Flip the Beatles. Lauryn Hill tops Apple Music’s new Top 100 Albums of All Time list.

Apple Music releases a list of the 10 best albums ever made

According to a new ranking published by Apple Music, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” was named Lauryn Hill’s best album ever. The rest of the top ten shows a strong lean toward hip-hop and R&B artists, away from the classic rock titans who have long dominated similar canonical roundups.

Apple Music called Hill’s 1998 album “a stunningly raw, profound look at the spiritual landscape of not only one of the biggest stars of his era, but of the era itself,” praising Hill for being “a once-in-a-generation talent whose inspiration and innovation can be hear for decades.”

Hill’s album, her solo debut after achieving international success with The Fugees, won five Grammy Awards upon initial release, setting a new record for the most Grammy Awards won by a female artist in a single ceremony.

The new Apple Music list was developed with input from artists, songwriters, producers, industry professionals and members of Apple’s editorial board. Apple Music stressed that it was not intended to be considered a reflection of the platform’s most-streamed offering, but rather “a love letter to the records that have shaped the world in which music lovers live and listen.”

Top 100 albums lists have long been a staple of music industry media, popularized by magazines such as Rolling Stone, whose own lists over the decades have cemented the “all-time” reputations of such baby boomer stalwarts as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and the Beach Boys. .

Meanwhile, the new Apple Music playlist is more focused on female artists and artists of color. Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Kendrick Lamar and Frank Ocean rank high among the Hills runners-up, although The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” and Nirvana’s “Nevermind” secured a spot in the overall top ten:

1. Lauryn Hill, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” (1998)
2. Michael Jackson, “Thriller” (1982)
3. Beatles, “Abbey Road” (1969)
4. The Prince and the Revolution, “Purple Rain” (1984)
5. Frank Ocean, “Blonde” (2016)
6. Stevie Wonder, “Songs in the Key of Life” (1976)
7. Kendrick Lamar, “Good Kid, MAAd Town” (2012)
8. Amy Winehouse, “Back to Black” (2006)
9. Nirvana, “Nevermind” (1991)
10. Beyoncé, “Lemonade” (2016)

Beyoncé, Prince, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles and Radiohead are the only bands to have more than one album make the overall top 100 list.

There are four 21st century albums in Apple Music’s top 10, while even the most recent edition of Rolling Stone’s top albums list (which placed Hill’s album at No. 10) covered mostly the pre-sophomore period. The ’90s were the most represented decade overall, with 23 albums. Oldest album on the list: Miles Davis’s “Kind of Blue” from 1959.

As for Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones, their albums ranked 14th (“Highway 61 Revisited”), 20th (“Pet Sounds”) and 53rd (“Exile on Main Street”).

According to Apple Music tags, the most represented genre among the top 100 is hip-hop; over a fifth of the list are albums from this genre, compared to 18% of albums labeled rock and 16% of albums labeled pop.

Those who follow Beef Lamar with rapper Drake He will note that the latter, although on the overall list of 100 albums, ranks much lower than its sparring partner – Drake’s 2011 album “Take Care” ranks 47th.

Swifties can rest easy as Taylor Swift made the list, landing at number 18 with “1989 (Taylor’s Version).”