Tyler, the Creator's Albums, Ranked Worst to Best

Complex Original

Released: 2009

A lot of people refer to Bastard as a mixtape, but Tyler keeps saying he has released seven albums, so we’ll follow his lead and include it on this list. Like many of his projects that followed, Bastard is entirely produced by Tyler, and it serves as our first glimpse of his grand ambitions. Tyler was a teenager at the time, and his technical abilities hadn’t fully caught up with his ideas quite yet, but he was already on to something special. On the very first track, he opens up to a therapist about his absent father and outcast tendencies, immediately separating himself from every other kid posting their music on message boards at the time. Tyler has always been in a realm of his own, making songs like “Blow” and “Sarah” at the age of 18, completely disregarding any trends that existed at the time. And even back then, he had visions of where his career would go next, rapping, “My goal in life is a Grammy.” Bastard isn’t perfect, and many of the ideas aren’t fully formed, but it nicely set the stage for everything that would come. —Eric Skelton

Released: 2011

Some generations remember the moment Bob Dylan pulled out an electric guitar at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, when Michael Jackson first moved his feet in reverse (or however you do the thing) at Motown 25, or when Britney Spears rocked a school girl outfit and changed pop music forever. We, however, are privileged to remember exactly which family computer we were sitting at when we first saw a 19-year-old Tyler Okonma gnaw on a cockroach. The “Yonkers” video was an easy introduction into Tyler’s creations, and into the twisted, haunting, and absurd boundaries of Goblin, his debut studio album. The album gave skinny jean-wearing and tie-dye-loving kids a soundtrack to rebel to, and offered an imaginative look into the mind of a teen who was still trying to figure himself out artistically, despite being leagues ahead of anyone who thought they could do what he did. Goblin was unapologetically raunchy with cuts like “Bitch Suck Dick,” a touch demonic thanks to vocal effects in songs like “Analog,” and borderline alarming on the Frank-featuring “She.” Not all of the record aged gracefully, but after 10 years of keeping it on rotation and Tyler himself calling it “horrible” given just how excellent he’s become since, it was a stepping stone in a career that continues to shock—just using less words to do so. —Brenton Blanchet

Released: 2015

It’s too easy to dismiss Cherry Bomb as a transitory record, the weird cousin of Wolf and Flower Boy, or a sharp turn from the classic Tyler sound to the road he was about to enter on his next three albums. But it’s so much more than that. In a way, Cherry Bomb was Tyler’s Noah’s Arc moment. While it wasn’t his task to save humanity one species at a time like the biblical figure, he still treated his third LP like everything was on the line. He took any preconceived notions of his production skills and instead rebuilt his ship piece by piece, with chords that were beginning to sound brighter, wackier, and fuller, just to fit everything he wanted inside before he set sail. And what was it that he wanted inside Cherry Bomb that he couldn’t have possibly invited into his albums before? Well, few in 2015 had the suave-ness or appreciation for old-school pop to welcome Boyz II Men’s Wanya Morris on a hook (“Blow My Load,” for that matter), the courage to introduce a relatively fresh-faced Por Vida-era Kali Uchis to their growing fandom via “Find Your Wings,” the pull to link with heroes like Skateboard P a second time, or the pure power to get both Eezy’s (Wayne and Kanye, that is) on a track together—later inviting at least one of them to each of his following albums. At that point, Cherry Bomb was Tyler’s chance to get weird, sing a little more, and hint at the fact that his creative innovation was near the point of explosion, with no sign of a detonator in sight. —Brenton Blanchet

