The surge in vinyl sales has placed greater emphasis gain on album art. Often it is the style of the cover that becomes most eye-catching, helping to entice the music buyer into making a sale. Many sleeves of classic vinyl albums are very collectable.
Over the years many album covers have become part of popular culture (iconic even in the music world). Which ones stand out the most?
A new opinion poll, run by the electronics retailer Currys, has revealed the most stand-out album covers among those in the UK population who were surveyed. The limitation with the study is that it was based on a curated list of 60 albums. Nonetheless, the outcome adds some order to seemingly popular record covers.
These are popular choice and high selling albums. The work of great vinyl artists like Barney Bubbles do not feature (Hawkwind, Billy Bragg, Nick Lowe, Ian Dury and Elvis Costello). Nonetheless, a few classics appear.
For the poll, 2000 people were asked which album covers are the most recognisable. The results showed that despite being 54 years old, the Beatles’ Abbey Road album cover is the most recognisable, with 48 percent of all respondents choosing it as artwork they could immediately recognise.
The generational divide has been bridged as well since nearly half (45 percent) of those aged 16-24 claimed to be able to recognise this cover, demonstrating its timelessness.
Next on the list was the 1987 album Bad by Michael Jackson. Despite the cover being relatively simplistic (featuring Jackson on a white background with the title spray painted in red), 43 percent said this was one of the most recognisable covers.
The Beatles make another appearance in the top three, with 37 percent choosing the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band LP cover as one of the most recognisable. The cover for the 1967 album features the likes of Mae West, Edgar Allan Poe, Fred Astaire, Bob Dylan, Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe, and Oscar Wilde, along with many other people and objects in a collage style.
The top five also featured Nevermind by Nirvana and Never Mind the Bollocks by the Sex Pistols.
The top 20 most recognisable album covers were:
| Rank | Album | Year | % who recognise the cover |
| 1 | Abbey Road – The Beatles | 1969 | 47.9% |
| 2 | Bad – Michael Jackson | 1987 | 43.3% |
| 3 | Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles | 1967 | 36.7% |
| 4 | Nevermind – Nirvana | 1991 | 34.1% |
| 5 | Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols – Sex Pistols | 1977 | 29.3% |
| 6 | Aladdin Sane – David Bowie | 1973 | 27.9% |
| 7 | The Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd | 1973 | 27.1% |
| 8 | The Wall – Pink Floyd | 1979 | 22.7% |
| 9 | Get Rich or Die Tryin’ – 50 Cent | 2003 | 19.6% |
| 10 | American Idiot – Green Day | 2004 | 19.5% |
| 11 | Born in the USA – Bruce Springsteen | 1984 | 16.5% |
| 12 | Rumours – Fleetwood Mac | 1977 | 16.2% |
| 13 | 25 – Adele | 2015 | 15.7% |
| 14 | Definitely Maybe – Oasis | 1994 | 13.9% |
| 15 | Back in Black – AC/DC | 1980 | 13.5% |
| 16 | True Blue – Madonna | 1986 | 13.2% |
| 17 | Enema of the State – Blink-182 | 1999 | 12.6% |
| 18 | The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill – Lauryn Hill | 1998 | 12.2% |
| 19 | Ramones – Ramones | 1976 | 11.9% |
| 20 | Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends – Coldplay | 2008 | 9.8% |
When the same group were asked which decade had the best album artwork, the 1980s won the majority of the vote at 24 percent, followed by the 70s with 20 percent.
Does the vinyl issued today have something to offer? It takes time to make a classic.
