Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	97/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Blender
Entertainment Weekly	A–
Oz	(favourable)
Pitchfork Media	9.2/10
Q
Rolling Stone (1969)	(unfavourable)
Rolling Stone (2001)
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Sputnikmusic	3/5

Led Zeppelin is the debut studio album by English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 12 January 1969 in the United States and on 31 March 1969 in the United Kingdom by Atlantic Records. Featuring integral contributions from each of the group's four members, the album was recorded in October 1968 at Olympic Studios in London and established their fusion style of both blues and rock music. It also attracted a large and devoted following to the band; Zeppelin's take on the emerging hard rock sound endeared them to parts of the counterculture on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Although the album was not critically well-received when first released, it was commercially successful, and critics have since come to view it in a more favourable light. In 2003, Led Zeppelin was ranked at #29 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and keeping that position after the list was updated in 2012. In 2004, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

In August 1968, the English rock band The Yardbirds completely disbanded. Guitarist Jimmy Page, The Yardbirds' sole remaining member, was left with rights to the group's name and contractual obligations for a series of concerts in Scandinavia. Page recruited bassist John Paul Jones, vocalist Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham. During September 1968, the group toured Scandinavia as "The New Yardbirds", performing some old Yardbirds material as well as new songs such as "Communication Breakdown", "I Can't Quit You Baby", "You Shook Me", "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" and "How Many More Times". The month after they returned to England, October 1968, Page changed the band's name to Led Zeppelin, and the group entered Olympic Studios in London to record their debut album.

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Wikipedia