In honor of me turning 30, I’m compiling 30 different top-30 lists on a wide variety of topics ranging from trivial interests of mine to meaningful life moments. Read the introductory post for more background information on my 30 at 30 project. Reminder: there is no scientific rationale for these lists. They were composed by a panel of one—me.

I’ve written previously about my favorite songs and Matt’s Mixes, but before closing out my 30 at 30 project, I wanted to write about my favorite albums.

I owe my love of music and music collecting to my dad. Growing up he had an extensive collection of vinyl records and cassette tapes (and later CDs, which he maintains to this day). I remember some of my earliest albums came on cassette tape: The Sign by Ace of Base, Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em by MC Hammer, Shaq Diesel by Shaquille O’Neal, and Code Red by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Later, I became a member of the BMG CD club, taking advantage of the 12 CDs for a penny offer, and I never looked back. I think my initial order included the likes of Sweet Dreams by La Bouche and Villains by The Verve Pipe. I also remember having a sincere conversation with my parents when I was about 13 or so, explaining to them why I was mature enough to purchase and listen to CDs with explicit lyrics. To their credit, they trusted me, and to this day, I still don’t use a lot of profanity myself.

I am pretty sure at least a few of the albums on my list of favorites were purchased from that music club. The BMG CD club was also where I discovered one of my favorite bands, Dashboard Confessional, when they were a “featured selection” at one point. Over the years I also bought a lot of my CDs at Media Play and Borders. I used to treat myself to CD-spending sprees after each trimester of classes when I was in college at Mercyhurst.

Today my CD collection is well over 1,000. Plus, my wife Jessie and I also started collecting vinyl records a few years ago, which was greatly aided by receiving my dad’s collection and her mom’s. In today’s modern listening world, where any song can be queued up on YouTube or a streaming service in a matter of seconds, I remain fascinated by the artistic concept of a musical album, of listening straight through from start to finish, of the “story” or “theme” the band/artist was trying to convey through the album.

When I think of my favorite albums, they share two common characteristics. The most important factor is replayability, the idea that I never get tired of hearing it and even if it’s been around for years or decades, I’m excited to hear it again. The second quality is consistency. It’s not just about having one or two catchy hit songs—though those are fine—a favorite album for me needs to be one I genuinely want to listen straight through because I don’t want to miss anything on there rather than wanting to skip tracks to get to my favorite songs on the album.

Now without further ado, my top-30 favorite albums:

30. Graduation by Kanye West

Separating the art from the artist can be a controversial topic. For me, it’s not an all-or-nothing proposition. I can acknowledge some of the problematic and hateful comments and stances on issues put forward by Kanye West and still appreciate his music. Since I wrote about Kanye in 2015, he’s only become a more polarizing figure in pop culture. None of the albums he’s released since then have been my favorite works of his; however, I love his older stuff. In fact, Kanye is one of only five artists/bands to have more than one album on my list of favorites.

Graduation was released in the fall of 2007, a few months after I graduated from college myself, and won a Grammy for Best Rap Album. Fun fact, in researching this album, I realized there is a bonus track “Good Night” on Spotify that I had never heard before that makes me like the album even more, as it feels like a full-circle closing track linking back to the title of the opening track “Good Morning.”

29. Coloring Book by Chance the Rapper

Released in 2016, Coloring Book also won the Grammy for Best Rap Album (despite being a mixtape only available only on streaming platform). I was admittedly late to the party on Chance the Rapper. I did not become aware of his music until he was the musical guest on the Christmas episode of Saturday Night Live in 2016, performing “Finish Line/Drown” with Noname and “Same Drugs.” I was particularly blown away by “Finish Line/Drown,” and it led me to listening to the full album, which is a masterpiece with from start to finish.

28. The Head And The Heart by The Head And The Heart

Originally released in 2010, The Head And The Heart’s eponymous debut album is filled with emotional sweeping choruses that I love to sing along with. I enjoyed the album when I first heard it in the early 2010s and then rediscovered The Head and The Heart a couple years ago before seeing them live in concert at the WonderWorks music festival in Pittsburgh in 2023.

Continue reading 30 at 30 Lists #29: Albums →