Album Cover

Landmark LP / album covers from 1955 to 2024 — 88 sleeves across 6 eras: LP Era, Rock Mythology, Post-Punk + MTV, Sample & CD, the MP3 Decade, and the Streaming Era.

A chronological documentary of 165 moments spanning 1955–2024 on Loreline.

last updated 2026-07-22

1. 1955-04-25 — Frank Sinatra — In the Wee Small Hours. · Year: 1955 · Designer: Capitol Photo Studio The first concept album. Sinatra in fedora and overcoat on a deserted blue-toned city street; the painting establishes mood as a design discipline.
2. 1955-04-25 — In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning (Remastered 1998). ) · 00:03:01
3. 1956-03-23 — Elvis Presley — Elvis Presley. · Year: 1956 · Designer: William V. "Red" Robertson The pink-and-green typography photograph that the Clash would replicate verbatim 23 years later on London Calling.
4. 1956 — Sonny Rollins — Saxophone Colossus. · Year: 1956 · Designer: Tom Hannan Saxophone in negative space on a yellow field — Prestige Records aesthetic at its most pure.
5. 1956-12-01 — Sonny Rollins - St. Thomas (Official Audio) from Saxophone Colossus. · 00:06:48
6. 1959-08-17 — Miles Davis — Kind of Blue. · Year: 1959 · Designer: Neil Fujita · photo by Jay Maisel Studio-shot Miles in side-light blue. The best-selling jazz album of all time; the photograph is now in MoMA.
7. 1959-10 — Ornette Coleman — The Shape of Jazz to Come. · Year: 1959 · Designer: Atlantic Records Free-jazz manifesto cover with a faded photo of Coleman holding his plastic alto.
8. 1959-10-15 — Ornette Coleman / The Shape of Jazz to Come. · 00:38:14
9. 1959-12-14 — Dave Brubeck Quartet — Time Out. · Year: 1959 · Designer: S. Neil Fujita Abstract geometric painting — the first jazz LP to use modernist art as cover instead of a band photograph.
10. 1959-12-14 — The Dave Brubeck Quartet (Time Out ) 1959. · 00:38:46
11. 1963 — Anna (Go To Him) (Remastered 2009). ) · 00:02:57
12. 1964-01-20 — The Beatles — Meet the Beatles!. ! · Year: 1964 · Designer: Robert Freeman Half-shadowed black-and-white portrait that defined the band's American breakthrough — and a generation of high-contrast portraiture.
13. 1965-08-30 — Bob Dylan — Highway 61 Revisited. · Year: 1965 · Designer: Daniel Kramer Dylan in striped shirt and tinted glasses, friend Bob Neuwirth behind him with a camera. The cover that made the Triumph T-shirt and aviators a cultural cocktail.
14. 1965-08-30 — Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (Official Audio). ) · 00:03:27
15. 1966-05-16 — The Beach Boys — Pet Sounds. · Year: 1966 · Designer: Capitol Records The band feeding actual goats at the San Diego Zoo — a cover whose blandness disguises one of the most influential albums in pop history.
16. 1966-05-16 — Pet Sounds. · 00:02:38
17. 1966-08-05 — The Beatles — Revolver. · Year: 1966 · Designer: Klaus Voormann Pen-and-ink line drawing by Hamburg friend Klaus Voormann — collaged photographs woven into the linework. Won a Grammy for Best Album Cover.
18. 1966-08-05 — Tomorrow Never Knows (2022 Mix). ) · 00:02:58
19. 1967-03-12 — The Velvet Underground & Nico — The Velvet Underground & Nico. · Year: 1967 · Designer: Andy Warhol The banana cover. Original peelable yellow sticker over a pink underlayer — Warhol's only cover for the band whose career he funded.
20. 1967-03-12 — The Velvet Underground & Nico "I'll Be Your Mirror" (Warhol film footage). ) · 00:02:23
21. 1967-05-12 — The Jimi Hendrix Experience — Are You Experienced. · Year: 1967 · Designer: Karl Ferris Fisheye-lens portrait of the band in psychedelic yellow-and-purple. Karl Ferris's "psychedelic photograph" — a technique he invented for this sleeve.
