10 Best Summer Album Covers: The Beach Boys, Go-Gos, Eagles, Charlie XCX and More

Which shines brightest for the sunny season?

The dog days of summer. We wait for it all year. Hot weather. Vacations on beautiful lakes and beaches. Staycations with backyard barbecues and ice-cold beer. Great tunes serve as the soundtrack for our sun-soaked R&R.

Below are 10 of the best album covers from decades of summer bliss. Each has its own story and a special place in the hearts of listeners across generations.

10. Sublime

Sublime (1996)

Santeria was a summer smash despite the passing of songwriter Bradley Nowell two months before the album’s release. The tattoo on his back adorned the millions of CDs sold when the album gained traction during the summer of 1997, with hits like “What I Got” and the title track. However, the tattoo image was never meant to be the cover. Opie Ortiz inked the original skin illustration and artwork for the disc. It shows a cartoon of a shirtless man with a clown nose, drinking beer. The album was slated to be called Killin’ It. But the record company felt both the image and title were disrespectful and opted for the approach we all know and love.

9. Childish Gambino

Kauai (2014)

Minimalist, melodic and soaked in sunset vibes, Kauai is Childish Gambino’s sonic postcard from paradise. Inspired by the Hawaiian island where he escaped fame’s noise, it’s a dreamy blend of falsetto, nostalgia and spoken words. The cover is calming and serene, matching golden sunlight with ocean blue. Like the disc itself, the artwork doesn’t scream summer. Instead, it drifts through the season, warm and unbothered, like the breeze on a slow July afternoon. Sales supported maintaining and preserving the natural beauty of Kauai.

8. Van Halen

1984 (1984)

While songs from the last release featuring the original Van Halen lineup were nowhere near as cerebral as George Orwell’s book of the same name, they were way more fun. “Hot for Teacher” and “Panama” were the soundtrack of the good-time ’80s, where keyboards were so pervasive that guitar god Eddie Van Halen traded his axe for a synth to strike the memorable riff on “Jump.” Graphic Artist Margo Nahas created the cover, which features “Putto.” The model was the child of Nahas’ friend, photographed holding a candy cigarette. Like many great images, it was subsequently censored in the U.K., where a sticker was used to extinguish tobacco-related controversy.

7. Green Day

Dookie (1994)

What’s not to like about an album cover that features a dog flying a jet, Ozzy Osbourne, fat Elvis, dogs dumping feces and a monkey questioning whether it should throw its poop? This chaotic depiction of Berkeley’s Telegraph Ave. is undoubtedly a humorous homage. As the story goes, East Bay punk artist Richie Bucher only had the album title Liquid Dookie to work with for inspiration. The name refers to a bout of diarrhea the band suffered while on tour. The label shortened the title. It struck big in the summer of 1994 with the hit “Basket Case.” Since then, we’ve all found the time to listen to Billie Joe Armstrong whine.

6. The Grateful Dead

American Beauty (1970)

Most Dead covers can be associated with relaxing summer pursuits. This one is arguably the most iconic, and the music is the most accessible. What’s more, if you look closely, does it really say the word “Beauty?” Or does it say “Reality?” I’m sure many stoners zoned out on this design created by Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley. Mouse/Kelley Studios created some of the greatest psychedelic posters and album sleeves of all time and would go on to work with Journey and other bands.

5. The Go-Go’s

Vacation (1982)

Punk-pop irony at its finest. This cover was shot by Mick Haggerty, who also created covers for David Bowie (Let’s Dance) and The Police (Ghost in the Machine). He and the band’s manager were inspired by kitschy movies where singers were filmed against super-obvious rear projections. (Like Elvis performing while surfing.) Using a postcard of water skiers as a guide, they set out to create an homage to Americana. Haggerty shot 60 body doubles in Florida and then used headshots of the band in Hollywood to create this classic.

4. Charlie XCX

Brat (2024)

A block of lime green (Pantone #8BCF00 to be exact) with simple type. That’s it. No photo. No styling. Just the word “Brat” stamped on a retina-burning green background. Yet somehow, it became the cover of the summer. It took over everything: memes, merch, even hair dye. People threw brat raves. The season was renamed Brat Summer. Gucci, Urban Outfitters and other brands copied it. Charlie XCX told Vogue that the look was intentional: “I wanted to go with an offensive off-trend shade of green to trigger the idea of something being wrong.” Designer Brent David Freaney of NYC studio Special Offer and Charlie did something very right. The cover didn’t just represent the music. It created a movement.

3. Jimmy Buffett

Songs You Know by Heart (1985)

A fixture next to the CD player as the blender whirred and we searched for our lost shaker of salt. This was Buffett’s 18th album, but despite having a legion of “Parrotheads” who worshipped his laid-back tunes, he really only had one hit, “Margaritaville.” That’s why he added a parenthetical “s” to the album, which was intentionally labeled his Greatest Hit(s). There were actually two covers. The one above and a decidedly more ’80s design in yellow with red script that represents the yin to Charlie XCX’s yang.

2. The Eagles

Hotel California (1976)

When my daughter was in grade school, we discovered that we loved going to garage sales, where I bought boxes of vinyl to give to a friend. One day, my daughter was in my office, peering at the Hotel California album imagery and said, “So this is what the Hotel California looks like.” I called my friend with some bad news: I’d be keeping the records from now on. He said it was one of the worst days of his life. This album cover made me remember how integral the art itself is to the experience. And now, a thousand albums later, my daughter and I are still collecting. This foreboding shot of the Beverly Hills Hotel was taken at dusk from a cherry picker 60 feet above Sunset Boulevard. Photographer David Alexander sought to give it a sinister edge, which was requested by Don Henley, who penned the famous line: “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.” The hotel owners threatened to sue but relented after it was pointed out that bookings had tripled. Today, a part of many of us still resides in that venue.

1. The Beach Boys

Surfin’ Safari (1962)

Surfin’ Safari provided the first glimpse into the genius of Brian Wilson. The cover shows the band at Paradise Cove in Malibu with Dennis Wilson’s surfboard (he was the band’s only surfer). It was shot by Capitol Records’ photog Ken Veeder—who also shot classic images for Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole—on an overcast August day in 1962. (Here’s a nice collection of outtakes.) I could have easily picked Pet Sounds, Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, Friends or Surfer Girl. But Surfin’ Safari wins because it was the first. It defined them as the band that owned surfing, the beach, tight harmonies and summer.