The 100 Best Album Cover Ideas For Inspiration

A great album cover is often as memorable as the album itself. An iconic image can live on long after the album has been released, which is why it’s so important to come up with album cover ideas that will resonate with people.

 

While people say never to judge a book by it's cover (in this case an album), the reality is that many do. If you can create an album cover that sticks in the mind, your album will get recognised more often. This is easier said than done, as people see so many images every day that it can be hard to get their attention.

Get inspired and then get more listeners

This list of the 100 best album cover ideas has lots of superb examples of how you can create an eye-catching album cover. It’s packed with a variety of impressive design styles that could look great on your own CD cover.

We’ve split the list of album cover ideas into Design Wizard’s CD cover templates and video templates, iconic album covers, new albums, and colorful album covers.

Design Wizard has a fantastic selection of CD cover templates that you can personalise in your own unique style. Click on any of these images to begin customising the design. You can add your own text, upload images, change colour schemes and much more.

This vibrant design shows a man staring downward. He is the focus of the design, and his presence is complemented by the triangular patterns around him.

 

His moody complexion suggests a thoughtful album that’s full of songs of substance. It’s a cool, laid back album cover that could work just as well with your own image.

 

Click on the image to start editing the design and in minutes you’ll have a personalised album cover.

Black and white images can be used for any genre of music. This flexibility and their timeless nature is part of the reason why they’re so popular.

 

This minimalist style uses 3 parallel rectangles as the centrepiece of the design. A cityscape is used as the background of the cover.

 

The text in the design is subdued and evenly spaced. It’s modern artwork that could be a great design for bands.

Overlaying an image with text is a very popular choice when it comes to designing an album cover.

 

An image can convey a lot about what the album means and helps to give an artist a unique identity.

 

The text in the design is clear and vivid, easily standing out against the darker background.

A simple floral design adorns the cover of this album, suggesting a relaxed album with music that’s easy on the ears.

 

The dark red background provides a nice contrast to the radiant white petals, which brighten up the entire design.

 

This cover template would suit certain musical genres very well. For example, you could create a great design for a folk or pop singer.

Here we see a very modern piece of album artwork. In the design, large grey cubes sporadically jut out from a wall to form an uneven surface.

 

The text, which has been created to suit a dance-themed album, suits the overall design perfectly.

 

This abstract style is popular with many alternative dance acts that want to do something different with their imagery.

Some album cover ideas on this list manage to be energetic, but also reserved. This is one of them.

 

The jumping sound bars that convey motion in the design are thoughtfully placed over a clear, tranquil sky.

 

It’s a cover design could be well suited for an alternative pop or rock band.

In this scene, rolling waves cascade over a sandy beach. It’s a vast, inspiring image that’s suitable for many types of albums.

 

It has the potential to catch the attention of a passerby and hold their attention. Such is the beauty of the picture it could almost be a painting.

 

You could include your band’s name above the image and the album title below the image.

This album cover idea is casual and laid back, which could be used as a representation of the music on the CD.

 

It gives off chilled summer vibes, which might make it suitable for a light-hearted pop or rock album. The pose of the model is very similar to the album cover for Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A.

 

By clicking on the template, you can start editing it and then replacing the text with your own words

Add a splash of colour to your album art to make it stand out, even if that colour happens to be black!

 

The red background in this design creates a really eye-catching contrast that will get your album noticed.

 

Album cover ideas like these are usually good for creating designs for different genres of rock music.

Sometimes you might just want to focus on the music and forget about creating memorable album art.

 

Luckily, some album cover ideas aren’t complex or intricate. They will probably only take up a small portion of your time to create the design.

 

This cover is a prime example. It’s very minimal, but the black circle on a white background still manages to create a compelling visual.

The image in this design instantly demands attention, shouting out at anyone who sees it.

 

It’s an image that could just as easily be used on a rock album as a house album.

 

White space is used as a background for the text in the design, which makes it easily noticeable.

The text in this design, ‘A beautiful storm’, is an apt description of the image on the album cover.

 

It’s almost as if the blue sea has been painted over by a smooth stroke of white paint.

 

The CD cover could be used to hint at dark and moody themes that might feature on the album.

This black and white album cover has a sleek, metallic appearance that will look as good as your music sounds.

 

The large black rectangle in the centre of the design effectively communicates the artist’s name and the album title.

 

These type of album cover ideas would be great for a rock band, but it could just as easily be used to create album art for a pop record.

A vibrant burst of purple pulsates through this graceful image, wonderfully complementing the black and gold in the design.

 

Energetic white lines race through the cover, suggesting that this will be an up-tempo album.

 

Some album cover ideas are perfectly suited for certain genres of music and this image would look great on an electronic dance album.

