The 30 Best Album Covers of 2013

From Pusha T to Toro Y Moi, these are the best album covers from the past year.

Not Available Lead
Image via Complex Original
Not Available Lead

As the Yeah Yeah Yeah's Mosquito or Black Flag's What The...taught us this year, sometimes, you can judge a book by its cover, but as we also learned from albums like Long. Live. A$AP or Mac Miller's Watching Movies With the Sound Off, that's also not always a bad thing. Great album artwork can potentially signify where an artist's head is at when they're creating their album, who they're inspired by, and even what we can expect the music to sound like. 

This year, there was a wide range of styles found when celebrating album artwork, with artists taking influence anywhere from Neo-Classicism to Minimalism. Often taking a bare-bones approach with their design, DONDA played heavily into defining 2013's cover art aesthetic, but also don't forget about Lady Gaga's transformation from pop singer to ARTPOP with the help of Jeff Koons, or Kadir Nelson's work on Nothing Was the Same. It was a strong year for album artwork, and as you'll see from The 30 Best Album Covers of 2013, picking the best of that bunch wasn't easy. 

30. CSS, Planta

Not Available Interstitial

29. Toro Y Moi, Anything in Return

Not Available Interstitial

28. Death Grips, Government Plates

Not Available Interstitial

27. Lil Wayne, I Am Not a Human Being II

Not Available Interstitial

26. Big Sean, Hall of Fame

Not Available Interstitial

25. A$AP Ferg, Trap Lord

Not Available Interstitial

24. Lady Gaga, ARTPOP

Not Available Interstitial

23. Earl Sweatshirt, Doris

Not Available Interstitial

22. Blood Orange, Cupid Deluxe

Not Available Interstitial

21. Mac Miller, Watching Movies With The Sound Off

Not Available Interstitial

20. Daft Punk, Random Access Memories

Not Available Interstitial

19. M.I.A., Matangi

Not Available Interstitial

18. Disclosure, Settle

Not Available Interstitial

17. Polica, Shulamith

Not Available Interstitial

16. Kid Cudi, Indicud

Not Available Interstitial

15. Local Natives, Hummingbird

Not Available Interstitial

14. A$AP Rocky, Long. Live. A$AP.

Not Available Interstitial

13. Darkside, Psychic

Not Available Interstitial

12. Autre Ne Veut, Anxiety

Not Available Interstitial

11. Kanye West, Yeezus

Not Available Interstitial

10. Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP 2

Not Available Interstitial

9. Braids, Flourish // Perish

Not Available Interstitial

8. Tyler, The Creator, Wolf

Not Available Interstitial

7. Pusha T, My Name Is My Name

Not Available Interstitial

6. Woodkid, The Golden Age

Not Available Interstitial

5. Sigur Ros, Kveikur

Not Available Interstitial

4. Drake, Nothing Was the Same

Not Available Interstitial

3. The National, Trouble Will Find Me

Not Available Interstitial

2. Arcade Fire, Reflektor

Not Available Interstitial

1. 2 Chainz, B.O.A.T.S. II: Me Time

Not Available Interstitial

Latest in Style