80. TRAGIC KINGDOM (NO DOUBT)
Year of Release: 1995
Labels: Trauma, Interscope
Key Tracks: "Spiderwebs," "Don't Speak," "Just a Girl," "Sunday Morning"
When Tragic Kingdom came out in 1995, its sound was completely new to many people, especially here in the Philippines. But the album is so much more than an experiment in ska punk sounds, though that's the beating heart that energizes many of the singles and most exciting tracks. "Don't Speak" is a straight out pop-rock ballad that could have found a home on a regular mainstream pop album, but only Gwen Stefani's unique tone could have it given it as much emotional power.
79. ALRIGHT, STILL (LILY ALLEN)
Year of Release: 2006
Label: Regal
Key Tracks: "Smile," "Knock 'Em Out," "LDN," "Alfie"
Such a naughty, foul-mouthed Brit, this Lily Allen! Well, her sophomore album It's Not Me, It's You one-ups Alright, Still with the wonderfully sweet "Fuck You," but there's still a lot here to offend easily offended sensibilities and please fans of just really good, catchy, mature pop-rock. The first three songs in the album are the perfect gateway to what Lily Allen is capable of. The ending song, "Alfie," is the perfect bookend, especially if you've seen with "Game of Thrones" and Jojo Rabbit how far her little brother has gone.
78. 1989 (TAYLOR SWIFT)
Year of Release: 2014
Label: Big Machine
Key Tracks: "Blank Space," "Style," "Shake It Off," "Clean"
As is (and will be) evidenced by its general absence in my lists, I'm not a big fan of country music. So it's probably not surprising that it's Taylor Swift's most pop release up to that date that made it in. It's a veritable list of hits and tracks that are just simply fun to sing to and dance to, the standout among those of course being "Shake It Off," which is so hard to shake off. A personal favorite of mine though is "Clean," her collaboration with Imogen Heap.
77. THE IDLER WHEEL... (FIONA APPLE)
Year of Release: 2012
Labels: Clean Slate, Epic
Key Tracks: "Every Single Night," "Werewolf," "Hot Knife"
Full title: The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do. Not the longest title of a Fiona Apple album, believe it or not. If you think it's a bit pretentious, the music contained therein is anything but. Apple has always been a fiercely, unapologetically honest musician. While her angst is gentler and more refined here, her artistry is sharper than ever. Really, getting the album is worth it even just for "Hot Knife," probably her most creative and playfully sensual song ever and a new favorite for chorale groups to try out their harmonies.
76. ALISHA RULES THE WORLD (ALISHA'S ATTIC)
Year of Release: 1996
Label: Mercury
Key Tracks: "I Am, I Feel," "Indestructible," "Alisha Rules the World," "Just the Way U Like It"
As I was looking at the tracks of this album to pick the Key Tracks, I realized that I fiercely like virtually all of the songs here. The album is so coherent in theme and flavor that the songs transition to each other very neatly, but you won't confuse one with the other. Each one is its own wonderful little monster. There's a sweetly sinister undertone to most of the songs, and the Poole sisters' sweet voices make that stand out even more. Sweet voice or no, "I Am, I Feel," "Indestructible," and "Alisha Rules the World" are girl-power anthems that long predate the #MeToo movement. The music videos are great, too!
75. THE BOOK OF SECRETS (LOREENA MCKENNIT)
Year of Release: 1997
Labels: Quinlan Road, Warner Bros.
Key Tracks: "The Mummers' Dance," "Prologue," "The Highwayman"
It's interesting that I had to turn to a Canadian when I was looking for a more Celtic flavor than what Enya's newer albums were giving me. Add to that the fact that I had no idea who Loreena McKennit was when I saw the cassette tape of The Book of Secrets in a record store (remember those?); I just liked the cover and thought it gave a mystical aura. Lo and behold, it contained "The Mummers' Dance," which was a sort of crossover hit at the time. The dance version was cool and all, but the real thing was in this album and I was ecstatic. McKennit's albums take you on a journey to exotic markets, forgotten roads, lush vineyards, ancient forests, temples and groves of power. "The Mummers' Dance" gave this an edge over her other albums, but all of those will take you to realms that you may have thought only books can bring you to.
74. STEREO ★ TYPE A (CIBO MATTO)
Year of Release: 1999
Label: Warner Bros.
Key Tracks: "Moonchild," "Lint of Love," "Sci-Fi Wasabi"
My love of Japanese culture probably plays a big role in why I love this album so much, but it's not as if you'd even know the singers are Japanese when you hear the outstanding, solemn "Moonchild," as I did on a local rock radio station (how I miss NU 107!). It becomes more obvious when they get cute and playful in their other tracks, such as "Lint of Love" and "Sci-Fi Wasabi." It's hard to classify it into particular genres, but at the end of the day, it doesn't and shouldn't matter. It's just pure joy, period.
