Gorillaz Discography Ranking

Gorillaz has quietly become one of the biggest bands of the last 25 years, but they’re not even really a band. They are a collection of cartoon characters. Murdoc is the bassist and leader this is often getting into trouble, 2-D is the apathetic lead singer, Noodle is the guitar prodigy who joined the band as a child, and Russell is the drummer who is often being possessed by different figures. The virtual character aspect of the band isn’t just a one off thing, it’s a big part of their aesthetic. In fact, the band started as a duo where one person (Jamie Hewlett) was entirely an animator and artist to draw the band! Musically, the band is actually headed by Damon Albarn, the former frontman of Blur. For almost two decades, he was the only music member in the real life group, but Remi Kabaka Jr. started to be credited as an official member around 2018! Even though the list of who is actually in the band is small, a big part of Gorillaz are their collaborations. There are too many iconic artists to name here that have been featured on Gorillaz tracks. In fact, some of their albums have features on every track! I had heard almost every Gorillaz album before this (except for The Fall), but it was really nice to digest all of them in chronological order like this. They do have another album coming out in March of next year, so be on the look out for that! For now though, let’s dive into Gorillaz’s discography!

Honorable Mention: “Do Ya Thing”  [w/ André 3000 & LCD Soundsystem]

Thank you Converse for making this song happen. In 2012, they had a series called “Three Artists. One Song”, which is pretty self explanatory. In full, the song is 13 minutes long and has an insane build in the middle of the song with André yelling “I’m the shit” among other braggadocio things that make no sense. The song itself builds so incredibly well! You won’t be able to predict anything about where this song goes! There’s really not too much to say about this song, but it’s one of the best things that any of the three acts have done, so I had to mention it! Unfortunately, you won’t find this song on streaming, but it’s more than worth it to go look on Youtube and either watch the 5-minute video or listen to the 13-minute song.

8. The Fall (2010)

This was the only Gorillaz album that was completely new to me. I had heard the other seven albums at least a couple times each throughout my life, but this one slipped by me, probably because of the story behind how it was made. While on tour for Plastic Beach in 2010, Damon created this album almost entirely using an iPad. Each song on here was entirely finished in one day and in a particular place, many of which are included in either the title or the lyrics of said song. As the description probably gives off, this album is a bit more minimal and unpolished than their previous releases. It acts more like an audio diary of this tour than it does a normal Gorillaz album. I still enjoyed the album, even though it’s a bit unmemorable, but it’s still clearly the worst Gorillaz album.

7. Humanz (2017)

At the time, this was their first album in 7 years, so fans were clamoring for new Gorillaz music! Damon and Jamie had a falling out that eventually got solved, so there was never a promise there would even be another Gorillaz album. The album is kind of a concept album, with Damon telling all the collaborators to imagine a future where Trump would win the election (this was in 2015 and 2016 when they were recording it, long before it actually happened). But because this was supposed to be an emotional response to politics, every explicitly political statement was removed. In fact, every direct reference to Trump was bleeped out with a sound effect. If that sounds a bit confusing, you’re on the right page, because this album is a bit confusing. Even for Gorillaz, there are a lot of features on here, arguably to the point where it feels like a curated soundtrack album. When the album hits though, it hits! The album starts off with some heaters! “Ascension” is a crazed banger with Vince Staples being his awesome self on there. “Strobelite” is perfect for a dance club atmosphere, and “Saturnz Barz” has these haunting autotune vocals from Popcaan that I think people would hate on first listen, but really grow on you with multiple listens. It’s also a great song for Halloween, so I’m loving it right now (currently writing this 2 days before Halloween). After that, the album becomes so much more hit or miss. “Let Me Out” with Mavis Staples and Pusha T should not be as forgettable as it is, and the cult-like group vocals of “Momentz” with De La Soul easily make this the worst track they have together. There are still some highlights later on in the album though, including the guitar-led “Charger” with Grace Jones and the only solo track on here in “Busted & Blue”. There are also quite a few bonus tracks that are pretty decent, including the ones with Carly Simon and Little Simz. So while I definitely think it’s worth listening to and really digesting everything on here, there are quite a few tracks that drag down the rest of the album.

6. Cracker Island (2023)

As of writing, Cracker Island is their newest album, and it leaves a bit to be desired. Sure, there are plenty of great tracks on here! The title song with Thundercat is an undeniable jam, and “Tormenta” with Bad Bunny allows one of music’s biggest names to show how he can shine on other people’s songs. It also proves Gorillaz can still get big names, which is also true on “Oil” with Stevie Nicks! I do wish Stevie did more on the song besides just harmonies, but it’s still a good track nonetheless. “Silent Running” might be my favorite song on the album, with its laid back disco guitar and drums and how fantastic Damon and Adeleye Omotayo’s voices match! The main problem here is, like Humanz, there are just too many forgettable moments. Not everything I left out is bad or anything, it’s just forgettable in the grand scheme of Gorillaz. Cracker Island is still pretty solid though, and filled with enough great tracks to make it a good project!

