The 20 Best Mac Miller Projects, Ranked

Label: Self-released

Producers: N/A

Features: Beedie, Liquid Luke, J. Herd, D-Wreck

Mac Miller was always self-deprecating when it came to his first rap name, Easy Mac. He joked about how there was another MC in Canada named Easy Mac, who came at him letting him know he was the real Easy Mac. Though he wasn’t fond of the name and the record isn’t available on DSPs, But My Mackin Ain't Easy serves as an introduction to the playful style Mac would bring to the rest of his discography.

It also served as a pretty good indicator of his talent as a producer and a devoted fan of rap. There are nods to Nas, Buc Fifty, The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, and more. From the onset, it was clear that Mac Miller—sorry, Easy Mac—was obsessed with rap music. —Will Schube

Label: Self-released

Producers: Mac Miller, Soul Theory, Johnny Juliano, J Boss, DJ Nice, Buscrates, Roscoe Wiki

Features: John Record, Max B

Though Class Clown was eventually scrapped, this early relic from Mac's first year as Mac Miller (see ya later, Easy Mac!) is a fun revisit, especially as a capsule of a very specific corner of the mixtape era. Some of the songs on The Jukebox were featured on Mackin Ain't Easy, and here he continues his style as a one-liner obsessed joker, a label that would be unfairly assigned to him even as he evolved his sound in new directions. —Will Schube

Label: Self-released

Producers: Man Mantis, Ben Bradley, DJ Osk, J. Glaze, Anwar, Buscrates, OJ Loopz, Upstate Boi, Soul Theory

Features: Bill Waves, John Record, Plain English, Vinny Radio, Franchise, Ghosty, Lip The Kid, Will Kalson

Damn, remember the Ill Spoken? For young rap fans into underground mixtape culture, this link up between Mac Miller and Beedie was a moment.

The cover art features the two staring directly at the camera, clearly trying their hardest to answer the question posed by the project title. It's a hit or miss collection of cuts, but the tape does feature a genuinely earnest dedication to the late J Dilla, who had died two years prior. Mac (still Easy Mac at the time!) raps: "So rest in peace to the beast on the beat, J Dilla/ For you, we raise a Miller, hip-hop still feel ya." —Will Schube

Label: Self-released

Producers: Mac Miller, CLG, Big Jerm, J Fish, S-Class, Josh Everette, E. Dan, No Sleep, Milly Beatz

Features: Boaz, Uncle Ruck, DTSpacely, Josh Everette, Wiz Khalifa, Skyzoo

Cheap beer and good weed, what else ya need? That's essentially the conceit of Mac's 2009 mixtape entitled The High Life, which makes serious use of the fact that the MC's last name was also the name of a rather larger beer corporation. It's at this point that Mac was somewhat unfairly (though somewhat fairly!) lumped into the frat rap hierarchy, though it's easy to hear his gift for rapping and song construction on some of the project's stronger cuts, like "Musical Chairs," the Wiz Khalifa-assisted "Cruise Control," and the penultimate "check out what I can do" cut, "Thanks For Coming Out." —Will Schube

Label: Self-released

Producers: N/A

Features: Future, Syd, Thundercat

Live From Space may not be a traditional Mac Miller project in the sense of this ranking, but it absolutely deserves its flowers. Recorded alongside The Internet, Mac's lone live album feels like a break in the action—a sonic mirage and a snapshot of life on the road.

The Internet breathes new life into Watching Movies With the Sound Off cuts like "The Star Room" and "Objects in the Mirror," while Mac's guitar solo on "The Question" remains a highlight. Then there's "Earth," where Mac and Future float over twitchy piano keys and angelic ad-libs. This is a special, one-of-one entry in Mac's catalog. —Jon Barlas

Label: Self-released

Producers: Larry Fisherman, randomblackdude

Features: Mac Miller, Earl Sweatshirt, Bill Waves, Da$H

Arguably Mac's most aggressive transformation, he suppressed his natural charisma and pitched up his voice for the Delusional Thomas mixtape, a hallucinogenic horrorcore odyssey. But its surface strangeness shouldn't overshadow the clever multi-syllabic rhyming of "Larry" and "Melvin," the absurd imagery of "Halo," or Mac's eerie, John Carpenter-ian beats on "Vertigo" and "Dr. Thomas." Anyone who enjoys the unnerving musical stylings of early Odd Future will love Delusional Thomas, a gleefully strange, cartoonishly violent B-movie of a rap mixtape. —Grant Rindner

Label: Self-released

Producers: Kalvin & HOBBS, Jay Fish, I.D. Labs, Andrew Dawson, Ritz Reynolds, Matt Grover

Features: N/A

On and On and Beyond came during a fascinating pivot point in Mac Miller's career. Armed with a Rostrum Records label contract and a ton of momentum, On and On arrived just weeks after Best Day Ever and preceded Mac's studio debut, Blue Slide Park. That album, if you'll recall, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. So while On and On and Beyond was released as a teaser—a bridge between his mixtape era and new position as the new face of independent rap—it contains some celebrated songs in Mac's discography, specifically the closer "Another Night." —Will Schube

Label: REMember Music.

