The List of Erykah Badu Albums in Order of Release Date

Erykah Badu didn’t just release records — she redrew the map for what R&B could sound like. Since bursting out of Dallas in the mid-90s with a head wrap, a incense-scented stage presence, and a voice that critics couldn’t stop comparing to Billie Holiday, Badu has been the gravitational center of the neo-soul movement. This guide walks through every Erykah Badu Albums in Order of release, from her 1997 debut straight through to her surprise 2026 team-up with The Alchemist.

Badu’s catalog reads like a highlight reel of the genre itself: “On & On,” “Bag Lady,” “Window Seat,” and a trophy case that includes five Grammy wins, multiple RIAA platinum plaques, and comparisons to peers like D’Angelo and Lauryn Hill, artists who helped build neo-soul alongside her. Whether you’re here to relive the Soulquarian era or catch up on her latest left-field collaboration, this is the definitive Erykah Badu Albums in Order rundown.

All Erykah Badu Albums Available on: Apple Music

 Also See: Mary J. Blige Albums in Order

How Many Albums Does Erykah Badu Have?

Erykah Badu has released six studio albums (including her 2026 collaborative record with The Alchemist), one live album, one compilation album, and one mixtape, alongside more than 30 singles. She’s also lent her voice to countless features and soundtrack cuts across a career now stretching almost 30 years.

The List of Erykah Badu Albums in Order of Release Date

Here’s the complete list of Erykah Badu albums in order of release.

1. Baduizm — February 11, 1997
2. Mama’s Gun — November 21, 2000
3. Worldwide Underground — September 16, 2003
4. New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) — February 26, 2008
5. New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh) — March 30, 2010
6. Before the World Blows (with The Alchemist) — August 28, 2026

All Erykah Badu Albums List in Order

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1. Baduizm (1997)

Tracks:

1. Rimshot (Intro)
2. On & On
3. Appletree
4. Otherside of the Game
5. Sometimes (Mix #9)
6. Next Lifetime
7. Afro (Freestyle Skit)
8. Certainly
9. 4 Leaf Clover
10. No Love
11. Drama
12. Sometimes…
13. Certainly (Flipped It)
14. Rimshot (Outro)

Recorded across New York, Philadelphia, and Dallas throughout 1996 and released by Kedar Records and Universal on February 11, 1997, Baduizm arrived as Badu’s introduction to the world and instantly reframed her as a serious artistic force.

Producers included the Roots, Bob Power, and Badu herself, giving the record a live, jazz-inflected warmth that stood apart from the era’s polished R&B. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and topped the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, eventually earning triple-platinum certification from the RIAA along with gold status in the UK and Canada. Lead single “On & On” became a signature song, hitting the top 15 of the Hot 100 and taking home the Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, while the album itself won Best R&B Album. Rolling Stone later ranked Baduizm among its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, cementing it as one of the foundational texts of neo-soul.

2. Mama’s Gun (2000)

Tracks:

1. Penitentiary Philosophy
2. Didn’t Cha Know
3. My Life
4. …& On
5. Cleva
6. Hey Sugah – Interlude
7. Booty
8. Kiss Me On My Neck
9. A.D. 2000
10. Orange Moon
11. In Love With You
12. Bag Lady
13. Time’s A Wastin’
14. Green Eyes

Three years after her debut, Badu returned with Mama’s Gun on November 21, 2000, this time recording largely at Electric Lady Studios in New York alongside the Soulquarians collective, including James Poyser and Questlove. The sound shifted toward a rawer, more live-band feel, trading some of Baduizm’s polish for grit and vulnerability.

It scored Badu’s strongest opening-week sales to that point, debuting at number 11 on the Billboard 200 and going platinum within a month of release. Lead single “Bag Lady” became her first top-ten hit on the Hot 100 and picked up two Grammy nominations, while “Didn’t Cha Know” earned a Best R&B Song nod the following year. Closing track “Green Eyes,” a nearly ten-minute meditation on heartbreak, is frequently cited by fans and critics as one of the most emotionally raw performances of her career, and the album as a whole is now regarded as a neo-soul touchstone that arguably surpasses her debut in ambition.

