The Best Albums of the 1990s

List of the best albums released in the 1990s, from the years 1990 to 1999. These albums span all music genres - though tend to focus largely on popular music genres like rock, hip-hop, R&B and pop - and cover both new '90s bands that exploded on the scene along with older acts from previous generations that continued making music at the time. The list order is based both on votes and on individual lists made by users - to have the most influence on the rankings, add your own list of favorite '90s albums.

popular trends in the '90s largely carried over from the previous decade, including a fascination with teen pop and dance pop music, along with the growing popularity of hip-hop and rap albums among a mainstream audience. The early 1990s were dominated by the West Coast gangsta rap sound, particularly following the release of Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" in 1992. The mid-'90s were notable for the shocking, violent deaths of two of the era's most popular rappers - Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace (aka Notorious BIG). Wallace's producer and collaborator, Sean "Puffy" Combs, went on to dominate the mainstream hip-hop charts in the ensuing years.

Contemporary R&B and soul - sometimes in the '90s grouped under the term "urban music" - also remained extremely popular with acts such as En Vogue, Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, Whitney Houston, Babyface and R. Kelly dominating the charts.

Rock in the '90s was notable for the explosion of the "grunge" sound in the early part of the decade, with bands like Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam bringing the grimy, less polished style of the Pacific Northwest to mainstream radio. Later, the grunge trend melded with the popularity of what was termed "alternative rock," an umbrella term incorporating styles as varied as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Smashing Pumpkins and Sublime. British acts making up the "Britpop" sub-genre of rock, which remained popular throughout teh decade, included Blur, Oasis, Pulp and Supergrass.