Deep Purple Albums in Order: 24 Studio Albums, 1968 to 2026
The Deep Purple albums in order run to 24 studio records, from Shades of Deep Purple in 1968 to SPLAT! in 2026, a span of 58 years. Ian Paice is the only musician credited on all 24. On my map each album is a station and each credited musician is a line, so every arrival, departure and return reads at a glance.
The 24 Deep Purple Studio Albums in Order, 1968 to 2026
- Shades of Deep Purple (1968)
- The Book of Taliesyn (1968)
- Deep Purple (1969)
- Deep Purple in Rock (1970)
- Fireball (1971)
- Machine Head (1972)
- Who Do We Think We Are (1973)
- Burn (1974)
- Stormbringer (1974)
- Come Taste the Band (1975)
- Perfect Strangers (1984)
- The House of Blue Light (1987)
- Slaves and Masters (1990)
- The Battle Rages On... (1993)
- Purpendicular (1996)
- Abandon (1998)
- Bananas (2003)
- Rapture of the Deep (2005)
- Now What?! (2013)
- Infinite (2017)
- Whoosh! (2020)
- Turning to Crime (2021)
- =1 (2024)
- SPLAT! (2026)
Note the nine year gap between Come Taste the Band in 1975 and Perfect Strangers in 1984. That is the disbanding and the reunion, and on the print it is the widest space between any two stations. The map stops at SPLAT! in 2026, so anything released after the artwork was drawn is not on it.
A Five Piece for Thirty Years, Then the Count Starts Moving
My research sheet carries a musician count for every album, and on Deep Purple it stays flat for longer than on almost any map I have drawn. Eleven consecutive albums, from the 1968 debut to Perfect Strangers in 1984, carry exactly five credited musicians. The House of Blue Light in 1987 carries six. Then it drops back to five and stays there through Abandon in 1998.
That is sixteen albums and thirty years of a band that records as five people and nobody else. From Bananas in 2003 the shape changes: eight on Bananas, eleven on Now What?! in 2013, thirteen on Turning to Crime in 2021, nine on =1 and seven on SPLAT!. Guest cellists, horn players, backing vocalists and a Nashville scoring orchestra start appearing, and the map widens from a clean bundle of five lines into something with spurs coming off it. A list of album titles cannot show you that. A map can.
Ian Paice Reaches All 24 Stations
When I am researching a new map, the first thing I look for is the line that never breaks, because it sets the whole design. On Deep Purple that is drummer Ian Paice, credited on all 24 studio albums from 1968 to 2026, through every line-up the band has had.
The other line lengths tell the rest of it. Roger Glover reaches 18 stations, Ian Gillan 17, Jon Lord 16, Ritchie Blackmore 13, and Don Airey and Steve Morse 8 each. Thirty-eight credited musicians appear across the whole span, which is a small cast for a catalogue this long.
Ritchie Blackmore Leaves Twice and Comes Back Once
Blackmore's guitar line runs unbroken from the 1968 debut through Stormbringer in 1974, nine albums, then stops. He is not on Come Taste the Band at all.
He returns for Perfect Strangers in 1984, the album that put the Machine Head five back in a room together twelve years on, and stays for The House of Blue Light, Slaves and Masters and The Battle Rages On... After 1993 his line stops for good. Thirteen stations, in two separate runs, with a gap in the middle that you can see from across the room.
Tommy Bolin's One Album Branch Line
For Come Taste the Band in 1975 the guitar credit passes to Tommy Bolin, who is also credited with bass guitar and backing vocals on the opening track and a lead vocal on track four. It is his only studio album with the band.
On the map that draws as a short self-contained branch line: one station in, and gone. Joe Lynn Turner does the same thing on Slaves and Masters in 1990, and so do Beth Hart, Michael Bradford and Paul Buckmaster, all three of whom appear on Bananas in 2003 and nowhere else. Those single station spurs are the part of the research that takes longest and the part fans check first.
The Keyboard Handover: Jon Lord to Don Airey
Jon Lord's Hammond organ is on every album from the debut through Abandon in 1998, sixteen records, including his own string arrangements on "Anthem" from The Book of Taliesyn and "April" from the 1969 self-titled album. He leaves after Abandon and dies in 2012.
From Bananas in 2003 the keyboard line belongs to Don Airey, who has now played on eight consecutive studio albums through to SPLAT!. In 58 years the keyboard seat has changed hands exactly once, which on a band with this much turnover elsewhere is the detail most people miss.
The Deep Purple Discography, Read as Lines Rather Than Titles
Deep Purple are a band where the story is not really the albums, it is the movement of people through them. Mark I, Mark II, Mark III and on from there. Drawing this map was how I made sense of it: who came in, who left, which records they appear on, and which returns happened years later. Every line on it comes off my own spreadsheet, built from the credits album by album, and it is hand designed without AI.
What Is Not on the Map
Live albums and compilations. Deep Purple have released a great many of both, and Made in Japan is one of the best live albums ever made, but it has no station here. The map is studio records only, which is an editorial rule I apply right across the range.
"Brilliant idea"
Sizes and Print Detail
The Deep Purple discography art print is a Giclée on 230gsm premium acid-free matte fine art paper, in A2 (420 x 594mm) and A1 (594 x 841mm), with 24x18 in and 36x24 in offered for the US as separate formats rather than conversions. Unframed or ready to hang in a black wood frame, from £45.00.
With 24 albums and a line-up history this dense, A1 is the size I would point most people at, simply because the shorter lines stay legible on it.
All 24 studio albums as stations and 38 credited musicians as lines, drawn from my own research sheet. A2 and A1 plus two US inch formats, unframed or in a black wood frame.
Related Music Maps
If you follow the same run of British heavy rock, the Hawkwind albums in order post covers a band with an even larger cast moving through it, and the Kinks albums ranked post traces the same 1960s starting point with a very different line-up story. Browse the whole range in the music wall art prints collection.
Deep Purple Discography Questions
How many studio albums did Deep Purple make?
Twenty-four, from Shades of Deep Purple in 1968 to SPLAT! in 2026. All 24 are stations on my map.
Who has played on all 24 Deep Purple albums?
Drummer Ian Paice, and only Ian Paice. Every other line on the map starts, stops or hands over to somebody else at least once.
How many lead singers have Deep Purple had?
Four held the job: Rod Evans, Ian Gillan, David Coverdale and Joe Lynn Turner. Two more are credited with a lead vocal without ever being the singer, Glenn Hughes across three mid-seventies albums and Tommy Bolin on one track of Come Taste the Band.
How many musicians are on the Deep Purple map?
Thirty-eight credited musicians across the 24 studio albums, counted from my research sheet. That includes band members, session players and one-off guests, each drawn as their own line.
What is the newest Deep Purple album on the map?
SPLAT!, released in 2026, with Ian Gillan, Ian Paice, Roger Glover, Don Airey, Simon McBride and Bob Ezrin among the credits. Anything released after the artwork was drawn is not on the print.
What is not on the Deep Purple map?
Live albums and compilations, including Made in Japan, and anything released after SPLAT! in 2026. The map covers the 24 studio albums only. Track-level roles are not shown either: each line tells you which albums a musician is credited on, and only my Rolling Stones Goats Head Soup album map goes down to individual tracks.
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