The top ten album covers of all time

1. Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen 2. Joy Division - Closer 3. Nirvana - Nevermind 4. The Who - The Who Sell Out 5. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses 6. Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home 7. New Order - Blue Monday 8. The Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill 9. The Clash - London Calling 10. The Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

The chart was compiled by writers for rock magazine Q, which is publishing a book giving the stories behind the best album covers.

God Save The Queen reached number one in the UK in 1977 despite being banned by the BBC and marked a defining moment in the punk revolution.

The cover, designed by Jamie Reid, shows a picture of the monarch with the words "God Save The Queen" and "Sex Pistols" obscuring her eyes and mouth.

The single was first released on the A&M label after the band signed a record deal outside Buckingham Palace. But that contract only lasted a few days before A&M dropped them.

That version was then withdrawn and most copies destroyed - original copies now sell for �2,000 ($2,900).

But it was re-released by Virgin Records to coincide with the Queen's jubilee several months later.

The cover of Joy Division's Closer album, showing a black-and-white photograph taken in an Italian cemetery, was put at number two in the list, with Nevermind by Nirvana - which shows a naked child swimming under water - at number three.

Many regard the cover of Sergeant Pepper by The Beatles, a collage of many twentieth century icons, as the best album cover of all time.

But Q writers only put it at number ten in their list.