You could make the argument that the greatest year in music history was, and remains, 1994. In a decade met by unprecedented change and tides of trends bound by no certain direction, the year saw the death of Kurt Cobain unfold into a melting pot of country, jazz rap, dream pop, grunge, metal, ambient and fuzzy, lo-fi rock 'n' roll bubbling to the surface from the underground. Whether it was debut albums from Elliott Smith, Portishead, OutKast and Jeff Buckley, or mid-career gems from R.E.M., Nick Cave and Joni Mitchell, or beloved genre staples from Alan Jackson, Nas and Pavement, 1994 had everything you could ever want—and so much of it was so, so good. It's hard to argue with the 100s of albums that came out in the mid-'90s. Whether it was a catalog-defining entry or a show-stopping debut, the proof is undeniable. We polled the Paste staff and writer cohort for this list. With that, here is our ranking of the 50 greatest albums of 1994.
