Rolling Stone magazine has published three different versions of its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list: in 2003, 2012, and 2020. There are a total of 691 albums on the combined lists and quite a few of them are on my personal list of favorite albums. But I found 126 albums on my list that were not on any of the Rolling Stone lists – many of them from artists who are not on any of the lists – that I think merit consideration for the next list. (If you want to see the full list of my five-star albums (including classical music), go HERE.)
NOTE 1: This is not a meta-list: these albums don’t represent anything but my personal opinions.
NOTE 2: If the artists on my list is on one or more of the Rolling Stone lists, but with a different album (or albums), I have placed an asterisk next to the selection. This means that if there is no asterisk, none of the three Rolling Stone lists has any albums by the artist.
- Various Artists – Ken Burns Jazz (rec. 1917-1995)
- Bessie Smith – The Collection (rec. 1923-1933)
- Louis Armstrong – The Complete Hot Fives and Hot Sevens (rec. 1924-1929)
- Lonnie Johnson – Steppin’ on the Blues (rec. 1925-1932)
- Jelly Roll Morton – Birth of the Hot (rec. 1926-1927)
- Blind Blake – Ragtime Guitar’s Foremost Fingerpicker (rec. 1926-1930)
- Fats Waller – Piano Solos: Turn on the Heat (rec. 1927-1941)
- Various Artists – An Anthology of Big Band Swing (rec. 1930-1955)
- Art Tatum – Piano Starts Here (rec. 1933, 1949)
- Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli – The Quintessential Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli: Le Quintette du Hot Club de France (rec. 1934-1940)
- Duke Ellington – Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band (rec. 1940-1942)
- Charlie Parker – The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes (rec. 1944-1948)
- Charlie Parker – Yardbird Suite: The Ultimate Collection (rec. 1944-1953)
- Miles Davis – Birth of the Cool (rec. 1949-1950)*
- Bud Powell – The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1 (rec. 1949-1951)
- T-Bone Walker – The Complete Imperial Recordings (rec. 1950-1954)
- Elmore James – The Sky Is Crying: The History of Elmore James (rec. 1951-1961)
- Art Tatum – The Complete Pablo Solo Masterpieces (rec. 1953-1956)
- Jimmy Reed – Big Boss Blues (rec. 1953-1961)
- Sarah Vaughan – Sarah Vaughan (with Clifford Brown) (1954)
- Various Artists – Atlantic & Atco Remasters Series: Sampler One (rec. 1954-1958)
- Sonny Rollins – Saxophone Colossus (1956)
- Thelonious Monk – Brilliant Corners (1956)
- Nat “King” Cole – After Midnight: The Complete Session (1956)
- Otis Rush – The Essential Otis Rush: The Classic Cobra Recordings (rec. 1956-1958)
- Original Broadway Cast – West Side Story (1957)
- Thelonious Monk – Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall (rec. 1957, rel. 2005)
- The Everly Brothers – Cadence Classics: Their 20 Greatest Hits (rec. 1957-1960)
- Cannonball Adderley – Somethin’ Else (1958)
- Champion Jack Dupree – Blues From the Gutter (1958)
- Stan Getz & J.J. Johnson – Stan Getz and J.J. Johnson at The Opera House (1958)
- The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Out (1959)
- Miles Davis – Porgy and Bess (1959)*
- Smokey Robinson & The Miracles – The Ultimate Collection (rec. 1959-1972)*
- Art Farmer & Benny Golson – Meet the Jazztet (1960)
- Wes Montgomery – The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery (1960)
- Hank Mobley – Soul Station (1960)
- Freddie King – Hide Away: The Best of Freddy King (rec. 1960-1966)
- Etta James – The Sweetest Peaches: The Chess Years, Part 1 (rec. 1960-1966)*
- Bill Evans – Sunday at the Village Vanguard (1961)
- Bill Evans – Waltz for Debby (1961)
- John Coltrane – My Favorite Things (1961)*
- Dexter Gordon – Go (1962)
