1996

Weezer- Pinkerton (American emo/pop-punk)
Nirvana - From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah (American grunge/alternative rock, live album)
"Weird Al" Yankovic- Bad Hair Day (American comedy music)
Butthole Surfers - Electriclarryland (American alternative rock/noise rock)
Aphex Twin- The Richard D James Album (English electronic music)
Aphex Twin - Girl/Boy EP (English electronic music)
Ministry- Filthpig (American industrial rock)
Eels - Beautiful Freak (American alternative rock, debut)
They Might Be Giants - Factory Showroom (American alternative rock)
Frank Black - Cult Of Ray (American alternative rock)
Beck - Odelay (American alternative rock/rap rock)
Cibo Matto - Viva La Woman (Japanese-American trip-hop/experimental hip hop)
 The Fall - The Light User Syndrome (English post punk/dance rock)
Backstreet Boys - Backstreet Boys (American dance pop/vocal pop)
The Spice Girls - Spice (English dance pop/r and b, debut)
Metallica - Load (American hard rock/heavy metal)
Fugees- The Score (American hip hop)
Outkast - Atliens (American hip hop)
Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt (American hip hop, debut)
Chemical Brothers - Loops Of Fury (English electronic music)
Nas - It Was Written (American hip hop)
Prince- Chaos and Disorder (American funk rock)
Tortoise- Millions Now Living Will Never Die (American post-rock)
R.E.M. - New Adventures In Hi-Fi (American alternative rock, their last album with drummer Bill Berry)
Belle and Sebastian- Tigermilk (Scottish indie pop, debut)
Belle and Sebastian- If You're Feeling Sinister (Scottish indie pop)
Ween - 12 Golden Country Greats (American country)
Prince - Emancipation (American r and b/hip hop, triple album featuring three hours of music)
Various Artists - Girl 6 (Soundtrack to the film of the same name, featuring songs written (but not always performed) by Prince)
Various Artists - Songs In The Key Of X (Tie in album to science fiction TV series The X-Files, featuring Soul Coughing, R.E.M., Foo Fighters and others)
Soul Coughing- Irresistible Bliss (American experiment rock/alternative hip hop)
Mono Puff - Unsupervised (American alternative rock, side project for John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants, debut)
DJ Shadow- Endtroducing... (American instruments hip hop, debut)
Superdrag - Regretfully Yours (American power pop /alternative rock, debut album)
Stabbing Westward- Wither Blister Burn And Peel (American industrial rock)
Stone Temple Pilots - Tiny Music... Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop (Alternative rock/post-grunge)
Pavement- Pacific Trim (American indie rock, EP)
Pearl Jam - No Code (American alternative rock/ art rock)
Alice In Chains- MTV Unplugged (American alternative rock, acoustic live album and their last full album to feature Layne Staley)
Soundgarden- Down On The Upside (American alternative rock)
Marilyn Manson- Antichrist Superstar (American industrial rock)
Goldfinger- Goldfinger (American pop punk/ska punk, debut)
Sublime- Sublime (American reggae rock)
Porno For Pyros - Good God's Urge (American alternative rock/psychedelic rock)
Fountains of Wayne - Fountains Of Wayne (American power pop/alternative rock, debut)
Bush - Razorblade Suitcase (English alternative rock/post-grunge)
Rage Against The Machine - Evil Empire (American rap-rock)
Luscious Jackson - Fever In Fever Out (American alternative rock)
The Lemonheads- Car Button Cloth (American alternative rock/noise pop)
The Residents- Have A Bad Day (American experiment music, soundtrack to the CD-Rom game Bad Day At The Midway)
Phish - Billy Breathes (American psychedelic rock)
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Murder Ballads (Australian art rock, concept album themed around homicide)
Slayer- Undisputed Attitude (American thrash metal, primarily covers of songs originally by punk rock and hardcore punk acts)
Korn - Life Is Peachy (American nu-metal)
Z-Rock Hawaii- Z-Rock Hawaii (American/Japanese experimental rock /noise rock featuring members of Ween and Boredoms)
Melvins- Stag (American alternative metal/sludge metal)
The Jesus Lizard - Shot (American noise rock)
Cannibal Corpse - Vile (American death metal, first album with vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fischer)
Type O Negative- October Rust (American gothic metal)
Pantera - The Great Southern Trendkill (American heavy metal)
Tool - Aenima (American progressive metal/ alternative metal)
Cradle Of Filth - Dusk... and her Embrace (English black metal/extreme metal)
Sepultura- Roots (Brazilian groove metal/nu metal, their last album with founding vocalist Max Cavalera)
Neurosis- Through Silver In Blood (American post metal)
Skinny Puppy - The Process (Canadian electro-industrial, concept album revolving around real-life psychotherapy cult Process Church of the Final Judgment)
Opeth - Morningrise (Swedish progressive metal)
Gravity Kills- Gravity Kills (American industrial rock, debut)
Crowbar - Broken Glass (American sludge metal)
Iced Earth - Dark Saga (American heavy metal, concept album based on the comic book series Spawn)
KMFDM- Xtort (German industrial rock)
Mark Snow - The Truth And The Light: Music From The X-Files (American ambient music, score from the tv series The X-Files)
White Zombie - Supersexy Swingin' Sounds (American industrial metal, remixes of songs from their previous album Astro-Creep 2000)
Godflesh - Songs Of Love And Hate (American industrial metal)
Local H - Better Off Dead (American alternative rock/post-grunge)
Sneaker Pimps- Becoming X (English trip hop, debut)
Tricky - Pre-Millenium Tension (English trip hop)
Tracy Bonham- The Burdens Of Being Upright (American alternative rock, debut)
The Cardigans - First Band On The Moon (Swedish pop-rock)
Guided By Voices - Under The Bushes, Under The Stars (American indie rock/lo-fi)
Jimmy Eat World - Static Prevails (American emo)
The Olivia Tremor Control - Music from the Unrealized Film Script Dusk at Cubist Castle (American neo-psychedelia, debut)
The Boo Radleys - C'MON KIDS (English noise pop/brit-pop)
Dr. Octagon- Dr. Octogonecologyst (American psychedelic hip hop/horrorcore, introduction of Kool Keith's science fiction alter-ego)