Kanye West Albums Ranked

Ye (born Kanye Omari West; June 8, 1977), commonly known as Kanye West, is an American rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential hip hop musicians of all time, as well as one of the greatest musicians of his generation. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the early 2000s, producing singles for several artists and developing the “chipmunk soul” sampling style. Intent on pursuing a solo career as a rapper, he released his debut studio album, The College Dropout (2004), to critical and commercial success. West subsequently founded his record label GOOD Music later that same year. One of the world’s best-selling music artists, with over 160 million records sold, West has won 24 Grammy Awards, the joint tenth-most of all time, and the joint-most Grammy awards of any rapper along with Jay-Z. Among his other awards are the Billboard Artist Achievement Award, a joint-record three Brit Awards for Best International Male Solo Artist and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. Six of West’s albums were included on Rolling Stone‘s 2020 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list with the same publication naming him one of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. He holds the joint record (with Bob Dylan) for most albums (4) topping the annual Pazz & Jop critic poll, and has the 5th most appearances on the Billboard Hot 100 (133 entries). Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005 and 2015. Forbes estimates his net worth at $2 billion as of 2022, making him the wealthiest musician in the world. Here are all of Kanye West albums ranked.

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10. Jesus Is King 

“Jesus is King is Kanye’s 9th album, which was released in 2019, and is often placed last or near last in rankings of Kanye’s discography. Personally, after a relisten of the album, I soon realized how over hated this album was. Many people hate this album because they felt like he betrayed Yandhi and produced something worse, especially with songs intended for release on Yandhi such as Hurricane and I Love It, a song that became enthralled in 2019 shitpost culture.”

9. Donda 

“This album is probably Kanye’s Magnum Opus. It’s definitely his most emotionally invested. Only history will tell if that statement is true, and I am definitely giving this album another listen or two before I make my final verdict on where this stands, but my god the emotion flowing into my ears right now is the most I’ve ever heard.”

8. Ye 

“Kanye’s most underrated album. While not at all perfect, the album does convey a sense of beauty in the emotional feel to certain tracks. Even through the darkness of the song “I Thought About Killing You”, a raw vulnerability shines through. However, this is diluted with more simple tracks like “No Mistakes” and “All Mine”, which is a let down considering the potential this album had.”

7. 808s & Heartbreak 

“Kanye West’s latest album is a testament to the changing sound of hip-hop. Nearly every song on this album is listenable and unique. The quality leaves something to be desired, and of course, this could have used a tad less autotune. Never the less, the singles Heartless and Love Lockdown both charted decently.”

6. Graduation 

“This might not be your prototypical rap album, or even what one might consider a typical Kanye West album after hearing his first two albums, but Graduation is a huge leap forward for Mr. West and one of the best pop albums of 2007. The hooks and choruses are absolutely huge; many of the songs have arena potential, be it the combo with Daft Punk on the huge single “Stronger” or the absolutely dazzling “Flashing Lights”.”

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5. The Life Of Pablo 

“This albums flow and pacing are incredible. There’s never a slow moment and because of how the tracks are ordered it is incredibly easy to become engrossed in the themes and story told by this album. More superficially this album feels like the bridge between ”old kanye” and ”new Kanye”. “

4. Late Registration 

“Many artists struggle to better their debut albums but Kanye did it easily. ‘Gold Digger’ is a classic track known worldwide. As is ‘Diamonds From Sierra Leone’ & ‘Hey Mama’. And while the other tracks might not have that much commercial appeal they are far from being standard album fillers, with ‘Gone’ standing out to me the most.”

3. Yeezus 

“Yeezus is one of those rare new albums where one or two listens is not enough. In a world where most artists base their repertoire on an already established set of rules and end up bordering on mediocrity, Yeezus is just what the music world needed to inject something more interesting and challenging into its veins.”

2. The College Dropout 

“This is definitively a difficult one. On one hand, it’s well known (if not sadly very true) that Kanye West isn’t the greatest rapper alive. Hell he’s not even close. On the other hand, we have to admit for a first outing, Kanye is one hell of a producer and one hell of a musician. Yes I know that the majority of his rhyme’s aren’t too complex but there really is something captivating about his music.”

1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy 

“The album does sound great, probably that is its strongest quality. Additionally, Kanye gives a whole bunch of guest spots, which clearly enchance the album. From great rappings by Jay-Z or Raekwon, to the addition of less expected guests like Bon Iver or Nick Minaj, all proving why they were featured. In reality, the one song which kind of annoys me, and which gets me thinking about removing half a star is Blame Game, which features an annoying skit by Chris Rock.”