22. 1967-05-12 — Are You Experienced?. ? · 00:04:16
23. 1967-05-26 — The Beatles — Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. · Year: 1967 · Designer: Peter Blake · Jann Haworth The most-imitated cover in pop history. Life-size cardboard cutouts of cultural figures assembled in Michael Cooper's studio over three weeks. The Beatles' label's legal team had to clear every figure.
24. 1967-05-26 — Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Remastered 2009). ) · 00:02:03
25. 1968-08 — Jeff Beck Group — Truth. · Year: 1968 · Designer: EMI Beck and band in monochrome psychedelic blur — the cover prototype for hard-rock photo treatments through the 1970s.
26. 1968-08-15 — Jeff Beck - Truth(1968) - 08 Beck's Bolero. · 00:02:55
27. 1968-11-22 — The Beatles — The Beatles (White Album). ) · Year: 1968 · Designer: Richard Hamilton A pure-white square embossed with a serial number. Hamilton's anti-cover — the maximal opposite of Sgt. Pepper one year earlier.
28. 1968-11-22 — THE BEATLES - White Album (Full Album-side1). ) · 00:23:53
29. 1969-09-26 — The Beatles — Abbey Road. · Year: 1969 · Designer: Iain Macmillan Six photographs taken in ten minutes on a Friday morning. Lennon insisted everyone walk a particular way; McCartney is barefoot. The cover and the zebra crossing are both now Grade II listed.
30. 1969-09-26 — The Long One (Comprising of ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’, ’Sun King’/’Mean Mr.... · 00:16:10
31. 1969-10-10 — King Crimson — In the Court of the Crimson King. · Year: 1969 · Designer: Barry Godber The screaming-face painting Godber made after one acid trip. He died of a heart attack at 24 the following year; this was his only album cover.
32. 1969-10-10 — King Crimson - The Court Of The Crimson King. · 00:10:03
33. 1970-10-05 — Led Zeppelin — Led Zeppelin III. · Year: 1970 · Designer: Zacron Rotating wheel inside the sleeve — turn the inner disc and different images appear in cutout windows. Mechanical-cover engineering at its most ambitious.
34. 1970-10-05 — Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III (Remaster) [Official Full Album]. ] · 00:43:08
35. 1971-04-23 — The Rolling Stones — Sticky Fingers. · Year: 1971 · Designer: Andy Warhol A real working zipper on a denim jeans crotch. The first pressings damaged the records in shipping when the zipper pressed into the vinyl underneath.
36. 1971-04-23 — Brown Sugar (Remastered 2009). ) · 00:03:49
37. 1971-05-21 — Marvin Gaye — What's Going On. · Year: 1971 · Designer: Curtis McNair · photo by Jim Hendin Gaye in the rain, collar turned up. The protest-soul album cover that established Black-album-art as a serious design discipline.
38. 1971-05-21 — Marvin Gaye - What's Going On. · 00:03:52
39. 1971-09-09 — John Lennon — Imagine. · Year: 1971 · Designer: John & Yoko · Iain Macmillan photo A cloudscape with Lennon's head softly emerging from it — the cover for the album of the same name.
40. 1971-09-09 — Imagine - John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band (w The Flux Fiddlers) (Ultimate Mix 2018) - 4K REMASTER. · 00:03:14
41. 1971-12-17 — David Bowie — Hunky Dory. · Year: 1971 · Designer: George Underwood · photo by Brian Ward Bowie in three-quarter profile, hand brushed through hair — colorised in pastel by Underwood from a Brian Ward photo. The Ziggy Stardust character was conceived during the same sessions.
42. 1971-12-17 — David Bowie - Hunky Dory (Full Album). ) · 00:41:58
43. 1972-06-06 — David Bowie — The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. · Year: 1972 · Designer: Brian Ward Bowie outside K. West furrier's shop, Heddon Street London, in a phone-booth-lit blue jumpsuit. Photographed at 3am to get the empty street.
44. 1972-06-06 — David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust (Official Video). ) · 00:03:18
45. 1972-06-16 — Roxy Music — Roxy Music. · Year: 1972 · Designer: Nicholas de Ville · photo by Karl Stoecker Model Kari-Ann Muller reclining on satin — the album as 1940s pin-up. Six subsequent Roxy Music albums kept the woman-on-cover format.
46. 1973-03-01 — Pink Floyd — The Dark Side of the Moon. · Year: 1973 · Designer: Hipgnosis · George Hardie Storm Thorgerson asked the band for "something simple". Hardie drew the prism in ink on tracing paper. The album has charted continuously for 50+ years.
