Hip-hop
comes of age.
10 Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bollocks... Rendered the rock dinosaurs
extinct (for a while).
11 Kraftwerk, Trans-Europe Express It sounded like the future then;
eerily, it still does now.
12 Michael Jackson, Thriller The last quarter of a century of R&B
starts here.
13 Nirvana, Nevermind Rendered the rock dinosaurs extinct (again).
14 NWA, Straight Outta Compton Created the template for gangsta rap.
15 Aretha Franklin, I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You A soul
masterpiece, and an album whose anthems radiated out into the wider culture.
16 Ramones, Ramones Rock’s ultimate palate-cleanser. Generations of
punks started here.
17 Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On Motown finds its social
conscience.
18 The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Gilded Palace of Sin It was
largely ignored at the time, but where would alt-country be without it?
19 Bob Marley and the Wailers, Live! Reggae goes global.
20 Joni Mitchell, Blue Searching for sensitive singer-songwriters?
Here’s the source.
Thanks to our panel: Stephen Armstrong, Tony Barrell, Dan Cairns, Garth
Cartwright, Richard Clayton, Adrienne Connors, Tim Cooper, Matthew Davis,
Robin Eggar, Helen Hawkins, Katharine Hibbert, Stewart Lee, Bernard
MacMahon, David Mills, Patricia Nicol, Jeff Potter, Robert Sandall, Paul
Sexton, Lisa Verrico
A list without The Clash's London Calling is just ridiculous.
Marko, Haarlem, The Netherlands
Get the Bee Gees Greatest Hits Special Edition album just released last year. It's their very best plus a couple of dance remixes which are certainly worth the money themselves. It's flying off the shelves fast!
Charlie, KL, MY
Obviously no guitar players on your panel ... Eddie Van Halen's explosive playing on the incredibly energetic "Van Halen" album (1978) changed the face of guitar playing forever in a way not seen since Hendrix managed to almost depress Clapton and Townsend to the point of giving up. This album was single-handedly responsible for firstly the wave upon wave of "Super Guitar Heroes," or widdlers, that ensued throughout the 80s, and secondly the Hair Metal bands of the same decade. Not only that but it sold by the brazillion (to paraphrase a George Dubya joke).
Ephrem Q Walrus Bosom the Fourth Junior, Nether Piddlington, England
No James Brown! Why bother with these lists at all? A few years ago it would have been Sgt pepper then Revolver so now it's The Velvet Underground's turn.
So 25 years of R & B started with Thriller - what about who influenced Thriller and every other R & B record up to that point!
Samuel Dunbar, Glasgow,
Personally,
I would have went for
Low instead of
Ziggy
But then again 6 Bowie albums would have made it to the top ten,
John
BowieinDundee
BowieinDundee, Dundee, Scotland
Guns n Roses dated? That album was ground breaking!! Still sounds as fresh today which is probably why in the top selling albums!! Come on son!!!
Ben, Notts,
Of course the most influential album debate is going to totally subjective, if, as your article points out, the best selling album is subject to caveats and interpretation, it can only be so. Nevertheless, I was intrigued to see no mention of Led Zeppelin on the this list. Surely their first album has been an inspiration for just about every rock band, heavy, prog, metal, thrash, the lot. The more extreme forms are certainly not to my taste but one cannot deny the influence that Page and Plant, Jones and Bonham exerted on modern music. They are the most sampled band, spreading their influence into urban music and they have been cited as an influence by some artists that are on the list, Nirvana for one.
Still, an interesting article and something to ponder even if a definitive answer is impossible.
nick, London,
come on come on...no Neil Young? Tom Waits? Leonard Cohen?
larry, Toronto, Canada
Thriller may have sold millions, but to call it "influential" is ridiculous. By the way what makes an album influential, anyway? Rock music, and now Pop or whatever has always been self-important and over rated. In spite of this, Sgt pepper is still my favorite album, if only for the music.
