Top 10 Iron Maiden Album Covers

Iron Maiden Album Covers

Photo: Raph_PH / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

Our Top 10 Iron Maiden album covers takes a look at some of the greatest albums covers in Classic Rock History. Iron Maiden album covers were an art form in themselves. Iron Maiden album covers were graces by a mascot they named “Eddie The Head.” This character would be depicted on just about every Iron Maiden album cover the bead has ever released with a few exceptions. The artwork was painted and designed by a brilliant artist named Derek Riggs. He would paint and design most of the Iron Maiden cover art for the entire decade of the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The band would turn to other artists in the 1990s after Iron Maiden and Derek Riggs parted ways. However Derek Riggs artwork would have a lasting impact on the bands image for their entire career.

This Top 10 Iron Maiden Album Covers article examines all the band’s albums including their studio, live and compilation releases. The band also released an amazing body singles and imports. This article just focuses on the U.S. official studio, live and compilation issues. Otherwise its just way too many to choose from. Besides our choices for our favorite 10 Iron Maiden album covers we have also included a listing of all their official U.S studio, live and compilation releases while also featuring the covers.

# 10 – Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

We open up this top 10 Iron Maiden Album Covers list with the cover of the great album Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. The album was released 1988. Iron Maiden;s brilliant album cover design artist Derek Riggs was told by the band’s  management to create a design that was very different from  the previous paintings that he had created for the band throughout their 1980s run. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son’s cold artic style background surrounding the upper torso and head of the iconic Eddie character was the result.

Iron Maiden Album Covers  Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

# 9 – From Fear to Eternity The Best of 1990 – 2010

Continuing with our top 10 Iron Maiden album covers list we turn to one of the band’s compilation albums. The album From Fear To Eternity was released in 2011.

Iron Maiden Album Covers

# 8 – Fear Of The Dark

Iron Maiden’s Fear Of The Dark cover was a significant departure from the design of their previous covers. There’s good reason for that. The band’s management decided that it was time for a change. The band brought in a new artist to design the cover named Melvyn Grant, who would continue to work for the band designing album covers.

Iron Maiden Album Covers Fear of The Dark

# 7 – Rock In Rio

Iron Maiden’s live album Rock In Rio was released in 2002.  Its one of our favorite live album covers of all time. Its design is a work of brilliance.

Iron Maiden Album Covers Rock In Rio

# 6 – Death On The Road

Everything about Iron Maiden’s album cover for Death on the Road was simply stunning. The use of color in this one is brilliant as it showcases Eddie and the horse in the most horrific and artistic fashion.

Iron Maiden Death On The Road

# 5 – The Number Of The Beast

Iron Maiden’s album The Number Of The Beast was the bands third album release and presented the world the voice and talents of Bruce Dickinson. The legendary artist Derek Riggs who painted the cover said that the cover design was inspired by a Dr. Strange Comic Book in which Dr. Strange was dangled like a puppet by one of the comic’s villains.

Iron Maiden The Number Of The Beast

# 4 – Powerslave

Iron Maiden’s Powerslave album cover was a brilliant creation placing Eddie in the Pharoah’s chair. The Powerslave album was released in 1984. The Ancient Egypt themes would be presented as part of the tour that followed the album.

Iron Maiden Powerslave

# 3 – Somewhere In Time

The picture below does not do this great album cover justice. This one just shines so graphically intense when your holding it in your hands. The great album Somewhere in Time was released in 1986. The cover was created by Derek Riggs. If one looks closely at the cover they will find many nuggets added for Iron Maiden fans. The poster hanging on the wall is from the cover of the first album with graffiti painted over it seemingly saying “Eddie Lives.” There are also many references to Iron Maiden songs sprinkled throughout the album cover. Try finding them on a download image. Forget about it!

Iron Maiden Somewhere In Time

# 2 – Iron Maiden

As we get oh so close to the top of our Iron Maiden Album Covers list, we turn to the one that got it all started. In the number two spot is Iron Maiden’s debut album form 1980 simply entitled Iron Maiden.

