Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by calsper

The difficult task of turning something as subjective as the power of music into an objective measure seems both arbitrary and heuristic if one is to avoid leaving readers with an undifferentiated overview.

In this chart I try to take into consideration certain aspects that I regard as crucial in order to rank the top 100 albums in music history, in which I believe a multifaceted approach is needed.

I rank by taking into account components of the individual album related to:
- Memories: my personal testemonies, confessions and experiences related to the music album as a listener, musician and human being
- History: the significance of music history and the vast impact and ways that single recordings have echoed throughout time as seminal artistic testamonies
- State-dependent emotion: the creative impact that I experience in listening and the emotional states that emerge during the course of the album's runtime
- Production: the soundstage, instrumentation, transparency and mastering of certain albums inducted into this chart as musical detail and presence to me is a highly enriching aspect of experiencing music.

This is a wonderful website. I am honored to be part of it and to have the privilege of being inspired by the whole-hearted music lovers in it. ..Enjoy

Best Casper

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Aja 
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You know that something's up with an album if you name your first born after it, and mine is named Aja. This is flat out the album that I'd listen to the rest of my life if I could only choose one. So groovy, so sophisticated, so well-produced, so many mind-bending musicians, so elaborate compositions - the list goes on.

My father, being a radio host for 30 years, mostly played rock and pop "On Air". But at home, Steely was among what was constantly played - to my immediate adoration. I clearly remembered listening to these guys as a young kid and an aspiring drummer and losing all sense of hope of ever being a genuine musician while doing this.

Be that as it may, Steely have long been notorious for being among if not the most perfectionist band in music history. If anyone would question that statement, take a look through the liner notes of their releases with up to 40 of the world's leading session musicians participating on single releases.

From the complex arrangement on the title track, which is hugely progressive and evolving, to the slick "Peg" that sounds like pure recorded happiness, the album is a true masterpiece in my opinion.

"Aja" was the record that brought Steely to their commercial peak with great tracks. People who might listen and grow fond of this album really should listen to the rest of their discography.

Their signature and reference production method is no exception on "Aja". it simply sounds fantastic as all their records do with the sleekest and most stellar production. Special credit to Gary Katz, the magnificent and leading producer of Steely's years from '72 to '80.
[First added to this chart: 03/25/2015]
Year of Release:
1977
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,504
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2. (=)
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Krautrock, jazz and classical music was fuzzing around in a Thomas Edward Yorke, who by 1997 had burned out from the recordings for OK Computer. This variety of genres mixed with Yorke's increasing fascination with computers and programming led to the magnificent creation of Kid A.

Being the follow-up to one of music history's unanimously most important records, what Yorke set out to do was a clear example of an artist true to his integrity, who had the courage and who was not ruined by commercial success to take the easy choice and go towards the sound of The Bends which had the blockbuster-selling guitar driven sound.

The soundscape and production of Kid A is as authentic as nothing else to me and leaves me feeling utterly exhausted and a little paranoid after a focused listen. Yorke masters the way of making instrumentation and emotional expression work together, from the scratching voices on "Everything Is In Its Right Place" to the metallic and reverberating sound of his voice on the title track which feels incredibly isolated and hollow.

A tantalising masterpiece boldly rated higher than their commercial masterpiece OK Computer because of my personal experience with this album and what I believe is the underestimation of Kid A and the revolutionising way of mixing feelings into sound - this really is, I believe, what this album exhibits better than any other in the history of music.

As The Beatles started modern rock, Radiohead ended it, showing how music's perhaps greatest and most influential artists in an almost emerging manner fulfilled the era of modern rock.
[First added to this chart: 03/25/2015]
Year of Release:
2000
Appears in:
Rank Score:
51,651
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Buy album United States
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Is this the sneakiest masterpiece in pop music? Fagen took a huge risk in clashing with the monopoly of analogue recording when he created what would become perhaps the very reference album in terms of production and execution.

Being the ever early bird to be entirely digitally recorded, "The Nightfly" channels the courage, the wit and ever-determined will to produce this stellar pop record.

With a legendary personnel including Abraham Laboriel Sr., Larry Carlton, Marcus Miller, Greg Phillinganes and legendary Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro, this record is ruthless in its precision and effortless execution.

The lyrical themes are sophisticated and autobiographical, drawn from Fagen's fantasies from his time in the late 50's when fantasizing about his future days, as described in the booklet of the LP.

