Photo: Wikicommons
Hunky Dory, 1971
Bowie's fourth studio album was his first masterpiece. Littered with classics, Hunky Dory included Changes, Oh You Pretty Things and Life on Mars. It was also the album in which Bowie first teamed up with Mick Ronson and Trevor Boulder - the Spiders from Mars band.
Bowie in the early 1970s. Photo: AFP/FILE
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 1972
The album that made Bowie a star and introduced Ziggy, his most famous alter ego. Tracks included Five Years, Moonage Daydream, Starman, Ziggy Start Dust and Suffragette City. And the glam rock years began.
Aladdin Sane, 1973
The album's title was a pun on "a lad insane" and had a harder rock sound than Ziggy. It was a huge commercial success and Bowie's first album to chart high in the US. Stand out tracks were Panic in Detroit, Cracked Actor and The Jean Genie.
Diamond Dogs, 1974
The last release recorded with the Spiders from Mars, Bowie's eighth studio album was the last of his glam rock period and included some of his best-known songs: Diamond Dogs, Rebel Rebel and Rock and Roll with Me.
Bowie in his mid-'70s pomp. Photo: Wikicommons
Young Americans, 1975
Bowie's blue-eyed soul classic showed his love of black American music cultivated as a mod in the 1960s. Bowie brought in musicians from America's soul/funk scene for this album and it was his first project with long-time collaborator Carlos Alomar. Stand out tracks were Young Americans and Fame.
The Thin White Duke Photo: AFP
Station to Station, 1976
This album introduced the Thin White Duke character and saw Bowie's fame reach its height as he melded soul and German electronica. His songwriting chops remained in fine form with Station to Station, Golden Years and TVC 15.
Bowie during the Berlin years. Photo: Wikicommons
Low, 1977
The first album of Bowie's Berlin trilogy and his first Brian Eno collaboration. Stand out tracks included Sound and Vision, Breaking Glass and Warszawa.
Heroes, 1977
Recorded entirely in Berlin the eponymous title track is among Bowie's best known and the album remains one his most influential.
Lodger, 1979
Not a great commercial or critical success at the time, this release was the last of his Berlin albums and is now considered among his best work. The Stand out track was Boys Keep Swinging.
Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), 1980
Bowie ushered in the 1980s with perhaps his last great album. A commercial and critical success - it reached the top of the UK charts and charted high in the US -
it featured Bowie masterpieces Up the Hill Backwards, Ashes to Ashes, and Fashion.
Over the next decade Bowie emerged as a global superstar with wealth and fame, following his 1983 release of Let's Dance and subsequent world tours, that dwarfed his 1970s earnings.
But these ten albums, released over an astonishingly productive nine-year period, represented his golden years.
Bowie in 1983 Photo: AFP