21 Surprise Albums, Ranked in Order of Surprisingness

Everyone knows the music industry has been in trouble ever since home taping started killing music back in the ‘70s. With people now happy to pirate music, the industry needs to find a way to sell something. The surprise album, when an artist drop a new release with no prior warning and the “surprise’” is the marketing plan, has caught on in a big way. In 2016, it means hearing about it once it’s already out and thousands of sales have already happened. Here’s a list of the most surprising surprise albums in order of how shocking the surprise!