It's impossible to deny how good they are when the band has outlasted nearly five decades of history and still remain active today. In that five decades, their legacy is almost inconceivable, as they produced a whopping 15 albums worth of material. It's rare for any musician, much less a rock band, to produce more than 10 albums, and U2 created 15. That is an achievement that is not only worth celebrating, but reflecting upon their greatness, as far as where each album can be listed from worst to best.

15 Songs of Surrender

U2's 15th Studio Album

It almost feels unfair to include this remastered set among the rest of their albums. Songs of Surrender is essentially a greatest hits reel with U2 re-recording many of their classic records. On paper, this is a viable experiment, and a bold one at that. The band is at their best and most skilled currently, so it's a fascinating thought experiment to revisit and reboot their own songs with new eyes. If the songs didn't feel so slow and prodding by comparison to the originals, this would be a win. Instead, it butchers past works and makes their only skippable album.

14 How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

U2's 12th Studio Album

U2 has a knack for always trying new things with their music, and even when the attempt doesn't always land, U2 has always been consistent both in their dedication to their new sound and in quality. Inconsistency is the biggest flaw in How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. This might be one of the few albums that U2 has that can be filed under being tonally confused and emotionally stunted. That human connection that U2 usually places for the listener isn't present.

Songs like "Love and Peace or Else" and "Yahweh" feel shallow in their conception and execution. There are great songs like "Original of the Species" and "Vertigo," but the album tends to flip between its good songs and bad ones. It's easy to listen to the best songs in isolation, but it's more of a challenge trying to endure the whole album front to back.

13 Songs of Experience

U2's 14th Studio Album

At risk of sounding redudant when talking about a pop band, Songs of Experience sounds like the band's most poppy album. That means that when it comes to trying to appeal to mass audiences, Songs of Experience tries the hardest and, therefore, is the poppiest. This is an album that features an all-star cast of features, including Haim, Lady Gaga, and even a spoken word performance from Kendrick Lamar. The result is rather polarizing and, at some points, disingenuous as an album.

This doesn't so much feel like an album as it feels like an emotionless cash grab. Mind you, it's far from them knowing that it was conceptualized as Bono based his songs on personal letters. Still, though, it's hard to filter a connection to any of these songs beneath such a veiled attempt to be so mainstream-friendly.

12 All That You Can't Leave Behind

U2's 10th Studio Album

This is by no means a bad album. There is a lot of good to be found on All That You Can't Leave Behind, and at the time of its release, it was largely praised as a return to form for the band. That's kind of the problem, and one that persists on replay value today. It is U2's least ambitious album to date. It's an album where U2 retreats back to an old sound. Of course, understandably so for their landmark album, it makes sense to celebrate the accolade by going back to their roots.

However, it deprives U2 of the most fun thing about the band: their willingness to be different. U2 always made an effort to be different from their peers in the rock genre, as well as better and different from what they themselves made beforehand. This, though, erases any attempt at effort and it's disappointing.

11 Rattle and Hum

U2's Sixth Studio Album

​​​​​​​Rattle and Hum might be U2 at their most ambitious. The album is a combination of live album and genuine studio recording, and even has an accompanying documentary movie of the same name. For many listeners, Rattle and Hum may have been too ambitious for its own good, which is ironic knowing that U2 are at their best when they are so ambitious. However, many critics called this album pretentious both in its execution and being packaged as so many other things at once.

While the nature of how it came out is up for debate as it has nothing to do with the album itself, the execution criticisms are fair. It does feel a little overstuffed with ideas. Coming off the heels of their breakout Joshua Tree, U2 may have tried a little too hard to impress their new legion of fans.

10 No Line on the Horizon

U2's 12th Studio Album

No Line on the Horizon is an album sabotaged by its own potential. There is a lot of greatness that can be had from this album. Songs like "Magnificent" and "Moment of Surrender" rank among the best songs that U2 released on any album. However, the album falls off in the middle third of the project, as songs like "Get on Your Boots" work at odds with the project at large. U2 is at their best when they aren't afraid to experiment, and while there is experimentation still on display, songs like "Boots" and "Stand Up Comedy" feel as though U2 is, at best, playing it safe.

At worst, it sounds like they are hesitant about fully committing to this new sound and tone they've developed, which isn't often something to be said or thought of for U2.

9 October

U2's Second Album

It's hard to capture the feeling of a specific season, but October feels like the perfect fall/autumn album. While listening, it's hard not to get excited for the season as its approaching. If listening during an October month, it gets the listener in the perfect mood for the ensuing season, like listening to "All I Want for Christmas" by Mariah Carey during December gets someone in the right mood necessary for wintertime. Not everyone is willing to rank October highly on their tier list, and that's a fair assessment.

Most will agree that October is an inferior album to Boy, and may sound disappointing by comparison. That being said, tracks like "I Threw a Brick Through a Window" prove that this could never be an outright bad album. In addition to the seasonal sensation the album offers, there's a lot to love about October.

8 War

U2's Third Studio Album

War came at a time when U2 were still trying to find their sound, before they became more adventurous about experimenting with genres. U2 was still rooted in the pop-punk genre, and marked their last straightforward pop-punk project before descending further into pop. Ironically, this album also marks the point at which U2 perfected their grasp of the pop-punk genre. They perfected their sound in general. Three albums in, War displays U2 at their most confident and instrumentally skilled.

Indicative of its title, War is an album filled with anger, which, for those more familiar with U2's later work, may sound uncharacteristic, but it is perfectly definitive of the pop-punk genre. Songs like "New Year's Day" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" stand out as among the best, and definitive of pop-punk's no-nonsense, brutal attitude.

7 Boy

U2's First Studio Album

When U2 first stepped onto the scene, they bled themselves deep within the pop punk genre. It was the hottest sound of the time, and influences from the likes of Joy Division and The Cure are on full display. It's one thing for a band to successfully emulate such a specific sound, but to do so in a way that's just as great as those aforementioned bands is even more impressive. U2 immediately left an impression with their debut. More miraculous than the fact they left their footprint with their first album is the fact that this album still remains so listenable today.

Theoretically, with experience and improvement on their side, U2 would make better albums overtime, but few albums capture such a specific period in music history quite like Boy. It feels like a time capsule in how it takes the listener on a worthwhile nostalgia trip back to 1980. Not even U2's best albums evoke such a spiritual feeling.

6 The Unforgettable Fire

U2's Fourth Studio Album

The Unforgettable Fire is a necessary prelude to The Joshua Tree, an album many would consider to be U2's magnum opus. Without The Unforgettable Fire, there would be no The Joshua Tree. This was the first time in their career the band decided to commit fully to the idea of experimenting with their sound. In the later years, they would challenge what they were capable of. Vocally, Bono arguably reaches his most ionate range as an artist, and through themes of addiction and finding hope through the darkness, his voice resonates the strongest it has ever been.

There is a lot to praise The Unforgettable Fire for, but when comparing it to what came after, it's easy to overlook. Au contraire, The Unforgettable Fire is deserving of a place among the best albums that U2 could ever offer to the masses.