Top 5 (favorite) albums from each decade 60's-2000's. Go!

Here are my choices, post yours if you feel obliged
60's:
1. Sgt. Pepper - The Beatles
2. Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys
3. Blue - Joni Mitchell
4. Axis Bold as Love - Jimi Hendrix
5. Abbey Road - The Beatles

70's
1. Plastic Ono Band - John Lennon
2. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
3. Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
4. American Beauty - Grateful Dead
5. Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division

80's
1. Meat Puppets II - Meat puppets
2. Doolittle - Pixies
3. Skylarking - XTC
4. In a Doghouse - Throwing Muses
5. Master of Puppets - Metallica

90's
1. Jar of Flies - Alice in Chains
2. Nevermind - Nirvana
3. Temple of The Dog - Temple of The Dog
4. Little Earthquakes - Tori Amos
5. Soup - Blind Melon

00's
1. Big Whiskey & The Groo Grux King - Dave Matthews Band
2. Continuum - John Mayer
3. Black Gives Way to Blue - Alice in Chains
4. Throwing Muses (2005) - Throwing Muses
5. Room For Squares - John Mayer

Done. Difficult but rewarding.

1950’s

1. Kind of Blue- Miles Davis
2. Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown- Sarah Vaughan
3. Lady in Satin- Billy Holiday
4. Songs by Anna Maria Alberghetti- Anna Maria Alberghetti
5. Time Out- The Dave Brubeck Quartet

1960’s

1. Blonde on Blonde- Bob Dylan (favorite of any decade)
2. Led Zeppelin- Led Zeppelin
3. Abbey Road- Beatles
4. Songs of Leonard Cohen- Leonard Cohen
5. Album 1700- Peter, Paul, and Mary

1970’s

1. Pearl - Janis Joplin
2. Rumours- Fleetwood Mac
3. A Question of Balance- The Moody Blues
4. Blood on the Tracks- Bob Dylan
5. Déjà Vu- Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

1980’s

1. Rain Dogs- Tom Waits
2. Up to Here- The Tragically Hip
3. Killers- Iron Maiden
4. Appetite for Destruction- Guns N’ Roses
5. Shadowland- k.d. lang

1990’s

1. Rubberneck- Toadies
2. Ten- Pearl Jam
3. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road- Lucinda Williams
4. Sweet Relief: A Benefit for Victoria Williams- Various Artists
5. Revival- Gillian Welch

2000’s

1. Rabbit Songs- Hem
2. Deb- Souad Massi
3. Once (Soundtrack)- Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová
4. A Boot and a Shoe- Sam Phillips
5. Elephant- The White Stripes

Great choices. I had to consider several of those albums myself.

60s
Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan
The Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground
In the Court of the Crimson King - King Crimson
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
The Doors - The Doors

70s
Pink Flag - Wire
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Ramones - Ramones
The Man-Machine - Kraftwerk
2112 - Rush

80s
Double Nickels on the Dime - Minutemen
Murmur - R.E.M.
Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth
Surfer Rosa - Pixies
You're Living All Over Me - Dinosaur Jr.

90s
The Mollusk - Ween
Richard D. James Album - Aphex Twin
Odelay - Beck
Wowee Zowee - Pavement
Hard Normal Daddy - Squarepusher

00s
White Blood Cells - The White Stripes
Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven - Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Geogaddi - Boards of Canada
Kid A - Radiohead
The Rescue - Explosions in the Sky

In no particular order..

60's
The Beatles:
A Hard Day's Night
Revolver
Sgt. Pepper's
Abbey Road
The Rolling Stones: Out of Our Heads

70's
ELO: Discovery
Led Zepplin: Fourth album
The Eagles: Hotel California
Jethro Tull: Aqualung
Van Halen: Van Halen

80's
Def Leppard: Hysteria
Guns n Roses: Appetite for Destruction
Yes: 90125
Van Halen: 1984
REM: Eponymous

90's
REM: Out of Time
Beck: Loser (single, CD version that also features Corvette Bummer, Soul Suckin Jerk, etc.)
Blues Traveller: Four
Stone Temple Pilots: Purple
Alice in Chains: Facelift

2000's I've got nothing to say about.

I've never actually thought about my favorite albums in terms of decades this was a very tough one!

60's-
1. The Velvet Underground & Nico- Velvet Underground
2. King Crimson- In the Court of the Crimson King
3. The Beatles- Abbey Road
4. Nick Drake- Five Leaves Left
5. Rolling Stones- Let it Bleed

70's-
1. Serge Gainsbourg- Histoire De Melody Nelson
2. Nick Drake- Pink Moon
3. Cluster-Zuckerzeit
4. Iggy Pop- Lust for Life
5. Led Zeppelin- Led Zeppelin IV

80's-
1. Pixies- Doolittle
2. Sonic Youth- Daydream Nation
3. Violent Femmes- Self Titled
4. Galaxie 500- On Fire
5. Pixies- Surfer Rosa

90's-
1. Neutral Milk Hotel- In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
2. Modest Mouse- The Lonesome Crowded West
3. Slint- Spiderland
4. The Beta Band- The Three E.P's
5. Radiohead- Ok Computer or Pavement- Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (tied couldn't bring myself to exclude either!)

