Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Q (1997) 
Q was a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. These are their best albums of all time. Q is a music and entertainment magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. In 1997, Q compiled their definitive list of the 100 Best Albums Of All Time.
(Official website: https://www.qthemusic.com)
There are 23 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 68 out of 100 (from 66 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
There is a more recent chart by Q in which rank scores have been awarded - 100 Greatest Albums Ever by Q (2006) .
View the complete list of 56,000 charts on BestEverAlbums.com from The Charts page.
Don't agree with this chart? Create your own from the My Charts page!
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
Decade | Albums | % | |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
1930s | 0 | 0% | |
1940s | 0 | 0% | |
1950s | 0 | 0% | |
1960s | 16 | 16% | |
1970s | 19 | 19% | |
1980s | 13 | 13% | |
1990s | 52 | 52% | |
2000s | 0 | 0% | |
2010s | 0 | 0% | |
2020s | 0 | 0% |
Artist | Albums | % | |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
The Beatles | 5 | 5% | |
Oasis | 3 | 3% | |
David Bowie | 3 | 3% | |
Pink Floyd | 3 | 3% | |
Bob Dylan | 3 | 3% | |
U2 | 3 | 3% | |
Radiohead | 3 | 3% | |
Show all |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similar charts
Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
---|---|---|---|---|
Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums | Virgin | Overall chart | 1998 | ![]() |
100 Greatest Albums Ever | Q | Overall chart | 2006 | ![]() |
Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums | Virgin | Overall chart | 2000 | ![]() |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | ![]() | Overall chart | 2013 | ![]() |
100 Greatest Albums Ever | Q | Overall chart | 2003 | ![]() |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | Channel 4 | Overall chart | 2005 | ![]() |
Greatest 100 Albums of All Time | The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums with NME | Overall chart | 2006 | ![]() |
The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever | The Guardian | Overall chart | 1997 | ![]() |
Overall Top 100 Ranked Correctly | ![]() | Custom chart | 2014 | ![]() |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | Narcan | Overall chart | 2011 | ![]() |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similarity to your chart(s)
Not a member? Registering is quick, easy and FREE!
Why register?
Join a passionate community of over 50,000 music fans.
Create & share your own charts.
Have your say in the overall rankings.
Post comments in the forums and vote on polls.
Comment on or rate any album, artist, track or chart.
Discover new music & improve your music collection.
Customise the overall chart using a variety of different filters & metrics.
Create a wishlist of albums.
Help maintain the BEA database.
Earn member points and gain access to increasing levels of functionality!
- ... And lots more!
Register now - it only takes a moment!
Other overall charts
Other charts by Q
Year charts
Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
---|---|---|---|---|
Q Albums of the Year 2019 | Q | 2019 year chart | 2019 | ![]() |
Q Albums of the Year 2018 | Q | 2018 year chart | 2018 | ![]() |
Q Albums of the Year 2017 | Q | 2017 year chart | 2017 | ![]() |
Q Albums of the Year 2016 | Q | 2016 year chart | 2016 | ![]() |
Q Albums of the Year 2015 | Q | 2015 year chart | 2015 | ![]() |
Q Albums of the Year 2014 | Q | 2014 year chart | 2014 | ![]() |
Q Albums of the Year 2013 | Q | 2013 year chart | 2013 | ![]() |
Q Albums of the Year 2011 | Q | 2011 year chart | 2011 | ![]() |
Q Albums of the Year 2010 | Q | 2010 year chart | 2010 | ![]() |
Q Albums of the Year 2009 | Q | 2009 year chart | 2009 | ![]() |
Q Albums of the Year 2008 | Q | 2008 year chart | 2008 | ![]() |
Q Albums of the Year 2007 | Q | 2007 year chart | 2007 | ![]() |
Q Albums of the Year 2006 | Q | 2006 year chart | 2006 | ![]() |
Q Albums of the Year 2005 | Q | 2005 year chart | 2005 | ![]() |
Q Albums of the Year 2004 | Q | 2004 year chart | 2004 | ![]() |
Q Albums of the Year 2003 | Q | 2003 year chart | 2003 | ![]() |
Decade charts
Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
---|---|---|---|---|
The 100 Greatest Albums Of The '90s | Q | 1990s decade chart | 2015 | ![]() |
50 Best Albums of the '70s | Q | 1970s decade chart | 1998 | ![]() |
Overall charts
Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
---|---|---|---|---|
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | Q | Overall chart | 1997 | ![]() |
100 Greatest Albums Ever | Q | Overall chart | 2006 | ![]() |
100 Greatest Albums Ever | Q | Overall chart | 2003 | ![]() |
[Q was founded in 1986 and disbanded in 2020.]
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings

where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 66 ratings for this chart.
Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
---|---|---|---|---|
40/100 ![]() | 09/21/2021 08:50 | ![]() | ![]() | 89/100 |
70/100 ![]() | 12/11/2020 07:57 | ![]() | ![]() | 89/100 |
60/100 ![]() | 11/11/2020 13:02 | ![]() | ![]() | 86/100 |
70/100 ![]() | 03/29/2020 20:46 | Szyfman | ![]() | 85/100 |
95/100 ![]() | 03/21/2020 19:33 | JFF2 | ![]() | 72/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some charts can have several thousand ratings)
This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 67.9/100, a mean average of 64.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 65.5/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 21.9.
Please log in or register if you want to be able to leave a rating
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums favourites
Showing all 2 members who have added this chart as a favourite
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 23 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Maximum Rated First |
Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)
Wow. I've gotta say, of all the "greatest of all time" lists, this has got to be one of the very worst.
Gotta love that they put out this list in 1997 and still had OK Computer, which came out that year, as the number one album

I know the list was very much of its time and it was also made via a public poll, but any "greatest albums ever"-list that has Fat of the Land at 9, Be Here Now (which even Noel Gallagher admitted was disappointing) at 13, and Jagged Little Pill at 19 is absolutely stark raving bonkers. I think I more or less stopped reading Q magazine at that point.
This website and Rate Your Music have OK Computer at the top of the albums, so why shouldn't it be top of this list? Some people are so stupid and yes in general it is the best Radiohead album...
Anything that rates OK Computer as the best album of all time, is clearly a load of bollocks. It's not even Radiohead's best album of all time.
Anything that rates Morning Glory above Definitely Maybe is also a load of bollocks.
And anything that doesn't rank Never Mind the Bollocks in the same breath as the Stone Roses, is an absolute load of bollocks.
Lists based upon popular polls are always problematic, because they can be too spur-of-the-moment and involve people who might have read the relevant magazine, but never actually even tested its recommendations.
This 1997 list by British magazine ‘Q’, which at the time I was reading quite frequently though I did not see any difference with ‘Rolling Stone’, is a perfect reflection of the flaws of popular polls. Too many spur-of-the-moment choices makes it even worse than other generally very bad lists from rock magazines. In general, these lists should be taken sceptically and used only to see if unknown music of value can be found – which is a genuine rarity.
So great! People votes are the best thing to go by!
15 albums in common:
OK Computer by Radiohead (200 points)
The Bends by Radiohead (194 points)
Nevermind by Nirvana (159 points)
Urban Hymns by The Verve (154 points)
Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (151 points)
Blue Lines by Massive Attack (125 points)
Rumours by Fleetwood Mac (119 points)
Ten by Pearl Jam (108 points)
Pablo Honey by Radiohead (106 points)
Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin (104 points)
Grace by Jeff Buckley (103 points)
The Fat of The Land by The Prodigy (98 points)
Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette (98 points)
Forever Changes by Love (66 points)
Placebo by Placebo (24 points)
18 artists in common:
Nirvana
Radiohead
Alanis Morissette
U2
Björk
The Verve
Massive Attack
Fleetwood Mac
Led Zeppelin
The Prodigy
Nick Drake
Jeff Buckley
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Love
Pearl Jam
The Chemical Brothers
Placebo
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
This is the famous Ok Computer list. Must of annoyed the hell out of Thom Yorke.
Just Ok
Not as abysmal as the 2003 list, but that ain't saying much.
Please log in or register if you want to be able to add a comment
Your feedback for Top 100 Greatest Music Albums

A lot of hard work happens in the background to keep BEA running, and it's especially difficult to do this when we can't pay our hosting fees :(
We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.
Best Ever Artists | |
---|---|
1. The Beatles | |
2. Radiohead | |
3. Pink Floyd | |
4. David Bowie | |
5. Bob Dylan | |
6. Led Zeppelin | |
7. The Rolling Stones | |
8. Arcade Fire | |
9. The Velvet Underground | |
10. Nirvana | |
11. Kendrick Lamar | |
12. Neil Young | |
13. Miles Davis | |
14. The Smiths | |
15. The Beach Boys | |
16. Kanye West | |
17. R.E.M. | |
18. Pixies | |
19. Jimi Hendrix | |
20. Bruce Springsteen |