The liner notes of the record denotes 31 session musicians included in the album, a typical example of Fagen's extreme perfectionist approach to the recording process - this tendency didn't just end with Steely Dan's Gaucho in '80 but continued into his debut solo album that truly is fantastic in the daring exploration in perfect sound and sophistication (and only beaten by one album; "Kamakiriad" from '93 which is the best sounding recording I have ever laid my ears on).
[First added to this chart: 03/25/2015]
Year of Release:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,948
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Buy album United States
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2004 was a genre defining year for music. This is linearly channelled; this is tormented childhood memories, which Arcade Fire turn into something so brave and empowering that one cannot help but to be moved by the story of nostalgic childhood and loss that the album revolves around. Butler is terrifyingly vulnerable and delivers the lyrics in a most beautiful and desperate manner.

The album is celebratory, emotionally rich and life-affirming, and this makes the revolving theme of death as polarised to its nature as possible.

Filled with so much beautiful songwriting and an awe inspiring track-list, music history's biggest post-modern classic is right here in my opinion.

Although Indie by definition died in 2011 (the year which in itself marked a frightening shift in terms of music relativism, e.g. streaming-services, death of listening and album focus) when The Suburbs received Album of the Year at the Grammy's, it was revived right here on their debut and masterpiece.
[First added to this chart: 03/10/2015]
Year of Release:
2004
Appears in:
Rank Score:
41,937
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Buy album United States
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1959 was the year when hard bop turned last year on the genre defining release of Kind of Blue. This album's past and present influence on jazz, rock, classical, funk -the list goes on and on- makes this one of the most important albums ever recorded.

Miles' personnel had just become stabile: the recording with his usual sixtet including Evans, Cobb and Coltrane set a standard with this album of the execution that is improvised on all parts in an effortless and perfect manner.

Miles had just gone modal (the jazz theoretical movement away from major and minor chord driven improvisation towards a scale driven improvisation style) thanks to pianist George Russell.

This was clear in that the genius of Miles had only given his band members sketches of scales and melody lines which is why this record sounds so fantastic and free from the shackles of theorems and convention.
[First added to this chart: 03/10/2015]
Year of Release:
1959
Appears in:
Rank Score:
25,191
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1982 was the year where the reference popular music record was born.
Genius Michael, driven by a learned ferocity and perfectionist approach to music at his artistic peak, mixed with the technical accomplishment and production of genius Quincy Jones, and the absolute musical precision of Toto members Steve Lukather, David Paich and Jeff and Steve Porcaro made this the defining album as being taylored for anyone at anytime.

The production is fearless, ferociously precise and simply lovable, and Michael's energy is unrivalled.

The depth and production-wise thoughtfulness shown in this masterpiece have inspired thousands of artists and producers, and has facilitated an entirely new way of approaching popular music.
[First added to this chart: 03/10/2015]
Year of Release:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
17,029
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Their seventh studio recording marked a huge progression from their first huge progression, Rubber Soul - this made it obvious: Revolver was an album that would come to echo for The Beatles.

This is simple in the overall musical channelling, yet very complex at the level of the individual song - for me personally, here I find the guys at their most energetic and at the same time most musically well-founded stage of their career, though they were transgressing at a great pace and were very swift.

This is when studio sound really changed for music as well - the band began using was automatic double tracking as a production technique (dual vocal tracks) which marked a studio engineering revolution.

"Eleanor Rigby" is my favourite track with a great melancholic feel to it.

Revolver'​s impact was massive and transformative with a simply constructed while at the same time very complex and confusing effort in popular music - one of the greatest in my opinion.
[First added to this chart: 03/10/2015]
Year of Release:
1966
Appears in:
Rank Score:
57,243
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Buy album United States
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The previously mentioned mental breakdown of genius and founder Syd Barrett, which had forced him to leave the group seven years before would not only echo on Meddle and Dark Side but indeed on the final statement about the missing persona of Syd.

The sounds and flow of the album is impeccable. "Shine On [...]" is so great (and inseparable, really) but it remains as the highlight on the album for me. The title track is one of my favourite melodies and is a fantastic song - and also proof of the impact Barrett had on this group.

The level of musical sophistication once again is magnificent thanks to the wonderful compositions and writing.

Thanks to the greats for this great 1975 pearl that shines on to this day.

- "Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!".
[First added to this chart: 03/10/2015]
Year of Release:
1975
Appears in:
Rank Score:
51,012
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This is a fantastic and perfect combination of a band in a situation that forces a magnificent concept album born and this same band being artists at the top of their careers.

At the time, Fleetwood Mac consisted of Buckingham, Fleetwood, the McVies, and Nicks.

