10 Great Albums You Shouldn’t Skip At All

There’s no handbook on what makes an album great. Perhaps you’re wondering where to begin exploring and finding 10 great albums. Sometimes it’s a cultural punch in the throat. Other times it’s a slow, smouldering burn that stays with you longer than the people who recommended it. I’ve spun every one of these records in places I probably shouldn’t have – night buses, parking lots, early mornings after no sleep – and they’ve all delivered something true. If you’re building a soul-saving playlist or trying to remember why music ever mattered, start here.

---

1. Madonna – Ray of Light

This is where Madonna stops chasing the party and starts chasing the cosmos. Ray of Light it’s about reinvention and inner excavation. William Orbit’s icy production, her new-found spiritual panic, and tracks like Frozen or Drowned World/Substitute for Love hit like a late-night panic turned full-body chill. Totally deserves a spot in this list of 10 great albums. I remember hearing it after-hours, while staring at the ceiling, waiting for clarity. It didn’t come, but the album stayed.

---

2. Avicii – True

This album brought country riffs and soul vocals to the rave – and somehow, it worked. True it’s heart-on-sleeve storytelling dressed in four-to-the-floor kicks. Wake Me Up annoyed purists and thrilled everyone else. But dig deeper – Addicted to You, Shame on Me, and the blues-drenched Heart Upon My Sleeve show a producer reaching beyond the drop. I remember blasting this in my car after a rough week – windows down, hope crawling back in. Avicii made the EDM human.

---

3. D’Angelo – Voodoo

Some albums flex. Voodoo breathes. This album moves like the inside of your head on a slow, heavy day. D’Angelo locked himself in a studio, summoned the ghosts of Prince and Marvin, and let the groove get slow and messy. Untitled (How Does It Feel) is the one everyone knows, but the real soul lives in The Line or Africa. It’s swampy, raw, lived-in. And if you’ve ever tried making music during heartbreak, this one’s your holy text.

---

4. Radiohead – In Rainbows

This one might seem haunted like Kid A or furious like The Bends. In Rainbows is human. Warm. Tense. It feels like standing on a balcony at midnight, unsure if you’re about to cry or kiss someone. No 10 albums collection without Radiohead, right? Thom Yorke sings like he finally stopped avoiding himself. Nude, All I Need, and Weird Fishes feel almost too personal, like you weren’t meant to hear them. And yet, you keep hitting repeat.

---

5. Robyn – Body Talk Pt. 1 & 2 (Full Edition)

If pop is often sugar-coated lies, Body Talk is the bitter truth with a dance beat. Robyn dances in defiance, not joy. Dancing On My Own is a classic, sure, but Hang With Me and Call Your Girlfriend still cut through any armor I think I have. Played this on the way to breakups. And back from them. She gets it.

---

6. Portishead – Dummy – On The 10 Great Albums Collection

I didn’t plan to stay with it, but I did. Every track gave me a reason. The cracked-vinyl beats, Beth Gibbons’ whisper-from-the-end-of-the-world delivery – it’s all there to make you feel something uncomfortable and addictive. It’s the soundtrack to insomnia and emotional Portishead sabotage. I first heard it during a foggy night in 2002, and it hasn’t let go since. Roads still punches harder than half the so-called emotional ballads out there.

---

7. Beyoncé – Lemonade

You don’t get dance tracks – you get testimony. Personal, generational, political. All of it, in this 10 great albums marathon. Lemonade included. A love letter written in fire and forgiveness. Lemonade spills grief, rage, pride, and healing across styles – trap, country, rock, soul. Beyoncé moves through Lemonade like someone who’s already done the hard work of feeling everything – now she’s just telling the truth, plainly and without pause. Hold Up, Sorry, Freedom, and Sandcastles are building the mood without haunting it, track by track. Until it feels like you’ve lived it with her. Played this on a long drive once and nearly pulled over from the emotional traffic jam in my chest.

---

8. Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral

It’s not pretty. It’s not fun. But Trent Reznor’s industrial nightmare of pain, lust, and broken glass is essential. The Downward Spiral stays close and relentless, offering no pause between one wound and the next. Each track sinks deeper into obsession, control, collapse – and when Hurt arrives, it feels less like a finale and more like the part where silence finally makes sense. I’ve played Nine Inch Nails in moments where I didn’t know if I needed therapy or a cold beer. Sometimes both.

---

9. Fleetwood Mac – Rumours

This is the messiest soap opera ever recorded. And it’s perfect. Every track on Rumours is dipped in real-life drama – cheating, heartbreak, drugs, wild tours – and yet somehow remains flawless pop. Dreams, Go Your Own Way, The Chain… there’s no weak link here. I remember hearing Fleetwood Mac in my parents’ car as a kid and not getting it. Now I hear it and feel every goddamn line.

---

10. The Weeknd – After Hours

A neon-drenched descent into obsession, ego, and synths that could melt ice. After Hours is where The Weeknd stops sounding like a mixtape and starts shining like a dangerous classic. Blinding Lights might’ve ruled TikTok, but it’s the darker stuff – Faith, Repeat After Me, Alone Again – that got under my skin. Played this at 3 a.m. while working on music and suddenly questioned every life decision I’d ever made. That’s power.

---

You don’t need to love all ten. But skip them, and you’re skipping chapters in the book of modern music. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.