November 25th, 2012 | 
Author: 
When selecting music for yourself or for another as a gift, it’s obvious from an auditory point of view the album cover artwork has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the quality of music you are about to purchase. For many consumers however the visual qualities of album cover artwork created by a designer or photographer can make a difference. In some cases the visual features of an album cover can influence a consumer, and may even prevent a shopper from making a purchase.
Cover artwork for any music genre is in effect, an artistic statement to the contents inside like an advertisement. The Rolling Stones Magazine published a reader’s poll of the best album covers of all time last year. Listed in order, The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon & Nirvana’s Nevermind album, were the top 3 best album cover art picks.
If you visit Rolling Stones Magazine, you will most likely recognize the album artwork in their publication. The Rolling Stone Magazine’s list, chosen by readers was often selected based on their notoriety or artwork created for superstar artists or famous celebrities.
The Rolling Stones (band) Sticky Fingers album with a working zipper and a painting by Andy Warhol are two more famous album covers readers selected the best album covers in Rolling Stone’s Top 100 list. There is even a GRAMMY® Award for Best Recording Package, which began in 1959 with the first award given to Frank Sinatra for the LP vinyl record cover Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely.
When selecting the Best Album Cover Artwork below, I decided to go a step further by choosing 16 visually and audibly appealing album covers in the Instrumental, New Age, Progressive Rock, and World music genres. While each organization makes their selections for the best album cover art based on different rules or guidelines, in terms of aesthetic value, the cover art collection I selected gives you get the best of both worlds, so sit back, close your eyes, and enjoy the music!
Read the RollingStone.com publication Reader’s Poll: The Best Album Covers of all time, along with the Wikipedia page for Best Recording Package. The cover artwork shown is courtesy of each artist. Big Stock Photo – Dogi78.
16 Best Album Cover Artwork:
Best Cover Art Award – Albums & Artists:
1. Believe album by 2002 – 2002Music.com
2. Island Paradise album by Hennie Bekker – HennieBekker.com
3. El Dorado album by Luna Blanca – LunaBlancaMusic.com
4. Elysium album by Jo Blankenburg – JoBlankenburg.com
5. Floating on a Melody album by Christopher Boscole – ChristopherBoscole.com
6. Great and Terrible Potions album by Ben Craven – BenCraven.com
7. The Memory of Trees album by Enya – Enya.com
8. Altitudes album by Fredziak – Arts21.net
9. Forest Piano album by Dan Gibson – Solitudes.com
10. Guitarrista album by Ciro Hurtado – CiroHurtado.com
11. Sacred Journey Vol. 4 album by Kitaro – Kitaro.com
12. Logical Drift album by Logical Drift – LogicalDrift.com
13. The Fusion Syndicate album by Billy Sherwood – BillySherwoodhq.com
14. Ambient Monkeys album by Tangerine Dream – TangerineDream-Music.com
15. Soul Food album by Raven Wolf – PugDogRecords.com
16. Relayer album by Yes – YesWorld.com
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Read award publications for the best new instrumental, new age and electronic albums and songs.
