To the amusement of many people in my life, U2 has become one of my all time favorite bands over the course of the last two years. Before I listened to The Joshua Tree, I just thought they were the cheesy band who made everyone download their album and unable to delete it in 2014—a topic I’ve been pitching to online venues and hope to explore in an essay in the coming months. Before that, however, I wanted to rank the U2 studio albums from the perspective of a fan who was not alive during their peak. I fully anticipate some heat coming my way from fans who have been fans way longer than I have, but I’ve spent the last two years all but studying this band, and I do feel like I’m pretty qualified to accurately rank their discography. This has been a long time coming, so without further adieu, here’s U2’s discography, ranked:

*Scroll all the way down for TL:DR

15. Zooropa (1993)

This is an album that I probably won’t spend any further time with upon finishing this ranking. “Stay (Faraway, So Close!),” “Lemon,” and “The First Time” are all okay tracks, but aside from those three, I think this entire album is a flop. In all fairness, this is a pretty experimental album, and I’d be inclined to give U2 the benefit of the doubt here were it the only album of its kind, which it unfortunately is not. Even if there are some tracks that sound like they could have potential, they are effectively ruined by the sound effects and other flat out weird choices in the music that accompanies the lyrics. This album sounds like it was produced in GarageBand, and I genuinely believe that both Zooropa and Pop had a negative impact on some other U2 records, not the least of which being Achtung Baby (more on that later).

14. Pop (1997)

The second half of U2’s truly bad era. What I will say, is that to its merit, Pop is a backloaded album, with some decent tracks at the end. “The Playboy Mansion” is actually a pretty good song, “If You Wear That Velvet Dress” is alright, and “Wake Up Dead Man,” though pretty Jesus heavy, is a decent closer. That said, “Discotheque” might be the worst song throughout U2’s entire discography, with a sound that pairs nicely with a Nike commercial and a Nike commercial alone. “Do You Feel Loved” isn’t much better, and until you get to “The Playboy Mansion,” this album is just a disappointment. Had I been alive in 1997, I probably would have become pretty disillusioned with U2, what with their ‘93 album being just as bad—worse, even— as this one. The best thing about this album is that it highlights how lucky I am to have become a U2 fan after the release of All That You Can’t Leave Behind.

13. Songs of Surrender (2023)

Truth be told, the sole reason that this album is ranked above the last two is that the songs themselves are great. This album, though, is bad. There is no new content on this album, just new recordings of older content. There are tracks on this album that I honestly wish I had never heard at all, in fact I think I could have recorded a better version of “Where The Streets Have No Name” on my own. The songs they chose to record again for this album are all fantastic in their own right, and are all certainly better than the tracks off of Pop and Zooropa, but I could have done without this album. My biggest takeaway upon listening to Songs of Surrender, truly, is that I’m so grateful that they did not include my favorite U2 song in the tracklist. This nearly three hour long album, while harsh, is a waste of time. You’d be better off creating a playlist of each of the track’s original recordings and listening that way; there is not a single track on this album that enhances, or sounds even remotely as good as their original recordings.

12. Songs of Experience (2017)

This is probably the first album on this list that I wouldn’t classify as a ‘bad album.’ I don’t know that I’d say it’s a great album either, per se, but it’s got some good songs on it. A lot of the songs on this album are kinda annoying, but I think this is a pretty split album. The tracks are pretty much all hit or miss, but the hits are definitely good songs. “You’re The Best Thing About Me” is kind of a guilty pleasure type song; it sounds almost like a bubblegum pop boy band song, which I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for, though again, it doesn’t really sound like a U2 song. “The Showman (Little More Better)” is another pretty good track, but similarly a little too pop-ish. “The Little Things That Give You Away” is probably the best song on this album, followed by “Landlady” and “Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way,” mainly because they sound more like classic U2 tracks than the rest of the album. If I were to describe this album in one word, it would probably be ‘satisfactory.’ This album is probably the best new album we’re gonna get from U2; my hopes are certainly not high that they’ll come out with an album better than this one any time soon. Songs of Experience is an album that grows on you, and if it had come out towards the beginning of the band’s reign, I can’t help but think it would have been better received than it was just three years after the infamous Songs of Innocence debacle.

11. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)

I’ve been on my dad to add a U2 album ranking to his repertoire of rankings, and the reason he hasn’t is because he has not listened to every U2 album. While I understand where he’s coming from with some albums, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is not one of them. I think this might be U2’s most underrated album. Obviously, given its position in this ranking, this album is not among U2’s best, but it is absolutely worth spending some time with. “Original Of The Species” is a great song musically, but the lyrics are a bit lacking, the chorus repeating “I’ll give you everything you want / Except the thing that you want.” That’s the thing holding this album back; most of the tracks are great in one aspect, but are lacking in others. “Miracle Drug” is probably the best track on this album, but I don’t think there are any expressly bad songs. Again, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb isn’t a GREAT album, but it is a pretty good one. I’m trying to remain mostly impartial to my own preferences, but if this were a ranking of my favorite U2 albums as opposed to a ranking of the best U2 albums, I think I’d actually put this one above Achtung Baby.

10. Songs of Innocence (2014)

Songs of Innocence: The album that signifies what might very well be the single greatest sellout of all time. You would be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t heard the opening track “The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)” and probably equally hard-pressed to find someone who has heard the rest of this album in its entirety. As an avid Spotify user, this album was one of my biggest inconveniences upon connecting my headphones to my phone from the years 2014 to 2022, as it would start playing before I could even open my preferred music app. What’s a shame, though, is that this is actually a pretty good album. Certainly doesn’t hold a candle to some other U2 albums, but with tracks like “Every Breaking Wave” and “Song For Someone,” this album is most definitely worth listening to beyond the opening track. Simply put, Songs of Innocence being one of the biggest sources of the band’s demise says less about the album than it does about the band itself. The way this album has been received, with mostly negative sentiment at a time when a full-length album for free still meant something, says, in my opinion, that most people never actually gave this album a chance, and that U2’s attempt at marketing this record in what they thought would be an innovative way, was a complete and utter flop that did the band much more harm than good.

9. Achtung Baby (1991)

This is probably the most controversial placement on the list. I think this is indisputably U2’s most overrated album. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great tracks on this record, “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” and “Ultra Violet (Light My Way)” chief amongst them. But many of the lyrics showcased on this record are subpar at best, and downright bad at worst. The lyrics to “Even Better Than The Real Thing” sound like something an aspiring 13-year-old songwriter could have written. No hate towards aspiring teenagers, it’s just that we’re talking about freaking Bono here. “One” is a pretty good song, but I’ve seen better when it comes to anthems for world peace from Bono himself. “Mysterious Ways” also gaining commercial success would be a fun and catchy song, had it been written by a different band. I would even venture to say that I like that song. But it is not a good U2 song. Additionally, the last track on this album, “Love Is Blindness,” honestly kinda sucks. This album, I think, marks the start of U2’s sellout, it just doesn’t hold up to what came before it and it sounds like almost like a different band entirely. Were it followed directly by All That You Can’t Leave Behind, I think it would be a different story, and retrospectively, this album would be seen as just a dud. But it was followed directly by Zooropa, and thus is a clear mark of the beginning of the controversial end for U2. I know a lot of people will likely think this is a very bold and hot take, but Achtung Baby is just such an inconsistent album, that I can’t in good conscience rank it above any of the following 8 albums.

8. No Line On The Horizon (2009)

Definitely the second best U2 album of the 21st century, no question. The title track is a great opener, and I can only imagine listening to this album as a fan when it came out; fans were likely starved and desperate for another great album, and while post-2000 U2 is nowhere near as iconic as pre-2000 U2, between No Line On The Horizon and All That You Can’t Leave Behind, they definitely had a pretty good run in this new era of U2. There are some misses on this album, including “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” which, albeit catchy, is kind of annoying and mainstream radio-esque, and “Magnificent,” which has an intro that’s a little too close to the techno experimental vibe that ruined Zooropa and Pop. Other tracks, though, certainly make up for it. “Unknown Caller” is a great callback to the Edge’s old talents, something that had been pretty lacking since before Achtung Baby. “White As Snow” offers a taste of Bono’s older lyrics, lyrics which made him one of the most talented lyricists in rock history. “Stand Up Comedy” is a solid U2 anthem, complete with a classic Bono/Edge pseudo-riff-off of guitar licks and, for lack of a better word, howling from Bono. “Moment Of Surrender” and “Breathe” are also great tracks. Simply put, No Line On The Horizon is a damn good album.