3. Worldwide Underground (2003)

Tracks:

1. Intro – World Keeps Turnin’
2. Bump It
3. Back In The Day (Puff)
4. I Want You
5. Woo
6. The Grind
7. Danger
8. Think Twice
9. Love Of My Life Worldwide
10. Outro – World Keeps Turnin’

Worldwide Underground, released September 16, 2003, on Motown, grew out of a stretch of writer’s block that Badu worked through on the road during her Frustrated Artist Tour. Rather than chase another Mama’s Gun, she leaned into a looser, jam-session structure built with her production unit Freakquency, made up of herself, Rashad Smith, James Poyser, and R.C. Williams, giving the record an improvisational, almost live-off-the-floor feel. Motown underpromoted the release, and it sold modestly compared to her earlier work, though it still reached gold certification. Singles “Danger” and “Back in the Day (Puff)” kept Badu on R&B radio, while “Love of My Life Worldwide,” a reworking of her Common collaboration from the Brown Sugar soundtrack, became a fan favorite. Critics were split on first listen, but the record’s loose, hip-hop-leaning energy has aged into a cult favorite within Badu’s catalog, appreciated for capturing her at her most unguarded and experimental.

4. New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) (2008)

Tracks:

1. Amerykahn Promise
2. The Healer
3. Me
4. My People
5. Soldier
6. The Cell
7. Twinkle
8. Master Teacher
9. That Hump
10. Telephone
11. Honey

After a five-year gap, Badu resurfaced on February 26, 2008, with a record built almost entirely from beats sent to her over the internet by an all-star cast of underground producers, including Madlib, 9th Wonder, Sa-Ra, Questlove, and the late J Dilla, whom “Telephone” quietly memorializes. Recorded mostly at Electric Lady Studios in New York and mixed from vocal demos Badu had cut on GarageBand, New Amerykah Part One traded the live-band warmth of her earlier work for a colder, more political, psychedelic-hip-hop palette. The album confronts systemic racism, addiction, and Black identity head-on, with “Soldier” serving as a blunt state-of-the-union on Black America. Lead single “Honey,” produced by 9th Wonder, kept things radio-friendly, but the record as a whole is remembered as one of Badu’s most sonically adventurous and politically direct statements, and it went on to earn platinum certification.

5. New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh) (2010)

Tracks:

1. 20 Feet Tall
2. Window Seat
3. Agitation
4. Turn Me Away (Get MuNNY)
5. Gone Baby, Don’t Be Long
6. Umm Hmm
7. Love
8. You Loving Me (Session)
9. Fall in Love (Your Funeral)
10. Incense
11. Out My Mind, Just in Time

Where Part One turned outward toward politics, New Amerykah Part Two, released March 30, 2010, on Universal Motown, turned inward toward romance, vulnerability, and self-examination. Badu swapped the digital textures of its predecessor for lush live instrumentation, pulling in contributions from 9th Wonder, James Poyser, Bilal, and additional unreleased J Dilla material. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 with 110,000 first-week copies sold and went on to move roughly 300,000 units in the US. Lead single “Window Seat” became one of the most talked-about releases of Badu’s career thanks to its provocative, self-directed music video, which sees her disrobing in downtown Dallas near the site of the JFK assassination. Several outlets, including Rolling Stone, later named it one of the best albums of its decade, and it remains, as of this writing, the closer of Badu’s solo studio-album run before her 2026 collaborative return.