Released: 2013

By the time Tyler made Wolf, he had traveled the world, and his perspective on life and music was starting to shift. Sitting down for an interview with Spin while he was working on the project, he revealed, “Talking about rape and cutting bodies up, it just doesn’t interest me anymore. What interests me is making weird hippie music for people to get high to.” While he did begin to move away from some of the shock-and-awe that dominated his first two projects, though, Wolf still represented a relatively smooth next step forward from Goblin. He carried on some of the same storylines and characters from the first two records (his therapist Dr. TC even makes another appearance) but he did it with greater technical precision. It’s a well-crafted concept album that represents the best of Tyler’s early years, complete with standouts like “IFHY” and “Tamale,” which hold up to this day. If you look at his first three solo projects as a trilogy of sorts, Wolf was a fitting finale, a send-off to the characters and artistic sensibilities that defined the opening chapters of Tyler’s career, right before he was about to make a turn for something new. —Eric Skelton

Released: 2017

You can probably sense a pattern at this point: We feel like Tyler’s albums have generally improved as his career has progressed. 2017’s Flower Boy is when it all came together for Tyler. He had shown glimpses of greatness in his previous work, and his production has always been on-point, but Flower Boy was the project that represented the perfect nexus of soundscape, ambitious ideas, and sound execution. It’s a warm, introspective project where he bares more of himself than we’d previously heard on tracks like “When This Flower Blooms,” “November,” and yes, “I Ain’t Got Time” the track where some say he “came out.” But beyond that reveal, Tyler displayed a level of thoughtfulness and maturity that allowed him to ascend from an artist with potential to a full-blown star. His forays into love and romance went from occasionally disturbing on previous projects to relatable on the lovelorn “See You Again” with Kali Uchis. Flower Boy is a strong, rightfully Grammy-nominated album that straddled the line between rap and so-called pop, providing mass appeal with ingenuity and demonstrating that he had officially arrived at a new stage of his career. —Andre Gee

Released: 2019

Depending on who you ask, IGOR could make a run for the top spot on this list, and it comes in at a very close second in our own rankings. The 12-song record is a beautifully crafted concept album that takes us inside Tyler’s vivid imagination for perhaps the most enjoyable top-to-bottom listen of his career so far. Throughout the tracklist, he showcases his ability to shapeshift, smoothly transitioning from dreamy love songs to murky, grunge-inspired records and back again. Through it all, he never breaks his blonde-headed, suit-wearing character, weaving together a cohesive storyline fit for the big screen. Combining fuzzy pop beats with rap and R&B, IGOR has just the right balance of abstract elements and accessible sounds, all while seamlessly incorporating superstars like Lil Uzi Vert into its own distinctive universe. Once again, Tyler solidified himself as one of the best “album artists” of his era, and he was rewarded with a No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts and a Grammy. —Jessica McKinney

Released: 2021

A few days after releasing Call Me If You Get Lost, Tyler hopped on Instagram Live and played the beat from “Massa” for his followers. Replaying the opening drum break over and over, he put his hands to his face, stared straight into his phone, and yelled, “I’m so fucking good, dude, it’s so crazy!” He wasn’t lying. Tyler’s technical skills have improved on each album, and CMIYGL features some of the best production of his career (and easily his best rapping). It’s not a concept album in the sense that IGOR was, but it’s somehow just as cohesive, because Tyler tied it all together with a singular sonic theme: this is the Gangsta Grillz project he always wanted. With a little help from DJ Drama, Tyler pulls off some of the hardest-hitting records he’s ever made (“Lemonhead,” “Juggernaut,” “Lumberjack”) and puts them on the same tracklist as the most personal storytelling he’s ever put on wax (“Wilshire”). Following the comparatively melodic IGOR, some people are making the mistake of referring to CMIYGL as a top-to-bottom rap album, but that’s a shortsighted way of looking at it. Tyler pulled together all of his musical abilities on a single project, and did it at a higher level than he has in the past. Sure, he’s rapping all over this thing, but he also left room for 10 minutes of melodic extravagance (“Sweet / I Thought You Wanted to Dance”) and made NBA YoungBoy sound at home on an R&B record (“Wusyaname”). This album is full of flexes, from the lyrics to the guest features, and it’s clear Tyler knows exactly how good he is right now. The biggest flex of all, though, is that he somehow keeps getting better with age. It’s scary to think what he might have planned next. —Eric Skelton