Rather than Bowie’s Top 10 albums…

Every once in a while—maybe once a year or less—I take a stab at rank-ordering Bowie’s studio albums without looking up how I did it the previous year. I’ll do that again at some point. However, there are many such lists out there, and I thought it might be more interesting to share my list of the ten Bowie albums I believe I’ve listened to the most since his death.

I don’t keep track, so this list is based on my best guess rather than precise records. These are not necessarily my ten favorite Bowie albums or what I think are his ten best, but simply the ten I think I have listened to the most over the past eight years. Here is my list with some explanations:

1. Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) – Continues to be my favorite album and has been for years.
2. Diamond Dogs – This became my soundtrack of 2021, but I listened to it a lot before and after, too.
3. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars – How could it not be on this list?
4. Blackstar – This one has the advantage of being Bowie’s most recent album, so I would have been listening to it over and over during this time even if it wasn’t his last. It also helps that it is a masterpiece!
5. 1. Outside – I was surprised that this album has inspired such a mixed response—I’ve liked it since it came out. I thought Bowie really returned to form by this point in his career.
6. Station to Station – Not only is this one of my favorites, but it is easy to listen to all the way through since it is so short.
7. Heathen – It captures the unease and dread of its moment in time, but also of being a middle-aged man. I, now, am a middle-aged man, so I relate.
8. Santa Monica ’72 – My go-to live album.
9. Hours… – Definitely not one of Bowie’s top ten best albums, but I have listened to it quite a bit in recent years because I appreciate it more and more as I get older. Here, Bowie stopped making albums for teenagers and embraced middle age.
10. The Next Day – This is another one I came to appreciate more recently, specifically after reading and listening to the analysis of Leah Kardos.