Top 10 Heart Albums

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Our Top 10 Heart Albums list presents a list of our favorite Heart albums. Like many other legendary bands with long, fabulous careers, Heart broke onto the scene with songs that instantly turned heads. Even though the band had been working at it for several years, Heart became an immediate success when Mushroom Records released their debut album, Dreamboat Annie, in Canada in 1975 and in the United States in 1976.

After Mushroom Records ran an insulting advertisement about the Wilson sisters, Heart left the label and signed with Portrait Records, a CBS label. Their intended second album, Magazine, got caught up in a lawsuit with Mushroom. Meanwhile, the band released its first album for Portrait, Little Queen. It was an extremely successful album that turned the group into one of the hottest bands in 1977. Heart’s revised and band-approved version of Magazine was released in 1978, the same year as Dog & Butterfly.

Major lineup changes began within Heart as the Fisher brothers’ long association with the group came to an end. Roger Fisher left the performing lineup after the 1970s, while Mike Fisher, who had long worked behind the scenes after leaving the stage, also moved on. The group’s sound changed with the release of Bébé le Strange in 1980. It was an extremely successful album. Heart’s subsequent two albums, Private Audition and Passionworks, would mark the end of their tenure with Epic Records. These two albums were the least successful of their Epic-era releases, even though longtime Heart fans, including this writer, really enjoyed them.

In 1985, Heart released their first album with Capitol Records, simply titled Heart. It was a dramatically different version of the band from the one that had released Dreamboat Annie a decade earlier, although longtime guitarist and keyboardist Howard Leese remained alongside Ann and Nancy Wilson. Mark Andes and Denny Carmassi formed the rhythm section, and Capitol paired the band with outside songwriters and producer Ron Nevison. Even the band’s look changed dramatically as the MTV-era big-hair style significantly affected Capitol Records’ marketing of the group.

While many longtime Heart fans were unhappy with the changes, no one could argue that Capitol Records’ relaunch was unsuccessful. Heart, released in 1985, became the band’s most commercially successful album, reaching number one on the Billboard 200 and eventually selling more than five million copies in the United States. The album produced four Top 10 singles — “What About Love?,” “Never,” “These Dreams,” and “Nothin’ at All” — along with the additional single “If Looks Could Kill.” The band also became MTV favorites, which helped catapult record sales.

Heart continued in a similar commercial direction with Bad Animals in 1987 and Brigade in 1990. Both albums contained massive hits and sold extremely well. In 1993, Ann and Nancy Wilson began moving back toward more of their own songwriting with Desire Walks On, whose material was largely co-written by the sisters. After Desire Walks On, Heart entered an extended period with far less studio activity.

A few side projects occurred, and in 2001 the holiday album Heart Presents a Lovemongers’ Christmas was issued under the Heart name. The sisters returned with a new secular Heart studio album in 2004 with Jupiters Darling. Heart returned with Red Velvet Car six years later, in 2010. That album was followed by Fanatic in 2012 and Beautiful Broken in 2016. Beautiful Broken, the band’s sixteenth studio album, remains Heart’s most recent studio album. Heart returned to extensive touring in the 2020s and continued performing in 2026. Nancy Wilson said in 2026 that she hoped the band would make one more Heart album, but no follow-up to Beautiful Broken has yet been released.

Over the years, Heart has also released many live albums and compilations, most notably the great box set Strange Euphoria in 2012. Our Top 10 Heart Albums list considers only the band’s studio albums.

# 10 – Passionworks

We open our Top 10 Heart Albums list with the band’s final album for Epic Records, Passionworks. The album opened with one of our favorite Heart songs of all time in the excellent track “How Can I Refuse?” Side Two opened with the song “Allies,” written by Jonathan Cain of Journey and The Babys fame. Passionworks was not a big seller, but Heart fans enjoyed the album. Other standout songs included “Language of Love” and the tender Nancy Wilson song “Love Mistake.”

# 9 – Brigade

Heart’s album Brigade was the third Heart album connected to their big-hair ’80s days. The album featured Heart’s huge hit about cheating entitled “All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You.” Robert John “Mutt” Lange wrote the song. The song went to number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Outside writers also wrote the majority of the album’s other songs. Sammy Hagar shared co-writing credits on two of the album’s tracks, “The Night” and “Fallen from Grace.” One significant reason why we included this album on our Top 10 Heart Albums list was the incredible vocal performances of Ann Wilson on this record. Listen to her sing her heart out — no pun intended — on the tracks “Tall, Dark Handsome Stranger” and “Wild Child.”

