Top 15 Albums Turning 50 in 2025

Dylan, Springsteen, Bowie, KISS and ABBA ruled half a century ago — and today

Edna Gundersen,

AARP

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Published February 24, 2025

Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin.

Laurance Ratner/WireImage/Getty Images

Even those born decades later may know the historic events of 1975: Watergate convictions, Microsoft's launch, Muhammad Ali’s defeat of Joe Frazier at "the Thrilla in Manilla." It was also a knockout year for music, with scores of diverse, dramatic and momentous albums providing a fitting soundtrack for the tumultuous times.

New acts made noise: Talking Heads and the Sex Pistols played their first show and KC and the Sunshine Band broke out with “That’s the Way (I Like It).” But established stars owned the year. Elton John Greatest Hits was 1975’s best-selling album. The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin and Kiss rolled out big tours, and Bob Dylan launched his Rolling Thunder Revue. Bruce Springsteen appeared on the covers of Time and Newsweek simultaneously. Simon & Garfunkel reunited on the second episode of the newly launched Saturday Night Live TV show.

Here are 15 pivotal albums turning 50 this year, listed in order of U.S. release date. All resonate with enduring narratives and energy while conjuring a world gone by.

album cover of blood on the tracks by bob dylan

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**Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks (Jan. 20)**

This sublime, wrenching account of love gone wrong, with such classics as “Shelter from the Storm,” “Simple Twist of Fate,” “Idiot Wind” and “You’re a Big Girl Now,” is widely regarded as Dylan’s finest album. Standout “Tangled Up in Blue” is a masterwork of shifting perspectives and timeframes, vivid images, poetic daring and personal anguish. “That’s about my parents,” his son Jakob Dylan told The New York Times in 2005.

led zeppelin's physical grafitti album cover

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**Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti (Feb. 24)**

The British hard rock band reached a creative peak with its only studio double album. Fans swooned and even formerly grumpy critics applauded the sprawl of rock, blues, symphonic and acoustic grandeur in such enduring tunes as “Kashmir,” “In My Time of Dying” and “Trampled Under Foot.”

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**David Bowie, Young Americans (March 7)**

The English pop chameleon delivered his interpretation of R&B and funk, which he dubbed “plastic soul.” He worked with then-unknown Luther Vandross and Apollo Theater session guitarist Carlos Alomar, a collaboration that would persist for 15 years. Boosted by the title track and John Lennon duet “Fame,” the top 10 album was Bowie’s U.S. breakthrough.

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**Aerosmith, Toys in the Attic (April 8)**

The third album by Boston’s rowdy blues rockers has sold nine million copies on the strength of signature “Sweet Emotion” and the original version of “Walk This Way.” Singer Steve Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry borrowed heavily from the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, but they had the raunch, riffs and rock swagger to blaze their own trail.

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**ABBA, ABBA (April 21)**

The Swedish group’s savvy meld of sleek production and pristine harmonies won over a global audience, starting with this third album. The vocal act made an impression earlier with hits “Honey, Honey” and Eurovision Song Contest winner “Waterloo,” but ABBA singles “S.O.S.” and “Mamma Mia” opened the door to superstardom, and the latter tune led to Broadway and two jukebox musical films.

willie nelson sits on a bench in front of dozens of his red headed stranger album covers

Willie Nelson promotes his "Red Headed Stranger" album at Peaches Records on Oct. 28, 1975 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Tom Hill/Getty Images

**Willie Nelson, Red Headed Stranger (May 1)**

With a $4,000 budget, the country outlaw made a rule-breaking, boundary-busting album that captivated fans and critics alike and rode the Billboard chart for 120 weeks. Against spare arrangements and expressive melodies, Nelson wove an epic tale of a heartbroken lonely wanderer. It’s daring, evocative and haunting.

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**Eagles, One of These Nights (June 10)**

The California band’s fourth and most popular studio album was also the last to feature its original lineup. While improving on its brand of country, rock and folk, the Eagles incorporated elements of R&B and swing into the mix and made indelible marks with the title track, "Lyin' Eyes," "Take It to the Limit" and “Journey of The Sorcerer,” which became the theme for the movie The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

fleetwood mac by fleetwood mac album cover

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**Fleetwood Mac, Fleetwood Mac (July 11)**

The band's 10th album introduced Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, sealing the successful lineup that would release follow-up Rumours in 1977. The duo’s California pop sensibilities brightened the band’s blues base, and the album delivered a slew of classics, including “Rhiannon,” “Landslide,” “Say You Love Me” and “Over My Head.”

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**Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run (Aug. 25)**

New Jersey’s favorite son rocketed to superstardom with his third album, a big-budget affair recorded in New York with a reconfigured band that included drummer Vini Lopez and keyboardist David Sancious. The sound was invigorating and explosive, as were the songs, especially stage standouts “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” “Thunder Road” and the title track.

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**Kiss, Alive! (Sept. 10)**

The stage flash of the blood-spewing, fire-breathing glam metal act often overshadowed its prowess as a rock band. The quartet’s youthful, muscular performances of “Rock and Roll All Nite,” “Deuce,” “Strutter,” “Cold Gin” and “Black Diamond” on its first live album lend legitimacy to an oft-maligned cult sensation. Alive!Spent 110 weeks on the Billboard chart.

cover of vinyl album wish you were here by pink floyd

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**Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here (Sept. 12)**

The London band followed The Dark Side of the Moon with this grand yet personal statement on music industry greed and the need for compassion and connection. About 26 of the album’s 44 minutes are allotted to the nine-part “Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” in honor of Pink Floyd co-founder Syd Barrett, who left the band after a mental breakdown. Wish has been lauded as one of history’s greatest progressive rock albums.

still crazy after all these years album cover

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**Paul Simon, Still Crazy After All These Years (Oct. 17)**

Simon’s fourth solo album detoured from stylistic and global adventurism, and was recorded mostly with New York jazz-pop session players. The singer/songwriter’s lyrics shifted from humor to cynicism. It won the Grammy for album of the year and yielded the hit singles “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” “Gone at Last,” “My Little Town” (a reunion with Art Garfunkel) and the title track.

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**Roxy Music, Siren (Oct. 24)**

The English rock band’s superb fifth album generated its first U.S. hit, “Love Is the Drug,” and left little doubt that Roxy Music could thrive artistically without the brilliant Brian Eno, who left in 1973. Bryan Ferry stripped away synthetic clutter and fashioned a delirious, brash, ultra-cool, romantic art rock classic.

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Patti Smith, Horses (Nov. 10)

Velvet Underground’s John Cale produced the singer’s crude, raw debut, a precursor to punk and one of the most critically hailed releases of the era. She serves up turbulent, primitive covers of “Gloria” and “Land of a Thousand Dances,” and elsewhere flaunts the sharp, imaginative power of her poetry.

album cover of a night at the opera by queen

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**Queen, A Night at the Opera (Nov. 21)**

Bombastic, campy and pompous, the London band’s fourth album delivered excess with skill, slick production and a wink. Estimated at that time to be the most expensive album ever recorded, it established Queen as a global force. Fan favorites include massive operatic hit “Bohemian Rhapsody,” prog-rocker “39,” metallic “Death on Two Legs,” and pop gem “You’re My Best Friend.”

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Edna Gundersen, a regular AARP music critic, was the longtime pop critic for USA Today.

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