Trawling the murky depths of Bandcamp and SoundCloud turns up some of the worst album covers you've ever seen: raunchy collages by teenage edgelords, blurry clipart, and countless slurs rendered with the BRAT generator.
But for the worst album covers of 2024, we searched even deeper. These aren't tossed-off jokes — there are cautionary tales against the use of AI, some necessary reminders to keep your butt to yourself, and pretty much the only time we ever write about Chris Brown.
After checking out the nauseating entries below, be sure to read our list of the year's best album covers for a much-needed palate cleanser. Also revisit the worst album covers of 2023 while you're at it.
25. Devil's Cigarette
I Wanna Be on TV
Well, we suppose being in a report on the 6 o'clock news about a sinister man exposing himself from a rooftop is one way to get on TV.
24. Sheryl Crow
Evolution
SEHVEORLYLUTCIROONW
23. Gal De Paz
Very That
Yeah, we get it — "cake." Imagine trying to clean frosting out of your crack with those nails.
Once known for the raunchy gangsta rap classic Doggystyle, Snoop's latest is named after the most basic sex position and serves a reminder to use protection. Safety first!
21. PARTYNEXTDOOR
4
PND is resorting to extreme measures to remind you that he does, in fact, get laid.
20. Bones Owens
Love Out of Lemons
Whatever you do, do NOT drink anything from Bones Owens's lemonade stand.
20. Chris Brown
11:11 (Deluxe)
The dynasty of Chris Brown continues with his third consecutive appearance on our annual Worst Album Covers list. At the very least, this one gets points for covering his face.
18. Tanshuman Das
Progress Report
Black Mirror has gone steadily downhill since being bought by Netflix, but the upcoming seventh season looks simply terrible.
17. 1000 Eyes
Duality
We guess "1000 Eyes" has more of a ring to it than "13 Noses."
16. Sebastian Bach
The Child Within the Man
One last look at the back-alley mural of your local gas station before it's burned down in an insurance scam.
15. Eric Clapton
Meanwhile
Honestly, this is what we hope our lives are like at 79 — not giving a fuck about anything and putting absolutely zero effort into our work while looking pleased with ourselves in a silly hat.
14. Garfunkel & Garfunkel
Father and Son
Speaking of '60s greats putting in zero effort, here's Art Garfunkel! Family reunions can be awkward, especially when your son shows up wearing Paul Simon's hat and won't stop staring blankly into the middle distance.
13. Ghost-Note
Mustard n'Onions
It's almost lunchtime in the Rick and Morty writing room, where they created this character in a delirium of hanger while waiting for an Uber Eats courier to arrive with their Nathan's order.
12. Taylor Swift
The Tortured Poets Department
Swifties on Twitter have been complaining that The Tortured Poets Department isn't on enough year-end lists, so we're happy to oblige! The most successful musician in the world has again produced a shockingly cheap-looking album cover, this time with the boudoir stock photography aesthetic of an erotic novella on Wattpad.
11. ¥$
VULTURES 1
How does one separate the art from the artist? It's a conundrum without an easy answer that every music fan has grappled with in one way or another over the last few years. Thankfully, Kanye West is making it easy on us by releasing albums that are dog shit on every level — musical, moral and aesthetic.
10. Party Cannon
Injuries Are Inevitable
Terrifier 3 made 2024 a big year for scary clowns, but the Toys "R" Us font is even more nauseating than the decapitated body shitting fire.
9. Squid Pisser
Dreams of Puke
Squids only have eight tentacles, so it seems excessive for this one to get milked by an entire housing co-op.
8. The Black Dahlia Murder
Servitude
It looks like a butthole. On the bright side, it's a very clean one.
7. Evildead
Toxic Grace
L.A. thrashers Evildead combine every smug "wake up sheeple" cliché into this self-parody of a four-years-too-late critique of mask mandates.
Upon the release of 143, the ghost of Katy Perry's future came to warn her of what was about to go down.
Reappraisal culture has officially gone too far when we're welcoming Paris Hilton back into music with open arms and three-fingered AI hands. We're getting Pink Friday 2 vibes.
The Dandies tried to save rock 'n' roll with their new album, but this antiseptic boardroom clipart falls short on deliverables. Q4 projections forecast a downturn in cool riffs.
3. Serrabulho
Piss & Love
Stay hydrated, boys, it's not supposed to be that yellow.
2. Tears for Fears
Songs for a Nervous Planet
It's never a great sign when an album cover is met with so much backlash that its creators have to issue a statement defending it. There's been a lot of justified concern about how AI is going to take people's jobs — but Songs for a Nervous Planet is actually reassuring, proving that AI art still looks weird and bad.
1. Maynard James Keenan
Cinquanta
A now-60-year-old Maynard James Kenan released a live album documenting his 50th-birthday concert, but his sense of humour remains in middle school. Don't just give away those feet pics, Maynard — someone would pay good money for that!