The rise of digital music threatens one of the greatest canvasses of art seen in the 20th Century - the record sleeve. Originally just a protective cover for the fragile crackly goods beneath, it soon evolved into a space for artistic expression in its own right, very often becoming as important as the music itself.

Sometimes, even more so: legend has it that the cover of New Order's Blue Monday was so expensive to make that their label lost money on every copy sold.

We've picked 50 of the coolest album designs ever created. Get these up on your wall as well as on your turntable. We want to know which you think is the ultimate album cover, so upvote your favourite designs.

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50. Draft 7.30

Artist: Autechre | Album: Draft 7.30 | Designer: Alex Rutterford

Matching the music of the famously obtuse and forward-thinking electronic band, Rutterford created this piece, entitled "Theme of Sudden Roundabout''. This is suitably abstract and unpredictable, yet compelling and beautiful; a cool, modern classic.

49. The Information

Artist: Beck | Album:The Information | Designer: Various/The Listener

How cool is this album sleeve? Well, it's as cool as you want it to be. Beck created a stir in 2006 when his album The Information was released with a cover consisting of a simple sheet of graph paper, and a set of stickers that the listener could arrange as they wished. It was declared to be 'anti-packaging' but paradoxically resulted in an infinite amount of different designs being available. Seriously cool.

48. Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space

Artist: Spiritualized | Album: Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space | Designer: Mark Farrow

Pet Shop Boys' collaborator Mark Farrow once again produced the goods on this uber-cool cover for Spiritualized's opus, designed to look like prescription medication. It had a recommended dosage = "one tablet, 70 minutes" - and was thoroughly appropriate given the epic, transcendental music contained within. Box set editions of the record took the concept further, with each track on its own three-inch CD inside a foil blister pack. Special instructions for use were included, with the question "What is Spiritualized used for?" being answered: "Spiritualized is used to treat the heart and soul.". So, so cool.

47. The Score

Artist: The Fugees | Album: The Score | Designer: Brain/Richard O. White/Marc Baptiste

One of the coolest hip-hop collectives of all time, at the peak of their powers, this seminal record also boasted an effortlessly cool cover, all three contributing members - Wyclef Jean, Pras Michel and Lauryn Hill - pictured individually, but together, for a sleeve with a cinematic feel; appropriate for an album that Hill described as 'an audio film'.

46. Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake

Artist: The Small Faces | Album: Ogden's Nut Gone Flake | Designer: Mick Swan

One of the very first album covers to think outside the box - literally - this record was originally released on vinyl in a giant tobacco tin, modelled on the Victorian-style containers such as Ogdens' Nut-Brown Flake, a brand of tobacco that had been produced in Liverpool since 1899. The tin opened to reveal the record along with a poster consisting of five interconnected paper circles, each one bearing the image of a band member. One Direction eat your heart out

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