Apple Music has just taken its 100 Best Albums list from the screen to the coffee table—but this luxe physical version, priced at $450 (around Rs 38,000), is not for the faint of wallet. Titled Apple Music: 100 Best Albums, this 208-page masterpiece is available for pre-order, with shipping set for November 25.
Only 1,500 copies are available, each individually numbered, making it a serious collector’s item. Produced by luxury print house Assouline, the book itself is a treat to behold. It comes encased in a custom-designed, transparent acrylic slipcase etched with the Apple Music logo, protecting a white linen hardcover and featuring gold gilding on the page edges and spine. According to Apple Music’s Creative Director, Zane Lowe, this collection is meant to stir up passionate debates among fans over what truly qualifies as the “greatest records ever made.”
While the content is pulled from the digital version of Apple’s list, it’s curated to highlight the profound impact each album had on both listeners and artists. Lowe says it’s intended as a “love letter” to music fans. “What we found,” he explains, “is that truly great albums are more than just a collection of songs—they become a part of you, a part of your life story.”
The list itself is a celebration of music from the last 65 years, covering genres from country and rock to hip-hop and electronic. It spans from classics like Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue to modern chart-toppers like Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti. With contributions from artists and music experts, the list includes icons as varied as Billie Eilish, Metallica, Travis Scott, and Talking Heads.
Whether it’s worth the splurge depends on how much you value high-end music memorabilia. For some, Apple Music: 100 Best Albums could be the ultimate homage to the records that shaped their lives. For others, it’s just a reminder that Apple knows how to turn music into high art. To be clear, this is not the first Apple book ever made. The iPhone-maker has dabbled with a collector’s item like this before, although it was devoted to hardware. The $300 (roughly Rs 25,000) book from 2016 had 450 photos of Apple products released over the years.
