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The 50 Most Disappointing Albums of All Time

Even the greatest artists screw up sometimes. Here are the most iconic duds from Dylan, the Stones and more

Hot streaks can’t last forever. And if you’re a successful recording artist with a long career, the moment inevitably comes when fans and critics feel let down by a new album. This can be because a grand experiment didn’t pay off like you hoped, tastes shifted rapidly and you’re suddenly dismissed as a relic from the past, you made something so bold and innovative that its genius won’t be appreciated for years to come, or you simply dropped a dud due to some combination of physical and creative exhaustion, the unbearable stress of trying to top yourself, and perhaps the influence of certain chemical substances. 

For truly great artists, a disappointing album can be merely a tiny speed bump on the road of a long, successful career. Bob Dylan has many albums one could safely call “disappointing,” and they did little but make the follow-ups all the more impressive and interesting. We could say the same for David Bowie, Madonna, Jay-Z, Stevie Wonder, the Rolling Stones, and other acts with careers that span several generations. 

We have assembled a list of the 50 most disappointing albums in musical history. Some major caveats need to be made before various stan armies start making plans to firebomb our offices or unleash SWAT teams on our homes. We absolutely love some of these albums. An album can be seen as disappointing in the moment it came out, and be forever reappraised afterward. This largely has to do with timing and where the critical consensus is at a given moment. And an album that’s seen as a B+/A- is still disappointing if it follows a bunch of A/A+ albums.

Also, a disappointing album for a titanically talented act like Radiohead or U2 would be seen as a masterpiece if almost anyone else had released it. (We agonized over putting The King of Limbs and Songs of Innocence on here, but ultimately included them.) To see the other 48 albums on the list, keep scrolling. (And if you’re going to SWAT our houses for including your favorite act here, can you at least send them in the daytime? It’s a drag when they storm in during the dead of night. Also, The King of Limbs is friggin’ great. Keep your shit together, Radiohead army.)

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