Rob, denver,
No IGGY AND THE STOOGES? The band that invented punk rock? Without the Stooges there would have been no Ramones and no Sex Pistols, two bands on your "most influential" list -- and quite possibly no punk rock revolution as we knew it. Iggy is surely one of the most influential rock singer/performers. Stooges guitarists James Williamson and Ron Asheton simply wrote the book on punk rock guitar.
James W. Harris, Rydal, GEORGIA USA
How many of these did you place above Dylan? P-Lease. And Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, the Strokes . . . interesting footnotes, but not revolutionary at all. Dylan reconfigured music unlike anyone else. Of course he didn't "invent"--nobody "invents" music; but nobody has listened to what he found and reconfigured it like Dylan. Great rap? Remember what Dylan did with the talkin' blues in Subterranean Homesick Blues? There's no rap song better than that.
rmj, Dover, New Hampshire
How could John Wesley Harding be left off the list? The Anti-Sgt. Peppers influenced everything non-Prog from the 70's and beyond--country-rock, singer-songwriter, the whole "unplugged" industry. It was as influential as any album this side of the Velvet Underground.
Ice X, Livermore, CA
I'd have expected to have seen Love's Forever Changes and Primal Scream's Screamadellica in your list.
Also didn't U2s stuff also make us forget the rock dinosaurs for a while?
Bill, Newbury, England
The Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore released in 1971. It established many things: first and formost being that it was the seminal live album. Cream Wheels of Fire tried in 1968 but did not catch the excitement of live performance. Secondly it launched the rebirth of jazz, blues, and rock fusion. Again Cream tried to spark but it did not take before the egos flamed them out. Sadly Duane Allman (Eric Clapton's vote for the finest rock guitarist ever) died in 1971. Thirdly Duane's duets with Dicky Betts re-established the duel lead guitar that many bands continued on with. The legacy: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gov't Mule, Derek Trucks, the Allman Brothers still tour off of this legacy. Duane was #2 on rolling stones top 100 guitarists list.
Duane Allman was the only rock star to influence a Presidential election. In 1975 when the Carter campaign was faltering for lack of funds trhey turned to Cparicorn CEO Phil Walden who provide the essential funding to carry on.
george, nashville (musical desert), USA/TN
Ray Charles has had the best albums ever released. The list that you posted for the most influential albums does not include any of his work..............apparently this list is a hoax.
I am serious about this, get your act together
Lou Llewellyn, Airdrie, Alberta, Canada
Velvet Underground? Influential to whom? Yeah, and no James Brown? This automatically disqualifies the entire article. No Elvis, and no Little Richard? Who wrote this? Writers for Spin?
And please spare us the reference to Radiohead's "revolutionary" way of distributing records. Caring so little about your music that you don't care if it sells for anything at all is not "revolutionary," but in fact, just embarassing.
And wrong again about Sgt. Peppers. The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" was the first record to "use the recording studio as an instrument." As noted by mega Beach Boys fans, The Beatles.
Al, Omaha, NE
To CS Barnett, Detroit - to dismiss Rap is so short sighted. Production equates to influence which spurns evolution.
Paul Simmons, Basingstoke, UK
Re "2 Beatles, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Created the idea of using the recording studio as an instrument."
Well Pet sounds came first and therefore "creating the idea etc" really belongs to Brian Wilson.
Keith Geddes, Edinburgh, Scotland
"The most inflential albums" is the name of your selection and you don't mention Sinatra or Presley? Please. Get serious.
Xenophon, San Francisco, CA
I wonder why 1999 isn't on here?
Paranoid, Hartlepool,
A top 20 list with no James Brown is sadly incomplete. James Brown Live at The Apollo is one of the most influential funk albums ever written and crossed the racial divide. In addition to this, James Brown is most sampled artist in music and has influenced most genres inluding soul, funk, jazz, rock n' roll, pop, hip pop, r&b etc. The list goes on. Without James Brown, there would have been no Michael Jackson, no Marvin Gaye and no Bob Marley for that matter.