47. 1973-03-01 — Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon (50th Anniversary) [2023 Remaster] {Full Album}. } · 00:42:56
48. 1973-08-03 — Stevie Wonder — Innervisions. · Year: 1973 · Designer: Efrem Wolff Painted illustration of Wonder with rays emerging from his head onto a fragmented urban America. The cover for one of the most acclaimed albums in pop history.
49. 1973-08-03 — Visions. · 00:05:23
50. 1975-08-25 — Bruce Springsteen — Born to Run. · Year: 1975 · Designer: photo by Eric Meola Springsteen leaning on Clarence Clemons, gatefold continues across both panels — designed so you needed both halves to see the friendship.
51. 1975-08-25 — Born to Run. Provided to YouTube by Columbia Born to Run · Bruce Springsteen
52. 1975-09-12 — Pink Floyd — Wish You Were Here. · Year: 1975 · Designer: Hipgnosis · Storm Thorgerson Two businessmen shake hands; one is on fire (real flame, real burns to stuntman Ronnie Rondell). The cover came shrink-wrapped in opaque black so you couldn't see it before buying.
53. 1975-09-12 — Wish You Were Here. · 00:05:21
54. 1976-09-28 — Stevie Wonder — Songs in the Key of Life. · Year: 1976 · Designer: Stevie Wonder Wonder in close-up, eyes closed, hands raised — a portrait that doubled as an album-of-the-year campaign image.
55. 1977-01-14 — David Bowie — Low. · Year: 1977 · Designer: photo from The Man Who Fell to Earth A still from Bowie's 1976 Nicolas Roeg film, recoloured in orange. The bridge between the Berlin Trilogy and the cover-art-as-film-still device that would dominate the 80s.
56. 1977-01-14 — David Bowie - Low Full Album. · 00:38:52
57. 1977-02-04 — Fleetwood Mac — Rumours. · Year: 1977 · Designer: Desmond Strobel · photo by Herbert Worthington Stevie Nicks twirling barefoot with Mick Fleetwood — taken during a rehearsal break. Captures the soap-opera year of the album's recording.
58. 1977-02-04 — Fleetwood Mac - Rumours [Full Album]. ] · 00:44:28
59. 1977-02-22 — Eagles — Hotel California. · Year: 1976 · Designer: John Kosh · David Alexander photo Sunset photograph of the Beverly Hills Hotel taken from a 60-ft cherry-picker. The dust silhouettes were real — they came in at 11pm.
60. 1977-02-22 — Eagles - Hotel California (Official Audio). ) · 00:06:31
61. 1977-10-28 — Sex Pistols — Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. · Year: 1977 · Designer: Jamie Reid Day-Glo cut-and-paste typography in pink and yellow — punk's defining design language assembled from ransom-note clippings.
62. 1979-07-14 — Joy Division — Unknown Pleasures. · Year: 1979 · Designer: Peter Saville Pulsar CP1919 radio-wave plot in white-on-black. Saville chose the image from the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Astronomy. The most-T-shirt-ified album cover ever made.
63. 1979-07-14 — Disorder (2007 Remaster). ) · 00:03:29
64. 1979-11-30 — Pink Floyd — The Wall. · Year: 1979 · Designer: Gerald Scarfe Bare-brick white wall — the album cover that became the stage prop that became the 1982 Alan Parker film. Scarfe also drew the animated sequences.
65. 1979-11-30 — pink floyd - another brick in the wall. · 00:03:49
66. 1979-12-14 — The Clash — London Calling. · Year: 1979 · Designer: Ray Lowry · photo by Pennie Smith Paul Simonon smashing his bass at the Palladium, NYC. Pennie Smith almost refused the photo because it was "out of focus". Voted greatest rock and roll photograph by Q magazine.
67. 1979-12-14 — London Calling. · 00:03:20
68. 1980-07 — Joy Division — Closer. · Year: 1980 · Designer: Peter Saville · photo by Bernard Pierre Wolff A black-and-white photograph of a tomb at the Staglieno cemetery in Genoa. Released two months after Ian Curtis's suicide; nobody told the design team.