5. Gorillaz (2001)

I forgot how weird and dark this album is, especially when you compare it to the singles. “Clint Eastwood” is the lackadaisical hit that everyone and their mother knows, but “19-2000” is also another example of a hit from the album that’s not representative of the rest of the project. The latter especially is so carefree in its sound that when you dig into the deeper cuts, it’s surprising how minimalistic and weird a lot of the album is. Most of the album is inspired by trip hop, but there are also a couple weirder rock tracks scattered throughout. For example, the song “Punk” is less than 100 seconds of frantic punk energy, but the album then immediately gets back into the slower, darker trip hop track “Sound Check (Gravity)” that’s driven by this slow hip-hop beat, DJ scratches, and Damon’s falsetto. While I don’t love everything on here, this debut album shows that Damon had potential to have another hit band outside of Blur!

4. The Now Now (2018)

This album will always hold a special place in my heart. Released at the end of June in 2018, it came out right before my family and I went on our first (and only) cruise. My grandparents loved going on cruises after they retired, so for their 50th anniversary, they decided to take all of us on one! We didn’t have WiFi on the cruise, so all the music I had was what I had downloaded, which included the recently released Gorillaz album. It fit the feeling of being on a cruise perfectly; that easy going beach-y vibe mixed with a little bit of melancholic malaise. When it comes to the music and story behind the album, it’s basically a better version of The Fall. The album is a tight 11 songs and only 40 minutes in length, which always helps. The summery “Humility” starts off the album with one of the group’s most carefree tracks, whereas “Kansas” is a personal favorite, especially with the highly repetitive, but infectious chorus melody. If you’re looking for a Gorillaz album that’ll push any sort of boundaries, don’t come to this one. And also, this one is probably a place or two higher than it should be due to my personal connection to the album. But if you want a cohesive, lackadaisical synth pop album, this is the one for you! 

3. Plastic Beach (2010)

This album has had quite the positive reckoning over the past 15 years as one of the best albums that Gorillaz ever released, and while I do really enjoy it, I’m not quite on the level of many people. As simple as it is, I think not hearing lead vocals from Damon/2-D until the fourth track just throws me out of the loop before I even settle in. For lack of a better way of putting it, I want to hear the artist themselves when I press play on their record. And I know that part of Gorillaz is the whole collection of features and how anyone could show up, but I still want it to be centered around the band itself. Just looking at how songs like “White Flag” and “Stylo” are different perfectly explains my small gripe. “White Flag” is entirely a rap song with great verses from Bashy and Kano, whereas “Stylo” does have significant contributions from Mos Def and Bobby Womack, Damon Albarn is also an equal part of the song, vocally. Of course, there are plenty of other hits on here that don’t need much explanation. “Rhinestone Eyes” and “On Melancholy Hill” are both gorgeous tracks, and “Empire Ants” with Little Dragon consists of probably my favorite feature on the album! The album is still great, I just think it has a few problems that keep it from being on the top spot. 

2. Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez (2020)

This album is actually elite! The later part of Gorillaz’s career is generally held in lower regard compared to the first decade, but this is the one exception, and for good reason! There’s no overarching concept to this album. These songs aren’t all connected through some contrived storyline. Instead, all that matters with these 11 songs is that they are great, and indeed they are! They managed to make a ballad with Damon Albarn, Elton John, and 6lack not only work, but be absolutely gorgeous! ScHoolboy Q’s verse on the second half of “Pac-Man” is still one of the best of his career! “Aries” features contributions from Peter Hook, who co-created Joy Division and New Order, and it’s a surprisingly gorgeous alt-rock banger. If we’re talking about older rock legends on this album, we can’t discredit The Cure’s Robert Smith and Beck featuring on the first two songs respectively, each of which add their unique voices to these tracks. Even with the big names, arguably the best feature on the album is someone I’ve never heard of before, Fatoumata Diawara. Her unique vocals add so much character to “Désolé” and make it one of the best tracks on here! This album was released almost entirely as singles throughout 2020, which ended up being a nice little thing to look forward to while we were all stuck inside. As with pretty much every Gorillaz album, there is also a deluxe version that adds on 6 songs, quite a few of which are just as great as the normal album. All in all, Song Machine is Gorillaz at arguably their best while being extremely straightforward!

1. Demon Days (2005)

Whether or not this is your favorite Gorillaz album, you can’t argue that this is their most iconic album! Not only does it have arguably their biggest song in “Feel Good Inc.” but the album itself has gone multiple times platinum in both the United States and the United Kingdom! This was also the start of Gorillaz acting more as a project for Damon to work with many different artists. There are plenty of quality rappers on here, the big ones including De La Soul and MF DOOM, who was in his prime, but it wasn’t pigeonholed to just that genre, or even to music itself. Esteemed filmmaker Dennis Hopper showed up on “Fire Coming Out Of A Monkey’s Head” to provide some spoken word! Lyrically, this album’s themes have aged well, unfortunately. There is a lot of talk about the “demons” that we as humans have to face inside ourselves and society, and when you hear a track like “Kids With Guns” and think about how that’s aged over the past 20 years, it’s clearly not for the better. “O Green World” also acts as a precursor to their fully environmental-themed album, Plastic Beach, where Damon talks about pollution and how it’s ruining the Earth. And even when you don’t want to think super deeply about the world’s issues, “Dirty Harry”, “Dare”, and “Feel Good Inc” can all be enjoyed just based off the pure grooviness of the instrumentals and vocal performances themselves (but there are very deep topics in these songs, the first one in particular talking about the trauma of the Iraq War). Demon Days is a fantastic album that is a perfect encapsulation of this band!