IT catalogues the changing face of pop and rock music.

The Rolling Stone has picked its top 500 albums of all time - and it is no longer dominated by white men playing rock music.

In 2003, four of the top ten were Beatles albums - with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band the cream of the crop.

Now there is just one Beatles album in the top ten, Abbey Road rated the fifth best album of all time, while Sgt Pepper is demoted to number 24.

The updated 2020 version is much more diverse and "less rock-centric" with Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin On, which was No. 6 on the 2003 list, now the number one.

In 2003, there was just one female artist in the top 30 - Joni Mitchell's Blue album.

Now there are five, with Joni Mitchell switched from number 30 to number 3.

READ MORE: Shout it out: What is Scotland's greatest song?

And ex-Fugees front woman Lauryn Hill’s 1998 album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which was a lowly 312 in the 2003 chart, now sits proudly at number 10.

In 2003 the top 30 counted just eight artists 'of colour' now there are 13. They include Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life which sits at number 4 having move up from a more lowly number 57.

And when there were no women'of colour', now there are two in the top 30 Aretha Franklin and Lauryn Hill.

here was also only one hip-hop album in the entire top 50 in 2003 - Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back — which ranked at number 48.

Now Public Enemy has been promoted to number 15 - while the top 30 alone contains six obvious hip-hop artists or bands including Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar and the Wu Tang Clan.

And Prince is more obviously recognised now with two of his albums now in the top 50, Sign O' the Times at 45 and Purple Rain at number eight.

Rolling Stone said: "No list is definitive — tastes change, new genres emerge, the history of music keeps being rewritten. So we decided to remake our greatest albums list from scratch."

The renowned music magazine received Top 50 albums lists from more than 300 artists, producers, critics, and music-industry figures.

The electorate included Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Billie Eilis as well as veteran musicians, such as Adam Clayton and the Edge of U2, Raekwon of the Wu-Tang Clan, Gene Simmons from Kiss, and Stevie Nicks.

The list now features 154 new albums not previously on the 500 list, and 86 albums from this century.

The change represents a massive shift for the magazine, moving to recognize more contemporary albums and a wider range of tastes.

"When we first published the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in December 2003, Amy Winehouse was still three years from releasing Back to Black, and Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d city, was almost a decade away; many of today's top musicians (and fans) weren't in middle school yet," the magazine said.

"One distinction from the old list is the idea that there's not one objective history of popular music," said Rolling Stone's reviews editor Jon Dolan. "I think it's an honest reflection of how taste is now."

There are eight albums in the 500 with an obvious Scottish interest.

The highest rated was Remain in Light by Talking Heads led by Dumbarton-born front man David Byrne, which made number 39 on the list.

AC/DC's 1980 album Back in Black was at number 84, while Rod Stewart's Every Picture Tells A Story is at number 177.

The Cocteau Twins' Heaven Or Las Vegas is at number 245, Talking Heads are at number 365 with More Songs About Buildings and Food and Brothers In Arms by Glasgow-born Mark Knopfler's Dire Straits is at number 418.

Primal Scream's Screamadelica is at number 437, while Belle and Sebastian's If You're Feeling Sinister creeps in at number 481.

The list has sparked a predictable debate about whether the list is in fact definitive.

Vulture, the New York culture and entertainment website remarked: "The new list is full of little details to scrutinize and argue over: Led Zeppelin out of the top 50? Achtung Baby ahead of Joshua Tree? No St. Vincent? Harry Styles better than [checks notes] Arcade Fire? Six Kanye albums?"

And Aaron Weaver of CCN.com said: "They made a clear attempt to be more inclusive and diverse than their 2003 list.

"According to their updated rankings, Eminem never came close to Drake, and Nas's 'Illmatic' is the ninth-best hip-hop album ever. What?"

Rolling Stone Top 50 Albums of All Time (2020):

01. Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On

02. The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds

03. Joni Mitchell – Blue

04. Stevie Wonder – Songs in the Key of Life

05. The Beatles – Abbey Road

06. Nirvana – Nevermind

07. Fleetwood Mac – Rumours

08. Prince and the Revolution – Purple Rain

09. Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks

10. Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

11. The Beatles – Revolver

12. Michael Jackson – Thriller

13. Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

14. The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street

15. Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

16. The Clash – London Calling

17. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

18. Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited

19. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly

20. Radiohead – Kid A

21. Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run

22. The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready to Die

23. The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground

24. The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

25. Carole King – Tapestry

26. Patti Smith – Horses

27. Wu-Tang Clan – Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

28. D’Angelo – Voodoo

29. The Beatles – The White Album

30. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced?

Rolling Stone Top 50 Albums of All Time (2003):

01. The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

02. The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds

03. The Beatles – Revolver

04. Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited

05. The Beatles – Rubber Soul

06. Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On

07. The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street

08. The Clash – London Calling

09. Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde

10. The Beatles – The White Album

11. Elvis Presley – The Sun Sessions

12. Miles Davis – Some Kind of Blue

13. The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground

14. The Beatles – Abbey Road

15. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced?

16. Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks

17. Nirvana – Nevermind

18. Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run

19. Van Morrison – Astral Weeks

20. Michael Jackson – Thriller

21. Chuck Berry – The Great Twenty-Eight

22. Robert Johnson – The Complete Recordings

23. John Lennon – Plastic Ono Band

24. Stevie Wonder – Innervisions

25. James Brown – Live at the Apollo

26. Fleetwood Mac – Rumours

27. U2 – The Joshua Tree

28. The Who – Who’s Next

29. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin

30. Joni Mitchell – Blue