Top 50 Greatest Music Albums by ThingsOnFire

Every list is the result of subjective opinion, and yet, many lists are presented like they are objective. I tried to be objective myself, I truly did, but I simply couldn't. I decided to delete my previous chart and re-start again completely fresh as my musical tastes have changed since last time. This time I wanted to rank the albums according to how often I listened to them, how creative I felt they were, and how good I felt when I listened to them - even if I ended up not listening to a particular album that often in the end. A lot of my decisions I simply did on feeling, so a couple of odd results pop up - I've ranked some classic albums lower than many obscure ones, and I have multiples of a couple of artists. Oh well. If I were to be objective, I admit the rankings would be different, but my subjectivity felt more honest.

I really want anyone who reads this chart to not think I think the albums low on the chart are bad. Actually, I've listened to every single album on this list many times and enjoyed each thoroughly. This list only encompasses a fraction of the total number of albums I have ever listened to afterall.

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Buy album United States
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Loveless just had to be my favorite album of all time. Few albums are unique. Few albums are catchy. Loveless is both unique and very catchy. There isn't a single song on it that I dislike. Listening to it for the first time was an awakening for me. I had never heard anything that made me feel the way it made me feel. This is the first album I ever bought from a record store. I got it my first week of college, and it's basically the soundtrack to my college years. [First added to this chart: 03/04/2015]
Year of Release:
1991
Appears in:
Rank Score:
33,786
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Buy album United States
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The first time I listened to Doolittle I wasn't sure what to think of it. I listened to it just that once and I didn't try listening to it for months, but then I went back to it and I was like, "what was I thinking?" Doolittle is a highly influential album that was a necessary precursor to bands like Nirvana and Radiohead - for good reason. [First added to this chart: 03/04/2015]
Year of Release:
1989
Appears in:
Rank Score:
37,395
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Buy album United States
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The Arcade Fire have held a place in my heart for many years, they were the first band that really got me into modern indie music. I only listened to classic rock and classical music before them, but they really opened my eyes. Like how Loveless stimulated my love of shoegaze, the Arcade Fire stimulated my interest in very artsy/orchestral rock music. [First added to this chart: 03/04/2015]
Year of Release:
2004
Appears in:
Rank Score:
41,757
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Buy album United States
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One thing I dislike about folk music sometimes is that every song is a strummer, and a bit too simplistic. Pink Moon features a single acoustic guitar save for the first track, but the guitar playing is really complex. On a lot of the tracks, it sounds like two guitars are playing at the same time, but there's actually only one. Seriously, look on youtube, there's a guy who plays many of the tracks off of Pink Moon, and just one guitar is needed. O.o How the hell did Nick Drake compose this? It's astounding, and so easy on the ears. I keep on hearing Nick Drake compared to Jack Johnson, but it's really the other way around. Nick Drake died before Jack Johnson was even born. [First added to this chart: 03/04/2015]
Year of Release:
1972
Appears in:
Rank Score:
20,146
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Buy album United States
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Merriweather Post Pavilion is one of the most creative albums I have ever heard. The levels of detail is incredible. MPP has a lot of samples, of things I don't recognize, of chattering crowds of people.... It feels like the album is background music for a place distant and beautiful. [First added to this chart: 03/04/2015]
Year of Release:
2009
Appears in:
Rank Score:
10,890
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Buy album United States
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I first started listening to The Dark Side of the Moon around the time I started to suffer from the worst nervous breakdown in my entire life. I just laid around different public places listening to the album over and over again. I can't really listen to the album again, but it still holds a place in my heart. [First added to this chart: 03/04/2015]
Year of Release:
1973
Appears in:
Rank Score:
71,217
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Buy album United States
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The Strokes have filled a niche in rock music that, when you think about later, really should have been filled a lot sooner. Their music is very simple, often following the song structures of pop music, their guitars are undistorted, and Julian Casablancas' vocals are slightly raspy. They're garage rock, and their sound is so basic, but I can't think of a single band that sounded quite like them before they existed. [First added to this chart: 03/04/2015]
Year of Release:
2001
Appears in:
Rank Score:
33,187
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Buy album United States
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In The Aeroplane Over the Sea is an interesting combination, it has elements of folk music, grunge, and who the fuck knows. And it's all about Ann Frank. And it features seaman staining mountaintops. Yeah. It's that kind of album. There is a lot of variety in the instrumentation, and I haven't heard anything quite like it since. [First added to this chart: 03/04/2015]
Year of Release:
1998
Appears in:
Rank Score:
39,475
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Buy album United States
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I've listened to and enjoyed every single Destroyer record that Dan Bejar ever made. They're not a heavy metal band. Their sound is relaxed and folky in fact. Most people these days know about Destroyer because of the album Kaputt, which is a lot more ambient. Streethawk is from an era of Destroyer's history few people pay attention to, but it has some of their best songs: "Farrar, Strouse, and Giroux", "The Sublimation Hour", "Streethawk I" and the absolutely fantastic "The Very Modern Dance". I've heard Streethawk being compared to David Bowie's "Hunky Dory" a lot, but I really don't think they sound that similar. [First added to this chart: 03/04/2015]
Year of Release:
2001
Appears in:
Rank Score:
381
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Buy album United States
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One of my favorite folk albums, I like this album because of just how detailed it is. The orchestration is beautiful, the songs are well fleshed out and varied, and the lyrics are absolutely gorgeous. [First added to this chart: 03/04/2015]
Year of Release:
2011
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Rank Score:
9,463
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Total albums: 50. Page 1 of 5