73. LUNGS (FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE)
Year of Release: 2009
Label: Island
Key Tracks: "Dog Days Are Over," "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)"
Whether you like their songs or not, it's hard to deny the hypnotic power of Florence Welch's immaculate voice. In a wonderful album that transcends genre boundaries, the animal-named singles are truly the standouts and the best showcase of Florence's vocal prowess and the band's musicality. But the rest of the album isn't a slouch, either.
72. TIGERLILY (NATALIE MERCHANT)
Year of Release: 1995
Label: Elektra
Key Tracks: "Wonder," "Jealousy," "Carnival," "San Andreas Fault"
Natalie Merchant's is one of the most easily recognizable voices in music. She served 10,000 Maniacs well as its lead vocalist for 12 years, but thank the heavens that she went solo! Otherwise, we wouldn't have had the gem that is Tigerlily! "Wonder" is an enthusiastic anthem on self-worth that more people should be listening to nowadays. "Jealousy" has angst but never feels bitter (it's interesting that this album came out at around the same time as Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill). Most of the rest are slow tunes that won't excite a lot of people, but with Merchant's voice and lyrics, there's always so much to unpack.
71. MEDUSA (ANNIE LENNOX)
Year of Release: 1995
Labels: RCA, Arista
Key Tracks: "No More I Love You's," "A Whiter Shade of Pale," "Take Me to the River," "Thin Line Between Love and Hate"
An album of purely covers isn't always exciting unless it's experimental, but when you have a voice like Annie Lennox's that's capable of expressing so much emotion and is all her own, you can get away with just about anything. Each and every song here almost becomes an Annie Lennox original, the way she takes ownership of them with her characteristically powerful vocals. But really, it's mostly about "No More I Love You's," an odd song with an even odder music video. I can't understand how it became a hit; it likely wouldn't be one now. But it's absolutely fantastic and quintessential Lennox: melodic, strange, a tad dark, but undeniable beautiful.
70. RHYTHM NATION 1814 (JANET JACKSON)
Year of Release: 1989
Label: A&M
Key Tracks: "Rhythm Nation," "Miss You Much," "Black Cat"
I'm not really a fan of Janet Jackson. But considering her icon status, I felt that it wouldn't have been right for me to create this list before trying to listen to at least one of her albums. Most similar lists include Control, her third studio album. But I was drawn to Rhythm Nation 1814, her more personal and more political album. There's righteous anger here, and calls to arms, but there are also pop standards like "Miss You Much." It's a really solid collection.
69. WHISPER NOT (ELLA FITZGERALD)
Year of Release: 1966
Label: Verve
Key Tracks: "Sweet Georgia Brown," "Thanks for the Memory," "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," "Matchmaker"
I had a late jazz phase. I started really listening to the greats only less than five years ago. I started with Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Ella Fitzgerald. It didn't take me long to realize who was my favorite. Lady Ella. The Queen of Jazz. First Lady of Song. She deserves each and every moniker that gives her a place of honor in the halls of jazz music. The way she interprets a song, playing around with it, especially when she does scat singing (no one better!)--it's pure joy to listen to. Her vocal control is astounding in tracks like "Thanks for the Memory," and the classic "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" is a perfect showcase of the playfulness that has endeared her to audiences during her live performances.
68. EMOTION (CARLY RAE JEPSEN)
Year of Release: 2015
Labels: 604, School Boy, Interscope
Key Tracks: "I Really Like You, "LA Hallucinations," "When I Needed You"
This was a very pleasant surprise. I must admit that I had been quick to dismiss Carly Rae Jepsen as just one of many disposable pop acts because of her catchy but otherwise uninteresting (for me) hit "Call Me Maybe." I wanted to understand why so many people, including friends that I know to be sensible, worship her. So I listened to this album (and yeah, I had to get over the stylized way by which the title is written on the album). I got hooked. I'm not a devotee yet, but I can understand why now. This is probably the closest that an album has gotten to pure, unadulterated pop in a long while. And that purity shows me that Jepsen really knows herself, and her fans. Why change a winning formula when it's this sweet and blissful?
67. BODY TALK (ROBYN)
Year of Release: 2010
Label: Konichiwa
Key Tracks: "Time Machine," "Indestructible," "Dancing On My Own"
I have loved Robyn for a long time for her 1997 pop hit "Show Me Love," which for me is one of the all-time best pop songs. But that was the extent of my knowledge of her music...until I listened to Body Talk. Turns out I had known but a very, very small percentage of her genius. Body Talk is a brilliant dance/electro-pop project that really gets you going from the first track all the way to the end. I'm honestly not sure how I feel about "U Should Know Better," her collaboration with Snoop Dogg, but the rest makes you feel that you've gone to the trippiest club during a spontaneous trip to Europe. So enjoyable.