# 8 – Red Velvet Car

Red Velvet Car was released in 2010. The album was a welcome return by Heart, who had not released a new studio album in six years. Many of the songs on the record were written by the Wilson sisters with guitarist Ben Mink, a longtime collaborator of k.d. lang. There were many standout tracks on the record, including the excellent single “WTF” as well as songs such as “Hey You,” “There You Go,” and “Red Velvet Car.” This was a solid effort by Heart that is often overlooked in their catalog of great albums.

# 7 – Bad Animals

Heart’s Bad Animals album was the follow-up to their massively successful 1985 album Heart. Climbing to the number two spot on the US Billboard 200 in 1987, the album later secured triple-Platinum status from the RIAA. Beyond the US, it enjoyed major international success. Six of the album’s ten songs were written entirely by outside writers. Heart had become a machine — a very successful one at that. They sounded great, but in the end, this was not the same band millions of fans had fallen in love with in the 1970s.

The album featured several successful singles, including the US number-one hit “Alone.” Tracks like “Who Will You Run To” and “There’s the Girl” also enjoyed significant chart success. The album earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

# 6 – Dog & Butterfly

Dog & Butterfly was Heart’s fourth studio album. The album was issued in 1978. It was split between a hard-rocking side, which represented the Dog part of the title, and a softer acoustic side, which defined the Butterfly part of the title. Some of the most popular songs from the album were the excellent lead single “Straight On” and the title track “Dog & Butterfly.” This was also a relatively short album, clocking in at around thirty-eight minutes.

# 5 – Heart (1985)

Talk about a record company intervention. The album Heart was released in 1985. Capitol Records reinvented the band with very successful songwriters supplying Heart with songs ready to be turned into hits. And that is precisely what the vocal chops of Ann and Nancy Wilson did. “What About Love?” was the album’s first big hit single. However, the Bernie Taupin and Martin Page-penned track “These Dreams” catapulted the album’s success. Between the song’s superb production and Nancy Wilson’s vocal performance, along with the fantastic video, the song helped Heart catch the attention of a vast new mass audience.

While many people looked at this album at the time as a sellout, in retrospect, this really was a good rock album, no matter who wrote the songs. Of course, it was almost a 180-degree turn from who they were when they arrived on the scene in the 1970s.

# 4 – Jupiters Darling

Continuing with our list of the Top 10 Heart Albums, we turn to a tremendous later-period Heart album entitled Jupiters Darling. The album was released in 2004. It was one of the heaviest-sounding albums Heart had ever released. The album’s opening track sounded like it could have been released on Dreamboat Annie, in the style of songs like “Crazy on You.” This was great stuff. The album’s second track, “Oldest Story in the World,” rocked hard and constantly spun on my CD player in 2004.

Nancy Wilson’s track “Things” was sensational. This is a great album and probably the band’s most underrated work. And if you doubt that, listen to the album’s fourteenth track entitled “Fallen Ones.” With Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains playing guitar on this one, the band lit it up!

# 3 – Bébé le Strange

Heart’s album Bébé le Strange was released in 1980. We loved this album when it was first released. Most of the songs were written by the Wilson sisters and their longtime collaborator Sue Ennis. The album spawned two hit singles. “Even It Up” was the first single released from the album and became a Top 40 hit. The album’s title track was released as the second single. Other standout tracks included the great songs “Down on Me,” “Rockin Heaven Down,” and “Raised on You.”

# 2 – Dreamboat Annie

Choosing between these last two albums for the number one spot on our Top 10 Heart Albums list was a tough call. The great Dreamboat Annie album was the record that turned us all onto Heart. The album’s two big singles, “Magic Man” and “Crazy on You,” were such stunning rock tracks. Heart’s balance between its acoustic side and rock side, and how the band intermixed them, was captivating.

# 1 – Little Queen

Heart’s Little Queen album is one of the best sophomore albums ever. Fueling the album’s great success was the incredible rock track “Barracuda.” That one stands as our favorite Heart song of all time. The song’s guitar riff is one of the most iconic guitar riffs of the classic rock era. Every cover band in the 1970s played that one. Little Queen was filled with great songs. The album’s title track was to die for. The great song “Kick It Out” was one heck of a rocker. “Love Alive” would become another iconic Heart song. There were so many great songs on the Heart album Little Queen. If you buy just one Heart album, this is the one to get.

Heart Studio Albums

Dreamboat Annie (1975)

Little Queen (1977)

Magazine (1978)

Dog & Butterfly (1978)

Bébé le Strange (1980)

Private Audition (1982)

Passionworks (1983)

Heart (1985)

Bad Animals (1987)

Brigade (1990)

Desire Walks On (1993)

Heart Presents a Lovemongers’ Christmas (2001)

Jupiters Darling (2004)

Red Velvet Car (2010)

Fanatic (2012)

Beautiful Broken (2016)

Updated August 7, 2026.

Top 10 Heart Albums article published on ClassicRockHistory.com © 2026