69. 1980-07-15 — Joy Division - Closer : Full Album HQ Sound (With Lyrics and translation in French). ) · 00:44:23
70. 1980-10-08 — Talking Heads — Remain in Light. · Year: 1980 · Designer: M&Co · Tibor Kalman Four band members' faces digitally masked in solid red squares — one of the first commercial uses of MIT-developed real-time image processing.
71. 1982 — Roxy Music - More Than This (High Audio Quality). ) · 00:04:27
72. 1982-11-30 — Michael Jackson — Thriller. · Year: 1982 · Designer: photo by Dick Zimmerman Jackson in white suit, hand on lapel, tiger cub by his foot (in the original gatefold). The best-selling album of all time; the cover sits in the Smithsonian.
73. 1982-11-30 — Michael Jackson - Thriller (Audio). ) · 00:06:00
74. 1984-06-04 — Bruce Springsteen — Born in the U.S.A.. · Year: 1984 · Designer: Annie Leibovitz Springsteen's back pocket against the American flag — Leibovitz's photograph that Springsteen has spent forty years explaining is not a political endorsement.
75. 1984-06-04 — Bruce Springsteen - Born In The U.S.A. [Audio HQ]. ] · 00:04:41
76. 1984-06-25 — Prince and The Revolution — Purple Rain. · Year: 1984 · Designer: Laura LiPuma · photo by Ed Thrasher Prince in purple suit, motorcycle, the fog. Promotional image for the film that became the album cover that became the brand.
77. 1984-06-25 — Purple Rain (2015 Paisley Park Remaster). ) · 00:08:45
78. 1985-05-13 — New Order — Low-Life. · Year: 1985 · Designer: Peter Saville Saville continues his Factory typography work. Each band member's photo was used on a different vinyl sleeve — collectors needed all four to complete the set.
79. 1986-06-16 — The Smiths — The Queen Is Dead. · Year: 1986 · Designer: Morrissey · still from L'Insoumis Alain Delon still from the 1964 French film L'Insoumis, tinted green. Morrissey designed every Smiths sleeve himself.
80. 1986-06-16 — The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead. · 00:06:27
81. 1986-08-25 — Paul Simon — Graceland. · Year: 1986 · Designer: Sandra Choron · illustration by Jeff Schoff Ethiopian Christian-art-influenced illustration of an equestrian saint — Simon's controversial South Africa album with a deliberately cross-cultural cover.
82. 1986-08-25 — Paul Simon - Graceland (Official Audio). ) · 00:04:53
83. 1987-03-09 — U2 — The Joshua Tree. · Year: 1987 · Designer: Anton Corbijn Black-and-white photograph of the band in the Mojave Desert with a lone joshua tree. Corbijn shot the cover in two days; the tree was already dead.
84. 1987-03-30 — Prince — Sign o' the Times. · Year: 1987 · Designer: Laura LiPuma-Nash Heart-and-symbol typography in pink and yellow on a stage-set background. The cover for Prince's most-acclaimed double album.
85. 1987-03-30 — Sign 'O' the Times. · 00:05:03
86. 1987-07-21 — Guns N' Roses — Appetite for Destruction. · Year: 1987 · Designer: Bill White Jr. · alt cover Robert Williams Original Robert Williams "assault" painting was banned by retailers; replaced with the now-iconic cross-and-skulls tattoo by Bill White Jr. for the mass-market release.
87. 1987-07-21 — Rocket Queen. · 00:06:13
88. 1988-08-08 — N.W.A — Straight Outta Compton. · Year: 1988 · Designer: Helene Silverman · photo by Eric Poppleton Overhead shot of the group looking down at the camera — the angle taken in a Compton garage. Defined gangsta-rap visual language for a generation.
89. 1988-08-08 — 01. N.W.A - Straight Outta Compton. · 00:04:19
90. 1989-04-18 — Pixies — Doolittle. · Year: 1989 · Designer: Vaughan Oliver · 23 Envelope Vaughan Oliver's 4AD aesthetic: cryptic photograph (a monkey with a halo), hand-painted Roman numerals, deliberately rough scan. Oliver designed every Pixies sleeve.
91. 1989-04-18 — La La Love You. · 00:02:44
92. 1989-07-25 — Beastie Boys — Paul's Boutique. · Year: 1989 · Designer: Nathaniel Hörnblowér · photo by Jeremy Shatan Panoramic photograph of the Lower East Side intersection of Ludlow and Rivington — a 360-degree fold-out spread. The location became a Beastie Boys pilgrimage site.