66. THE ELECTRIC LADY (JANELLE MONÁE)
Year of Release: 2013
Labels: Wondaland Arts Society, Bad Boy, Atlantic
Key Tracks: "Electric Lady," "Q.U.E.E.N.," "Dance Apocalyptic," "Dorothy Dandridge Eyes," "Givin' Em What They Love"
There are few artists today as exciting and as deserving of the label "artist" as Janelle Monáe. Her acting career aside, every Monáe album is a mosaic that would have been a dirty mess in the hands of a lesser artist. With The Electric Lady and her other albums, she weaves through jazz, rock, hip hop, soul, and punk like it has always made perfect sense for one person to be so good at all of them. Though there's no throw-away track in the entire album, the title single and her collaborations with fellow musical prodigies Erykah Badu, Solange, and Esperanza Spalding are particular highlights. Such an electric album!
65. LET'S TALK ABOUT LOVE (CELINE DION)
Year of Release: 1997
Labels: Columbia, Epic
Key Tracks: "My Heart Will Go On," "To Love You More," "Tell Him," "Treat Her Like a Lady," "Immortality"
Celine Dion's albums are all showcases of her incomparable vocals; the inclusion of the Titanic theme song "My Heart Will Go On" and "To Love You More" here make it true for this album. Let's Talk About Love also showcases Dion's ability to gather some of the best artists in the industry to jam with her. Here we have Carole King, Barbra Streisand, the Bee Gees, Luciano Pavarotti, to name a few. All stellar, of course, but I have a special affection for her collab with Diana King on the reggae track "Treat Her Like a Lady." Essentially, Dion proved with that track that she can do just about everything and still be the ultimate pop diva that she is.
64. THE DIARY OF ALICIA KEYS (ALICIA KEYS)
Year of Release: 2003
Label: J
Key Tracks: "If I Ain't Got You," "Karma," "Heartburn," "Dragon Days"
For me, this sophomore album is much stronger than her critically acclaimed debut. At this point, Alicia Keys has become a much more confident musician, her sound more complete and her voice more powerful. While "If I Ain't Got You" is the signature song of the album, and rightly so, "Karma" and "Heartburn" are strong anthems that drive the narrative force of this more personal release. As the title suggests, this is the album that gives audiences a better look at the soul of one Alicia Keys.
63. FIRST LOVE (UTADA HIKARU)
Year of Release: 1999
Label: Toshiba EMI
Key Tracks: "Automatic," "First Love," "Movin' On Without You," "Time Will Tell"
Twenty one years after its release, First Love is still the bestselling Japanese album of all time. With four fantastic, ultra-memorable singles, that shouldn't be surprising. Utada Hikaru defined J-Pop for a whole generation of fans. That fellow superstar Hamasaki Ayumi made an official cover of "Movin' On Without You" as part of a tribute album to her is a testament to how much of an impact she has had on Japanese music. And all those Kingdom Hearts and Evangelion Rebuild songs! That she would come up with even more tonally and lyrically accomplished albums than this one is almost a marvel, but this album will forever be treasured for introducing Utada to the world.
62. HAUNTED (POE)
Year of Release: 2000
Label: Atlantic
Key Tracks: "Walk the Walk," "Haunted," "Control"
The criminally underrated artist Poe is probably still more famous for her debut album Hello, which is definitely a fierce and amazing album with a load of earworms, but true to its title, it's her second album that, well, haunted me with its dark lyrics, sick beats, and Poe's forlorn voice. It's a much more mature and thematic offering from Poe, whose brother Mark Z. Danielewski wrote the cult classic House of Leaves; the siblings, who have collaborated on several projects, consider their respective creations to be companion pieces of sorts. How I wish the label "cult classic" were also attached to this underappreciated gem.
61. COURT AND SPARK (JONI MITCHELL)
Year of Release: 1974
Label: Asylum
Key Tracks: "Help Me," "Free Man in Paris," "Raised on Robbery," "Twisted"
This is the first of several Joni Mitchell albums that are in my list of the 100 best albums by women. If you've been following her discography, you'd probably know what the other ones are. While Court and Spark doesn't quite reach the status of those more iconic works, it has it own jewels displaying Mitchell's gravelly voice and intelligently poetic lyrics. Here, she's beginning to lean toward the jazzier parts of her musical resume, which would come to characterize most of her later career. "Help Me," "Free Man in Paris," and "Raised in Robbery" are just as good as her more famous singles in capturing the essence of Mitchell's music. "Twisted," which is a cover, is decidedly different in tone from the rest of the album and could give an idea as to why artists like Tori Amos were drawn to her.