- Lee Morgan – The Sidewinder (1964)
- Joe Henderson – Inner Urge (1965)
- Wayne Shorter – Speak No Evil (1965)
- Sun Ra – The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra (1965)
- The Beatles – Past Masters: Vol. 2 (rec. 1965-1970)*
- Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Live 1966 – The “Royal Albert Hall” Concert (rec. 1966, rel. 1998)*
- Larry Young – Unity (1966)
- Various Artists – Chicago/The Blues/Today! (1966)
- Albert King – King of the Blues Guitar (rec. 1966-1968)*
- Jefferson Airplane – The Worst of Jefferson Airplane (rec. 1966-1970)*
- Janis Joplin – Greatest Hits (rec. 1966-1970)*
- The Velvet Underground – Peel Slowly and See (rec. 1966-1970)*
- Aretha Franklin – The Very Best of Aretha Franklin: The ’60s (rec. 1967-1970)*
- Various Artists – Tropicália: A Brazilian Revolution in Sound (rec. 1968-1970)
- Hound Dog Taylor – Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers (1971)
- Dave Holland – Conference of the Birds (1973)
- Yes – Yessongs (1973)*
- Yes – Tales From Topographic Oceans (1973)*
- Joe Pass – Virtuoso (1974)
- Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir – Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares (1975)
- Renaissance – Live at Carnegie Hall (1976)
- Albert Collins – Ice Pickin’ (1978)
- The Roches – The Roches (1979)
- Talking Heads – Fear of Music (1979)*
- Dire Straits – Making Movies (1980)*
- The Roches – Keep On Doing (1982)
- Paul Simon – Hearts and Bones (1982)*
- Orchestra Baobab – Pirates Choice (1982)
- Elvis Costello – King of America (1986)*
- Alison Krauss – Now That I’ve Found You (rec. 1987-1994)
- k.d. lang – Shadowland (1988)
- The Sundays – Reading, Writing and Arithmetic (1990)
- They Might Be Giants – Flood (1990)
- World Party – Goodbye Jumbo (1990)
- Rosanne Cash – Interiors (1990)
- Van Morrison – Enlightenment (1990)*
- Throwing Muses – The Real Ramona (1991)
- R.E.M. – Out of Time (1991)*
- Master Musicians of Jajouka – Apocalypse Across the Sky (1992)
- Aimee Mann – Whatever (1993)
- Letters to Cleo – Aurora Gory Alice (1994)
- Various Artists – Party Girl Soundtrack (1995)
- Garbage – Garbage (1995)
- Emmylou Harris – Wrecking Ball (1995)
- Aimee Mann – I’m With Stupid (1995)
- Sarah McLachlan – Surfacing (1997)
- The Sundays – Static & Silence (1997)
- John Scofield – A Go Go (1998)
- Garbage – Version 2.0 (1998)
- Jim Hall & Pat Metheny – Jim Hall & Pat Metheny (1999)
- Wilco – Summerteeth (1999)*
- Greg Osby – Invisible Hand (2000)
- Shelby Lynne – I Am Shelby Lynne (2000)
- Mariza – Fado em Mim (2000)
- Buddy Guy – Sweet Tea (2001)
- Macy Gray – The Id (2001)
- Jason Moran – Black Stars (2001)
- Sleater-Kinney – One Beat (2002)*
- The New Pornographers – Electric Version (2003)
- Petra Haden – Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out (2005)
- Sufjan Stevens – Illinois (2005)
- The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America (2006)
- Camera Obscura – Let’s Get Out of This Country (2006)
- Arcade Fire – Neon Bible (2007)*
- The New Pornographers – Challengers (2007)
- Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová – Once: Music From the Motion Picture (2007)
- PJ Harvey – White Chalk (2007)*
- Los Campesinos! – Hold On Now, Youngster… (2008)
- Tune-Yards – Bird-Brains (2009)
- Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (2010)*
- Superchunk – Majesty Shredding (2010)
- Dengue Fever – Cannibal Courtship (2011)
- Tom Waits – Bad As Me (2011)*
- Yuck – Yuck (2011)
- The Decemberists – The King Is Dead (2011)
- PJ Harvey – Let England Shake (2011)*
- Grimes – Visions (2012)
- The New Pornographers – Brill Bruisers (2012)
- Frightened Rabbit – Pedestrian Verse (2013)
- Alvvays – Alvvays (2014)
- Angel Olsen – My Woman (2016)
- Alvvays – Antisocialites (2017)
- Angélique Kidjo – Remain in Light (2018)