93. 1991-09-24 — Nirvana — Nevermind. · Year: 1991 · Designer: Robert Fisher · photo by Kirk Weddle Baby Spencer Elden underwater chasing a dollar on a fishhook. Elden later sued (unsuccessfully) over the photo as an adult.
94. 1991-09-24 — Nirvana - Endless, Nameless (Audio). ) · 00:06:44
95. 1991-11-18 — U2 — Achtung Baby. · Year: 1991 · Designer: Steve Averill · Shaughnessy Anton Corbijn A 16-panel grid of fragments from a Berlin/Brussels reshoot. The band rejected the original cover; this multi-image solution took eight separate Corbijn sessions to assemble.
96. 1991-11-18 — U2 - The Fly [1080p] HD - Achtung Baby [1991]. ] · 00:04:52
97. 1992-11-06 — Rage Against the Machine — Rage Against the Machine. · Year: 1992 · Designer: photo by Malcolm Browne The 1963 Pulitzer-winning photograph of Vietnamese monk Thích Quảng Đức self-immolating in Saigon. The most uncompromising debut-album cover ever printed.
98. 1992-11-06 — Rage Against The Machine - Killing In the Name (Official HD Video). ) · 00:05:14
99. 1994-04-19 — Nas — Illmatic. · Year: 1994 · Designer: Aimée Macauley · photo by Danny Clinch Seven-year-old Nas's face superimposed on a photograph of his Queensbridge housing-project block. The cover, like the album, is a self-portrait of memory.
100. 1994-04-19 — Nas - N.Y. State of Mind (Official Audio). ) · 00:04:56
101. 1994-09-26 — Massive Attack — Protection. · Year: 1994 · Designer: Michael Nash Associates A graphic of a closed lock against a blue field — defining the trip-hop visual language for the rest of the decade.
102. 1994-09-26 — Protection (Remastered 2006). Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group Protection (Remastered 2006) · Massive Attack · Tracey Thorn
103. 1994-11-15 — Method Man — Tical. · Year: 1994 · Designer: Wu-Tang Clan · Daniel Hastings Method Man in red lighting against a black background — the cover that defined Wu-Tang visual identity for the next decade.
104. 1994-11-15 — Tical. · 00:03:57
105. 1995-10-02 — Oasis — (What's the Story) Morning Glory?. ? · Year: 1995 · Designer: Brian Cannon · photo by Michael Spencer Jones Two figures crossing Berwick Street, Soho on a Sunday morning — the cover that defined Britpop's visual moment.
106. 1995-10-02 — Morning Glory (Remastered). ) · 00:05:03
107. 1995-10-24 — The Smashing Pumpkins — Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. · Year: 1995 · Designer: John Craig Victorian-era female portrait cut and pasted onto a starfield — the cover for the 28-song double album that defined late-90s alternative.
108. 1995-10-24 — Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (Remastered 2012). ) · 00:02:53
109. 1996-09-17 — Tool — Ænima. · Year: 1996 · Designer: Cam de Leon · Adam Jones Lenticular cover — the image changes as you tilt the case. One of the first major-label CDs to use a physically interactive cover.
110. 1996-09-17 — TOOL - Ænema (Official Audio). ) · 00:06:41
111. 1997-01-20 — Daft Punk — Homework. · Year: 1997 · Designer: Daft Punk Black-on-black sticker logo on a glossy black sleeve. The cover that established Daft Punk's "no faces" rule years before the helmets arrived.
112. 1997-01-20 — Daft Punk - Homework (Full album). ) · 01:13:47
113. 1997-05-21 — Radiohead — OK Computer. · Year: 1997 · Designer: Stanley Donwood · Thom Yorke White paint over a Polaroid of a freeway overpass, with overlaid scrap-text. Donwood and Yorke made it in Yorke's flat in three weeks.
114. 1997-05-21 — Paranoid Android. · 00:06:27
115. 1998-08-19 — Lauryn Hill — The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. · Year: 1998 · Designer: Eric Johnson · photo by Eric Johnson Carved-wooden Lauryn Hill portrait that recasts the album-cover as classroom desk graffiti — fitting for the Miseducation conceit.
