Can you guess the iconic album from the cover art?

From the music to the art, this album is a reminder that you definitely are not in Kansas anymore.

The track list for Elton John's album "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" reads more like a greatest hits collection than it does a seventh album in a catalog spanning a lifetime. But with "Bennie and the Jets," the record's title track, and "Candle in the Wind," originally dedicated to Marilyn Monroe but later rewritten in dedication to Princess Diana after her sudden death in 1997, this album had numerous hits.

The title of this iconic hip-hop album was eerily prescient considering when it was released.

Few hip-hop artists in the '90s made a bigger impact on the culture than The Notorious B.I.G., and considering he only released two albums before his death in 1997, that is no small feat. The iconic "Life After Death" was released as a double album only 16 days after he died.

Four bandmates, one plain backdrop, and a color so memorable that fans named the album after it.

Weezer's self-titled 1994 debut, better known as the "Blue Album," proved that a band didn't need an elaborate concept to make a memorable cover. The four bandmates stand in a row against a plain blue backdrop, looking a little awkward and a lot like the guys next door, which was exactly the point.

Ric Ocasek, frontman of The Cars, produced the album. It delivered "Buddy Holly," "Say It Ain't So," and "Undone – The Sweater Song," and Spike Jonze's video for "Buddy Holly" dropped the band into an episode of "Happy Days." Weezer liked the look so much that it reused the format for later self-titled albums in green, red, white, teal, and black.

Why don't you take a Polaroid picture—it will last longer.

Okay, admittedly, that wasn't the easiest clue to get if you're not a Swiftie, but any Taylor Swift die-hard named the album faster than it takes for a Polaroid picture to develop. The pop star's fifth studio album included some of her most memorable hits, including "Shake It Off" and "Bad Blood," the latter of which featured a remix with Pulitzer Prize winner Kendrick Lamar. "1989" also garnered Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album at the Grammys in 2016. Swift did release "1989 (Taylor's Version)" in 2023, with new tracks and new album art, but the original cover left the most lasting impression.

If you listen closely while staring at this album cover, you can hear what it sounds like when doves cry.

Whether you know him as Prince or the Artist Formerly Known as Prince, he will forever be known as one of the greatest musicians, songwriters, and artists of a generation. That title comes, in part, because of "Purple Rain." The album doubled as the soundtrack to the 1984 film of the same name, which starred Prince himself. The LP was deemed a masterpiece by media critics, with Prince completely redefining the concept of what pop music sounded like. Name one song on the album that isn't a classic—you can't.

The singer's iconic bouffant, face-framing jewels, and wardrobe on this album cover are as grand as her talent.

Much like Prince's "Purple Rain" and Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," Aretha Franklin's "Lady Soul" is an album that feels more like it should be considered a greatest hits compilation. Franklin's 12th studio album is jam-packed with hits, from "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" to "Chain of Fools," and this gem cemented her title as the Queen of Soul.

It's close to midnight, and someone's lurking on this album cover rocking a legendary black-and-white suit.

If that first line of "Thriller" is now stuck in your head after the hint slide, apologies, but it's worth it because there's no way you couldn't have guessed Michael Jackson's chart-busting 1982 album of the same name. The top-selling album of all time and the peak of Jackson's solo career, it became more than just an album with top hits, including "Beat It" and "Billie Jean." The title track's music video premiered on MTV in December 1983 and spawned a dance that is still instantly recognizable to this day.

If you were in your teens or tweens when this album came out, you probably listened, baby, at least one more time.

You know her, you love her, and you're happy she's free—it's Britney—in the album that turned her into a household name. "...Baby One More Time" transitioned Britney Spears from the innocence of the Mickey Mouse Club of her youth to the pop superstardom of her not-quite-a-girl-but-not-yet-a-woman era. "...Baby One More Time" is Spears' most commercially successful album, having sold more than 25 million copies. And its songs remain hits with fans, including the title track, which celebrated the album's 25th anniversary in 2024 by joining YouTube's billion views club.

This iconic album cover fueled the fires of a raging conspiracy theory around these no-longer-mop-topped singers.