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Top 50 Greatest Music Albums composition

Decade Albums %


1930s 0 0%
1940s 0 0%
1950s 1 2%
1960s 2 4%
1970s 3 6%
1980s 5 10%
1990s 7 14%
2000s 21 42%
2010s 11 22%
2020s 0 0%
Country Albums %


United States 27 54%
United Kingdom 10 20%
Canada 5 10%
Mixed Nationality 4 8%
Czech Republic 1 2%
France 1 2%
Australia 1 2%
Show all
Soundtrack? Albums %
No 49 98%
Yes 1 2%

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Top 50 Greatest Music Albums ratings

Average Rating: 
87/100 (from 7 votes)
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01/04/2017 23:17 Seab  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 2,01793/100
 
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10/03/2015 08:44 Davy  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 44887/100
  
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08/13/2015 19:58 CanadianGuy  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 2690/100
  
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08/13/2015 16:19 Granny-Smith  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 14288/100
  
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05/25/2015 05:24 AMEIER  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 7984/100

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Top 50 Greatest Music Albums comments

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From 09/27/2015 15:13
Nice to see some Folk music in there.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 08/13/2015 16:23
Interesting chart, like to see Kaputt so high in your chart. I hear it for a few month and i like it very much in some special moments but i had not listen the other albums of him and nice to see women in your chart another interesting Album. I expect a cool top 100, first you get 85 ;)
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Rating:  
80/100
From 05/25/2015 05:24
very interesting..
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Rating:  
90/100
From 05/16/2015 20:53
Even if I may not agree with your number one pick, you did a great job on this list man and I am sure that I will make some wonderful finds on it. (and who am I for judging somebody else's taste)!
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Rating:  
100/100
From 04/04/2015 09:56
One of the most wonderful charts i've come across. Thanks for posting notes, they're very interesting.
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Best Ever Albums
1. OK Computer by Radiohead
2. The Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd
3. Abbey Road by The Beatles
4. Revolver by The Beatles
5. Kid A by Radiohead
6. In Rainbows by Radiohead
7. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles
8. Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd
9. The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars by David Bowie
10. The Velvet Underground & Nico by The Velvet Underground & Nico
11. Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys
12. Untitled (Led Zeppelin IV) by Led Zeppelin
13. The Beatles (The White Album) by The Beatles
14. Nevermind by Nirvana
15. Funeral by Arcade Fire
16. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel
17. The Queen Is Dead by The Smiths
18. Doolittle by Pixies
19. To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar
20. London Calling by The Clash
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