After a long period of non-stop touring and prior to the release, the McVies divorced, and completely stopped talking. Buckingham and Nicks had an on/off relationship that led to continuous fights. To top all of this, Fleetwood's wife Jenny had had an affair with his best friend.

These facts make it hard to deny that something great was to be made - and it was. Out of all of the members' chaotic stories and lack of love in their lives, this pearl was born - and this is as serious as a pop album get's.

The way the songs are highly energetic and driven by a very optimist soundscape creates a huge contrast to the devastating stories behind most of the album.

The songs are all great, and this album is so important to me. Formidable production is the cherry on top of this ruby.
[First added to this chart: 03/10/2015]
Year of Release:
1977
Appears in:
Rank Score:
34,276
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Tim Friese, the producer of this great band, is worthy of the first denotation for this musical pearl. I mention Friese first, because what Talk Talk are to me, is a reference in complex and naked production at the same time.

The band's discography is simply amazing. The aforementioned nakedness to the bliss production is clear through certain other album of their way too short discography (e.g. "Laughing Stock"), and others such as the amazing "The Colour Of Spring" (which I believe to be the best instrumentation an album has ever put out) but still, to me it never reaches the height of "Spirit Of Eden".

Apart from the production, there are still things to say about the great vocal effort from Mark Hollis - these guys are geniuses in their way of expressing emotion through sound.

By this they hit a nerve for me that musically makes Talk Talk one of my favourite bands.
[First added to this chart: 03/25/2015]
Year of Release:
1988
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Rank Score:
11,294
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Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition

Decade Albums %


1930s 0 0%
1940s 0 0%
1950s 3 3%
1960s 17 17%
1970s 27 27%
1980s 14 14%
1990s 9 9%
2000s 11 11%
2010s 19 19%
2020s 0 0%
Artist Albums %


The Beatles 5 5%
Radiohead 4 4%
Steely Dan 3 3%
Kendrick Lamar 2 2%
Bon Iver 2 2%
Arcade Fire 2 2%
Bob Dylan 2 2%
Show all
Country Albums %


United States 51 51%
United Kingdom 31 31%
Canada 5 5%
Mixed Nationality 5 5%
France 3 3%
Australia 1 1%
Ireland 1 1%
Show all
Compilation? Albums %
No 99 99%
Yes 1 1%
Soundtrack? Albums %
No 99 99%
Yes 1 1%

Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes

Biggest fallers
Faller Down 1 from 25th to 26th
Histoire De Melody Nelson
by Serge Gainsbourg
Faller Down 1 from 26th to 27th
Skylarking
by XTC
Faller Down 1 from 27th to 28th
The Doors
by The Doors
New entries
New entryAfrica
by Toto

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings

Average Rating: 
91/100 (from 66 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
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11/08/2022 02:33 Larcx13  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 1,07286/100
 
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11/07/2022 21:53 Moondance  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 45184/100
 
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11/08/2018 23:22 phantom1305  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 29192/100

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This chart is rated in the top 2% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 90.5/100, a mean average of 90.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 91.2/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 9.0.

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments

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Rating:  
80/100
From 11/07/2022 21:57
Some terrific comments that I enjoyed reading. The chart reads like a reshuffling of the best of the best BEA rated albums - which is fine....but the chart didn't excite me like the more adventurous charts do.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 04/28/2022 12:13
Nærmest endnu bedre end 4 år siden.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 01/03/2022 17:11
22 in common, contains many classics, as it should.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
65/100
From 09/02/2018 11:20
The most PC chart I have ever seen on this site, and that’s saying something. Do you even have a taste of your own?
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (1 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 11/23/2017 11:09
11 albums og 18 kunstnere. Vi har virkeligt meget til fælles. Fed liste og endnu bedre beskrivelser, homie
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 11/16/2017 19:57
Good chart like the notes plenty of heavy hitters
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 11/16/2017 18:33
very nice chart
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Rating:  
90/100
From 08/02/2017 22:33
A lot of great albums and some albums I will have to check out! I liked reading your album reviews. Very good stuff!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 05/01/2017 12:18
It's got all the classics but that's just it, not a single choice I didn't see on basically every chart ever. This is good and bad at the same time. The second thing is that I don't like some of the choices, but descriptions compensate for that. Not that diverse, but still very charming. I'm confused.
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Rating:  
80/100
From 04/28/2017 07:52
Too many albums that everybody seems to like, for my taste. No wonder it resembles the Top 100 rearranged most. Only 2 2digits albums (in less than 100 charts). This is hard too understand for me. There is joy in loving albums that are obscure.
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