Apple Music crowns The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill as best album of all time

Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums is a ranking of the greatest records ever made, crafted by Apple Music's team of experts alongside a select group of artists, including Maren Morris, Pharrell Williams, J Balvin, Charli XCX, Mark Hoppus, Honey Dijon, and Nia Archives, as well as songwriters, producers, and industry professionals.

“Putting this list together was a true labour of love, both in that it was incredibly difficult to do and in that we are all so passionate about it,” said Zane Lowe, Apple Music’s global creative director and lead anchor for Apple Music 1. “We were tasked with selecting the 100 best — that’s practically mission impossible. But as music fans, it was also amazing to really take a minute and sit and think about the music and albums and artists that we love so much in this context. If this list sparks more debate among fans outside of Apple Music and gets people talking passionately about the music they love, then we’ve done what we set out to do.

Apple Music ranks ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’ by Lauryn Hill as the best album of all time. pic.twitter.com/JlygK9E5jr

— Pop Base (@PopBase) May 22, 2024

Upon receiving the news, that The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill – her 1998 debut and only solo studio album – was crowned the best album of all time, Lauryn Hill told Apple Music: “This is my award, but it’s a rich, deep narrative, and involves so many people, and so much sacrifice, and so much time, and so much collective love.”

The top five Best Albums of all time, in numerical order, included Michael Jackson's Thriller, Abbey Road by The Beatles, Prince & The Revolution's Purple Rain, and Blonde by Frank Ocean.

"There’s something about the Beatles that’s always really magical to me. Believe it or not, the first song I ever actually learned to play on guitar was a Beatles song. I knew at that moment that I was going to be a guitar player. Prior to that, I played the clarinet," Nile Rodgers said of The Beatles. Meanwhile, speaking of Michael Jackson, Zane Lowe added: "Not only did it outsell everything in its opening year, it outsold everything in its second year. It changed the way people approached making music, releasing music, distributing, marketing music, and no one ever caught up to it. It set the bar so high."