Producers: Mac Miller

Features: N/A

There would be no Divine Feminine without You, a funky little EP Mac dropped as Larry Lovestein & The Velvet Revival during his alter ego period. It's rough around the edges, but shows Mac's natural gift for crafting a sonic atmosphere: the whole thing feels like a bootleg recording from some long-shuttered jazz club. The project also features some of the strongest singing of Mac's early career, particularly on the percussive "Suspicions" and the tender "Love Affair." —Grant Rindner

Label: REMember Music.

Producers: Mac Miller, brandUn DeShay, Thes One, Big Jerm, 9th Wonder, Black Diamond, Cardo Got Wings, Clams Casino, Like, E. Dan

Features: Sir Michael Rocks, Talib Kweli, The Come Up, Bun B

Mac was pretty good at this promotional thing.

Back when Twitter was king, Mac told his fans that he'd release a new song for each 100k followers he accrued, culminating in I Love Life, Thank You when he reached a million. The journey began on April 17, 2011, when he hit 300,000 followers and shared a cut called "People Under the Stairs." By October, he hit his goal, and fans were thanked with a project. It's not a throwaway, either, with producers like 9th Wonder, Cardo, and Clams Casino joining in on the fun. —Will Schube

Label: Rostrum

Producers: Mac Miller, Ritz Reynolds, ID Labs, Mansions on the Moon, Clams Casino, Young L

Features: N/A

A ton of Mac Miller's love and adoration came after his death, so It's easy to forget that he was one of the most popular rappers on the planet while he was alive. 

His first LP debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, making it the first independent LP to achieve the feat since the Dogg Pound did it in 1995. The album took a lot of heat critically but it holds up well. ID Labs handled most of the production and the project featured zero features, with Mac presenting the project as a mission statement, blending the soulful songwriting of later releases with the heady rap skills he honed as a mixtape star. —Will Schube

Label: Warner

Producers: Larry Fisherman, Taylor Graves, Thundercat, Ronald Bruner Jr., Kintaro, Dylan Reynolds

Features: SZA, Delusional Thomas

Much like how Swimming and Circles act as companion pieces to one another, Balloonerism—the "long-lost" 2014 mixtape that would finally be released as an album in 2025—is a meditative prequel to Faces. While Mac claimed he was "nowhere close" to Earth when he made the latter, this feeling is just as evident on Balloonerism. "Stoned," "Funny Papers," and especially the otherworldly and existential "Tomorrow Will Never Know" share its psychedelic instrumentation and off-the-wall nature. There's even a neat throughline between the two: on "Grand Finale," Mac raps about Rick Rubin introducing him to transcendental meditation, and "Rick's Piano" pulls that thread further into the meditative headspace. —Jon Barlas

Label: Rostrum

Producers: ID Labs, Teddy Roxpin, Sap, Beans N Kornbread, Chuck Inglish, Just Blaze, Black Diamond, Blue (of The Sore Losers), Ritz Reynolds, Khrysis

Features: Phonte, Wiz Khalifa

Just before the arrival of Blue Slide Park, Mac shared Best Day Ever, which is very much a product of its time. Case in point? "Donald Trump," which features a Sufjan Stevens sample and lyrics like: "Take over the world when I'm on my Donald Trump shit." It hasn't aged particularly well, but the project remains a document of Mac's transformation from funny white kid with kinda hard bars to one of rap's most respected stylists. —Will Schube

Label: Rostrum

Producers: Ritz Reynolds, ID Labs, Sap, Brandun DeShay, Iman Omari, Lex Luger, Two Fresh, Black Diamond, Cardo, Wally West, Clams Casino, Teddy Roxpin, ​​Hannibal King

Features: Sir Michael Rocks, Kendrick Lamar, Iman Omari, Juicy J, Cam’ron, Lil Wayne, Casey Veggies, Joey Badass

After the critical rejection of Blue Slide Park, Mac went back to his roots: rapping really well. Macadelic is chock full of party anthems like "Loud," introspective cuts like "Thoughts from a Balcony," and superstar collaborations that proved he could hold his own with MCs like Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, and Cam'ron. The trap-heavy production seemed to supercharge the 20-year-old, as he tackled booming beats by Cardo, Lex Luger, and his longtime collaborators ID Labs with nimbleness, wit, and humor. —Grant Rindner