TOP 20
Numbers 21-40
Numbers 41-60
Numbers 81-100
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Sometime in 1995, when I was in high school, I bought my first ever music albums: Mariah Carey's Daydream and Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill. Two modern classics from rather different genres. Genre-wise, my taste in music mostly settled in the pop-rock spectrum in the early years of my being a purchasing fan. Eventually, I discovered alternative music with Tori Amos and Björk, "New Age" with Enya (though she has never warmed to the term or her inclusion among its stalwarts) and, much later, jazz with the legends, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. My love for anime and Japanese culture in general also got me hooked on J-Pop in the 2000s. Long story short: my taste in music is rather eclectic and even perhaps a little unconventional (I don't know if anyone among my friends even knows who the Mediæval Bæbes are, and I have three of their albums), but there is one thing that all (save for two, and of course the compilation albums and soundtracks) my albums have in common: they're made by solo women or female-fronted acts. I enjoy music by male acts just like most others, but I've almost never found the urge to buy any of their records. Women's records, on the other hand: my wall's covered with shelves of their cassette tapes and CDs.
NPR has an awesome list of "The 150 Greatest Albums By Women" (here's the link: https://www.npr.org/2017/07/24/538387823/turning-the-tables-150-greatest-albums-made-by-women), but given how much I absolutely love women's music, I decided to come up with my own list. I've been working on this for maybe two months, and there's no better time to start sharing it than today, on International Women's Day. Most of these have been albums that I've listened to and sang to countless times, while some are things that I felt I had to listen to first before I could justifiably come up with a list that was anywhere close to just and properly representative. Still, at the end of the day, it's my personal taste, so I'm bound to have missed many of your own personal faves.
Anyway, here goes. As with my lists of movies, my goal is to encourage people to try some of these out if they haven't yet. So enjoy reading and, more importantly, listening!
100. BEAUTIFUL GARBAGE (GARBAGE)
Year of Release: 2001
Labels: Almo, Interscope
Key Tracks: "Androgyny," "Cherry Lips"
The third album of Garbage was probably its most polished up to that date and gave the band's fans a different, more pop-dance feel. The beats of "Androgyny"--as well as its message--were infectious, and vocalist Shirley Manson's voice is sweetly versatile on "Cherry Lips." But it's hard to top their first album, coming later in this list, for its pure burst of intelligence and rawness.
99. THINK TANK (TANK AND THE BANGAS)
Year of Release: 2013
Key Tracks: "Boxes and Squares," "Human"
Last year, Tank and the Bangas was thrust into the limelight by that shocking Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. I had not heard of Tarriona "Tank" Ball prior to that, so I had to look them up. Such a discovery! Their performance in the NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert (which you can see here), especially of their signature song "Boxes and Squares," is pure joy. A lot of the spontaneity of their live performances is lost in the transition to a recorded album, but their debut is still so enjoyable. The biologically informed ode to the uniqueness of the human body, "Human," is beautiful in its reminder of how special each individual is, as music should remind us more often.
98. RETRO (REGINE VELASQUEZ)
Year of Release: 1996
Label: Mercury
Key Tracks: "Shake Your Groove Thing," "Zoom," "Dance With Me"
Philippine media has a risible (at best) tendency to label some of the country's artists as Asia's this or that, even if their career hasn't quite earned them the moniker. However, Regine Velasquez, "Asia's songbird," has somehow earned it. Retro is the third and last of the great trio of records that made her a popular artist in the region. Retro might not be the most pop of the three and mostly consists of covers of classics, but it's certainly the best technical production. Regine's singing was also probably at its best, but a lot of that had to do with the great arrangements on each song, especially the Peaches & Herb classic "Shake Your Groove Thing." "Dance With Me" is a sweet gem where she duets with her mother.
97. SASSY SWINGS AGAIN (SARAH VAUGHAN)
Year of Release: 1967
Label: Mercury
Key Tracks: "Sweet Georgia Brown," "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," "Every Day I Have the Blues"
Such a voice! Ella Fitzgerald's vocal power and scatting calisthenics are incomparable, but the pureness of Sarah Vaughan's voice, and her level of control of it, have rightly made many critics--and fellow artists like Frank Sinatra--consider hers to have been the most beautiful voice in jazz. It is perfection here, especially in her rendition of the Tony Bennett signature "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."
96. GARBAGE (GARBAGE)
Year of Release: 1995
Label: Almo
Key Tracks: "Only Happy When It Rains," "Stupid Girl," "Milk"
Beautiful Garbage and Version 2.0 were worthy follow-ups with their own earworms, but the raw energy of the band's self-titled debut album is unbeaten. With five singles, it gave listeners a lot of reasons to recognize the band's genius and the bright future that they would have in the music industry.
