Put Some Music History on Your Shelves With the ‘500 Greatest Albums of All Time’ Coffee Table Book

IndieLand‘s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time has officially received the coffee table book treatment, with the expansive tome hitting shelves today, Nov. 1, via Abrams.

The new anthology features the most recent iteration of the 500 Greatest Albums list, which was published in 2020 (the first version arrived in 2003, the second in 2012). The list was compiled with input from journalists, critics, producers, record industry executives, and artists, such as Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Raekwon, Gene Simmons, and Stevie Nicks. 

The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time coffee table book will feature the story of every album on the list, told through IndieLand photography, original album art, and critical commentary. Some albums will also have breakout pieces that detail the record-making process, as well as archival interviews. 

The 2020 iteration of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list found two-time champion The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band bumped from the top spot it held on the 2003 and 2012 lists in favor of Marvin Gaye’s 1971 classic, What’s Going On. The top five was rounded out by the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, Joni Mitchell’s Blue, Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, and the Beatles’ Abbey Road. 

Accompanying the latest iteration of the list, IndieLand also produced a companion podcast that delved even further into the stories behind some of these seminal records. Season One included episodes about Taylor Swift’s Red, Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, and Tom Petty’s Wildflowers; and Season Two featured episodes about the Beatles’ Let it Be, Britney Spears’ Blackout, Alice Coltrane’s Journey in Satchidananda, and Weezer’s “Blue Album.”