A strong shade of red is emblazoned over a grey cityscape, instantly invigorating the image.

 

The vertical rectangle in the design is complemented by the structure of the buildings, which are also rectangular in shape.

 

The thin red border that surrounds the text adds a nice finishing touch to this album cover. Borders are a common feature in album cover ideas and they can really enhance the overall design.

Get your listeners flocking to the dance floor with a groovy album cover that matches the sound of your music.

 

This image of a dancing woman could provide a very good representation of the types of songs that you have on your album.

 

The underlined text is easy to see and you can change the message to suit what you want to say.

As the text suggests, this album cover would be very suitable for an acoustic CD.

 

The mellow appearance of the cover is created through its soft color scheme and the floral design that features on it.

 

The flowers are created in an outline style so that they don’t end up dominating the cover.

This twilight shot of a city serves as a striking backdrop for this CD cover design.

 

It’s a chilled out design that would look good on the cover of an indie rock or indie pop album.

 

You can easily customise this template by clicking on it and adding your own text to the design.

A calm, soothing image adorns this album cover, which helps to create a thoroughly relaxing vibe.

 

The eye is drawn to the clear white text, which is emphasised by the lines above and below it.

 

This style of album cover idea would be great for a folk or soft rock album.

This fragmented design has the appearance of rugged terrain, like a desert or mountain range.

 

The landscape appears to be coming apart at the seams and rising into the sky.

 

A raucous, energetic album would be suitable for album cover ideas like this one.

A red moon, with shooting stars racing across it, holds our attention in the centre of this cover.

 

The white writing contrasts nicely with the rest of the design, ensuring that it doesn’t get lost amid the imagery.

 

The thick red border provides a nice frame for the rest of the design, which appears like a black night’s sky.

A stormy image of a windswept coastline is featured on this album cover, hinting that there are some songs on the album that will be moody and downcast.

 

The design is created in a letterbox style, with black space placed above and below the image.

 

This space is used to provide more information about the artist and the album. The amount of space you use in your album cover ideas really depends on what you need to use it for.

A 3D mesh effect is the stand out feature of this album cover design.

 

It is set against a desert background, which is similar to the cover of Darude’s famous single Sandstorm.

 

The squares in the design appear as if they are gradually moving outwards from the center of the image.

Start designing some cool album covers by customising this sunglasses-themed template.

 

It’s a simple, minimalist design, but it’s also eye-catching. As per usual, black and white make for an effective contrast.

 

White space is used as the background for the text, making it easy to read. Album cover ideas that use white space often have a really clean, professional look.

Design Wizard also has lots of CD cover video templates available to customize and download. These designs can be used to promote your album on social media, your website or your blog.

With Design Wizard Stories, you can combine multiple videos to create an ad and add animated text to your design.

Ink bursts across the screen in this video to create a captivating design.

 

The red, black and white colour scheme really suits this album cover, enhancing its natural visual appeal.

 

You can easily personalise the text and add even more words to describe what your album is all about.

On this album cover video template, we can see a stunning snowy landscape that stretches out into the distance.

 

It would make a good announcement video for your album, as the text is centred and clearly visible against the moving background.

If you plan to release your album in winter, this video template could be the perfect choice.

A design that’s similar to this video template can be seen on the cover of The Verve’s album ‘Forth’.

 

A vast sky is laid before us, where endless possibilities await. Seeing an image like this can give us a hopeful and optimistic feeling.

 

Album cover ideas like a video template would be great for promoting an uplifting collection of tracks.

Give your fans a taste of the sound of summer with this summer-themed album video.

 

The gorgeous scenery in the background is reinforced by vivid graphics and clearly displayed text.

 

This template would be superb for creating a design for an electronic dance CD or a remix compilation.

Show potential listeners how much fun they could be having when they hear your music by personalising this video template.

 

Dancing? Check. Sun? Check. Pool? Check. This design has all of the hallmarks of a fun summer album.

With Design Wizard Stories, you can customise and then animate the text in the design.

Now that you browsed through our extensive list of the 100 best album cover ideas, it’s time to create your own album cover. Design Wizard’s easy-to-edit templates take away a lot of the hard work and give you a head start to creating an eye-catching design. Pick your favorite and start customizing! Now Designing an album cover from scratch can take up a lot of time, in that case you can choose free stock images and edit them with online image manipulation services to tailor fit these images for your album cover

 

After you’ve read through all of these album cover ideas, make sure to tell us which ones were your favorite or let us know if we left something out. Share your thoughts by tweeting @getdesignwizard.

 

Designing a new CD cover will give your album a huge boost when people get their hands on it. Even if you’re just giving a mixtape to your friends, a cool album cover will make a big difference. It’s time to start creating an amazing album cover!