10 Artists With Consistently Good Discographies

Almost every musical act today has consecutively dropped a series of incredible albums, but some of them have produced some of the best works of music in history back to back. For my final article of ‘24-‘25, I’ll list some of what I think to be the most consistent discographies and the effect they’ve had on other musicians, as well as the industry.

The Beatles

Formed in 1960 and disbanding ten years later, Liverpool-based counterculture icons The Beatles created some of the most influential and groundbreaking pop music in the Western world during their short, chart-topping existence, influencing artists like Nirvana and Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Oasis’ Noel Gallagher, The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne, and Lady Gaga. Beginning with 1965’s Help!, the band dropped an incredibly successful and innovative group of releases, including the revolutionary psychedelic record Revolver and a postmodern self-titled record (also known as the White Album). Following the lukewarm reception of their Yellow Submarine soundtrack album, Abbey Road was released in 1969 to overwhelmingly positive feedback. Often hailed as the most influential group to ever come from the Western world, their legacy of influence, controversy, and commercial accomplishments will most likely remain intact forever.

The Dillinger Escape Plan 

Formed in Morris Plains, NJ in 1997, the ever-changing lineup of mathcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan blended hardcore and post-hardcore with deeply textured, oddly timed, guitar-focused progressive rock into a colossal noise bomb across their 6 album, 5 EP discography. Starting in 1999 with the explosive Calculating Infinity, and ending with 2016’s slow, contemplative Dissolution, their dissonant approach to hardcore has had a profound impact on mathcore, metalcore, and even metal as a whole, paving the way for artists like Killswitch Engage, Architects, Periphery, and Bring Me The Horizon. Throughout their career, the band not only toyed with technicality and virtuosic breakdowns, but they also melded various elements of other genres into their sound, using glitch effects, synth leads, and drum machines on Ire Works, and fiddling with industrial elements, noise, and gothic lyricism on Miss Machine.

Deftones

Referred to by some critics as the “Radiohead of metal,” diverse Californian rockers Deftones have ushered in a new era of shoegaze, dream pop, and alternative metal with their heavy, otherworldly take on those genres. Beginning with 1995’s aggressive, hip-hop influenced Adrenaline and ending with their most recent album, 2020’s dream pop-focused Ohms, albums such as Diamond Eyes, Koi No Yokan and Saturday Night Wrist spawned several successful singles, introducing shoegaze to a wider audience, while White Pony and Around The Fur completely reinvented the wheel with wide experimentation at a time when nu metal was dominated by stereotypical artists like Staind, P.O.D, Papa Roach, Limp Bizkit, and Vanilla Ice. Speaking of Radiohead…

Radiohead

Radiohead’s extensive discography has resulted in some of the most commercially successful and popular tracks of the streaming era, including No Surprises, Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, Fake Plastic Trees, High and Dry, Karma Police, and the band’s signature song Creep, but it doesn’t stop there. The Kid A, In Rainbows, OK Computer, A Moon Shaped Pool, and The Bends have been hailed as some of the greatest albums of all time by the BBC, Rolling Stone, The A.V. Club, Time, Pitchfork, and even Congress, with OK Computer being added to the National Recording Registry in 2014 for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Their creative spin on rock has known no bounds, having used elements of electronica, jazz, world music, ambient, Britpop, and chamber music at various stages of their career.

Kendrick Lamar

This wouldn’t be one of my articles if I didn’t mention the first rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music and one of the greatest voices of his generation, Kendrick Lamar. Across his 22-year career, he has dropped such ingenious albums as To Pimp a Butterfly, DAMN., Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, and good kid, m.A.A.d city, to overwhelmingly positive feedback and accolades galore, as well as dropping projects like untitled unmastered. and Section 80 that are often overlooked and underappreciated by the mainstream. 

The Microphones 

Rotating indie folk and noise rock group The Microphones, led by singer songwriter Phil Elverum, released 5 albums from 199, all of which have received very positive feedback. The Glow, Pt 2 and Mount Eerie consistently place on lists of top albums of all time, with The Glow, Pt 2 being in the top 20 of aggregate rating website Album of the Year’s top 500. Phil’s enigmatic emotional songwriting, combined with the group’s overwhelming bursts of noise and DIY production, has led to their overwhelming popularity in indie circles, internet forums, and music sites, along with an impact on scores of other indie folk artists like Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, and Phoebe Bridgers citing Elverum as an influence.

Slowdive

UK shoegaze icons Slowdive have one of the genre’s most consistent discographies, with millions of streams across their blistering 5-album run. Their 1993 sophomore album Souvlaki had a significant impact across shoegaze and dream pop while also bolstering the space rock revival movement, and their 2017 self-titled comeback album Slowdive was considered one of the year’s best rock albums for its lush, hazy soundscapes. Spinoff group Mojave 3’s 1995 debut, Ask Me Tomorrow, which follows more of a slowcore/alt country style, is worth mentioning as well as it is heavily praised by indieheads worldwide.

Bjork

Icelandic experimental pop queen Björk’s 10-album discography has gotten continuous attention for its glitchy, alien soundscapes and bizarre lyrics. From 2022’s noisy Fossora and 1995’s widely varying Post to 2001’s abstract Vespertine and her house-influenced 1993 debut Debut, the impact she has had on experimental and electronic artists such as Grimes, FKA twigs, and Radiohead knows no limits. Her cryptic songwriting and commanding vocals have long been held in high regard by music critics and fans alike, and she continues to make leaps in popularity as she approaches the 40th anniversary of the beginning of her reign over experimental music.

Death Grips

Death Grips has long been known for their contributions to experimental hip hop, with MC Ride’s bleak, cryptic lyricism and drummer Zach Hill’s cacophonic production over programmer and now-alleged former member Andy Morin’s glitchy hellscapes of samples. Beginning with 2011’s mixtape Exmilitary, Death Grips released such records as The Powers That B, No Love Deep Web, Government Plates, The Money Store, and Bottomless Pit, ending with 2019’s Year of the Snitch. Although the band went on to release an EP, Gmail and The Restraining Orders in honor of notable electronic label Warp Records’ 30th anniversary, the group remains largely inactive; however, they did release a statement in April 2025 dispelling rumors of their disbandment after a viral Reddit post of a leaked conversation between Morin and a fan, who has since been seemingly dismissed.

Low

Known for their dual lead vocals from Alan Spearhawk and Mimi Parker, as well as being a pioneering band for a dreamy, building, painfully somber brand of alternative commonly known as “slowcore,” Low went through many lineup changes and different genres throughout their career, such as indie folk, ambient pop, and noise rock, beginning with their 1994 slowcore debut I Could Live In Hope and ending with 2021’s post-industrial and electroacoustic HEY WHAT, their final release before Parker’s tragic passing from ovarian cancer the following year. With contemplative, poetic tracks like Sunflower, Dinosaur Act, Words, and Lullaby, Low sent shockwaves throughout the world of alternative music with their cold, dark, and bittersweet take on the genre, with layers of chorus and reverb that seemed to speak louder than any lyric.