The 10 Best Nike Air Max Sneakers of All Time, Ranked (2024)

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.

Sneakerheads rejoice: Air Max Day 2024 has arrived. As always, this year’s Air Max Day is delivering some great new releases — and reminding us how much we love the 37-year-old sneaker franchise. To celebrate, we’ve put together some key information on how to cop this year’s releases and rounded up our ten favorite Air Max sneakers of all time.

What Is Air Max Day?

Air Max Day — held annually on March 26 — celebrates one of Nike’s oldest and most-loved lines with Air Max drops, events, and special content. It’s also a time to recognize the legendary designers who helped create and continue the Air Max line, including key players from Tinker Hatfield, who created the first Air Max shoe in 1987, to Christian Tresser, who designed the Air Max 97.

Past Air Max Days have seen the release of now-iconic variants like the Nike Air Max 90 ‘Bacon’ reissue and the Sean Wotherspoon Air Max 1/97.

Air Max Day 2024 Releases

As always, Nike is dropping some very special new shoes for Air Max Day this year. Perhaps the most notable release of the day is a brand new Air Max silhouette in celebration of the Air Max Day’s tenth anniversary. Dubbed the Air Max Dn, the brand-new sneaker is coming in a few colorways and promises to be “the future of Air technology,” per Nike.

Several Air Max Dn colorways will be released on the special day. Plus, you can expect other worthwhile releases, including new colorways of classic silhouettes. Head to Nike.com to check out everything releasing today.

The 10 Best Nike Air Max Sneakers, Ranked

As you’d expect from a sneaker line with so much history, there are plenty of Air Maxes to choose from besides the latest releases. Below, we’ve rounded up and ranked our ten favorite Air Max sneakers of all time, in honor of the shoe line’s big day.

1. Air Max 1 Anniversary Red

Call us nostalgic: The Air Max 1 — specifically in its classic red colorway — is still the greatest Air Max of all time. They look even better today than they did back in 1987, providing some pop without being overly loud or showy. We’re especially fond of the 2017 anniversary re-release, which can be had for a relatively reasonable price on resale sites like Farfetch and StockX.

2. Sean Wotherspoon Air Max 1/97

Liberal use of bright colors has become a staple of the Air Max line since the start, and no one did it better than Sean Wotherspoon. The artist’s 2017 release, the Air Max 1/97, features the upper of an Air Max 97 in multi-colored corduroy, and the sole of an Air Max 1. The shoes quickly became a grail in the sneaker community upon release, and we think they’re just as stylish and wearable today.

3. Air Max 90 Bacon

Just like its namesake breakfast food, it’s hard not to love the Air Max 90 Bacons. First released in 2004 in collaboration with artists and “Dave’s Quality Meat” owners Dave Ortiz and Chris Keefe, the shows got a re-release for Air Max Day 2021. Both releases are high in style (and cholesterol).

4. Air Max 90 (White)

There are plenty of amazing Air Max grails out there, but these classic white 90s are hard to top. They were the predecessors to the white Air Force 1s, and still make a great choice for working some Nineties style into your wardrobe. Plus, unlike most other Air Maxes on this list, you can pick them up brand-new on Nike.com for retail.

5. Air Max 97 OG QS “Silver Bullet”

Inspired by Japan’s bullet trains, the Air Max 97 OG “Metallic Silver” or “Silver Bullet” is another one of the 97s most enduringly stylish colorways. They’ve been re-released not once but twice since their initial drop in 1997, with a twentieth-anniversary re-release and another in 2022.

6. Off-White The 10: Air Max 97

Virgil Abloh’s collaborations with Nike under Off-White are now legendary. We think other Off-White Nikes, such as the Air Forces, have become the real icons of the collaboration, but the Air Maxes should not be forgotten. Our favorites? The Off-White Air Max 97 OG “Menta,” showcasing a futuristic wrapped upper and signature Off-White details like “Air” written on the heel.

7. Air Max 95 OG “Neon”

The green lace loops under mesh on these “Neon” Air Max 95s took inspiration from a human ribcage. The result is another great example of the wonderful kind of futurism Nike was designing in the Nineties. More than two decades later, they still look like something from the future.

8. Undefeated Air Max 97 OG

Undefeated barely altered the Air Max 97 for its collaborative sneaker, simply adding their name around the upper on red and green stripes. But the result was an instantly-recognizable classic in the Air Max 97 lineup — and, in our opinion, an underappreciated one.

9. atmos Air Max 1 “Elephant”

The Air Max 1 “Elephant” colorway, released in collaboration with Japanese brand atmos, perfectly encapsulates the year 2017. It’s a collaborative sneaker, released at the peak of both of those things, and sports an eye-catching colorway that’s sure to forever remind us of the 2015-2017 streetwear era (in a good way).

10. Air VaporMax Flyknit

One of the more recent Air Max silhouettes is the VaporMax, and we think it deserves more attention. The shoes prove that Air Max technology still deserves a place in your athletic shoes, as well as your fashion sneakers. The revised Air unit is attached directly to the upper (instead of being housed in the sole), providing the feeling of “running on air,” according to Nike. And they’re not wrong: The Air unit offers a unique soft yet springy feeling that reminds us how well Nike knows sneaker tech.