95. BADUIZM (ERYKAH BADU)
Year of Release: 1997
Labels: Kedar, Universal
Key Tracks: "On and On," "Rimshot," "Next Lifetime"
Speaking of earworms, probably no one had an easy time shaking off the beats (from opening to end!) of "On and On," the song that launched the wonderful Erykah Badu into public consciousness. But "On and On" is far from being the only song in Baduizm that showcases her unique vocals and musicality. True to its name, the album defies its listeners not to declare themselves disciples of this new philosophy or religion.
94. TO BRING YOU MY LOVE (PJ HARVEY)
Year of Release: 1995
Label: Island
Key Tracks: "Down by the Water," "To Bring You My Love"
The alt-rock queen rawness of PJ Harvey has catapulted her to the top of many people's lists of icons in those genres, and "Down by the Water," with its eerie image of a child drowning, was the perfect introduction to her unique flavor. Many of her later albums are more critically acclaimed and have shown her considerable growth as an artist, but she got me hooked with her whispered incantation of "Little fish, big fish, swimming in the water
Come back here, man, gimme my daughter." Shivers.
93. HEART IN MOTION (AMY GRANT)
Year of Release: 1991
Label: A&M
Key Tracks: "Every Heartbeat," "Baby Baby," "That's What Love Is For," "I Will Remember You"
Released in 1991, the saccharine Heart in Motion took the best of pop flavors from both the 80s and the 90s, producing some of the cutest love songs ever ("Every Heartbeat," "Baby Baby") but also heartfelt pieces like "That's What Love Is For" and "I Will Remember You," which deserve to be remembered more as the love song gems that they are.
92. SONGS IN A MINOR (ALICIA KEYS)
Year of Release: 2001
Label: J
Key Tracks: "Girlfriend," "Fallin'," "A Woman's Worth"
Now one of America's most loved and respected artists of her generation, Alicia Keys debuted her soulful singing and piano-playing with hit after hit from this album. If just based on the singles off it, I'd be ranking this much higher, but I didn't quite fall in love with the rest of the 16 tracks. But even then, one thing was crystal clear: Alicia Keys is an intelligent and masterful artist...and she would prove it again with her next album.
91. SUPERSTITION (SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES)
Year of Release: 1991
Labels: Polydor, Geffen
Key Tracks: "Kiss Them For Me," "Fear (of the Unknown)"
Siouxsie Sioux and her band are stalwarts of the post-punk, goth rock movement that would influence many artists after them, and their debut album The Scream started them off loudly on that trajectory. It's a strong album, but for me, Sioux's voice and the band's performance as a whole are much more colorful--an odd word to use for a goth band, I know!--and dynamic in Superstition, their 10th studio album. They earned a new following from their wonderful song "Kiss Them For Me," made mesmerizing by the instrumentation of Tabla player Talvin Singh. The rest of the album is similarly wickedly melodic.
90. MY LOVE EMOTION (REGINE VELASQUEZ)
Year of Release: 1995
Labels: Polycosmic, Mercury
Key Tracks: "You've Made Me Stronger," "My Love Emotion," "Fast," "Perfect"
Regine Velasquez was at the peak of her popularity in the Asian region when she released My Love Emotion, which rode on the strength of "You've Made Me Stronger," written by the great composer Trina Belamide. The album is pure, quintessential 90s Asian pop, the type you'd hear from the Cantonese and Japanese pop idols of the time. Belamide's second contribution to the album, "Fast," is more mellow but no less beautiful, and Regine's collaboration with local a cappella group The TUX on "Perfect" is another highlight. While Velasquez is still active in the local music industry, I can't help but lament the end of her blossoming career in the region and the zenith of her artistry with her decision to change management and labels.
89. 25 (ADELE)
Year of Release: 2015
Labels: XL, Columbia
Key Tracks: "Hello," "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)"
Spoiler alert: another Adele album ranks MUCH higher on this list. 25 is a strong follow-up to the phenomenon that is 21, with the amazing Hello (which has an equally amazing music video directed by Canadian wunderkind Xavier Dolan) and the super-catchy "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)," but I wish I loved more of the album. Still, there's no denying the serious talent of this Brit music royalty.
