Substance
by Joy Division

Album
Substance by Joy Division
(Compilation album)
Year: 1988
Release date: 1988-07-11
Overall rank: 1,428th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
82/100 (from 387 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1988 (22nd)
Award Top albums of of the 1980s (224th)
Award Best albums of all time (1,428th)

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Joy Division bestography

Substance is ranked 3rd best out of 12 albums by Joy Division on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Joy Division is Unknown Pleasures which is ranked number 38 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 20,336.

Joy Division album bestography « Higher ranked (80th)
Closer This album (1,428th)
Substance Lower ranked (3,773rd) »
Still

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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Substance track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 86 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Warsaw
Average Rating: 82 (80 votes)Comments: View 2
2.
Leaders Of Men
Average Rating: 82 (77 votes)Comments: View 0
3.
Digital
Average Rating: 84 (84 votes)Comments: View 0
4.
Autosuggestion
Average Rating: 81 (73 votes)Comments: View 2
5.
Track pick (900 - 179 votes)
Transmission
Average Rating: 90 (179 votes)Comments: View 1
6.
She's Lost Control
Average Rating: 88 (127 votes)Comments: View 3
7.
Incubation
Average Rating: 80 (71 votes)Comments: View 0
8.
Dead Souls
Average Rating: 87 (95 votes)Comments: View 1
9.
Track pick (910 - 199 votes)
Atmosphere
Average Rating: 91 (199 votes)Comments: View 3
10.
Track pick (920 - 502 votes)
Love Will Tear Us Apart
Average Rating: 92 (502 votes)Comments: View 6

Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Substance rankings

Substance rankings summary
Overall rank: 1,428th | 1980s rank: 224th | 1988 rank: 22nd  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 7 hours ago)

Substance collection

Substance ratings

Average Rating: 
82/100 (from 387 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
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 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 387 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
85/100
 !		10/07/2026 02:33 OldWiseOne1969  Ratings distribution  16082/100
 
100/100
 !		09/19/2026 21:26 Devilwoac  Ratings distribution  1,52997/100
 
80/100
 !		09/03/2026 13:42 xhitmanx  Ratings distribution  1,60475/100

Rating metrics: Help 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 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 81.9/100, a mean average of 80.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 82.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.5.


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Substance favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 74 members

Exist-en-ciel
NYAndreas
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LosWochos
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Anti
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Substance forum mentions

This album has been referenced 140 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 10/02/2026 08:18 in Monthly overall chart movements - September 2026
“The overall chart is ever changing, and it's difficult to keep up with the detail of what's happening. So, for those people who are interested, this post attempts to show the latest movements - biggest climbers, movers, new entries and leavers for the top 100, 250, 500 & 1000 over the past month,…”
(83 mentions across Monthly Overall Chart Movements topics)
View latest topic →

From BestEverAlbums 09/25/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5446): By RasmV
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by RasmV () 1. by by (2001) 3. by (2007) 5. by by (1989) 7. by by (2006) 9. by (2014) 10. by (2013) 12. (2011) 13. (2015) 14. (2010) 15. by (2004) 16. by (2003) 17. by by (2017) 19. by (1969) 20. by (1971) 21. by (1967) 22. (1966) 23. by by…”
(1 mentions across Chart of the Day topics)
View latest topic →

From Johnnyo 09/14/2025 09:05 in The same album title but a different artist
“A bit of a cheat code, but this is a list of albums with duplicate titles on BEA where both albums are in top 2,000: 141 1,514 815 1,143 1,238 1405 140 1,395 607 1,336 1,097 1,658 317 1,068 Another interesting factoid. Some great albums here. I might well use a few of these to do some comparative…”
View topic (2 mentions) →

View all forum mentions

Substance comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 16 comments |
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Rating:  
100/100
From 04/30/2011 08:15 | #20866 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
The only noteworthy thing in the previous comment is : "it's possibly their best".
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 6
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Rating:  
100/100
From 10/27/2016 21:49 | #177589 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
It's just as essential as Unknown Pleasures and Closer. (Edited)
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From 10/12/2012 00:30 | #52145 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
This is as convenient, coherent and excellent as compilations get. Convenient because nothing here can be found on their studio albums. Substance is even better if you include the CD version which is twice as long, featuring rare, stunning tracks such as 'No Love Lost' and 'Glass'. An absolute must-have even for casual fans. In fact it's a great starting point.
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From 02/27/2012 19:17 | #37534 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Why is transmission rated so low? It one of their best songs!
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Rating:  
80/100
From 09/14/2016 16:00 | #174961 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Great album and still relevant today for those not interested in mainstream music.....and what can I say about tear us apart that hasn't already been said..classic
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 2
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Best Albums of  1988
1. Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth
2. Surfer Rosa by Pixies
3. Spirit Of Eden by Talk Talk
4. It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back by Public Enemy
5. ...And Justice For All by Metallica
6. Tracy Chapman by Tracy Chapman
7. Green by R.E.M.
8. Isn't Anything by My Bloody Valentine
9. Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A
10. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son by Iron Maiden