Label: Warner

Producers: Mac Miller, Jon Brion, ​​Guy Lawrence, Shea Taylor, E. Dan, DAVID x ELI 

Features: Baro Sura

Mac's first posthumous release, Circles expanded on the musical ideas he had developed on Swimming and further highlighted the synergy he found with composer Jon Brion. The elegant, understated instrumentals they crafted, including the quietly chugging "Good News" and the warm electric piano-powered "Once a Day," brought out the best in Mac's songwriting. He wrestled with complex feelings like the weight of constant apologies and the exhaustion of repetitive thoughts, swapping his gift for bold wordplay with eloquent candor. Miller spent his whole career developing his singing voice, and uses it to deeply moving effect on Circles tracks like "Hand Me Downs" and "Surf." While we've gotten to hear several unreleased tracks and a second posthumous record in Balloonerism, Circles still feels like the definitive epilogue on Mac Miller's musical career. —Grant Rindner

Label: Warner Bros.

Producers: Tyler, The Creator, Big Jerm, E. Dan, ID Labs, Sayez, Sounwave, Ricci Riera, Axl Folie, Josh Berg, Sha Money XL, Christian Rich, FKi 1st, Digi, Charlie Handsome, Rex Kudo, Frank Dukes, Sevn Thomas, Drew Byrd, Sledgren, Dahi, Vinylz, Jahaan Sweet, Badboxes, Sap

Features: Ab-Soul, Lil B, Miguel, Little Dragon, Chief Keef

"Wondering how I got this high, fell asleep and forgot to die." Few lines capture GO:OD AM better. Mac Miller's third studio album feels like waking up after the longest night of your life—maybe still a little disoriented, but grateful you made it to the morning. After addiction clouded much of his music prior to its release, Mac sounds re-energized on GO:OD AM. Not healed, nor suddenly free of the temptation that surrounds him, but sharper and newly aware of the life he's living.

There's no denying Mac raps his ass off. "Break the Law" and "Rush Hour" are pure flex anthems while "When In Rome," "Brand Name" and "100 Grandkids" find Mac taking inventory of everything his success has given him—and ultimately, what it's cost. Even with support from Ab-Soul, Miguel, Chief Keef, Lil B and Little Dragon, Mac remains firmly at center stage—microphone in hand as he croons behind the twinkling, Sinatra-esque keys of "ROS."

This is what makes GO:OD AM feel less like a victory lap and more like a reawakening. Mac isn't preaching from the other side of his struggles; he's working through them in real time, cracking jokes, telling war stories and trying to make sense of it all the morning after. —Jon Barlas

Label: Warner Bros.

Producers: Aja Grant, Pomo, ID Labs, JMSN, Dahi, Vinylz, Frank Dukes, Mister Neek, DāM FunK, Musicman Ty, TaeBeast 

Features: Kendrick Lamar, Bilal, Anderson .Paak, Ty Dolla $ign, NJOMZA, CeeLo Green, Ariana Grande

Divine Feminine is Mac's strongest concept album, an ode to the fairer sex both sprawling in its scope and tight in its execution.

The album is filled with gorgeous production, from the piano work of Aja Grant on "Congratulations" to the searing trumpet part on "Stay," and Miller shows his growing talents as not just an artist but an orchestrator on the album.

He made plenty of love songs before Divine Feminine, but never got to dive into romance and heartbreak in such detail, capturing his own experiences through lyricism that mixed intimate details with cosmic philosophy. Tracks like "Cinderella" and "Dang!" have been some of the most enduring after Mac's death, proving that Divine Feminine holds a singular place in his discography. —Grant Rindner

Label: Rostrum

Producers: 93' P, Andrew Lloyd, B [dot], Jay Black Diamond, DJ DMD, DT, Spacely, ID Labs, Lord Finesse, Sayez, Scolla, Tecknowledgy, The Watcherz, Wally West, Willis Beats

Features: Empire of the Sun, Chevy Woods, DJ Bonics

K.I.D.S. captures Malcolm at his purest: young, wild and free (shout out fellow Pittsburgh native Wiz Khalifa).

Inspired by Larry Clark's film of the same name, Mac flipped the film's darker themes of adolescence into something more positive and carefree—capturing the freedom and naive optimism of being, well, a kid. While his music was often written off as "frat rap" at this point of his career, the young 18-year-old Miller found a cult online following brought songs like "Senior Skip Day," "Nikes on My Feet," "The Spins" and "Kool Aid & Frozen Pizza"—all which stand as catalog classics (oh, and don't forget the iconic Owl City "Fireflies" flip on "Don't Mind If I Do").