88. DIWA (GRACE NONO)
Year of Release: 2002
Label: Tao Music
Key Tracks: "Dosayan," "Maghimaya Ka, Maria," "Golpiadu Makimallo"
It would be unfair to simply label Grace Nono, the almost mystical legend of Philippine ethnic music, as the "Filipino Enya" or "Filipino Loreena McKennit," but that might be a good introduction for the uninitiated. Nono is high priestess of indigenous-meets-pop/soul; her voice is deep, powerful, and unmistakably her own. Her music, often a collaboration with partner Bob Aves, is made more accessible with gorgeous packaging in the physical copy of the album, but it's always about the music. It's almost hypnotic. This magnificent album should have made waves in world music.
87. IN DEEP (TINA ARENA)
Year of Release: 1997
Label: Columbia
Key Tracks: "Burn," "If I Didn't Love You," "Now I Can Dance"
Australian pop superstar Tina Arena had been long popular in her home country, but her international career really took off with the hit singles "Burn" and "If I Didn't Love You," both of which showcased her astounding vocal cords and capacity to express ache and longing in her tone. The rest of the album is really good stuff, too, and "Now I Can Dance" is the uplifting piece that gives it a good balance.
86. A FEW SMALL REPAIRS (SHAWN COLVIN)
Year of Release: 1996
Label: Columbia
Key Tracks: "Sunny Came Home," "Get Out of This House," "Wichita Skyline"
Shawn Colvin won loads of acclaim and awards for this album, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year Grammys for the haunting "Sunny Came Home," a misleadingly light-sounding song about a woman who burns her family house down to escape from her past. "Get Out of This House" is similarly empowering, lent strength by Colvin's poetry and her warm tones. The album as a whole is pure artistry.
85. FALLING INTO YOU (CELINE DION)
Year of Release: 1996
Labels: Columbia, Epic
Key Tracks: "It's All Coming Back To Me Now," "Because You Loved Me," "All By Myself"
It shouldn't be surprising that Falling Into You is one of Celine Dion's most successful projects to date, one of the best-selling albums in history and a Grammy winner for Album of the Year and Best Pop Album. I mean, with singles like "Because You Loved Me," "Falling Into You," and that most awesomely legendary camp epic ballad "It's All Coming Back To Me Now," should it be? Add to the mix the vocal powerhouse that is "All By Myself," plus a few other pop gems, and it's simply speaking one of the best that this Canadian icon has ever released.
84. NIGHTCLUBBING (GRACE JONES)
Year of Release: 1981
Label: Island
Key Tracks: "Nightclubbing," "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)," "Demolition Man"
I've long known the intimidatingly statuesque Grace Jones as an actress and singer, but always more as the former. Listening to Nightclubbing for the first time, however, made me forget that she was ever anything but a formidable musical icon. Straddling several genres, including reggae and punk, this album will not allow itself to be pigeonholed. Don't force too many labels on it! Just listen and prepare to be astonished. Truly, Grace Jones is a force of nature.
83. SHEPHERD MOONS (ENYA)
Year of Release: 1991
Label: WEA
Key Tracks: "Caribbean Blue," "No Holly for Miss Quinn," "Book of Days," "Marble Halls"
Full disclosure: I am a BIG Enya fan. I have all her albums. So no, this won't be the last Enya album on this list. Aside from having strikingly beautiful jacket art, the music itself is among the best and most characteristically Enya that the artist--who is almost a brand unto herself--has ever produced. Enya has always been wonderful at combining Celtic mysticism and pop sensibilities, and she would take herself further into the latter with some of her later work, but Shepherd Moons is one of her purest, especially with the title track and the often used "Book of Days." Tolkien fans would be pleased to discover that one of the tracks is entitled "Lothlórien" and is an ode to that Elven kingdom--surely a foreshadowing of her eventual involvement in the soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
82. PINK FRIDAY: ROMAN RELOADED (NICKI MINAJ)
Year of Release: 2012
Labels: Young Money, Cash Money, Universal Republic
Key Tracks: "Starships," "Pound the Alarm," "Right By My Side"
Really, just for the unforgettable and unshakable "Starships" and "Pound the Alarm"--which, incidentally, have produced two of the most memorable lip sync battles in the herstory of "RuPaul's Drag Race"--it's worth getting the album. But the rest is great, too, whether you're more into Nicki Minaj's rap stylings or you prefer her pop princess schtick. What I love most about the album--and Minaj herself--is that it's crazy fun but, if you listen closely enough, she has a lot of important things to say. A true artist who, I must admit, I have long underestimated.
81. COME ON OVER (SHANIA TWAIN)
Year of Release: 1997
Label: Mercury
Key Tracks: "From This Moment On," "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!," "You're Still the One," "That Don't Impress Me Much"
I could have listed a few other key tracks for this album; such is the strength of the package! With this phenomenal success of an album (the best-selling of any solo female), Shania Twain blurred the boundaries between country and pop, making a crossover with some of the most honest lyrics and catchy tunes airing on the radio at the time. She never quite duplicated the success of the album, but at least we'll always have it with us. I am not a big fan of country music (as you will realize as you go through this list), but this made me come very, very close to changing my mind about the genre.