7. October (1981)

October is a fairly typical sophomore album. Still pretty damn good, but not quite as awesome as Boy. Some great U2 classics grace this album, though it’s a pretty front-loaded album. “Gloria,” “I Fall Down,” and “I Threw A Brick Through A Window” are about as great a three song opener as any. What comes after is all still great—“Rejoice” is still a damn good song—but as the album progresses, the songs all start to get a bit lost, and relative to the rest of U2’s discography, a little forgettable (here I’m thinking primarily of “Stranger In A Strange Land” and “Scarlet"). It seems to me that this album just sort of starts to fade, and acts as a sort of gradient from ‘Great U2 songs’ to ‘Mediocre U2 songs.’ Now, by no means does this mean that I don’t love October. I still think it’s a fantastic album overall, and I most definitely enjoy listening to it on a decently regular basis, it just doesn’t quite do it for me in the way that their other early albums do.

6. Rattle and Hum (1988)

It’s funny that this is considered a studio album when Under A Blood Red Sky isn’t, but I’ll gladly include Rattle and Hum in a ranking of U2’s studio discography. This is an interesting album, and could also be described as experimental in a way, but was actually a successful straying from U2’s typical path. This album is honestly a rollercoaster, and a damn fun one at that. Leading off with a live cover of “Helter Skelter,” and introducing it as “A song that Charles Manson stole from The Beatles, we’re stealing it back,” how could you not immediately lean way the fuck into this album? Following that cover comes a powerful ballad in “Van Diemen’s Land,” also performed live, and then leading directly into a studio recording of “Desire.” What follows from there is a rapidly jolting ride between live and studio recordings, covers and originals, including a live recording of “All Along The Watchtower,” a studio recording of “Hawkmoon 269,” and live recordings of “Pride (In The Name Of Love)” and “Bullet The Blue Sky.” Rattle and Hum is, in my mind, a perfect conclusion to the trilogy of The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree, and itself. Truth be told, this is where the ranking truly gets to be really damn difficult; from here on out, each of these albums is pretty incredible. In fact, I originally had October ranked ahead of Rattle and Hum, but every time I listen to Rattle and Hum, I’m reminded of just how much of a gem this album really is.

5. All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000)

The closest thing to a U2 Masterpiece in the 21st century, All That You Can’t Leave Behind definitely isn’t a perfect album, but there are some absolutely fantastic tracks on this album. Although “New York” is a bit of a mediocre and annoying track, and “Elevation” is a little too catchy, those two songs are clearly the exception. It’s hard to make an album without a single ‘bad,’ or even subpar, track, and I’d say this album did just as good a job as any on that front with really only those two misses. The hit “Beautiful Day” gained commercial success, but it’s a wonder to me that more tracks on this album weren’t received in that same way. “Wild Honey” is a great feel-good track, “Kite” boasts beautiful lyricism that is reminiscent of Bono’s older works, and “Peace On Earth,” though overtly religious in the chorus, is a truly therapeutic song. Though I wouldn’t recommend this be the first, second, or even third album to listen to when first getting into U2, I also wouldn’t consider that a bad choice. This is, on the whole, a beautiful album.

4. War (1983)

After a little bit of a sophomore slump with October, War is as good a comeback as any U2 fan could have hoped for. War harkens back to a lot of the styles and techniques that made Boy so unique, but it does so in a way that is still pretty different and evolutionary to the band’s sound. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” is an absolute banger of an opener, and I think it might actually be the first U2 song I ever heard; I didn’t know it was U2 for the longest time, mainly because I always liked the song and I never associated a song that I actually liked with what I had always thought was a cheesy sellout band. I was pleasantly surprised, though, when I realized it was in fact a U2 song, and that the rest of that album was pretty fantastic. Some other notable tracks include “New Year’s Day,” “Two Hearts Beat As One,” and “The Refugee,” but this album is really all great. Probably U2’s most fun record, it’s a versatile listen that you can enjoy just about anywhere at pretty much anytime.

