Best Albums of the 1960s

« View best albums of the 1950sView best albums of the 1970s »

Listed below are the best albums of the 1960s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 53,000 greatest album charts.

Best albums by year or decade

Decade:

Year:

1960s decade summary

Year	Albums The number of albums from each year featuring in the greatest album charts.	Score Total rank score for each year (made up of the total rank score from all albums in that year)	Top Ranked Album The top ranked album from each year and where it ranks in the overall chart.
1960	591	26,566	Giant Steps (442nd)by John Coltrane
1961	554	23,041	My Favorite Things (588th)by John Coltrane
1962	624	20,808	Modern Sounds In Country And Wes... (1,112th)by Ray Charles
1963	645	49,993	The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady (92nd)by Charles Mingus
1964	760	48,913	A Hard Day's Night (233rd)by The Beatles
1965	895	148,834	Highway 61 Revisited (26th)by Bob Dylan
1966	975	192,567	Revolver (4th)by The Beatles
1967	1,201	307,286	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club... (8th)by The Beatles
1968	1,563	229,383	The Beatles (The White Album) (13th)by The Beatles
1969	1,940	351,609	Abbey Road (3rd)by The Beatles
Total	9,748	1,399,001

The best artists of the 1960s were The Beatles, The Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Velvet Underground & Nico, Led Zeppelin, The Doors and The Rolling Stones.

View chart at point in time

Share this chart

Share | |

Collector's summary (filtered)Log in or register to discover the great albums that are missing from your music collection!

This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from 1963. (Remove this filter)

Sort by

234.

Money Jungle

Duke Ellington / Charlie Mingus / Max Roach

Year of Release:

1963

Appears in:

114 charts

Rank Score:

622

Rank in 1963:

Rank in 1960s:

234

Overall Rank:

2,527

Average Rating:

78 (122 votes)

Comments:

240.

Midnight Blue

Kenny Burrell

Year of Release:

1963

Appears in:

93 charts

Rank Score:

602

Rank in 1963:

Rank in 1960s:

240

Overall Rank:

2,591

Average Rating:

78 (111 votes)

Comments:

264.

Night Train

The Oscar Peterson Trio

Year of Release:

1963

Appears in:

112 charts

Rank Score:

527

Rank in 1963:

Rank in 1960s:

264

Overall Rank:

2,894

Average Rating:

77 (111 votes)

Comments:

292.

In Dreams

Roy Orbison

Year of Release:

1963

Appears in:

106 charts

Rank Score:

444

Rank in 1963:

Rank in 1960s:

292

Overall Rank:

3,316

Average Rating:

74 (96 votes)

Comments:

313.

Ballads

John Coltrane Quartet

Year of Release:

1963

Appears in:

96 charts

Rank Score:

406

Rank in 1963:

Rank in 1960s:

313

Overall Rank:

3,585

Average Rating:

79 (119 votes)

Comments:

314.

Beethoven: Symphonien No. 9

Herbert von Karajan / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Year of Release:

1963

Appears in:

54 charts

Rank Score:

404

Rank in 1963:

Rank in 1960s:

314

Overall Rank:

3,609

Average Rating:

81 (74 votes)

Comments:

323.

John Coltrane And Johnny Hartman

John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman

Year of Release:

1963

Appears in:

79 charts

Rank Score:

389

Rank in 1963:

Rank in 1960s:

323

Overall Rank:

3,737

Average Rating:

74 (84 votes)

Comments:

339.

Surfer Girl

The Beach Boys

Year of Release:

1963

Appears in:

127 charts

Rank Score:

364

Rank in 1963:

Rank in 1960s:

339

Overall Rank:

3,948

Average Rating:

70 (191 votes)

Comments:

348.

Back At The Chicken Shack

Jimmy Smith

Year of Release:

1963

Appears in:

88 charts

Rank Score:

348

Rank in 1963:

Rank in 1960s:

348

Overall Rank:

4,112

Average Rating:

73 (101 votes)

Comments:

397.

Surfin' U.S.A.

The Beach Boys

Year of Release:

1963

Appears in:

113 charts

Rank Score:

283

Rank in 1963:

Rank in 1960s:

397

Overall Rank:

4,853

Average Rating:

68 (166 votes)

Comments:

Total albums: 50. Page 2 of 5

Best Albums of the 1960s composition

Year	Albums	%

1960	56	6%
1961	62	6%
1962	48	5%
1963	50	5%
1964	66	7%
1965	92	9%
1966	99	10%
1967	141	14%
1968	195	20%
1969	191	19%

Artist	Albums	%

The Beatles	17	2%
The Beach Boys	14	1%
The Rolling Stones	14	1%
John Coltrane	13	1%
Miles Davis	12	1%
Bob Dylan	10	1%
Nina Simone	10	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	630	63%
	209	21%
	33	3%
	25	3%
	22	2%
	16	2%
	13	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	968	97%
Yes	32	3%

Live?	Albums	%
No	960	96%
Yes	40	4%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	983	98%
Yes	17	2%

« View best albums of the 1950sView best albums of the 1970s »

If you enjoy our site, please consider supporting us by sparing a few seconds to disable your ad blocker.

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.

Recognised Year Charts (2023)
1. Top 10 Albums of the Year 2023 by Bleep (2023)
2. Top 40 Albums of 2023 by Decibel (2023)
3. Top 50 Albums Of 2023 by Rock Sound (2023)
4. Albums of the year 2023 by The Line Of Best Fit (2023)
5. The best albums of 2023 by Independent (2023)
6. The 27 best albums of 2023 by The A.V. Club (2023)
7. KCRW's Best Albums of 2023 by KCRW (2023)
8. The Best Albums of 2023 by FLOOD Magazine (2023)
9. Top 50 Albums of 2023 by The Wire (2023)
10. The Best Albums of 2023 by The Ringer (2023)
11. The 10 Best Global Music Albums Of 2023 by PopMatters (2023)
12. The 50 Best Albums Of 2023 by Pitchfork (2023)
13. Dit zijn de 20 beste albums van 2023 by OOR (2023)
14. The Needle Drop's Top 50 Albums of 2023 by The Needle Drop (2023)
15. The 20 Best Albums of 2023 by Esquire (2023)
16. Top 55 Albums of 2023 by The Alternative (2023)
17. The Top 50 Albums of the Year by Crack Magazine (2023)
18. Gorilla vs. Bear's Albums of 2023 by Gorilla vs. Bear (2023)
19. Exclaim!'s 50 Best Albums of 2023 by Exclaim! (2023)
20. Louder Than War Albums Of 2023 by Louder Than War (2023)