116. 1998-08-19 — The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. · 00:03:55
117. 2000-10-02 — Radiohead — Kid A. · Year: 2000 · Designer: Stanley Donwood · Thom Yorke Painted snow-covered mountain landscape rendered in Donwood's "red" palette. Released without a single, in a year when the music industry assumed nobody bought albums anymore.
118. 2000-10-02 — Kid A. · 00:04:45
119. 2001-03-03 — Daft Punk — Discovery. · Year: 2001 · Designer: Daft Punk Gold-plated robot heads — the moment Thomas and Guy-Manuel adopted the helmet-as-permanent-public-identity.
120. 2001-03-03 — Daft Punk - Discovery (Full Album). ) · 01:00:29
121. 2001 — The White Stripes — White Blood Cells. · Year: 2001 · Designer: Jack White · photo by Patrick Pantano Jack and Meg in white shirts on a red field with falling "cells". The Stripes' commitment to the red-white-black palette as a complete brand system.
122. 2001-07-29 — The Strokes — Is This It. · Year: 2001 · Designer: Colin Lane Photograph of a woman's hip and gloved hand. The UK cover was censored to a particle-collider image — both covers are now collected.
123. 2001-07-29 — The Strokes - Is This It (Lyrics) [HQ]. ] · 00:02:31
124. 2002 — Elvis Presley, JXL - A Little Less Conversation (JXL12" Extended Remix - Official Audio). ) · 00:06:12
125. 2002-08 — Interpol — Turn On the Bright Lights. · Year: 2002 · Designer: Slang · photo by Marina Chavez Red-on-black band-name typography against a black square. Definitive post-punk-revival design language.
126. 2003-09-23 — Outkast — Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. · Year: 2003 · Designer: James Goodman · Antwan A. Patton · André Benjamin Two-sleeves-in-one double-album with separate Big Boi and André 3000 covers. Designed so you could file it on either side of the alphabet.
127. 2003-09-23 — She Lives in My Lap. · 00:04:27
128. 2004-02-10 — Kanye West — The College Dropout. · Year: 2004 · Designer: Kanye West · Morning Breath A bear in a varsity sweater alone on bleachers. West's "Dropout Bear" mascot debuts here and recurs through Late Registration and Graduation.
129. 2004-02-10 — Never Let Me Down. Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group Never Let Me Down · Kanye West · JAŸ-Z · J. Ivy
130. 2007-09-05 — Kanye West — Graduation. · Year: 2007 · Designer: Takashi Murakami Takashi Murakami's Dropout Bear in graduation cap and gown against a CMYK-pixelated explosion. The first major collaboration of a contemporary artist with a hip-hop release.
131. 2007-09-05 — Graduation Day. · 00:01:22
132. 2007-10-10 — Radiohead — In Rainbows. · Year: 2007 · Designer: Stanley Donwood · Thom Yorke Donwood used a graffiti-removal solvent on woodblock prints, mixed it with wax, scanned the result. The pay-what-you-want album with a cover made in the kitchen.
133. 2007-10-10 — Radiohead - In Rainbows From the Basement (April 2008). ) · 01:03:10
134. 2010-06-24 — Interpol - Lights. · 00:05:16
135. 2010-11-22 — Kanye West — My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. · Year: 2010 · Designer: George Condo · Kanye West Painted by George Condo specifically for the album — actually five separate Condo paintings, one for each of five regional releases. Banned by Walmart for the original "phoenix and Kanye" panel.
136. 2010-11-22 — Dark Fantasy. · 00:04:41
137. 2012-10-22 — Kendrick Lamar — good kid, m.A.A.d city. · Year: 2012 · Designer: Vlad Sepetov · photo by Kendrick Lamar A Polaroid of baby Kendrick with his uncles, with the faces of two strikethrough-redacted. The cover that announced Lamar's biographical-album mode.
138. 2012-10-22 — m.A.A.d city. · 00:05:50
139. 2013-05-17 — Daft Punk — Random Access Memories. · Year: 2013 · Designer: Cédric Hervet · Warren Fu The helmets, gilded, against a black square. Their last studio album cover; the duo would split in 2021.
140. 2013-05-17 — Daft Punk (feat. Julian Casablancas) - Instant Crush [Random Access Memories]. ] · 00:05:37
141. 2015-03-15 — Kendrick Lamar — To Pimp a Butterfly. · Year: 2015 · Designer: Vlad Sepetov · Denis Rouvre Group portrait of Black men, women, children outside the White House, gold-toothed and unsmiling, holding a baby and a judge's gavel. Designed to be banned.
