The influential U.K. rock magazine "Mojo" had several rock acts make its list of the top albums of 1998. It included records by Beck, Bob Dylan, Nick Lowe, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, R.E.M., Garbage, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Sheryl Crow, Pulp, Smashing Pumpkins, Eels, Sparklehorse, Manic Street Preachers and Grant Lee Buffalo.
"Spin" magazine's end-of-year lists for 1998 covered the 20 best albums for all genres. The rock albums were by Marilyn Manson ("Mechanical Animals"), Billy Bragg and Wilco ("Mermaid Avenue"), Hole ("Celebrity Skin") and R.E.M. ("Up"). "Spin" also listed the top 40 singles of the year. Rock was represented by Marilyn Manson's "The Dope Show," The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony," Deftones' "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)," Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)," Pulp's "Help the Aged," and Korn's "Got the Life."
The "Rolling Stone" critics' poll for 1998 listed the top five albums of the year as "The Miseducation of Lauren Hill" by Lauren Hill, "Hello Nasty" by the Beastie Boys, "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" by Lucinda Williams, "Mutations" by Beck and "Hard Knock Life (Vol. 2)" by Jay-Z.
Aerosmith won the Grammy for rock duo or group performance with vocals for "Pink." Lenny Kravitz won in the male rock vocal category for "Fly Away," while Alanis Morissette won the best female rock vocal and best rock song Grammys for "Uninvited." Jimmy Page and Robert Plant won best hard rock performance for "Most High." Metallica won the best metal performance award for "Better Than You," and Sheryl Crow's "The Globe Sessions" took the award for best rock album.
"Billboard," the trade magazine for the music industry, listed 1998's top hot mainstream rock artists as Creed, Days of the New, Metallica, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Aerosmith. The top modern rock artists were Everclear, Marcy Playground, Pearl Jam, Green Day and Third Eye Blind.