musicMagpie Blog

The album is celebrating its 70th birthday! Saturday 13th October marks the first ever National Album Day, commemorating 70 blissful years of the incredible beauty that is the album.

To properly celebrate the occasion, an expert panel of judges have compiled a list of 70 iconic album covers from the last 70 years. There are plenty of these incredible classics on our store – just check our National Album Day collection!

Here's the list of the 70 most iconic album covers:

---

1950s

1949       Beethoven – Symphony No.3 in E Flat Major opus 55 (Eroica)
1950       Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Orchestra – Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofé
1951       Bernard Herrmann – The Day The Earth Stood Still
1952       Count Basie – Basie Rides Again!
1953       Duke Ellington – Ellington Uptown
1954       Thelonious Monk & Sonny Rollins
1955       Lightnin' Hopkins – Lightnin' and The Blues
1956       Elvis Presley – Elvis Presley
1957       Little Richard – Here's Little Richard
1958       Chuck Willis – Chuck Willis, The King of the Stroll
1959       Billy Mure – Supersonic Guitars Volume I

---

1960s

1960 Conjunto Primavera – Bailemos Twist Con Texaco
1961 Hi! We're The Miracles – The Miracles
1962 The Beach Boys – Surfin' Safari
1963 Freddie Hubbard – Hub-tones
1964 Donald Byrd – A New Perspective
1965 Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass – Whipped Cream & Other Delights
1966 13th Floor Elevators – The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators
1967 The Beatles – Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
1968 The Beatles – The White Album
1969 Scott Walker – Scott 3

---

1970s

1970 Miles Davis – Bitches Brew
1971 Funkadelic – Maggot Brain
1972 Nick Drake – Pink Moon
1973 Stevie Wonder – Innervisions
1974 Kraftwerk – Autobahn (UK Edition)
1975 Brian Eno – Another Green World
1976 Ramones – Ramones
1977 Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks
1978 Blondie – Parallel Lines
1979 Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures

---

1980s

1980 The Pop Group – For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?
1981 Grace Jones – Nightclubbing
1982 Duran Duran – Rio
1983 Billy Bragg "" Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy
1984 This Mortal Coil – It'll End in Tears
1985 Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds – The Firstborn is Dead
1986 Beastie Boys – Licensed To Ill
1987 The Cure – Kiss me kiss me kiss me
1988 Pixies – Surfer Rosa
1989 The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses

---

1990s

1990 Sonic Youth – Goo
1991 Primal Scream – Screamadelica
1992 Tom Waits – Bone Machine
1993 Suede – Suede
1994 Oasis – Definitely Maybe
1995 Aphex Twin – I Care Because You Do
1996 DJ Shadow – Endtroducing
1997 Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentlemen"¦ We Are Floating in Space
1998 Massive Attack – Mezzanine
1999 The White Stripes – The White Stripes

---

2000s

2000 Goldfrapp- Felt Mountain
2001 The Strokes – Is this it (UK Edition)
2002 Lemon Jelly – Lost Horizons
2003 Blur – Think Tank
2004 Kanye West – The College Dropout
2005 Hard-Fi – Stars of CCTV
2006 Thom Yorke – The Eraser
2007 The Cribs – Men's Needs, Women's Need, Whatever
2008 Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
2009 Muse – The Resistance

---

2010s

2010 Klaxons – Surfing The Void
2011 Bright Eyes – The People's Key
2012 The Temper Trap – The Temper Trap
2013 White Lies – Big TV
2014 Royal Blood – Royal Blood
2015 David Gilmour – Rattle That Lock
2016 The Last Shadow Puppets – Everything You've Come To Expect
2017 Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 3

---

We hope you enjoy National Album Day! Why not check out our dedicated National Album Day collection on musicMagpie Store?