These Artists Released Best Country Albums Of Century So Far, Ranking Shows

Chris Stapleton, Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves, Taylor Swift, Eric Church and other artists released albums in the past 25 years that ranked among the greatest albums of the century thus far.

in a massive new ranking published on Friday (January 10), Rolling Stone compiled the 250 greatest albums of the 21st century. The genre-spanning list includes everything from record that remain true to country to those that shattered boundaries (including Beyoncé’s COWBOY CARTER that arrived last year). Beyoncé had multiple albums appear in the ranking, in addition to Swift, including unforgettable albums from her country era. Rolling Stone states that “in compiling our top 250 albums of the first quarter-century, we wanted to show as much of the scope of this story as possible.”

Find the full, genre-spanning ranking here, and see which country albums made the list below:

207 — Maren Morris, Hero (2016)

196 — Taylor Swift, Speak Now (2010, Taylor’s Version 2023)

165 — Brandy Clark, 12 Stories (2013)

137 — Pistol Annies, Interstate Gospel (2018)

130 — Brandi Carlile, By the Way, I Forgive You (2018)

126 — Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter (2024)

121 — Eric Church, Chief (2011)

103 — Chris Stapleton, Traveller (2015)

79 — Jason Isbell, Southeastern (2013)

48 — Miranda Lambert, Platinum (2014)

43 — Sturgill Simpson, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (2014)

40 — Kacey Musgraves, Golden Hour (2018)

36 — Taylor Swift, Red (2012, Taylor’s Version 2021)