3. Boy (1980)

A fucking awesome debut album if I’ve ever seen one. “I Will Follow” is most definitely among the very best of the U2 tracks that had commercial success. I think some of my favorite U2 songs are the more melodic, lyrical tracks, and some of the objectively greatest hits are more on the upbeat side, but what makes Boy so unique is that it’s a perfect mix of the two. “Into The Heart” starts with a beautiful, nearly two minute intro from the Edge, and is met with some incredibly simple, yet still deeply impactful lyrics. Of course, “I Will Follow” is a pretty upbeat song, as are “Stories For Boys” and “A Day Without Me,” a song in which you can catch hints of Bono’s accent if you listen closely, an aspect of vocals that I have always loved since my One Direction days. “A Cat Dubh” is on the slower, more melodic side, but it has a more minor-keyed feel than many other U2 tracks. I think the coolest thing about Boy really is that it doesn’t sound like any other U2 album, but in the best possible way. As with albums like Pop, we can see pretty obviously that straying from their typical sound doesn’t always bode well for the band, but seeing as though this is their debut album, it has sort of a reverse effect. This being their first album, one would expect their next records to be a sort of slow-burning evolution into their newer sound, but Boy really is a special album in its own right, beyond just the band’s origin story.

2. The Unforgettable Fire (1984)

A lot of people think that this album is U2’s greatest, and I probably wouldn’t argue. I think The Joshua Tree is without a doubt their best album, but I think The Unforgettable Fire is without a doubt a very close second. “Bad” might be my favorite song ever when it comes to guitar; the way the Edge plays on that track is difficult to describe in words. “Pride (In The Name Of Love)” is a timeless track, lyrically fantastic and yet another shining example of the Edge’s greatness, and the opening track “A Sort of Homecoming” is the perfect preparation for the ride this album is about to take you on. I think there are definitely some tracks on the album which are better than others, but every song on this record is great. Yes, even “Elvis Presley And America” and “MLK,” which have faced some scrutiny in the past, but are both still beautiful songs. This album is widely regarded as a turning point for the band, but I think between this album and The Joshua Tree, U2 was at their greatest ever. The albums preceding The Unforgettable Fire were fantastic no doubt, but this album is the start of their two-record magnum opus. In fact, I bought a book at a used bookstore about this album, and I wouldn’t be surprised if after reading it, it left me conflicted about the decision to rank this album as a definitive #2.

1. The Joshua Tree (1987)

Easily in my top three favorite albums of all time. This album is such a masterpiece, there is not a single miss on it. There have only ever been two songs to which I’ve had a truly visceral, tangible reaction upon listening for the first time. One of those two songs is “Running to Stand Still.” This is, in my opinion, a perfect track. The music, the lyrics, the journey that this song takes the listener on is truly unmatched. Not to mention the fact that every other track on this album is not far off. I could do a ranking of the Joshua Tree songs and go on for pages about probably every track on this album; there is truly not one single miss on it. The songs from this album that gained commercial success are easily the best of U2’s hits, rivaled only by those featured on The Unforgettable Fire, Boy and War. This record does a great job of showcasing the band’s pure talent, boasting some of the greatest lyrics, nay, poetry, greatest drum beats, and greatest guitar licks I’ve ever heard. I want to shout out more individual tracks on this album, but aside from “Running to Stand Still,” to which I’m a bit biased, I honestly don’t think I can single out any other track because they are all just that good. If you haven’t listened to this album, you are honestly doing yourself a disservice.

15. Zooropa

14. Pop

13. Songs of Surrender

12. Songs of Experience

11. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

10. Songs of Innocence

9. Achtung Baby

8. No Line on the Horizon

7. October

6. Rattle and Hum

5. All That You Can’t Leave Behind

4. War

3. Boy

2. The Unforgettable Fire

1. The Joshua Tree

Let me know what you think! Did I get it right or did I get it right?🤔