# What is the best American indie album of all time?

> From Midwestern heartland rock to New York art scenes to Southern California DIY, American indie has a rich regional tapestry. Which US indie album stands tallest?

*By YPB Team · Published April 20, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-american-indie-album-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Murmur**
   R.E.M.'s 1983 Athens, Georgia debut, the bedrock of American college rock and indie music.
2. **Daydream Nation**
   Sonic Youth's 1988 New York noise-rock double album, the artsy vanguard of American independent music.
3. **Doolittle**
   Pixies' 1989 Boston indie rock masterpiece, a blueprint for alternative rock's loud-quiet dynamics.
4. **Slanted and Enchanted**
   Pavement's 1992 Stockton, California debut, the quintessential lo-fi American indie rock record.
5. **In the Aeroplane Over the Sea**
   Neutral Milk Hotel's 1998 Athens, Georgia folk-rock epic, one of the most cherished American indie records.
6. **Yankee Hotel Foxtrot**
   Wilco's 2002 Chicago-rooted art-rock landmark, a distinctly American experimental rock album.
7. **The Moon & Antarctica**
   Modest Mouse's 2000 Issaquah, Washington existentialist epic, vast and lonely like the American West.
8. **Either/Or**
   Elliott Smith's 1997 Portland-era acoustic indie folk album, intimate and deeply American in its heartbreak.
9. **Illinois**
   Sufjan Stevens' 2005 orchestral folk concept album dedicated to the state of Illinois, a distinctly American vision.
10. **Bee Thousand**
   Guided by Voices' 1994 Dayton, Ohio lo-fi monument, a scrappy Midwestern indie classic.
11. **Sound of Silver**
   LCD Soundsystem's 2007 New York dance-punk masterwork, a deeply NYC indie album.
12. **Boxer**
   The National's 2007 Brooklyn-born melancholic indie rock album, articulate and deeply American.
13. **Punisher**
   Phoebe Bridgers' 2020 Los Angeles-infused indie folk album, a new American indie classic.
14. **Puberty 2**
   Mitski's 2016 raw indie rock album about American alienation, identity, and desire.
15. **Lost in the Dream**
   The War on Drugs' 2014 Philadelphia-rooted Heartland rock album, hazy and majestic.
16. **Exile in Guyville**
   Liz Phair's 1993 Chicago debut, a defining statement of American indie feminism.

Tags: music, usa, rock, classics, indie