Synth Pop Saturday: Matt Mitchell's Top 50 Greatest Synth Pop Albums of All-Time [2023]

Matt Mitchell's list of 50 Greatest Synth-Pop Albums of All Time was published on the Paste site in July 2023. This isn't your list or my list - at the time of publication, it was an up-to-the-minute list of one person's favorite synth-pop albums from the past five decades as well as the one we're living in right now. (We're calling it the Twenties, right?) It melts my mind that popular synth-pop music has been around for more than six decades. I hope that Mitchell's list and commentary will inform, delight, surprise, and frustrate you as it has me.

rank	album title	album artist	year
50	Deep Cuts	The Knife	2003
49	Vega Intl. Night School	Neon Indian	2015
48	Singles	Future Islands	2014
47	Suicide	Suicide	1977
46	Vienna	Ultravox	1980
45	Love You To Death	Tegan and Sara	2016
44	1979-1980 A.D.	Grey Factor	2023
43	Penthouse & Pavement	Heaven 17	1981
42	Gossamer	Passion Pit	2012
41	Burning Bridges	Naked Eyes	1983

rank	album title	album artist	year
40	Dawn FM	The Weeknd	2022
39	Give Up	The Postal Service	2003
38	C O D E	Cabaret Voltaire	1987
37	Touch	Eurythmics	1983
36	Little Dark Age	MGMT	2018
35	The Lexicon Of Love	ABC	1982
34	Currents	Tame Impala	2015
33	Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix	Phoenix	2009
32	Gag	Fad Gadget	1984
31	Real To Real Cacophony	Simple Minds	1979

rank	album title	album artist	year
30	A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships	The 1975	2018
29	Holiday	The Magnetic Fields	1994
28	The Warning	Hot Chip	2006
27	The Age Of Consent	Bronski Beat	1984
26	The Beach Boys Love You	The Beach Boys	1977
25	Melodrama	Lorde	2017
24	Visions	Grimes	2012
23	Oh No! It's Devo!	Devo	1982
22	A Way Forward	Nation Of Language	2021
21	It's My Life	Talk Talk	1984

rank	album title	album artist	year
20	Songs From The Big Chair	Tears For Fears	1985
19	Afternooners	Patrick Cowley	2017
18	Madonna	Madonna	1983
17	Dare	The Human League	1981
16	Hurry Up, We're Dreaming	M83	2011
15	Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret	Soft Cell	1981
14	Body Talk	Robyn	2010
13	The Pleasure Principle	Gary Numan	1979
12	Quiet Life	Japan	1979
11	Upstairs at Eric's	Yaz	1982

rank	album title	album artist	year
10	Actually	Pet Shop Boys	1987
09	The Innocents	Erasure	1988
08	Kill For Love	Chromatics	2012
07	Power, Corruption & Lies	New Order	1983
06	Solid State Survivor	Yellow Magic Orchestra	1979
05	Architecture & Morality	Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark	1981
04	Violator	Depeche Mode	1990
03	The Man-Machine	Kraftwerk	1978
02	Philharmony	Haruomi Hosono	1982
01	No. 1 In Heaven	Sparks	1979