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Most glittering of oldie albums: by – who else? – the Beatles

Forty years ago, probably the most talked-about Beatles album ever hit record stores. The peculiarly named "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album came inside an innovative gatefold cover that included lyrics and a memorable, artistically generated picture of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison posing among a crowd of celebrities. The music was as trailblazing as the packaging. Rolling Stone magazine rates it as the top rock 'n' roll album of all time. And Mark Lewisohn, author of "The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions," has said the production of the album "was the last time there was a real collective sense of purpose" among the Fab Four. In 1970, three years after "St. Pepper's" was released, the group disbanded. The all-time best albums and the artists who recorded each, as ranked by Rolling Stone:

1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band The Beatles
2. Pet Sounds The Beach Boys
3. Revolver The Beatles
4. Highway 61 Revisited Bob Dylan
5. Rubber Soul The Beatles
6. What's Going On Marvin Gaye
7. Exile on Main Street The Rolling Stones
8. London Calling The Clash
9. Blonde on Blonde Bob Dylan
10. The Beatles ("The White Album") The Beatles