Introducing Rolling Stone's 100 Best Albums of the 2000s

Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Albums of the 2000s was originally unveiled back in 2009. Back then, the top 50 records were featured in the magazine and the bottom 50 were exclusively online, but now the full list is here complete with all-new write-ups that provide context and commentary for every LP.

he list – which was compiled by a group of over 100 artists, critics and industry insiders – reflects the eclectic spirit of the decade with major artistic statements from garage rock revivalists (White Stripes, the Strokes), dance-floor innovators (M.I.A., LCD Soundsystem), hip-hop icons (Jay-Z, Eminem, Kanye West), resurgent classic rockers (U2, Bruce Springsteen) and unclassifiable art rockers Radiohead, who delivered the finest album of the decade along with three others in the Top 100.

Photos: Random Notes

Though many pundits had insisted throughout the Aughts that the album was on its way out in the era of iPods and a la carte downloads, this list makes a strong case that not only has the format survived the technological shift, but it has thrived in recent years.

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Song Stories

“Wild Horses”

The Rolling Stones | 1971

This slow-dance country ballad off Sticky Fingers is about co-songwriter Keith Richards really not wanting to leave his two-month-old son behind to go on tour: hence the chorus "Wild horses couldn't drag me away." Richards said he came up with the equine phrase, and Mick Jagger elaborated upon it. "Let me put it this way: I'd say, 'Mick, it goes like this: Wild horses couldn't drag me away.' Then it would be a division of labor, Mick filling in the verses," Richards told Rolling Stone.

More Song Stories entries »

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