00's-
1. Arcade Fire- Funeral
2. Bon Iver- For Emma, Forever Ago
3. Low- Things We Lost in the Fire
4. Animal Collective- Strawberry Jam
5. Joanna Newsom- Ys

60's
1. Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys
2. The Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground
3. A Love Supreme - John Coltrane
4. Live at the Apollo - James Brown
5. At Carnegie Hall - The Dave Brubeck Quartet

70's
1. What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
2. Innervisions - Stevie Wonder
3. Closing Time - Tom Waits
4. Late for the Sky - Jackson Browne
5. Bryter Layter - Nick Drake

80's
1. Thriller - Michael Jackson
2. Purple Rain - Prince
3. Moving Pictures - Rush
4. The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths
5. The Nightfly - Donald Fagen

90's
1. Siamese Dream - The Smashing Pumpkins
2. Urban Hymns - The Verve
3. OK Computer - Radiohead
4. Nevermind - Nirvana
5. Bone Machine - Tom Waits

00's
1. A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay
2. In Absentia - Porcupine Tree
3. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco
4. Frengers - Mew
5. Kid A - Radiohead

Quite hard, as I mostly listen to 70's music. Other albums worth mentioning is Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan, Murmur by R.E.M., Sweet Baby James by James Taylor, London Calling by The Clash, Something/Anything? by Todd Rundgren and Low by David Bowie.

1960s:
1. The Beatles - Abbey Road (honorable mention: Revolver)
2. The Velvet Underground & Nico
3. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
4. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
5. Ornette Coleman - Free Jazz

1970s:
1. Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
2. The Clash - London Calling
3. David Bowie - Low
4. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (honorable mention: Dark Side of the Moon)
5. Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

1980s:
1. Depeche Mode - Some Great Reward (honorable mention: Black Celebration)
2. Joy Division - Closer
3. Eric B. & Rakim - Paid in Full (honorable mention: Follow the Leader)
4. Violent Femmes (honorable mention: Hallowed Ground)
5. Prince & the Revolution - Purple Rain

1990s:
1. Depeche Mode - Violator
2. Radiohead - OK Computer
3. Garbage - Version 2.0
4. Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come
5. OutKast - Aquemini

2000s:
1. Thrice - Vheissu
2. VAST - Nude (honorable mention: Music for People)
3. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
4. Tool - Lateralus
5. PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea

I know a lot of the 90s forward and quite a bit of 80s alternative, but I'm kind of spotty on music released before then. If you notice, it gets less canonized as the decades go on.

60's:
The White Album (Beatles)
Sgt Peppers (Beatles)
Let it Bleed (Rolling Stones)
In the Court of the Crimson King (King Crimson)
Led Zeppelin II (duh)

70's*
Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd)
Physical Graffiti (Led Zeppelin)
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)
Filmore East, 1971 (Mothers of Invention)
American Beauty (Grateful Dead)

80s
The Joshua Tree (U2)
Joe's Garage (Frank Zappa)
Back in Black (AC/DC)#
Master of Puppets (Metallica)
Live Alive (Stevie Ray Vaughan)

90's
Apple (Mother Love Bone)
No Come Down (The Verve)
Live in Texas (Lyle Lovett)
Amused to Death (Roger Waters)
Sounds from the Thievery Hi-fi (Thievery Corporation)

2000's
Live at the Filmore East (Miles Davis - recorded in 1970)
The Richest Man in Babylon (Thievery Corporation)
Radio Retaliation (Thievery Corporation)
Movements (Solar Fields)
Power to Believe (King Cromson)


* I could probably list a dozen from the 1970s that aren't on this list that I would rank ahead of most of the albums from other decades.
# an example of the above...Back in Black is one of my favorite albums of the 1980's, but not among my top 3 ACDC albums.

This was hard. I hated leaving out albums by Sly and the Family Stone, Yes, Derek and the Dominoes, The Beatles, The Stones, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Led Zeppelin, Traffic, Valerie Carter... and that's just for the 70s. If I did it tomorrow it would probably be different.

60s
Goodbye and Hello - Tim Buckley
Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan
Axis: Bold as Love - Jimi Hendrix
In a Silent Way - Miles Davis
Song to a Seagull - Joni Mitchell

70s
Maria Muldaur - Maria Muldaur
Abraxas - Santana
Blood on the Tracks - Bob Dylan
Exodus - Bob Marley and the Wailers
Grievous Angel - Gram Parsons

80s
Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads
The Pretenders - The Pretenders
Thriller - Michael Jackson
So - Peter Gabriel
Graceland - Paul Simon

90s
Back on the Block - Quincy Jones
Wild Seed--Wild Flower - Dionne Farris
Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury - Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
The Miseducation of Lauren Hill - Lauren Hill
Grace - Jeff Buckley

00s
Frank - Amy Winehouse
Come Away with Me - Norah Jones
Vespertine - Bjork
American Idiot - Green Day
Oh Brother Where Art Thou - Soundtrack