#57 Back to Black by Amy Winehouse
The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time
- 2025 Album Rank
- 57
- Total Points
- 1013
- Year Released
- 2006
- Billboard 200 Chart Peak
- 2
- Weeks at #1
- N/A
- RIAA Sales Certification
- 2,000,000 (Multi Platinum)
- Buy Album
- Apple Music Amazon
Back to Black Album Details
Back to Black is Amy Winehouse's second and final studio album, a neo-soul masterpiece that fused vintage Motown and girl-group stylings with brutally confessional songwriting. Produced primarily by Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi, the album built on the jazz-inflected sound of her debut, Frank, but added sharper edges and deeper shadows. Drawing heavily from her tumultuous relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil and her descent into addiction, Back to Black was both an artistic triumph and a harrowing personal document. Its raw honesty, retro aesthetic, and Winehouse's distinctive contralto voice made it an instant classic, and it became a defining work of 21st-century soul.
The album balances sharp lyrical wit with deep vulnerability. Tracks like Rehab became anthems of defiance, while Love Is a Losing Game and Wake Up Alone showcased Winehouse's gift for stark emotional poetry. The production leaned heavily into analog techniques and vintage equipment, with Ronson drawing direct inspiration from Phil Spector and the Dap-Kings providing the backbone for many of the tracks. Despite its retro styling, the album never felt like pastiche, Winehouse inhabited the material fully, giving it contemporary urgency.
Interesting Facts About Back to Black
- Mark Ronson reportedly wrote the instrumental for Back to Black in just 15 minutes after hearing Amy describe the breakup that inspired it. She wrote the lyrics in under two hours.
- The Dap-Kings, best known as Sharon Jones's backing band, were flown to London from Brooklyn to provide authentic soul instrumentation. Their tight playing is central to the album's vintage feel.
- Rehab was inspired by a real conversation Amy had with her producer and management about refusing to go to a rehabilitation clinic. Her defiant response, "No, no, no", became the song's unforgettable hook.
- The deluxe edition of the album includes covers of Valerie (originally by The Zutons) and To Know Him Is to Love Him (by Phil Spector), both of which further underscore her reverence for 1960s girl group sounds.
- Winehouse recorded much of her vocals live with the band in the room, a rare method at the time that added spontaneity and warmth to the recordings.
- The album's themes of heartbreak, addiction, and emotional unraveling eerily foreshadowed Winehouse's tragic decline. She would die in 2011 at age 27, just five years after the album's release.
- Back to Black won five Grammy Awards in 2008, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist, making Winehouse the first British female artist to win that many in one night.
- Early demos of songs like Wake Up Alone and Some Unholy War reveal more sparse, jazz-leaning arrangements before Ronson and Remi reshaped them into soul ballads with pop appeal.
Back to BlackTrack List
- Rehab - Reached #9 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart
- You Know I'm No Good
- Me & Mr. Jones
- Just Friends
- Back to Black
- Love Is a Losing Game
- Tears Dry on Their Own
- Wake Up Alone
- Some Unholy War
- He Can Only Hold Her
- Addicted
