Elevate your collection with Apple Music's luxurious 100 best albums book
by Andrew Orr · AppleInsiderLast updated 1 day ago
Apple Musicis turning its "100 Best Albums" list into a luxurious collectible book, bringing iconic records from the screen to your shelf.
Earlier in 2024, Apple launched its "100 Best Albums" list directly in the Apple Music app, sparking plenty of lively debates among fans. Now, the company is releasing the list in a different medium.
The Apple Music: 100 Best Albums book is a heavyweight in more ways than one. It weighs 8 pounds and has luxurious touches like a linen cover, gold page edges, and an acrylic slipcase. Each copy is hand-numbered, making it a unique piece of music history.
It is being sold by Assouline.
For the book's intro, Apple Music brought in Zane Lowe, who's well known for his in-depth interviews with artists and his passion for music. He sets the tone for what's inside, offering a bit of background on the chosen albums and why they deserve the spotlight.
"What we found," says Lowe, "is that truly great albums are more than just a collection of songs — they become a part of you, a part of your life story. They're heartbreak, pain, trauma, joy, revolution, and resolution."
Alongside Zane, the book includes insights from a star-studded group of musicians and music industry insiders, like Pharrell Williams, Maren Morris, and Charli XCX. Apple really wanted this to feel like a true celebration of music, not just a greatest-hits list.
These picks are all about artistry and impact. A panel of Apple Music experts and artists curated these albums, looking for records that left a mark on music, culture, or both. Some of the albums are globally known, and others might be surprises, especially to anyone looking to expand their music horizons.
With 208 pages and 97 illustrations, the book, as first discovered by 9to5Mac, offers a visual experience for readers. High-resolution images of album covers, iconic photographs, and custom artwork accompany each entry.
Each album represents a chapter of music history, spanning rock, hip-hop, jazz, and electronic genres.
With a limited print run of 1,500 copies and a $450 price tag, each book becomes a rare piece. For music fans who value their vinyl collections or have strong memories attached to their favorite albums, Apple's music book offers an additional analog experience.
4 Comments
emoeller 588 comments · 17 Years
About 1 day ago
Given that Apple's limited edition design book is now selling on eBay for nearly $2500 (for the larger size volume) this might just be a good investment....
jeanobeano 2 comments · New User
About 22 hours ago
Do you just plunk down the money without knowing what the “best” albums are? Is there a list? Who decided what was best? What is the criteria for best?
crazy.
timmillea 246 comments · 16 Years
About 14 hours ago
For the price, Apple could have included a code to download their 'Best 100 Albums' rather than just read about them.
badmonk 1332 comments · 11 Years
About 2 hours ago
jeanobeano said:
Do you just plunk down the money without knowing what the “best” albums are? Is there a list? Who decided what was best? What is the criteria for best?
crazy.
The list is on wikipedia, as a longtime record collector, it’s a really problematic list—no music from Brazil, Africa, Japan etc and even if you take the anglosphere as a basis, it’s really problematic from a music geek perspective.
Even if you look at the timeline of the picks most of them were from the last decade before the music had a chance to past the test of time and obtain cultural relevance.
No Sly and the Family Stone? Seriously?
They should have turned to musicians and even critics outside of Apple to compose the list.
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