This is a list of original, influential grunge music albums. They appear on at least one (cited) list, either a best-of for the genre or in the top five of a list for a specific year (and are described as "grunge" or "post grunge" by allmusic.com). Numerical citations are to an amateur list, while the text links are to a professional source.
The top five most cited albums are in bold.
- Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes (2)
- Green River - Come on Down (14, 15)
- Melvins - Gluey Porch Treatments (15, Citizine's top grunge albums)
- Fastbacks - ...And His Orchestra (15)
- Green River - Rehab Doll/Dry As a Bone (15, 16)
- Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff (Plus Early Singles) (13, 14, 15, 16, Citizine's top grunge albums)
- Pixies - Surfer Rosa (1)
- Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (13)
- Various Artists - Sub-Pop-200 (15)
- Mudhoney - Mudhoney (2)
- Nirvana - Bleach (4, 14, 15, Citizine's top grunge albums)
- Stone Roses - Stone Roses (2)
- Alice in Chains - Facelift (4, 9, 15, antimusic.com's Essential Albums list)
- Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual (2, 8, Vision magazine's most important records of the 90s)
- Mother Love Bone - Stardog Champion (4, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16)
- Pixies - Bossanova (8)
- Temple of the Dog - Temple of the Dog (2, 4, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, Vision magazine's most important records of the 90s)
- Soundgarden - Louder Than Love (4)
- Soundgarden - Screaming Life/Fopp (15)
- Gashuffer - Janitors of Tomorrow (15)
- Hole - Pretty on the Inside (Vision magazine's most important records of the 90s)
- L7 - Smell the Magic (10)
- Nirvana - Nevermind (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, InkBlot's best of decade, antimusic.com's Essential Albums list, Vision magazine's most important records of the 90s)
- Pearl Jam - Ten (4, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, antimusic.com's Essential Albums list)
- Smashing Pumpkins - Gish (12)
- Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger (2, 1, 4, 5, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, Vision magazine's most important records of the 90s)
- Tad - 8-Way Santa (15, 16)
- Alice in Chains - Dirt (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, Vision magazine's most important records of the 90s)
- L7 - Bricks Are Heavy (10, 12)
- Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine (2, 5, 6, Vision magazine's most important records of the 90s)
- R.E.M - Automatic for the People (3, 5, 7, 8)
- Screaming Trees - Sweet Oblivion (10, 11, 12)
- Stone Temple Pilots - Core (2, 3, 4, 11)
- Various Artists - Singles soundtrack (4, 10, 11, 12, 15)
- Candlebox - Candlebox (11)
- Melvins - Houdini (Vision magazine's most important records of the 90s)
- Nirvana - In Utero (4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16)
- Pearl Jam - Vs (4, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, Vision magazine's most important records of the 90s)
- Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11)
- Tad - Inhaler (10)
- Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies (antimusic.com's Essential Albums list)
- Bush - Sixteen Stone (1, 3, 9, 11)
- Collective Soul - Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid (antimusic.com's Essential Albums list)
- Green Day - Dookie (5, 6)
- Hole - Live Through This (1, 2, 10, 11, 12, 16)
- Live - Throwing Copper (3, 5, 9, 12)
- Melvins - Stoner Witch 1, 10)
- Nine Inch Nails - Downward Spiral (2, 7, antimusic.com's Essential Albums list, 6, Vision magazine's most important records of the 90s)
- Nirvana - Unplugged in New York (4, 8, 9, 12, 13)
- The Offspring - Smash (5, 6, Vision magazine's most important records of the 90s, antimusic.com's Essential Albums list)
- Pearl Jam - Vitalogy (10, 12)
- Soundgarden - Superunknown (3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, antimusic.com's Essential Albums list)
- Stone Temple Pilots - Purple (1, 4, 9, 11, 12, 13, 16, antimusic.com's Essential Albums list)
- Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill (5)
- Alice in Chains - Alice in Chains (4, 9)
- Collective Soul - Collective Soul (3)
- Filter - Short Bus (5)
- Foo Fighters - Foo Fighters (2, 4)
- Mad Season - Above (4, 10, 11)
- Malfunkshun - Return to Olympus (15)
- No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom (5)
- PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love (2)
- Presidents of the United States of America - Presidents of the United States of America (antimusic.com's Essential Albums list)
- Silverchair - Frogstomp (11)
- Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 13, Vision magazine's most important records of the 90s)
- Beck - Odelay (2, InkBlot's best of the decade, antimusic.com's Essential Albums list)
- Bush - Razorblade Suitcase (4, 6)
- Cake - Fashion Nugget (antimusic.com's Essential Albums list)
- Pearl Jam - No Code (5, 6, 9, 10)
- Placebo - Placebo (6)
- Screaming Trees - Dust (4, 6, 9, 10, 13, 16)
- Soundgarden - Down on the Upside (6, 9)
- Stone Temple Pilots - Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop (antimusic.com's Essential Albums list)
- Various Artists - Hype! Surviving the Northwest Rock Explosion soundtrack (15)
- Days of the New - Days of the New (5)
- Foo Fighters - The Color and the Shape (4, Vision magazine's most important records of the 90s)
- Radiohead - OK Computer (2, 5, 7, 8, InkBlot's best of the decade, antimusic.com's Essential Albums list, Vision magazine's most important records of the 90s)
- Veruca Salt - Eight Arms To Hold You
- Jesus & Mary Chain - Munki (2)
- Pearl Jam - Yield (4)
- Hole - Celebrity Skin
- Chris Cornell - Euphoria Morning (antimusic.com's Essential Albums list)
- Creed - Human Clay (2, 6)
- Filter - Title of Record (Vision magazine's most important records of the 90s)
- Love Battery - Confusion A Go Go (15)
- Silverchair - Neon Ballroom (Vision magazine's 6, most important records of the 90s)
- Tonic - Sugar (antimusic.com's Essential Albums list)
- Deftones - White Pony (6)
- Mudhoney - March to the Fuzz (1, 12)
- Pearl Jam - Binaural (10)
- The U-Men - Solid Action (15)
- Unified Theory - Unified Theory (antimusic.com's Essential Albums list)
- VAST - Music for People (antimusic.com's Essential Albums list)
- Cake - Comfort Eagle (antimusic.com's Essential Albums list)
