I finished the 1001 Albums list (1089 total)
Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2026 7:35 am
It took me a little over 4 years, but I made it through every album across all editions of the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die list.
Links:
https://1001albumsgenerator.com/shares/ ... 4118b9f7fb
https://1001albumsdashboard.fun/6189c67 ... 4118b9f7fb
I’ve been posting every 100 albums — so here are my summary for the final 89.
New 5-Star Albums (7)
Pretenders - Pretenders
Pixies - Bossanova
The Clash - London Calling
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
Big Brother & The Holding Company - Cheap Thrills
Simon & Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
The Beatles - A Hard Day’s Night
New 1-Star Albums (4)
Nitin Sawhney — Beyond Skin
Skepta — Konnichiwa
Mariah Carey — Butterfly
Bee Gees — Trafalgar
Genre Check-In
Top 3 stayed the same:
Punk
Grunge
Reggae (thanks to all the ska + ska-adjacent albums getting lumped in here)
Bottom 3 also unchanged:
Hip-Hop
World
Salsa
New “3-Star Streak” (6 in a row)
Billy Bragg - Talking With the Taxman About Poetry
Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Everything But The Girl - Walking Wounded
Adam & the Ants - Kings of the Wild Frontier
Pet Shop Boys - Behaviour
Overall Thoughts
I ended up as finisher #620 on the list. That number feels weirdly both high and low at the same time.
Also: this book is very obviously curated by a British dude. There are so many albums that feel hyper-specific to scenes I’d never have encountered otherwise, and we definitely did not need multiple Dexys Midnight Runners albums.
That said… for what it’s trying to do, it’s kind of impressive. Condensing popular/important music from the 1950s through the 2020s into 1001 albums (well… 1089 across editions) is a pretty wild undertaking.
“Pick Your Favorite Album” (impossible, but I tried)
When you finish, it asks you to pick your favorite album. Which is ridiculous. How do you pick one?
I went with Nirvana - Nevermind. That’s the album that changed everything about how I listen to music. If I hadn’t heard it when I was 11, I can’t imagine I ever would’ve done this whole project.
Submitting a User Album?
I’m still figuring out what I want to submit to the user albums list.
The most obvious omissions (IMO) are already taken care of — like at least one Weezer album (Blue or Pinkerton) and at least one Blink-182 album.
Right now I’m leaning toward Slapstick - Slapstick (S/T). They were hugely influential in the midwest punk/ska/emo scene in the 90s, and their “family tree” is massive.
Doing It as a Group
I somehow convinced three friends to do this with me the whole way — and we even met up in person for the final album.
Seeing everyone’s reviews, trash-talking each other’s taste, and having those moments where we all agree, especially on something we were surprised by, whole thing way more fun than doing it solo
Links:
https://1001albumsgenerator.com/shares/ ... 4118b9f7fb
https://1001albumsdashboard.fun/6189c67 ... 4118b9f7fb
I’ve been posting every 100 albums — so here are my summary for the final 89.
New 5-Star Albums (7)
Pretenders - Pretenders
Pixies - Bossanova
The Clash - London Calling
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
Big Brother & The Holding Company - Cheap Thrills
Simon & Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
The Beatles - A Hard Day’s Night
New 1-Star Albums (4)
Nitin Sawhney — Beyond Skin
Skepta — Konnichiwa
Mariah Carey — Butterfly
Bee Gees — Trafalgar
Genre Check-In
Top 3 stayed the same:
Punk
Grunge
Reggae (thanks to all the ska + ska-adjacent albums getting lumped in here)
Bottom 3 also unchanged:
Hip-Hop
World
Salsa
New “3-Star Streak” (6 in a row)
Billy Bragg - Talking With the Taxman About Poetry
Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Everything But The Girl - Walking Wounded
Adam & the Ants - Kings of the Wild Frontier
Pet Shop Boys - Behaviour
Overall Thoughts
I ended up as finisher #620 on the list. That number feels weirdly both high and low at the same time.
Also: this book is very obviously curated by a British dude. There are so many albums that feel hyper-specific to scenes I’d never have encountered otherwise, and we definitely did not need multiple Dexys Midnight Runners albums.
That said… for what it’s trying to do, it’s kind of impressive. Condensing popular/important music from the 1950s through the 2020s into 1001 albums (well… 1089 across editions) is a pretty wild undertaking.
“Pick Your Favorite Album” (impossible, but I tried)
When you finish, it asks you to pick your favorite album. Which is ridiculous. How do you pick one?
I went with Nirvana - Nevermind. That’s the album that changed everything about how I listen to music. If I hadn’t heard it when I was 11, I can’t imagine I ever would’ve done this whole project.
Submitting a User Album?
I’m still figuring out what I want to submit to the user albums list.
The most obvious omissions (IMO) are already taken care of — like at least one Weezer album (Blue or Pinkerton) and at least one Blink-182 album.
Right now I’m leaning toward Slapstick - Slapstick (S/T). They were hugely influential in the midwest punk/ska/emo scene in the 90s, and their “family tree” is massive.
Doing It as a Group
I somehow convinced three friends to do this with me the whole way — and we even met up in person for the final album.
Seeing everyone’s reviews, trash-talking each other’s taste, and having those moments where we all agree, especially on something we were surprised by, whole thing way more fun than doing it solo
