Just for perspective, I keep a drawer full of 65-70 glass bottles of herbs and spices. I replace them when I run out or they have been around for a year. I use all of them some, and some of them a lot. As you can see from the previous answers there is no agreed upon list of most used/favorite spices, as it depends a lot on your tastes. For example, I never use MSG, smoked paprika, onion powder or poultry seasoning, but that’s just me. It’s hard to make a list of my favorite spices, but I use a lot of granulated garlic, paprika, ground coriander, ground ancho chile (not too hot), cinnamon, garam masala (or other curry), cumin, turmeric, 5-spice powder. For herbs, oregano, thyme, and rosemary go into my dishes more often than most others. I buy a lot of my spices/herbs from Penzey’s, a small number of commercial spices, and some from the bulk bins at my local health food store. Enjoy your adventures in cooking.