6. Before the World Blows (with the Alchemist) (2026)

Tracks:

1. Echos
2. I Just Play a Part
3. Crossfade
4. Witch Doctor
5. Valentine
6. Next 2 U
7. Love Me Not
8. Breezy
9. Abracadabra
10. To the Moon (Plan C)
11. They Ain’t You
12. What the People Say (Apostle 1)
13. Hot BiBi (Apostle 2)
14. No I.D.
15. I Know That Man
16. Black Box

Sixteen years after New Amerykah Part Two, Badu made her long-awaited return to a full-length studio project, this time as a genuine creative partnership rather than a solo outing. Before the World Blows: The Abi and Alan Experiment, released digitally on August 28, 2026, through Control FREAQ Records and Young Recordings, was built entirely alongside producer The Alchemist, with Badu serving as executive producer and the two sharing production duties throughout. The pair recorded over roughly 18 months between Dallas and Los Angeles, road-testing material live with Badu’s band the Cannabinoids and The Alchemist on the MPC before the record was finished.

The title nods to Badu’s middle name, Abi, and The Alchemist’s given name, Alan, and the guest list underscores how far-reaching the project is, pulling in Westside Gunn, DRAM, Steve Lacy, and Thundercat, among others. Singles “Next to You” and “Witch Doctor,” the latter accompanied by a Badu-directed video, previewed a sound the duo describe as moving fluidly between soul, blues, funk, rock, jazz, and underground hip-hop without settling into any single one of them, arriving after a rollout that included a scrapped 2025 release date and a run of surprise live performances under the banner of their Abi and Alan tour.

All Erykah Badu Tours in Order by Year

Badu’s live shows are as central to her legend as her records, built on extended jams, unpredictable setlists, and a genuine sense of ritual rather than a fixed script. From the Baduizm World Tour that doubled as the source material for her 1997 live album, through the politically charged Vortex World Tour, to her 2025 run revisiting Mama’s Gun in full for its 25th anniversary, Badu has consistently treated touring as a place to reinterpret her catalog rather than simply replay it. Her current run with The Alchemist continues that tradition into new territory.

1. Baduizm World Tour (1997–98)
2. Mama’s Gun World Tour (2001)
3. Frustrated Artist Tour (2003)
4. Worldwide Underground Tour (2004)
5. Sugar Water Festival (2005)
6. Summer Tour (2006)
7. Dave Chappelle/Badu tour (2007)
8. The Vortex World Tour (2008)
9. Jam Tour (2009)
10. Out My Mind, Just in Time World Tour (2010)
11. Live from Badubotron Tour (2021–22)
12. Unfollow Me Tour (2023)
13. Abi & Alan Tour with The Alchemist (August 2025)
14. Mama’s Gun ’25: The Return of Automatic Slim Tour (2025)
15. Live Tour with The Alchemist, De La Soul & Smino (2026)

Conclusion

From the incense-and-headwrap mysticism of Baduizm to the politically charged production experiments of the New Amerykah era and now a genre-blurring team-up with The Alchemist, tracing Erykah Badu Albums in Order is really tracing the evolution of Black American music over three decades. Few artists have managed to stay this unpredictable while remaining this influential, and even now, five Grammys and a legion of Soulquarian-era classics deep, Badu shows no sign of settling into a formula. With Before the World Blows out in the world and a North American tour rolling through the fall, this restless discography is still very much being written.

Erykah Badu FAQs

Is Before the World Blows a solo Erykah Badu album? No — it’s a full collaborative project with producer The Alchemist, released under the banner “The Abi and Alan Experiment,” though Badu serves as executive producer.

What is considered Erykah Badu’s best album? Opinions vary, but Baduizm and Mama’s Gun are most frequently cited by critics as her defining works, with New Amerykah Part One earning similar praise for its ambition.

Did Erykah Badu ever release a mixtape? Yes. She released the free mixtape But You Caint Use My Phone in 2015, built around the “phone call” concept and featuring a reworking of Drake’s “Hotline Bling.”

How many Grammy Awards has Erykah Badu won? Five, as of 2025. Her wins include Best R&B Album and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for Baduizm (1998), Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group with the Roots for “You Got Me” (2000), Best R&B Song for “Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)” with Common (2003), and Best Melodic Rap Performance for her feature on Rapsody’s “3:AM” (2025).

Is Erykah Badu still touring in 2026? Yes. She and The Alchemist are touring North America, the UK, and Europe through the fall of 2026 in support of Before the World Blows.