Everybody's giving such great answers :') MCR's "The End" seems to be the front-runner rn

People who listen to albums on shuffle belong in jail tbh

I like how Late Registration begins with "Wake Up, Mr. West", as Kanye's Teacher is reality checking his snoring student. And when he realizes that Ye's been asleep the whole conversation, The Teacher urges him to escape Dreamland, thus beginning the following track titled, "Heard 'Em Say".

WESLEYS THEORY

Wesleys Theory has to be the most up beat funkiest and powerful intro track in rap out there

immediately came to the comments looking for wesley’s theory

"In 2019" snapped me back the fuck to reality

I think IGOR’S THEME does a great job setting the mood the for the rest of the album. Can’t really place it anywhere else in the track list.

I think these are pretty great album openers:
Igor's theme - Tyler, the Creator
Airbag - Radiohead
Is This It - The Strokes
Wake Up Mr. West/Heard 'Em Say - Kanye

Fun fact: The XX’s Intro was originally also meant to just be a warm up for the band before their shows, so you were kinda right! :)

Dark Side of the Moon’s intro sounds like a trailer for the rest of the album, sampling little pieces from every single song on it and putting them together in what can be only described as the Twilight Zone Intro. It as the subtle ramp up to Breathe, the calm after the intro’s storm. Absolutely beautiful.

Me and Your Mama felt like the perfect song to start Awaken, My Love!  It has that slow build up you want in an intro at the start but when that shit drops, it hits hard.

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and the seamless transition into "With a Little Help From My Friends"

You can’t really beat Kanye on opening tracks for me. Dark fantasy, ultralight beam, good morning, we don’t care and literally everything else is absolutely top notch for me. Every track so perfectly introduces the theme and sound of the album

"Jesus forgive me, I am a thot" is a Dissapointing way to start an album

Travis Scott really nailed the intro to Rodeo with Pornography. T.I.'s monologue about Travis' life and a new wave in music approaching, topped off by Travis absolutely going ham on the last verse of the song. One of the best intros in modern-day hip hop for sure.

Reads title
Simple. Everything in it’s Right place.
It is the vibe. It’s the best song on the album. It enhances the other songs, most notably Kid A benefits from being right after it.

Unpopular opinion:

On sight was the perfect first track for yeezus

I really like how Plastic Beach’s “Orchestral Intro” and “Welcome to The World of the Plastic Beach” perfectly sets up what’s to come with a sound that remains unique to itself. Honestly I just love that album to bits in general.

Foreword by Tyler, Nikes by Frank, and BUSY by Saba still stand as god tier intros to me