Greatest Country Music Albums

[DDD]

Criteria: These Country Music albums were chosen and ranked considering their initial and lasting popularity, influence, originality, and impact within the Country music genre. (Greatest Hits albums are excluded from top 100)

Edited By: Lew
Last Updated: 2025-01-13
Newly added names: **

https://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best ... lbums.html

1. Johnny Cash At San Quentin - (1969) Johnny Cash
2. Coat Of Many Colors - (1971) Dolly Parton
3. Red Headed Stranger - (1975) Willie Nelson
4. No Fences - (1990) Garth Brooks
5. Showcase - (1961) Patsy Cline
6. Coal Miners Daughter - (1971) Loretta Lynn
7. At Folsom Prison - (1968) Johnny Cash
8. Hello Darlin' - (1970) Conway Twitty
9. Ol' Waylon ** - (1977) Waylon Jennings
10. Stand By Your Man - (1969) Tammy Wynette
11. Pancho & Lefty - (1983) Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson
12. Roses In The Snow - (1980) Emmylou Harris
13. Come On Over - (1997) Shania Twain
14. I Am What I Am - (1980) George Jones
15. Here You Come Again - (1977) Dolly Parton
16. Always on My Mind - (1982) Willie Nelson
17. Always & Forever - (1987) Randy Travis
18. D-I-V-O-R-C-E - (1968) Tammy Wynette
19. Jolene ** - (1974) Dolly Parton
20. Sentimentally Yours - (1962) Patsy Cline
21. Breath - (1999) Faith Hill
22. Ropin' the Wind **v(1991) Garth Brooks
23. Big City - (1981) Merle Haggard
24. American V: A Hundred Highways ** - (2006) Johnny Cash
25. Golden Ring - (1976) Tammy Wynette and George Jones
26. The Gambler - (1978) Kenny Rogers
27. I Still Believe in You ** - (1994) Vince Gill
28. What Goes Around Comes Around ** - (1979) Waylon Jennings
29. For My Broken Heart - (1991) Reba McEntire
30. The Woman In Me - (1995) Shania Twain
31. Traveller - (2015) Chris Stapleton
32. Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. - (1986) Dwight Yoakam
33. Blue - (1996) LeAnn Rimes
34. Some Hearts - (2005) Carrie Underwood
35. Storms Of Life - (1986) Randy Travis
36. Seven Year Ache - (1981) Rosanne Cash
37. Home - (2002) Dixie Chicks
38. TNT - (1978) Tanya Tucker
39. Starting Over ** - (2020) Chris Stapleton
40. Little Sparrow - (2001) Dolly Parton
41. San Antonio Rose - (1980) Willie Nelson & Ray Price
42. When Love Finds You - (1994) Vince Gill
43. Trio - (1987) Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt
44. Kenny ** - (1979) Kenny Rogers
45. Killin' Time - (1989) Clint Black
46. Not a Moment Too Soon ** - (1994) Tim McGraw
47. Mountain Music - (1982) Alabama
48. Blue Clear Sky - (1996) George Strait
49. Kristofferson - (1970) Kris Kristofferson
50. In Pieces - (1993) Garth Brooks
51. Why Not Me - (1984) The Judds
52. Honky Tonk Angel ** - (1988) Patty Loveless
53. Buck Owens Sings Harlan Howard - (1961) Buck Owens
54. Pontiac - (1988) Lyle Lovett
55. Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing ** - (2006) Keith Urban
56. Did I Shave My Legs For This - (1995) Deana Carter
57. Revolution - (2009) Miranda Lambert
58. Put Yourself in My Shoes ** - (1989) Clint Black
59. Fearless - (2008) Taylor Swift
60. Martina ** - (2003) Martina McBride
61. When Fallen Angels Fly ** - (1994) Patty Loveless
62. Carrying Your Love With Me ** - (1997) George Strait
63. Alot About Living (And A Little About Love) - (1992) Alan Jackson
64. I Hope You Dance ** - (2000) Lee Ann Womack
65. LeAnn Rimes ** - (1999) LeAnn Rimes
66. Revival - (1996) Gillian Welch
67. Eagle When She Flies ** - (1991) Dolly Parton
68. Garth Brooks ** - (1989) Garth Brooks
69. Honky Tonk Angels - (1993) Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette
70. The Closer You Get... ** - (1983) Alabama
71. I'm A Lonesome Fugitive - (1967) Merle Haggard
72. Loretta Lynn Sings - (1963) Loretta Lynn
73. Taylor Swift ** - (2008) Taylor Swift
74. Strait Country - (1981) George Strait
75. Rhinestone Cowboy - (1975) Glen Campbell
76. Highwaymen - (1985) The Highwaymen
77. Faith - (1998) Faith Hill
78. No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems ** - (2002) Kenny Chesney
79. A Place in the Sun ** - (1994) Tim McGraw
80. Reba: Duets ** - (2007) Reba McEntire
81. Unleashed ** - (2002) Toby Keith
82. Behind Closed Doors ** - (1973) Charlie Rich
83. Van Lear Rose - (2004) Loretta Lynn
84. Fly ** - (1999) Dixie Chicks
85. Time Well Wasted - (2005) Brad Paisley
86. Same Trailer Different Park - (2013) Kacey Musgraves
87. Be Here - (2004) Keith Urban
88. Songs My Father Left Me - (1969) Hank Williams Jr.
89. The Silver Tongued Devil and I ** - (1971) Kris Kristofferson
90. Platinum ** - (2014) Miranda Lambert
91. Who I Am ** - (1994) Alan Jackson
92. Trisha Yearwood ** - (1991) Trisha Yearwood
93. Just Plain Charley ** - (1970) Charley Pride
94. Need You Now - (2010) Lady Antebellum
95. I've Got a Tiger By the Tail ** - (1961) Buck Owens and his Buckaroos
96. Diamonds & Dirt - (1988) Rodney Crowell
97. Come On Come On - (1992) Mary Chapin Carpenter
98. Bell Bottom Country ** - (2022) Lainey Wilson
99. Shadowland - (1988) k.d. lang
100. Chief - (2011) Eric Church

[Fido]

I see this one got updated, with Folsom Prison falling from the top. Not my field of expertise, so thoughts on the update?

[Sherick]

Weird list. I can't figure out for the life of me why Ol' Waylon of all things is Jennings's entry, and What Goes Around may not be in his top 10.
San Quentin > Folsom doesn't really hold either, Folsom is ranked pretty regularly as the greatest country album and Cash's most iconic, and was very revolutionary for the time.
It appears very much to be a list based on chart performance, which is unfortunate.

[ManPerson]

This update seems a lot worse than the original as I remember it.