TOP 20
Numbers 21-40
Numbers 41-60
Numbers 61-80
Image Sources:
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CONTENDERS FOR THE 93RD ACADEMY AWARDS
BEST PICTURE
Ammonite
Annette
Bad Education
Benedetta
Bergman Island
Blonde
The Boys in the Band
Burden
Da 5 Bloods
The Devil All the Time
Dream Horse
Dune
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Falling
The Father
The 40-Year-Old Version
Four Good Days
The French Dispatch
French Exit
The Glorias
Good Morning, Midnight
Hillbilly Elegy
In the Heights
Kajillionaire
King Richard
The Last Duel
The Last Planet
The Last Thing He Wanted
Let Them All Talk
Lost Girls
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Macbeth
Mank
Mulan
The Nest
News of the World
Next Goal Wins
Nightmare Alley
Nine Days
Nomadland
On the Rocks
Passing
The Personal History of David Copperfield
Prisoner 760
The Prom
Radioactive
Red, White and Water
Respect
The Rhythm Section
Shirley
Stillwater
Tenet
Tesla
The Trial of the Chicago 7
True History of the Kelly Gang
Wendy
West Side Story
The Woman in the Window
Worth
BEST DIRECTOR
Francis Lee (Ammonite)
Leos Carax (Annette)
Cory Finely (Bad Education)
Paul Verhoeven (Benedetta)
Mia Hansen-Løve (Bergman Island)
Andrew Dominik (Blonde)
Joe Mantello (The Boys in the Band)
Andrew Heckler (Burden)
Spike Lee (Da 5 Bloods)
Antonio Campos (The Devil All the Time)
Euros Lyn (Dream Horse)
Denis Villeneuve (Dune)
Michael Showalter (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)
Viggo Mortensen (Falling)
Florian Zeller (The Father)
Radha Blank (The 40-Year-Old Version)
Rodrigo García (Four Good Days)
Wes Anderson (The French Dispatch)
Azazel Jacobs (French Exit)
Julie Taymor (The Glorias)
George Clooney (Good Morning, Midnight)
Ron Howard (Hillbilly Elegy)
Jon M. Chu (In the Heights)
Miranda July (Kajillionaire)
Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard)
Ridley Scott (The Last Duel)
Terrence Malick (The Last Planet)
Dee Rees (The Last Thing He Wanted)
Steven Soderbergh (Let Them All Talk)
Liz Garbus (Lost Girls)
George C. Wolfe (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)
Joel Coen (Macbeth)
David Fincher (Mank)
Niki Caro (Mulan)
Sean Durkin (The Nest)
Paul Greengrass (News of the World)
Taika Waititi (Next Goal Wins)
Edson Oda (Nine Days)
Guillermo del Toro (Nightmare Alley)
Chloe Zhao (Nomadland)
Sofia Coppola (On the Rocks)
Rebecca Hall (Passing)
Armando Iannucci (The Personal History of David Copperfield)
Kevin Macdonald (Prisoner 760)
Ryan Murphy (The Prom)
Marjane Satrapi (Radioactive)
Lila Neugebauer (Red, White and Water)
Liesl Tommy (Respect)
Reed Morano (The Rhythm Section)
Josephine Decker (Shirley)
Tom McCarthy (Stillwater)
Christopher Nolan (Tenet)
Michael Almereyda (Tesla)
Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Justin Kurzel (True History of the Kelly Gang)
Behn Zeitlin (Wendy)
Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)
Joe Wright (The Woman in the Window)
Sara Colangelo (Worth)
BEST ACTOR
Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal)
Chadwick Boseman (Da 5 Bloods)
Timothée Chalamet (Dune)
Timothée Chalamet (The French Dispatch)
George Clooney (Good Morning, Midnight)
Sacha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Bradley Cooper (Nightmare Alley)
Benedict Cumberbatch (Prisoner 760)
Matt Damon (The Last Duel)
Matt Damon (Stillwater)
Adam Driver (Annette)
Adam Driver (The Last Duel)
Ansel Elgort (West Side Story)
Michael Fassbender (Next Goal Wins)
Colin Firth (Supernova)
Andrew Garfield (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)
Tom Hanks (News of the World)
Ethan Hawke (Tesla)
Garrett Hedlund (Burden)
Lance Henriksen (Falling)
Tom Holland (The Devil All the Time)
Anthony Hopkins (The Father)
Hugh Jackman (Bad Education)
Michael Keaton (Worth)
Jude Law (The Nest)
George MacKay (True History of the Kelly Gang)
Mads Mikkelsen (Druk)
