Album covers can tell you an album’s story in a single image. Great album covers are forever etched into your memory. Our list of the Top 10 most iconic album covers is below. Drum roll as the countdown begins…
10. Homogenic by Bjork
Bjork is always pushing music and art boundaries. Her adventurous third album, Homogenic, was designed by Alexander McQueen. He ran with the album’s theme: warrior of love. Here’s a fun fact. The hair alone weighed 22 pounds! Talk about suffering for beauty!
9. Wish Your Were Here by Pink Floyd
This album art is HOT! Maybe you didn’t notice the man on fire? The truth behind this artwork designed by Storm Thorgerson is the idea that people often hide behind their true feelings for fear of getting burned.
8. Nite Visions by Soulwax
This Soulwax album cover designed by Trevor Jackson is eye-catching and a mind bender. It’s one of the coolest ever designed.
7. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles
This brilliant cover includes some of the most iconic historical influencers, including Marlon Brando, Karl Marx and Marilyn Monroe. Here’s another fun fact. Ghandi was removed from the album cover to ensure release in India.
6. Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd
Yes, that’s right. We have two Pink Floyd albums in this list. The recognition is well-deserved. Artwork designer Storm Thorgerson was challenged by Pink Floyd to not use a photograph. He accepted the challenge and used inspiration from Floyd’s live light show and a triangle, which is a symbol of thought and ambition. He created art history!
5. The Score by The Fugees
This album cover is iconic because the group was at the peak of their career with all three members contributing their likeness individually but together, creating a cinematic look. Lauryn Hill even described this as an ‘audio film,’’ to which the music community agreed.
4. The Velvet Underground & Nico by The Velvet Underground & Nico
Designed by Andy Warhol…enough said. This cover is a cult classic. Very early copies of the album were interactive. They had invitations to ‘peel slowly and see,’ prompting owners to peel back the banana skin to reveal a flesh-coloured banana underneath.
3. Slave to the Rhythm by Grace Jones
Designed by Jean-Paul Goude, this artwork was created by crafting a montage of several clopis of a single photograph on Jones, making her hair look “extended” and her mouth “stretched’. The title album’s title song’s music video illustrates the process of this artistic creation.
2. Disraeli Gears by Cream
This album artwork is a psychedelic collage designed by Australian artist Martin Sharp. Sharp’s intention was to capture the sound of the music in the cover, which he described as a “warm fluorescent sound”.
1. The White Album by The Beatles
This album cover could not be more different to the previous Beatles albums, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Designer Richard Hamilton originally designed the cover featuring the band’s name discretely embossed on the cover and a serial number printed in the lower right corner of each for the initial vinyl printing.
