Pitchfork’s staff named Mobb Deep’s The Infamous (1995) the number one album in its “The 100 Best Rap Albums of All Time”, published September 30, 2025. It is a critical editorial canon—not a consensus vote or an objective measure of musical quality—and its album-centered format has acknowledged limits.
What Pitchfork’s ranking says it values
Pitchfork frames the list around rap as a craft shaped by its musical and cultural setting. In the introductory essay, Paul A. Thompson writes: “In assembling this list, we emphasized rapping as a craft—not one that has been stripped from its musical context, but rather an act of constant reinvention.” The editors also say they limited repeat entries from individual artists or groups to make room for broader coverage.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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Most Known Unknown | $11.49 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Ultimate Hip-Hop / Various | $17.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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Get Rich Or Die Tryin' | $17.26 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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2Pac Greatest Hits | $19.17 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
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Late Registration | $12.59 | Buy on Amazon |
That framing makes the ranking more than a list of favorite records: it is an argument about how albums can capture performance, sound, and change across rap history. Useful ways to think through its selections include the writing and flow, production, historical influence, regional context, and how well an album represents an artist’s work. These are interpretive lenses, not a scoring system disclosed by Pitchfork.
Why an album list cannot represent all of rap
Pitchfork acknowledges that an album ranking can miss scenes and artists whose traditions did not center the album format. Its examples include Miami and Atlanta bass and dance-rap splinter cells in the 2000s, as well as inventive work that resists easy canonization. The editors say they tried to represent such scenes, while recognizing that gaps remain. An artist or style’s absence is not evidence of a lack of importance.
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- Shrink-wrapped
The publication also explicitly recognizes a “dearth of work by women” in the ranking, describing the imbalance as a reflection of structural problems that extend beyond rap itself. That admission matters when reading the list as a snapshot of critical canon-making rather than a complete map of the music.
Pitchfork’s essay places the album in a changing ecosystem of singles, mixtapes, and digital distribution. It describes rap’s history as shaped by technology, sampling, and physical, social, political, and legal barriers. Albums remain a durable way to organize listening, but that format can privilege artists and scenes whose work fits neatly into a long-play release.
Rank #2
How the staff ranking differs from the readers’ poll
Pitchfork published a separate reader poll on October 1, 2025. The publication says thousands of readers participated, but the poll page does not state an exact respondent count. Its leading choices differ from the staff list.
| List | Who selected | Top three | What it represents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staff ranking, September 30, 2025 | Pitchfork staff; a complete voting panel, scoring formula, and weighting system are not stated in the feature. | 1. Mobb Deep, The Infamous 2–3. Not stated here |
A staff-curated critical ranking guided by the publication’s stated emphasis on rap craft and musical context. |
| Readers’ poll, October 1, 2025 | Pitchfork readers; the page says thousands took part, without giving an exact count. | 1. Nas, Illmatic 2. Wu-Tang Clan, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) 3. Kendrick Lamar, To Pimp a Butterfly |
Readers’ favorite albums in a separate poll, not a vote using the staff list’s stated editorial framing. |
The contrast is clearest at number one: the staff chose The Infamous, while readers put Illmatic first. In the staff ranking, Ghostface Killah’s Supreme Clientele is fourth, Illmatic fifth, and Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill seventh. The reader results indicate a difference in preference, not a definitive verdict about which album is better.
Rank #3
- 50 Cent - Get Rich Or Die Tr Brazil Import
How to use the list as a listening guide
Start with the full staff ranking when you want to follow Pitchfork’s critical choices, then compare the reader poll if you want to see where audience favorites diverge. For any entry, listen with the list’s framing in mind: attend to the MC’s delivery alongside the production, consider the album’s place in its scene and moment, and ask whether the album format captures the artist’s work or leaves something out.
Pitchfork’s entries include retailer and streaming links, including Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal. Those links are starting points rather than guarantees of current inventory, edition, price, or regional streaming access; check the service directly for the version available to you.
Quick Recap
Best Value
Rank #4
- 2Pac's Greatest Hits is the posthumous collection originally released in November 1998
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