Rossa, Dublin, Ireland
Before Shania, there was Garth. The person who really exploded Country music over into the main stream. Dont give her credit for what she didnt do folks!
Jason, Calgary, Canada
A few years ago the NME sought to establish the most influential rock artist/band of all time, and came up with the Smiths. Their method took no account of sales but relied on the number of NME covers featuring the artist, the number of interviews of them or articles about them, and the number of positive mentions by other artists interviewed (in their own right) by the paper. Seemed a good method to me, though it incensed devotees of "black" music and various other bands.
Seemed the right result, too. Anyone who was young in the eighties will remember the powerful grip on the imagination exercised by Morrissey & Co. Their highly original and unforgettable songs stand up far better than those of any of their contemporaries, and for verbal sharpness, compelling imagery and melodic flair knock most contenders into a cocked hat. The only bands who can hold a candle to them are the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Elvis Costello (all have flaws) and the Colorblind James Experience (1st album).
David L, Leeds, UK,
What about Rammsteins Herzeleid, ever heard of anything more agressive?
nick, tofino, canada
Did I miss the dating parameters, here? Are you aware that record sales are measured differently, today, than in the '80's,
'70's, and '60's? Do you know how the US Billboard charts are compiled?
You might want to consider ABBA, Elton John, Frankie Valli, Julio Iglesias, Johnny Mathis, Carol King, "I Am Woman", Benny Goodman, Miles Davis, Dorsey Brothers,Artie Shaw, Harry James, and, of course, Frank Sinatra. Before you denigrate these,
I suggest, you check them out.
Please, do not call Hip-Hop, or Rap, music. They aren't.Neither belongs in the same category for any reason as
"What's Goin' On", the Beach Boy albums, or even Joni Mitchell, or The Beatles. These examples constitute 'music.'
Such an electronic product as Public Enemy are merely illiterate noises devoid of any elements constituting music
Why not have your methodology based on music for such a survey? Can anyone say form, melody,harmony, or rhythm?
CS Barnett, Detroit, USA, Michigan
1. Dylan, Highway 61. A classic, but not necessarily his most influential work. "Freewheelin'" simply rewrote the book on what you could do with a popular song lyric. It changed the Beatles, and with it the course 60s music, and you don't get much more influential than that.
2. Who invented modern rock music? No, not Revolver, and Hendrix is not "the template for guitar heroes everywhere". Cream and Led Zep did it , and for neither to be included means you've left a huge section of contemporary music
without roots. Just plain weird.
3. "Rendering rock dinosaurs extinct" (Pistols, NIrvana) - rendering anything extinct is not exactly inspirational, even if they had done so. But they didn't. What are Bollocks and Nevermind if not rock music?
Overall summary: some obvious and undeniable choices, but too many "favourites" with no attempt to objectively assess "influence".
George Houghton, Colwyn Bay,
just to add my point. Dire Straits Brothers in Arms sold More thanThriller. And was a lot more influential.
I have to agree with the comment about entertainment journalists trying to be music critics. Please stop that.
Music is all about opinion. Some like Celine Dion. Most don't.
Shania Twain. I can't stand. But she sold enough to get my respect. Led Zep influence many bands today. But they are not in the influential list. Why not?
Going back to my earlier point. This list is opinion. Not fact.
Where's Surrealistic Pillow by JeffersonAeroplane?
E.R.Mann, Warwick, U.K.
London Calling?
Ned, Cambridge, UK
Clearly you like the "old classic R'nR from the 60's' plus a bit or R'nB' and and a tablespoon of rap.
An interesting recipe, nevertheless I don't have the same taste; like many others, I suppose.
Where progressive is? Genesis or Van der Graaf?
Floyds have no influence? Ask Dream Theater or Sigur Ros.
Nirvana are in and LedZep out?
We don't even would have heard of Beatles without Presley or Little Richard or Jerry Lee L., where the 50's are?
This kind of lists are always unnecessary.
Moreover there will always be someone screaming "Milli Vanilli have deeply influenced my own pop band! Where the heck are they?"
