Ghost In The Machine
by The Police
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The Police bestography
Ghost In The Machine is ranked 4th best out of 14 albums by The Police on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by The Police is Synchronicity which is ranked number 301 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 5,456.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to Ghost In The Machine on YouTube
Ghost In The Machine track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 78 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Ghost In The Machine rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 2 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  Leonard | Top 99 Music Albums of 1981 | 1/99 | 5 |
| 2026 | byuzak | Top 41 Music Albums of 1981 | 27/41 | 2 |
| 2026 |  junodog4 | Top 20 Music Albums of 1981 | 12/20 | 2 |
| 2026 | thenat | Top 14 Music Albums of 1981 | 13/14 | 1 |
| 2026 | stevengnz | Top 97 Music Albums of 1981 | 42/97 | 3 |
| 2026 | Finky | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 70/100 | 6 |
| 2026 | steve397 | Top 94 Music Albums of the 1980s | 61/94 | 7 |
| 2026 |  MadhattanJack | Top 100 Music Albums of 1981 | 63/100 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Liedzeit | Top 50 Music Albums of 1981 | 50/50 | 0 |
| 2026 | Hyggevinyl | Top 57 Music Albums of 1981 | 31/57 | 2 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 410 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 1,765 | |||
Ghost In The Machine collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 328 members
Ghost In The Machine ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
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 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 544 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 39 hours ago | Artem | 872 | 77/100 |
| ! | 09/30/2026 13:31 | Siromynian | 1,786 | 74/100 |
| ! | 09/27/2026 08:26 | zsolti | 708 | 81/100 |
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 albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 6% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 75.5/100, a mean average of 75.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 75.6/100. The standard deviation for this album is 12.9.
Ghost In The Machine favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 74 members
Ghost In The Machine forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 10/03/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5454): By mianfei BestEverAlbums 10/02/2026 08:18 in Monthly overall chart movements - September 2026 BestEverAlbums 09/07/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5428): By ExTeaSeaGhost In The Machine comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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ChrisPBacon 04/03/2020 17:52 | #249478 | TOP COMMENT
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Has anyone noticed, the three symbols are their heads? Misunderstood album. It is a dark, serious, album, other than "Everything she does is magic". I love "Darkness", no one else seems to. (Edited)
A darker record from The Police. As always, the singles from the album are fantastic. Every little thing she does is magic, spirits in the material world, and, invisible sun, are all excellent. The rest of the album is fine, another good Police record.
Darker and more absorbing than Synchronicity, Ghost In The Machine was also a radical departure from its predecessor, Zenyatta Mondatta. The former featured shimmering guitar lines from Andy, but Ghost In The Machine incorporated external instruments such as keyboards, steel drums and brass to great effect. The reggae influences are still here but they're dressed up with industrial flavors.
The hits are, as usual, excellent, but the album doesn't let up once they're out of the way. "Hungry For You" features a hypnotically looping melody. "Omegaman" has one of Andy Summers's more brilliant solos, and the closing track, "Darkness" is another winner from the pen of Copeland.
Leonard 06/18/2016 10:23 | #169043 | TOP COMMENT
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my favorite police-album,
invisible Sun is their best song ever (Edited)
Besides the fact that there is zero filler, this album is amazingly consisent. Besides the obvious classic singles, the rest of the LP is littered with outstanding musicianship, thought provoking lyrics, and unique production. The band added new instrumention and experimented heavily at a time when they could have played it safe. Great theme and execution.
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