“The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” tops Apple Music's list of the 100 best albums

Prince, Michael Jackson, Beyoncé, The Beatles, Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar, Amy Winehouse, Stevie Wonder, and Nirvana all made the top 10.

Once every few years, a publication or some other entity must come out with a list of the greatest albums ever recorded. A few things are certain: It will invariably contain at least one album by The Beatles, it will have some very controversial choices, and Janet Jackson fans will be upset.

Apple Music's attempt is no different. Still, today, the streaming giant unveiled the top 10 in its list of the 100 best albums, crowning Lauryn Hill's landmark 1998 album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, No. 1.

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“This is my award, but it’s a rich, deep narrative, and involves so many people, and so much sacrifice, and so much time, and so much collective love," Hill said of the honor.

Billed as "a modern 21st-century ranking of the greatest records ever made," the list was curated by Apple Music’s team of experts alongside "a select group" of artists, songwriters, producers, and industry professionals.

To celebrate the top 10, legendary record producer and discosmith Nile Rodgers and beloved singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers sat down with Apple Music's Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden to chat the best of the best.

Related: The 10 best albums of 2023

"Lauryn brought everybody with her on this record," Rogers said of the No.1 pick. "She brought her community. She brought her friends and her family. You’re in the kitchen; you’re in the living room with her. You hear people; you hear the voices talking… It’s so open and so expansive and so direct… To have an artist like Lauryn Hill be the number one, that means a lot."

Rodgers simply added, "She’s amazing. This record is amazing."

Though Hill tops the list with her first and to-date only solo album, there are a handful of artists who have two entries on the 100 list, including The Beatles (Abbey Road at No. 3, Revolver at No. 21), Prince (Purple Rain at No. 4, Sign O' the Times at No. 51), Stevie Wonder (Songs in the Key of Life at No. 6, Innervisions at No. 44), and Beyoncé (Lemonade at No. 10, Beyoncé at No. 36).

The top 10 in Apple Music's list of the 100 best albums:

1. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - Lauryn Hill

2. Thriller - Michael Jackson

3. Abbey Road - The Beatles

4. Purple Rain - Prince and the Revolution

5. Blonde - Frank Ocean

6. Songs in the Key of Life - Stevie Wonder

7. good kid, m.A.A.d city - Kendrick Lamar

8. Back to Black - Amy Winehouse

9. Nevermind - NIrvana

10. Lemonade - Beyoncé

All in all, not a terribly surprising list, perhaps with a few questionable placings here and there. After a while, these lists tend to look alike, anyway, but if they're good for anything, it's getting people to talk about music.

And as for Janet: No. 42 with Control. Not bad. Not great. But that's what you get when you qualify art.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.