The Beatles have no shortage of iconic albums; their entire career could be considered nothing short of quintessential. Yet "Abbey Road" is famous not only because of its musical content but also for the alleged conspiracy behind the cover art. Shortly after the album was released, a radio DJ from Detroit fueled a fan theory that Paul McCartney had died in 1966.

The album cover, according to the conspiracy theorists, backed up the theory because of clues supposedly depicted on it. McCartney being barefoot, out of step with the other three Beatles; his closed eyes; and his cigarette being in his unfavored hand were considered proof that the theory was true. It wasn't.

A diamond-bedazzled portrait of an artist who keeps a poker face steady even while da-da-da-dancing graces the cover of this iconic album.

Lady Gaga burst into the mainstream music scene with a glittery bang, and she brought the nostalgia of disco back with her. Her debut album, "The Fame," featured the hit singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face," which helped catapult her career into the stratosphere, selling more than 15 million copies of the album worldwide. In January 2025, "The Fame" reached a new milestone, hitting 400 weeks on the Billboard charts, just weeks ahead of the release of Gaga's eighth studio album, "Mayhem," on March 7, 2025.

The portrait of this amazing artist is carved into the lexicon of hip-hop and on an elementary school desk featured on this album's cover.

"The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" was the singer's first and only solo album, yet it has remained one of the most beloved albums in hip-hop and R&B history. Bringing together reggae, doo-wop, neo-soul, and R&B, the album created a whole new sound that brought back a wave of nostalgia. The album sold 20 million copies, making it one of the bestselling albums of all time.

Isn't this legendary artist lovely? Isn't he wonderful? You can listen to his music on this iconic album that features a neon-hued rabbit hole on its cover.

Stevie Wonder has long been considered one of the most important artists of all time, but his 18th album, "Songs in the Key of Life," is the one that consistently ranks atop critics' and fans' lists alike. The sound created on the album is often credited for paving the way for such artists as Prince and Michael Jackson, both of whom make appearances on this list.

This revered guitar god released this kaleidoscopic album cover as he ushered in the Summer of Love.

The overly saturated orange and purple hues are like a screaming sunset on the cover of Jimi Hendrix's 1967 album "Are You Experienced." The debut studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience was instantly beloved by critics and listeners, and according to Rolling Stone, it's one of the greatest albums of all time, ranking #30 out of 500. The track "Foxy Lady" is one of the most well-known and received new life in the '90s during a particularly infamous scene in the movie "Wayne's World."

When life gave her lemons, this singer made an album out of them—all while donning a fur coat.

You guessed it, this is about Beyoncé's 2016 smash visual album "Lemonade." The cover features Beyoncé embodying a woman clearly fed up with something. As the album progresses, the reason comes into focus: The record was widely read as a cathartic response to infidelity in her marriage to Jay-Z, which he later addressed on his own 2017 album, "4:44." Each of the 12 songs on the LP charted on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2016.

If this album cover gives you anxiety with its sharp peaks and strange imagery, that's good. That's its purpose.

Radiohead's well-beloved album "Kid A" wasn't always so, well, beloved. The band's 2000 effort was a drastic departure from its previously released "OK Computer," the album that made them critical darlings and global stars. Burned out and seemingly over who they had become, the group released "Kid A" as a noisy, crunchy, distorted journey into the mind of someone who had become anxious about his very existence, a reflection of the burnout lead singer Thom Yorke felt at the time.

It would have been highly ironic if this album hadn't shown up on this list, don't you think?

Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill" was an angst-driven project that shattered all expectations for its album sales. The emotionally raw and vulnerable lyrics were well-matched by Morissette's audibly raw voice and seemed to strike a chord with millions of listeners worldwide.

The album has sold more than 33 million copies and won the Canadian singer four Grammys in 1996, including Album of the Year. On Dec. 31, 2024, Morissette appeared on "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" to help ring in 2025, the 30th anniversary of "Jagged Little Pill."

Everyone's had bad breakups, but this British-American rock band had its entire breakup play out on record.

Fleetwood Mac started as a British blues band in the late '60s, but it made its biggest splash across the pond in America after Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined in 1975. "Rumours" was the group's 11th studio album and one rife with heartbreak, scandal, and sadness. The band nearly fell apart while recording it, thanks to a tangle of affairs, breakups, and dissolving marriages among its members.