142. 2015-03-15 — i. · 00:05:36
143. 2016-04-23 — Beyoncé — Lemonade. · Year: 2016 · Designer: Robert Schober · Awol Erizku Beyoncé in cornrows resting her head against a stadium-bleacher fence. The visual album's cover; Erizku's photograph became the touchstone for a new wave of Black portrait photography.
144. 2016-04-23 — Hold Up. · 00:03:41
145. 2016-07-21 — The White Stripes' White Blood Cells (In 3 Minutes). ) · 00:03:14
146. 2016-08-20 — Frank Ocean — Blonde. · Year: 2016 · Designer: Wolfgang Tillmans Tillmans' photograph of Ocean in green sweatshirt, hand over face — released as Blond (no E) on streaming, Blonde on the (hardcover-book + magazine + CD) physical. The misspelling is the cover.
147. 2016-08-20 — Frank Ocean - Pink + White. · 00:03:05
148. 2018-04-27 — Janelle Monáe — Dirty Computer. · Year: 2018 · Designer: Janelle Monáe · Carlota Guerrero Profile portrait of Monáe in red turtleneck and the album's rainbow circuit-board crown. The album-as-emotion-picture's defining still.
149. 2018-04-27 — Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer (feat. Brian Wilson). ) · 00:02:00
150. 2019-03-29 — Billie Eilish — When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?. ? · Year: 2019 · Designer: Kenneth Cappello Eilish in white tank top sitting on a bed with all-white eyes — the cover that became the year's most-cosplayed image.
151. 2019-03-29 — WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?. ? · 00:00:31
152. 2020-07-24 — Taylor Swift — folklore. · Year: 2020 · Designer: Beth Garrabrant Black-and-white photograph of Swift in a forest, taken in 35mm on her own with no production team during lockdown. The cover that announced Swift's indie-folk pivot.
153. 2020-07-24 — Taylor Swift - the last great american dynasty (Official Lyric Video). ) · 00:03:52
154. 2021-01-27 — Albums that Changed Music: Talking Heads - Remain in Light. · 00:16:13
155. 2021-05-21 — Olivia Rodrigo — SOUR. · Year: 2021 · Designer: photo by Erica Hernandez Polaroid-style photograph of Rodrigo covered in stickers — half-Disney-Channel scrapbook, half-Y2K aesthetic. The cover for the album that defined post-2020 teenpop.
156. 2021-05-21 — Sour by Olivia Rodrigo Full Album Playlist. · 00:25:54
157. 2022-05-13 — Kendrick Lamar — Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. · Year: 2022 · Designer: Renell Medrano · Mike Carson Kendrick wearing a thorned crown holding a baby. Photograph by Renell Medrano; the crown was a Tiffany & Co. custom that took six weeks to make.
158. 2022-05-13 — Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale ft. Tanna Leone (Official Audio). ) · 00:03:31
159. 2022-07-29 — Beyoncé — Renaissance. · Year: 2022 · Designer: Carlijn Jacobs Beyoncé in chrome metal bikini on a crystal horse — Helmut Newton-coded high-glamour photography by Carlijn Jacobs. The cover that returned the album-cover-as-event format.
160. 2022-07-29 — Beyoncé - SUMMER RENAISSANCE (Official Lyric Video). ) · 00:04:41
161. 2023-01-27 — Is New Order - Low Life the perfect album?. ? · 00:03:27
162. 2024-03-29 — Beyoncé — Cowboy Carter. · Year: 2024 · Designer: Mason Poole Beyoncé on a white horse in a red-white-and-blue cowgirl costume, side-saddle, holding the American flag. The country-album rollout pivots to Mt. Rushmore-coded imagery.
163. 2024-03-29 — Beyoncé - COWBOY CARTER | OFFICIAL VINYL. · 00:00:23
164. 2024-06-07 — Charli xcx — brat. · Year: 2024 · Designer: Imogene Strauss · Brent David Freaney Low-res Arial Bold "brat" in green-on-green — designed to be as deliberately ugly as possible. The image dominated 2024 cultural discourse for six months.
165. 2024-06-07 — Charli xcx - Von dutch (official lyric video). ) · 00:02:55

Full text archive: /loreline-text/album-cover-history.md