Pop Sonality selects "46 Underrated Albums from 1980 to 2025 You Need to Hear Before You Die"



This list is a journey through 46 underrated albums, one for each year from 1980 to 2025, showcasing hidden gems, overlooked masterpieces, and second-tier works from legendary artists. While pop is the dominant genre, the selection also explores electronic (Leftfield), jazz (Bill Evans), hip-hop (Digable Planets), soul (Raphael Saadiq), and rock (R.E.M.). You'll find Spanish-language albums you may not know (Mecano, Héroes del Silencio, Hidrogenesse), experimental works that were ahead of their time (Kylie Minogue’s Impossible Princess, Kaytranada’s BUBBA), and albums overshadowed by bigger releases of their iconic creators (Madonna’s Rebel Heart,  Pet Shop Boys’ Please). Some of these records never got the recognition they deserved upon release, that is why Pop Sonality is bringing them back to you. Whether it’s Mac Miller’s posthumous Balloonerism or Chic’s Real People, every album on this list has something special to offer. Dive in, explore, and you might just discover a new favorite.

1. Chic - Real People (1980)  
2. Bill Evans - You Must Believe in Spring (1981)  
3. Evelyn King - Get Loose (1982)  
4. R.E.M. - Murmur (1983)  
5. Noriko Miyamoto - Sweet Sugar (1984)  
6. The Pogues - Rum Sodomy & the Lash (1985)  
7. Pet Shop Boys - Please (1986)  
8. Terence Trent D'Arby - Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby (1987)  
9. Mecano - Descanso dominical (1988)  
10. Technotronic - Pump Up the Jam (1989)  
11. Héroes del Silencio - Senderos de traición (1990)  
12. Martika - Martika's Kitchen (1991)  
13. Bobby Brown - Bobby (1992)  
14. Digable Planets - Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) (1993)  
15. Tori Amos - Under the Pink (1994)  
16. Leftfield - Leftism (1995)  
17. Eels - Beautiful Freak (1996)  
18. Kylie Minogue - Impossible Princess (1997)  
19. Maxwell - Embrya (1998)  
20. Melanie C - Northern Star (1999)  
21. Mirwais - Production (2000)  
22. Starsailor - Love Is Here (2001)  
23. Robbie Williams - Escapology (2002)  
24. OBK - Babylon (2003)  
25. Jens Lekman - When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog (2004)  
26. Kelly Osbourne - Sleeping in the Nothing (2005)  
27. Fangoria - El extraño viaje (2006)  
28. Hidrogenesse - Animalitos (2007)  
29. Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It (2008)  
30. Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk (2009)  
31. Imelda May - Mayhem (2010)  
32. Miles Kane - Colour of the Trap (2011)  
33. Archive - With Us Until You're Dead (2012)  
34. Jim James - Regions of Light and Sound of God (2013)  
35. Benjamin Booker - Benjamin Booker (2014)  
36. Madonna - Rebel Heart (2015)  
37. Kanye West - The Life of Pablo (2016)  
38. Sampha - Process (2017)  
39. Everything Is Recorded - Everything Is Recorded by Richard Russell (2018)  
40. Kaytranada - BUBBA (2019)  
41. Lido Pimienta - Miss Colombia (2020)  
42. Helado Negro - Far In (2021)  
43. Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen (2022)  
44. Alan Palomo - World of Hassle (2023)  
45. Maestro Espada - Maestro Espada (2024)  
46. Mac Miller - Balloonerism (2025)  


Entradas populares de este blog

Pop Sonality presents The Best Albums of 2024.

Imagen
 Pop Sonality's Albums of the Year 2024. The Top 225 Albums of 2024 reflect a year brimming with experimentation. Artists pushed boundaries across genres, leaving a significant mark on the music scene. This list showcases the most unforgettable sounds of the year, each album a testament to the artist’s vision and innovation. At the top,  Maestro Espada by Maestro Espada  marks an explosive debut that merges folk rhythms with alternative influences.  Only God Was Above Us by Vampire Weekend  blends indie rock with spiritual reflections, creating a meditative sonic journey.  Tyler,   the Creator’s Chromakopia  follows closely, a psychedelic fusion of hip-hop, personal, and surrealist storytelling.  Girl With No Face by Allie X  explores themes of digital-age identity through haunting electro-synth-pop.  JPEGMAFIA’s I Lay Down My Life for You  brings raw, experimental hip-hop, delivering powerful, unfiltered lyrics.  Jamie xx...
Read more »

Ypatia Kornarou has Pop Sonality!

Imagen
 ✨ @ypatia_kornarou has Pop Sonality!  ✨ Pop Sonality: How do you feel when you see a great find for a photo? How does it make you feel to see what you know is a good motif for a photograph?  Ypatia Kornarou: Because of social media and the internet in general, photo viewing is a condition we have to deal with every day. In the “age of the image” the difficult thing is to discover qualitative “visual field” invested with an interesting narrative. When finally a photograph can and does contain the elements, the motif that will give it an interesting identity then the feeling is one of surprise and relief about the art of photography. The constant search for quality frames will always be the purpose and the reason for the development of a visual artist. ✨ Pop Sonality: ¿Cómo te sientes cuando ves un gran hallazgo para una foto? ¿Cómo te hace sentir ver lo que sabes que es un buen motivo para una fotografía? Ypatia Kornarou: Debido a las redes sociales e Internet en general,...
Read more »

Svilen Nachev has Pop Sonality!

Imagen
 ✨ @svilen.nachev has Pop Sonality!  ✨ Pop Sonality: How do you feel when you see a great find for a photo? How does it make you feel to see what you know is a good motif for a photograph?  Svilen Nachev: “In the photography I make, I look for some absurdity, paradox or humor, and when I see something interesting, I let my optical sensations guide me. Whether I took a good shot can be seen later, and only then do I understand if something good happened.” ✨ Pop Sonality: ¿Cómo te sientes cuando ves un gran hallazgo para una foto? ¿Cómo te hace sentir ver lo que sabes que es un buen motivo para una fotografía? Svilen Nachev: “En las fotografías que hago busco algo de absurdo, paradoja o humor, y cuando veo algo interesante, dejo que mis sensaciones ópticas me guíen. Si tomé una buena foto se puede ver más tarde, y sólo entonces entiendo si algo bueno pasó.” 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 #concept #conceptart #blog #photologio_gr #photologio #kodizes #dazed #streetphotographersmagazine #n8zine ...
Read more »