Really unnecessary.
Riccardo Bianchini, Cremona, Italy
David, Bob Marley's Legend is a greatest hits compilation... "We’ve also ditched the greatest-hits sets."
Will, Leicester,
Hilarious that people consider an album's influence on the genre of 'Country' to represent a 'significant contribution to the world of music'!! No doubt you're the kind of people who listen to "both kinds of music......"!!!
Surprised that there's no Stones in the 'Influential' list. Also, no Led Zep??? They are twice in the 'Best Selling' list for a reason but, more importantly, their varied music is woven through far too much of what is still being released today to be ignored.
Tom, Dubai,
What are the sales figures for your list of best selling albums.What about Bob Marley's legend?
David Robinson, london, uk
Where a U2 and the Rolling Stones?
Nick K, Auckland, NZ
1 The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground & Nico - 1967
2 Beatles, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - 1967
3 David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - 1972
4 Patti Smith, Horses - 1975
5 Beach Boys, Pet Sounds - 1966
6 Beatles, Revolver - 1966
7 The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced? - 1967
8 Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited - 1965
Typical unimaginative journalism, list a bunch of late 60's/early 70's albums that "changed the world". 1 album in your top 20 since 1990 (and that was '91) come on, everyone (well everyone under the age of 30) knows music is still moving forward. What about Jeff Buckley? Radiohead? The Strokes? How about Madonna? The Beasties were more influential than Public Enemy. OK, all the above were all influence by artists on your list but then the Beach Boys and the Beatles influence one another for example. And even with your age bias where's Elvis? A very poor list
Rich, Leicester,
At least Celine Dion did nt make the influential album list. Hippee. Was expecting either Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder on the list.
Lerato, Johannesburg, South Africa
A pretty poor selection of "influential" albums based entirely on personal favourites as far as I can tell. Ziggy Stardust? Hunky Dory was far more influential and ground breaking, and where's Roxy Music? Anything the Burritos did was already pioneered by the Byrds on Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Other omissions demonstrating a tragic ignorance of the history of popular music include The Band (Music From Big Pink), The Rolling Stones (Exile on Main Street), Nick Drake (Five Leaves Left), Television (Marquee Moon), Talking Heads (the first four albums), Louis Jordan (Let the Good Times Roll), Big Mama Thornton (Ball & Chain), Howlin' Wolf (the London Sessions), Miles Davis (Kind of Blue), Van Morrison (astral Weeks), James Brown (Live at the Apollo), Love (Forever Changes), The Doors (first 3 albums), Captain Beefheart (Trout Mask Replica), Prince (Sign of the Times), The Clash (The Clash)........ I could go on all day. A sad case of entertainment journos pretending to be music critics.
Mike, Singapore,
I think you forgot Eno & Byrnes' My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
David, Saskatoon, Canada
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Road Cat, NYC, NY
Oh, please please please stop deffending Shania Twain. You sound like idoits. Much like she does.
Uptonnoblestu, london,
What about Bolan's Electric Warrior far more an influence then many of the albums quoted - Look at how much 'get it on' is used and reworked
Adam Fronteras, Rochester, Kent
That comment about Alanis and her career is totally lame.
Mark, Vancouver,
Another stupid list that trashes Shania Twain.
Newsflash, Shania influenced a whole generation of artists trying to cross over to pop from country. She is a worldwide icon that has set her mark in history.
Her style of music is unique and if you got your head out of your butt and stopped with all the hating then you would know Shania's COO album changed the face of country music forever.
Even her album before that changed a whole genre.
Merideth, London, U.K.
Shania's Come on Over is still played worldwide with many of her memorable classics from that album.
It was surely a very influential album whose songs are still very popular more than a decade after it was released.
Not to mention Shania is a music icon with her own unique style and music.
But I am not surprised someone from the U.K. went out of there way to bash a classy person like Shania again.
It must be jealousy or envy or maybe Shania turned them down for an interview because she is reclusive and private and not a media whore.
John, Boston, Mass