The cover caused a bit of a stir, featuring a witchy Stevie Nicks and a dapperly dressed Mick Fleetwood with a pair of wooden balls dangling from his belt.

The controversial cover of this Grammy-winning album features an homage to young Black men in front of a famous house.

While the third album by Pulitzer Prize-winning hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar isn't the one that won him the Pulitzer, "To Pimp a Butterfly" is widely considered one of his most important albums for its lyrical content, its musicality, and the photograph chosen for the cover.

The black-and-white image practically felt alive, capturing a group of young Black men celebrating in front of the White House, with a judge at their feet.

This groundbreaking album featured five variation covers, all by George Condo.

"My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" is a widely regarded masterpiece, and the album cover caused quite a stir with retailers. Some stores deemed the original George Condo painting too provocative, so the album also shipped with alternate Condo covers, including a portrait of a ballerina. Featuring the smash hits "Monster," "All of the Lights," and "Runaway," among others, the album has surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify alone.

This dreamy pop group looked like a bright blue crystalline dream on the cover of this wildly popular album.

The Swedish quartet known as ABBA was considered the main harbinger of all things dreamy disco pop during the '70s, and the classic album "Voulez-Vous" is considered one of its best. The album topped the charts in the United Kingdom and several other countries in 1979, with many of its singles becoming hits worldwide. The band reached a new level of popularity when its music was used as the basis for the hit stage musical "Mamma Mia!," which was then adapted into a hit motion picture starring Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, and Pierce Brosnan, among others.

This infamous album cover has the ability to insult you in less than a few words.

"American Idiot" was the seventh studio album by the pop-punk trio Green Day. Rife with political undertones and overtones, it is considered the group's anthemic protest album. It includes singles "American Idiot," "Holiday," "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," and the somewhat more melancholy "Wake Me Up When September Ends."

While "American Idiot" is not the group's bestselling album, it did become its most critically acclaimed, earning a Grammy for Best Rock Album in 2005.

This band's album welcomed us all to the jungle of long hair, big hats, and high-pitched screams—or at least their skulls did.

You can't escape it, no matter how long it's been, and in truth, you probably don't want to. That's the sort of good and evil dichotomy found in Guns N' Roses' 1987 debut album, "Appetite for Destruction." Despite the popularity of the band—and the present-day fame of its album—it actually took the record more than a year to hit the top of the Billboard 200 chart.

The success only came after the gradual release of the hit singles "Sweet Child O' Mine," "Paradise City," and, of course, the often-played, still-in-rotation, perfect-for-a-movie soundtrack single "Welcome to the Jungle." The album has gone on to sell more than 30 million copies worldwide.

This absolutely angelic crooner sits alone, looking forlorn, in a black-and-white portrait on the cover of her album, wondering if she'll ever find someone like you.

The second studio album from this absolute icon of pop music is the record that marked Adele's transition from the promising ingénue of her debut album, "19," to the sleek and sophisticated artist heard on "21." The seven-time Grammy-winning album featured singles like "Rumour Has It," "Someone Like You," and the somewhat anthemic dedication to empowerment and the burning of that which doesn't serve you, "Set Fire to the Rain."

A beat-up Telecaster, a leather jacket, and a pin honoring the King. All this rocker needs now is an open highway.

Photographer Eric Meola shot the cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run," and it's one of rock's warmest images. Springsteen grins as he leans on saxophonist Clarence Clemons, worn Telecaster in hand and an Elvis fan club button pinned to his guitar strap. In the full gatefold, the photo wraps around to the back, with Clemons taking up the rest of the frame. It made the friendship at the center of the E Street Band part of the picture. The album, Springsteen's third, was his breakthrough. That fall, he was on the covers of Time and Newsweek in the same week.

Eyes closed and chin up against a clear blue sky, this Material Girl strikes a pose in one of pop's most famous portraits.

Madonna's 1986 album "True Blue" features a photograph by the famed artist Herb Ritts and is widely considered one of the most well-known photographs of the Material Girl. The LP, a dedication to her then-husband Sean Penn, featured the groundbreaking single "Papa Don't Preach," a catchy, danceable song that openly discusses teen pregnancy, which wasn't exactly kitchen table talk in the '80s, especially in pop music.