notes from the couch

30. Igor – Tyler the Creator

Artist: Tyler the Creator

I don’t totally love this album cover, but I think it is definitely iconic. The stark contrast of colors and the shoddy cropping is really cool to simulate an uncaring type of style.

29. Set it Off – Offset

Artist: Amber Park, Rashetta “SheShe” Law

This is a super cool cover, pretty self-explanatory as to why. Nothing much more to say honestly.

28. Norman Fucking Rockwell! – Lana Del Rey

Photographer: Chuck Grant

Super iconic cover and the comic style punch in the corner of the title is awesome and everything about it screams iconic.

27. Bitches Brew – Miles Davis

Artist: Mati Klarwein

Totally covers the eclectic nature of the album and the mental imagery and how avengarde the whole album is, reflecting its strange and new material with a strange cover.

26. Big Brother and the Holding Company – Cheap Thrills

Artist: Robert Crumb

Striking artwork in the comic book style of the 1960s, this is one of my favorites of all time. It’s so cool how they take other elements of pop culture to influence the cover of something musical.

25. Blue – Joni Mitchell

Photographer and Director: Tim Considine and Gary Burden

This one is super iconic, even though it’s pretty simple it totally captures the mood of the whole album and the colors are great.

24. Who’s Next – The Who

Photographer: Ethan Russell

Don’t hate me but this one isn’t super special in my mind, but it definitely comes up when I think of iconic album covers and it is a pretty good album cover, so I think it deserves a spot up here.

23. Thriller – Michael Jackson

Photographer: Dick Zimmerman

Some people say that Michael Jackson’s Bad is a better cover, but I just love this one. The colors pop and it just looks so slick and the handwritten title is sick.

22. Helplessness Blues – Fleet Foxes

Artist: Toby Liebowitz

This is similar to a lot of Alternative/folk musician type covers nowadays, but they’re honestly always so good. Fleet Foxes and Father John Misty and others always have really cool concept art covers for their albums, and this happens to be my favorite of the Fleet Foxes discography.

21. Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen

Photographer: Eric Meola

This one isn’t iconic as Springsteen’s one later on in the list, but I have always loved this cover since I was younger and it still holds up so well to this day.

20. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin

Artist: George Hardie

Such an iconic album cover and I just have always loved it since I was little and think that it’s one of the best. Such a great debut album cover too.

19. Straight Outta Compton – N.W.A.

Photographer: Eric Poppleton

Also iconic, such a cool shot for an album cover that is purely photography and no other art. Super unique.

18. On the Beach – Neil Young

Artist: Bob Seidemann

The colors in this are so nice and satisfying and it’s such a pretty scene. This one isn’t as well known as a lot on the list but I really love this one.

17. Sticky Fingers – The Rolling Stones

Photographer: Andy Warhol

This one is also super iconic and controversial at the time of release, with some stores not even wanting to have it in stock, but this was also one of my favorites for a long time. Similar to Born in the USA, but less iconic.

16. Here’s Little Richard – Little Richard

Photographer: Jay Miller

Also a super iconic one, this is super simple like a lot of the covers from the 50s were but it’s so cool to me. The colors pop and Little Richard looks awesome.

15. Pure Comedy – Father John Misty

Artist: Edward Steed

This is one of my all time favorite album covers, I only have it this low because it’s not very iconic. But the amount of detail in the drawing and the night sky similar to a Van Gogh painting is just *chef’s kiss*. Amazing.

14. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars – David Bowie

Artist: Terry Pastor

A good mix of iconic and super cool looking. Also not too simple but not too complex, so it’s a good middle of the way cover. I just think there are some that are better, but still great.

13. Some Girls – The Rolling Stones

Artist: Peter Corriston

Super iconic and the colors work great together. It is a pretty memorable cover for sure.

12. Led Zeppelin IV – Led Zeppelin

Artist: Ernest Farmer

Super iconic and even though it’s pretty simple it just looks so cool and captures the essence of the album really well. I also think it’s really cool how it’s like it’s just a random painting on a badly painted wall rather than covering up the entire frame.

11. Rumours – Fleetwood Mac

Artist: Herbert Worthington

This one is super iconic. Enough said. Great album and great cover and the black and white colors fit really well with it.

10. Is This It (Original Cover) – The Strokes

Photographer: Colin Lane

The original album cover is way cooler than the one that it was replaced with. It’s bold and daring and is such a good debut album cover. I wish they kept it. It’s hard to find now unfortunately.

9. Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd

Artist: George Hardie

I’m sorry for putting this so low, I just think it’s a little too simple for me. But with how iconic it is it totally deserves to be in top 10, maybe even top 5, I just am not obsessed with it.

8. Aladdin Sane – David Bowie

Photographer: Brian Duffy

Another super iconic David Bowie one. The lightning bolt across Bowie’s face is so awesome and a signature look for him that was bold at the time. Also a cool fact is at the time of release, it was also the most expensive album cover ever made.

7. Elvis Presley – Elvis Presley

Photographer: William “Red” Robertson

Of just a single front person image for an album cover, I don’t think it gets more iconic than this. It looks so sick, like Here’s Little Richard improved upon, and the colors pop so well and it just looks amazing.

6. Born in the U.S.A. – Bruce Springsteen

Photographer: Anna Leibovitz

Super iconic cover. Totally captures the awesome title track and people just love this one and fore good reason. It’s pretty simple but the symbolism of the blue jeans, white T-shirt, and red baseball cap do well to represent the standard “American”. It’s great.

5. To Pimp a Butterfly – Kendrick Lamar

Artist: Denis Rouvre

This one is iconic and represents the entirety of the cultural significance of this album.

4. Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles

Artist: Peter Blake and Jenn Haworth

I think this is probably the best designed album cover of all time, but it’s not as drastically iconic as the top 3 in my opinion, and I like them slightly better. Taking photos of other people in history that influenced them and the whole setting is just brilliant though, and it definitely helps that it’s paired with arguably the best album of all time.

3. Wish You Were Here- Pink Floyd

Photographer: Aubrey “Po” Powell

This one is so iconic and so brilliant, and I think it’s so cool how it’s a perfect rectangle except the fire burning off the upper right edge. So sick.

2. London Calling – The Clash

Photographer: Pennie Smith

In my opinion, second most iconic album cover ever, I also love the colors once again, the same style as Elvis Presley’s debut album cover.

1. Abbey Road – The Beatles

Artist: Iain Macmillan

Totally the most iconic album cover of all time. So simple and yet so good. Everyone knows this one and how good it is.