Noticing an absence of best-of lists from media publications, record stores and the like these days, those disruptors at Apple Music have taken it upon themselves to compile a list of their 100 best albums of all time, the top 10 of which was shared on Wednesday. Created “editorially”, without taking into account streaming numbers (because who wants an all-Sheeran-Swift top 10), theirs is a ranking determined by Apple’s own team of experts and critics as well as songwriters, producers, industry professionals and artists including Pharrell Williams, Charli XCX, Nile Rodgers and J Balvin. Surely this carefully assembled team would put together a list that everyone could get on board with?
Well, obviously not. Apple’s list has been received about as well as its 2014 decision to “gift” (read: forcibly upload) a U2 album to the libraries of unsuspecting iTunes users. Social media is awash with screengrabs of albums deemed undeserving of their placing (“send [insert artist here] to the Hague!”), clickbait-y articles have been written about how outraged fans are about the artists that Apple has cruelly snubbed. And the dreaded phrase “recency bias” has been liberally used in response to the number of 21st-century albums that made the cut.