Iron Maiden

# 1 – Killers

Iron Maiden’s Killers album comes in at the number one spot on our top 10 Iron Maiden Album covers list. It just barely beast out their 1980 debut album which was just so iconic. There was just something special about the Killers cover that just could not be beat.

Iron Maiden Killers album cover

Compete Studio Iron Maiden Album Covers

Iron Maiden (1980)

Released in 1980

Iron Maiden

Killers (1981)

Released in 1981

Iron Maiden Killers

The Number of the Beast (1982)

Released in 1982

Iron Maiden The Number of the Beast album cover

Piece of Mind (1983)

Released in 1983

Iron Maiden Piece of Mind  album cover

Powerslave (1984)

Released in 1984

Iron Maiden Powerslave

Somewhere in Time (1986)

Released in 1986

Iron Maiden Somewhere in Time album cover

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)

Released in 1988

Iron Maiden Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album cover

No Prayer for the Dying (1990)

Released in 1990

Iron Maiden Album Covers No Prayer for the Dying

Fear of the Dark (1992)

Released in 1992

Iron Maiden Album Covers Fear of the Dark 

The X Factor (1995)

Released in 1995

The X Factor Iron Maiden Album Covers

Virtual XI (1998)

Released in 1998

Virtual XI Iron Maiden Album Covers

Brave New World (2000)

Released in 2000

Brave New World Iron Maiden Album Covers

Dance of Death (2003)

Released in 2003

Iron Maiden Album Covers Dance of Death

A Matter of Life and Death (2006)

Released in 2006

Iron Maiden Album Covers A Matter of Life and Death

The Final Frontier (2010)

Released in 2010

The Final Frontier Iron Maiden Album Covers

The Book of Souls (2015)

Released in 2015

The Book of Souls Iron Maiden Album Covers

Compete List Of Studio Iron Maiden Live Album Covers

Live After Death

Released in 1985

Iron Maiden Album Covers Live After Death

A Real Live One

Released in 1993

Iron Maiden Album Covers A Real Live One

A Real Dead One

Released in 1993

Iron Maiden Album Covers A Real Dead One

Live at Donington

Released in 1993

Iron Maiden Album Covers Live at Donington

Rock In Rio

Released in 2002

Iron Maiden Album Covers Rock In Rio

BBC Archives

Released in 2002

Iron Maiden Album Covers BBC Archives

Beast over Hammersmith

Released in 2002

Iron Maiden Album Covers Beast over Hammersmith

Death on the Road

Released in 2005

Iron Maiden Album Covers Death on the Road

Flight 666

Released in 2009

Iron Maiden Album Covers Flight 666

En Vivo!

Released in 2012

Iron Maiden Album Covers En Vivo!

Maiden England ’88

Released in 2013

Iron Maiden Album Covers Maiden England '88

The Book of Souls: Live Chapter

Released in 2017

The Book of Souls: Live Chapter Iron Maiden Album Covers

 

Iron Maiden Compilation Album Covers

Best of the Beast

Released in 1996

Iron Maiden Album Covers Best of the Beast

Ed Hunter

Released in 1999

Iron Maiden Album Covers Ed Hunter

Best of the ‘B’ Sides

Released in 2002

Iron Maiden Album Covers Best of the 'B' Sides

Edward the Great

Released in 2002

Iron Maiden Album Covers Edward the Great

The Essential Iron Maiden

Released in 2005

Iron Maiden Album Covers The Essential Iron Maiden

Somewhere Back in Time The Best of: 1980 – 1989

Released in 2008

Iron Maiden Album Covers Somewhere Back in Time The Best of: 1980 – 1989

From Fear to Eternity The Best of 1990 – 2010

Released in 2011

Iron Maiden Album Covers From Fear to Eternity The Best of 1990 – 2010

Check out our other Iron Maiden articles…..

Complete List Of Iron Maiden Albums And Discography

Top 10 Iron Maiden Songs

Top 10 Iron Maiden Albums

Top 10 Iron Maiden Album Covers article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2023

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