25 Cool Album Covers We Love To Hang On Our Walls

Feature Photo: Blueee77 / Shutterstock.com

Our article, “25 Cool Album Covers We Love,” presents just a small handful of cool album covers that have always been our favorites. It’s not a list of the best album covers of all time; it’s simply a collection of cool album covers that we think are awesome to hang on the wall like photographs. We have already hung many of these album covers on our walls at one time or another. We will probably do an entire series of these and break it down into genres, as there are hundreds of album covers we would have loved to have listed. But for now, here are 25 of our favorite oh-so-cool album covers.

# 25 – The Look Of Love – Diana Krall

Cool and classic is the way we start out our Top 25 Cool Album Covers with the stunning Diana Krall.

# 24 – Ghost Writer – Garland Jeffreys

You need at least one film-noir-type cover on your wall. Plus, you can answer the same question I answered for years…who is that guy?

# 23 – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars – David Bowie

So much going on, and Bowie was just so cool no matter what album cover he was on. This was such a legendary album. The cover was shot at 23 Heddon Street in London, and the location is still there, marked by a plaque for Bowie fans who make the pilgrimage.

# 22 – Queens Of Noise – The Runaways

Queens Of Noise was the Runaways’ second album. This was a wonderful album to buy when you were a 15-year-old male teenager in the ’70s. This one went on my wall right next to my Farrah Fawcett poster.

# 21 – 2112 – Rush

I had never heard of Rush when I saw this album in the stores. I bought the record instantly just based on the cover.

# 20 – Another Breath – Ellen Foley

I always wondered what she was thinking, but then again I really didn’t care. I wonder how many people realize that it was Ellen who sang the female lead on Meat Loaf’s “Paradise By The Dashboard Light?” If she had only done the video.

# 19 – Are You Experienced – The Jimi Hendrix Experience

It didn’t get much cooler than this one.

# 18 – Fragile – Yes

Yes has so many great album covers. Roger Dean stands as one of the greatest album cover artists of all time. We would have loved to have listed every single Yes album cover that Roger Dean painted because they are all spectacular.

# 17 – Made In The Shade – The Rolling Stones

Such a hot cover that was so darn cool! Could be the best greatest hits cover ever released.

# 16 – Fool For The City – Foghat

This always just seemed like a cool and foolish thing to do in the city. The perfect cover for the album title. That’s Roger Earl.

# 15 – Led Zeppelin III – Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin’s third album has to be the version with the rotating wheel so your friends can all interact with it on your wall.

# 14 – Hasten Down The Wind – Linda Ronstadt

The beauty of Linda Ronstadt is displayed in such a beautiful photograph. Such a great album.

# 13 – Whipped Cream & Other Delights – Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass

Somebody in your household probably had this album.

# 12 – Born To Run – Bruce Springsteen

Everything about this album defines the word legendary. Eric Meola’s black-and-white photograph of Bruce Springsteen leaning on Clarence Clemons became one of rock music’s defining gatefold images.

# 11 – Bella Donna – Stevie Nicks

Stevie Nicks had many great album covers, but this one was the coolest.

# 10 – We’re Only in It for the Money – The Mothers Of Invention

Frank was the man! The cover was intended as a parody of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. There were a lot of issues getting it released because MGM/Verve was concerned about legal problems surrounding the parody. Eventually, the intended parody cover was moved to the inside of the original sleeve.

# 9 – A Night At The Opera / A Day At The Races – Queen

Both of these Queen albums that were released back to back actually look very cool hanging next to each other on a wall display. What a moment in time in classic rock history.

# 8 – Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy – Elton John

Man, was there a lot going on in this cover. You could also hang it as a gatefold as it continued onto the back of the cover.

# 7 – Rumours – Fleetwood Mac

Stevie and Mick made for a very interesting and memorable cover from one of the most successful albums of all time. The photograph was taken by Herbert Worthington III.

# 6 – In The Court Of The Crimson King – King Crimson

This is a fun one to have on your wall while you are sleeping. The cover was a painting by Barry Godber, who was a friend of King Crimson lyricist Peter Sinfield.

# 5 – Bat Out Of Hell – Meat Loaf

I had never heard of Meat Loaf when I saw this album in the stores. I bought the record instantly just based on the cover, just like I did with Rush. The unforgettable fantasy artwork was created by illustrator Richard Corben.

# 4 – Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd

I’m still trying to figure this one out.

# 3 – The Dark Side Of The Moon – Pink Floyd

One of those album covers you just stared at for hours. Hipgnosis, founded by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell, designed the sleeve, with the famous prism graphic rendered by George Hardie.

# 2 – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles

Nothing really has to be said about this one that we haven’t already heard before. The cover was designed by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth. There were 57 photographs and nine waxworks included in the making of the cover.

# 1 – Abbey Road

This has to be the most scrutinized and most copied photograph in the world. There has never been an album cover that sparked so much conversation. Don’t you want something like that hanging on your wall? You will be the coolest person on the block.