Viggo Mortensen (Falling)
Eddie Murphy (Coming 2 America)
Bill Murray (On the Rocks)
Gary Oldman (Mank)
Jim Parsons (The Boys in the Band)
Dev Patel (The Personal History of David Copperfield)
Anthony Ramos (In the Heights)
Geza Rohrig (The Last Planet)
Alexander Skarsgård (Passing)
Stanley Tucci (Supernova)
Denzel Washington (Macbeth)
Steven Yeun (Minari)
BEST ACTRESS
Amy Adams (Hillbilly Elegy)
Amy Adams (The Woman in the Window)
Cate Blanchett (Nightmare Alley)
Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place: Part II)
Abigail Breslin (Stillwater)
Alison Brie (Horse Girl)
Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)
Toni Collette (Dream Horse)
Carrie Coon (The Nest)
Marion Cotillard (Annette)
Viola Davis (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)
Ana De Armas (Blonde)
Virginie Efira (Benedetta)
Beanie Feldstein (How To Build a Girl)
Jodie Foster (Prisoner 760)
Anne Hathaway (The Last Thing He Wanted)
Jennifer Hudson (Respect)
Rashida Jones (On the Rocks)
Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman)
Mila Kunis (Four Good Days)
Jennifer Lawrence (Red, White and Water)
Frances McDormand (Macbeth)
Frances McDormand (Nomadland)
Janelle Monáe (Antebellum)
Julianne Moore (The Glorias)
Elisabeth Moss (The Invisible Man)
Elisabeth Moss (Shirley)
Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman)
Ruth Negga (Passing)
Michelle Pfeiffer (French Exit)
Rosamund Pike (Radioactive)
Andrea Riseborough (Luxor)
Margot Robbie (Birds of Prey)
Saoirse Ronan (The French Dispatch)
Amy Ryan (Lost Girls)
Léa Seydoux (On a Half Clear Morning)
Meryl Streep (Let Them All Talk)
Tilda Swinton (Memoria)
Alicia Vikander (The Glorias)
Mia Wasikowska (Bergman Island)
Kate Winslet (Ammonite)
Evan Rachel Wood (Kajillionaire)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Ben Affleck (The Last Duel)
Matt Bomer (The Boys in the Band)
Adrien Brody (Blonde)
Tom Burke (Mank)
Bobby Canavale (Blonde)
Willem Dafoe (The Last Thing He Wanted)
Willem Dafoe (Nightmare Alley)
Brendan Gleeson (Macbeth)
Lucas Hedges (French Exit)
Lucas Hedges (Let Them All Talk)
Richard Jenkins (Kajillionaire)
Frank Langella (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Logan Lerman (Shirley)
Gary Oldman (The Woman in the Window)
Robert Pattinson (The Devil All the Time)
Zachary Quinto (The Boys in the Band)
Tahar Rahim (Prisoner 760)
Tim Roth (Bergman Island)
Mark Rylance (The Last Planet)
Mark Rylance (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Matthias Schoenaerts (The Last Planet)
Stellan Skarsgård (Dune)
Sebastian Stan (The Devil All the Time)
David Strathairn (Nightmare Alley)
Michael Stuhlbarg (Shirley)
Stanley Tucci (Worth)
Forest Whitaker (Respect)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Candice Bergen (Let Them All Talk)
Gemma Chan (Let Them All Talk)
Glenn Close (Four Good Days)
Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy)
Toni Collette (I'm Thinking of Ending Things)
Toni Collette (Nightmare Alley)
Lily Collins (Mank)
Olivia Colman (The Father)
Jodie Comer (The Last Duel)
Essie Davis (True History of the Kelly Gang)
Rebecca Ferguson (Dune)
Anne Hathaway (The Witches)
Gong Li (Mulan)
Kaimana (Next Goal Wins)
Nicole Kidman (The Prom)
Vicky Krieps (Bergman Island)
Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Woman in the Window)
Laura Linney (Falling)
Rooney Mara (Nightmare Alley)
Audra McDonald (Respect)
Thomasin McKenzie (Lost Girls)
Tuppence Middleton (Mank)
Bette Midler (The Glorias)
Julianne Moore (The Woman in the Window)
Rita Moreno (West Side Story)
Elisabeth Moss (Next Goal Wins)
Charlotte Rampling (Benedetta)
Gina Rodriguez (Kajillionaire)
Saoirse Ronan (Ammonite)
Amy Ryan (Worth)
Amanda Seyfried (Mank)
Meryl Streep (The Prom)
Tessa Thompson (Passing)
Dianne Wiest (Let Them All Talk)
Debra Winger (Kajillionaire)
Mare Winningham (News of the World)