K.I.D.S. also yielded Mac's first-ever Hot 100 hit in "Knock Knock," which peaked at No. 88 on the chart in 2012. Between its upbeat production and Mac's off-the-cuff yet precise blog-era raps, K.I.D.S. beckons nostalgia and simpler times—skipping class, smoking weed and not giving a fuck about the repercussions. —Jon Barlas

Label: REMember/Warner

Producers: Larry Fisherman, 9th Wonder, Axel Folie, Big Jerm, DJ Dahi, DrewByrd, Frank Dukes, ID Labs, JoeeBilli, Josh Berg, Rahki, Earl Sweatshirt, Ritz Reynolds, ShodBeats, Thundercat

Features: Schoolboy Q, Sir Michael Rocks, Earl Sweatshirt, Rick Ross, Mike Jones, Vince Staples, Dash

The purest encapsulation of Mac's feverish recording style in the mid-2010s, Faces became an instant fan favorite for its eclecticism. This is a mixtape where sardonic jazz rap ("Angel Dust") exists on the same plane as Rick Ross-aided excess anthems ("Insomniak") and Beastie Boys-sampling middle fingers to stuffy neighbors. Faces sees Mac marrying his love for old-school emceeing with his newfound alter egos like the unnerving Delusional Thomas and the crooning Larry Lovestein, not to mention some excellent production from Miller as Larry Fisherman. While Watching Movies began Mac's second act, Faces stands as the emblem of his voracious creativity. —Grant Rindner

Label: Rostrum

Producers: Mac Miller, AdoTheGod, The Alchemist, Chuck Inglish, Clams Casino, Diplo, Earl Sweatshirt, Flying Lotus, ID Labs, J. Hill, Pharrell Williams, SapTyler, the Creator

Features: Schoolboy Q, Sir Michael Rocks, Earl Sweatshirt, Rick Ross, Mike Jones, Vince Staples, Dash

The album that changed the narrative for Mac, Watching Movies with the Sound Off made fans who wrote him off as a frat rap flash in the pan reconsider. Having relocated to LA, Miller built a musical community featuring artists from Tyler, the Creator to Schoolboy Q to Flying Lotus, and worked with them to craft a strange, vulnerable, and often beautiful record all his own. Songs like the title track and "Bird Call" feature some of his crispest rapping, while "Objects in the Mirror" and "REMember" highlight a nascent gift for melody that would really come through on Divine Feminine and Swimming. —Grant Rindner

Label: REMember/Warner

Producers: Mac Miller, Alexander Spit, Cardo, DJ Dahi, Eric G, ID Labs, J. Cole, Jon Brion, Nostxlgic, Parson Brown, Pomo, Steve Lacy, Tae Beast, Tee-WaTT, Yung Exclusive

Features: Dâm-Funk, Dev Hynes, Snoop Dogg, Syd, Thundercat, JID

Every Mac Miller album is defined by a handful of moments. And Swimming has waves of them.

For one, it’s unquestionably his most mature record, as the then 26-year-old Miller became comfortable with the fact that life wasn’t meant to be figured out all at once. There’s beauty in this uncertainty, and over the course of Swimming, Mac balances distinct vulnerability with a philosophical sense of direction; he’s weary without sounding defeated, reflective without being too scornful. And he shrugs it all off, focused on moving forward.

Sonically, Mac sounds liberated. He leans into the bluesy, imperfect croon he sharpened on The Divine Feminine, surrounding it with jazzy undertones and warm basslines that seem to drift weightlessly beneath him.

Swimming offers a glimpse at an artist whose sound was becoming increasingly difficult to box in. And somehow, this was only supposed to be half the picture. Mac envisioned Swimming as one part of Swimming in Circles, a two-album set which was later completed with 2020’s Circles by Brion and Mac’s estate. What became Mac Miller’s final album during his lifetime wasn’t conceived as an ending at all. It was only just beginning. “It goes on and on,” he concludes on the album’s outro “So It Goes. “Just like a circle, I go back to where I’m from.”

“What’s the Use?” finds him dancing with his vices over one of the funkiest basslines of his career. “Small Worlds” shrinks life’s enormity down to reality. “2009” may be one Mac’s most beautiful songs… ever. “Self Care” pulls from the buried-alive scene in Kill Bill, as Mac searches for a way back to the surface. All this to say, that even at its darkest, the album itself is about staying afloat, any way you can. —Jon Barlas