Curated rankings
Best Rap Album Lists
Every list is built only from albums we have reviewed in full and ranked by each review's six-part scorecard, so a list re-sorts itself when a review is rescored. See the methodology.
20Lists
129Albums ranked
Decade by decade
By era
Top 25
The 25 Best Hip-Hop Albums of All Time
25 albums ranked
Top 34
The Best '90s Hip-Hop Albums
34 albums ranked
Top 22
The Best 2000s Hip-Hop Albums
22 albums ranked
Top 32
The Best 2010s Hip-Hop Albums
32 albums ranked
Top 20
The Best Hip-Hop Albums of the 2020s (So Far)
20 albums ranked
Top 9
The Best Rap Albums of 2014
9 albums ranked
Top 15
The Best Rap Albums of 2018
15 albums ranked
Top 10
The Best Rap Albums of 2022
10 albums ranked
12 essentials
Hip-Hop Albums for Beginners: 12 Places to Start
12 albums, in release order
Scenes, sounds, stories
By city, style and theme
Top 27
The Best Debut Hip-Hop Albums
27 albums ranked
Top 11
The Best Atlanta Rap Albums
11 albums ranked
Top 10
The Best Chicago Rap Albums
10 albums ranked
Top 11
The Best Mafioso and Coke Rap Albums
11 albums ranked
Top 12
The Best Experimental Hip-Hop Albums
12 albums ranked
Top 12
The Best Underground Hip-Hop Albums
12 albums ranked
Top 17
The Best Hip-Hop Concept Albums
17 albums ranked
Top 11
The Best Albums Produced by Kanye West
11 albums ranked
Top 23
The Best Hip-Hop Group and Duo Albums
23 albums ranked
Top 15
The Best Introspective Rap Albums
15 albums ranked
Top 8
The Best G-Funk Albums
8 albums ranked