Best Albums of the 1970s

« View best albums of the 1960sView best albums of the 1980s »

Listed below are the best albums of the 1970s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 53,000 greatest album charts.

Best albums by year or decade

Decade:

Year:

1970s 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.
1970	2,040	260,083	Paranoid (54th)by Black Sabbath
1971	2,140	329,107	Untitled (Led Zeppelin IV) (12th)by Led Zeppelin
1972	2,180	260,285	The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stard... (9th)by David Bowie
1973	2,066	266,941	The Dark Side Of The Moon (2nd)by Pink Floyd
1974	1,953	139,643	Red (143rd)by King Crimson
1975	2,110	226,254	Wish You Were Here (7th)by Pink Floyd
1976	2,101	150,246	Songs In The Key Of Life (86th)by Stevie Wonder
1977	2,114	255,967	Rumours (21st)by Fleetwood Mac
1978	2,162	145,612	Darkness On The Edge Of Town (206th)by Bruce Springsteen
1979	2,092	212,677	London Calling (20th)by The Clash
Total	20,958	2,246,815

The best artists of the 1970s were Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, The Clash, Fleetwood Mac, Black Sabbath, The Who and Genesis.

View chart at point in time

Share this chart

Collector's summary (top 1,000)Log in or register to discover the great albums that are missing from your music collection!

Sort by

991.

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

Year of Release:

1973

Appears in:

60 charts

Rank Score:

220

Rank in 1973:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

992.

Gratitude
Live

Earth, Wind & Fire

Year of Release:

1975

Appears in:

41 charts

Rank Score:

219

Rank in 1975:

Rank in 1970s:

992

Overall Rank:

5,970

Average Rating:

72 (48 votes)

Comments:

993.

Estudando O Samba

Tom Zé

Year of Release:

1976

Appears in:

48 charts

Rank Score:

219

Rank in 1976:

Rank in 1970s:

993

Overall Rank:

5,977

Average Rating:

75 (79 votes)

Comments:

994.

Cold Spring Harbor

Billy Joel

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

45 charts

Rank Score:

218

Rank in 1971:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

995.

Light As A Feather

Chick Corea & Return to Forever

Year of Release:

1973

Appears in:

66 charts

Rank Score:

217

Rank in 1973:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

996.

Spectres

Blue Öyster Cult

Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

74 charts

Rank Score:

217

Rank in 1977:

Rank in 1970s:

996

Overall Rank:

6,022

Average Rating:

75 (111 votes)

Comments:

997.

Slayed?

Slade

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

64 charts

Rank Score:

217

Rank in 1972:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

998.

Live
Live

Genesis

Year of Release:

1973

Appears in:

58 charts

Rank Score:

217

Rank in 1973:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

999.

Greetings From L.A.

Tim Buckley

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

79 charts

Rank Score:

216

Rank in 1972:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

1000.

All The World's A Stage
Live

Rush

Year of Release:

1976

Appears in:

44 charts

Rank Score:

216

Rank in 1976:

Rank in 1970s:

1,000

Overall Rank:

6,050

Average Rating:

76 (75 votes)

Comments:

« prev
1
2
3
...
98
99
100
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 1,000. Page 100 of 100

Best Albums of the 1970s composition

Year	Albums	%

1970	107	11%
1971	100	10%
1972	102	10%
1973	108	11%
1974	99	10%
1975	99	10%
1976	89	9%
1977	90	9%
1978	108	11%
1979	98	10%

Artist	Albums	%

David Bowie	12	1%
Genesis	10	1%
Jethro Tull	9	1%
Pink Floyd	8	1%
Wishbone Ash	8	1%
Yes	8	1%
Elton John	8	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	387	39%
	372	37%
	42	4%
	37	4%
	37	4%
	24	2%
	20	2%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	974	97%
Yes	26	3%

Live?	Albums	%
No	940	94%
Yes	60	6%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	988	99%
Yes	12	1%

« View best albums of the 1960sView best albums of the 1980s »

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.

Recent Member Charts
1. Top 50 Music Albums of 1973 by Juneof44 (2024)
2. Albums waiting to be added 9 by Johnnyo (2024)
3. Top Albums of 1977 (101 - 200) by Johnnyo (2024)
4. Top 99 Music Albums of 2018 by Dankel (2024)
5. Top 40 Greatest Music Albums by CassidyInc (2024)
6. Top 100 Music Albums of 1977 by Johnnyo (2024)
7. Top 29 Music Albums of 2024 by joathome (2024)
8. Top 18 Music Albums of 2024 by Purplepash (2024)
9. Top 51 Music Albums of 2024 by cronadigallina (2024)
10. Top 43 Music Albums of 2000 by Tilly (2024)
11. Top 80 Music Albums of 1974 by amirmishali (2024)
12. Top 46 Music Albums of 2024 by MadhattanJack (2024)
13. Top 78 Music Albums of 1993 by cicadelic (2024)
14. additions by pedro1976 (2024)
15. Top 8 Music Albums of 2024 by johnner (2024)
16. Top 23 Music Albums of 1974 by eclab (2024)
17. Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s by culwin (2024)
18. Top 12 Music Albums of 2006 by culwin (2024)
19. Top 15 Music Albums of 2011 by NoAlarms (2024)
20. Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s by NoAlarms (2024)