Speak & Spell
by Depeche Mode
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Depeche Mode bestography
Speak & Spell is ranked 9th best out of 47 albums by Depeche Mode on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Depeche Mode is Violator which is ranked number 93 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 12,103.
(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 Speak & Spell on YouTube
Speak & Spell track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 75 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Speak & Spell rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 4 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Olli | Top 100 Music Albums of 1981 | 12/100 | 4 |
| 2026 | Kettwig | JoeFM's Album top 500 (401-500) | 61/100 | - |
| 2026 |  Helios | Top 80 Music Albums of 1981 | 35/80 | 3 |
| 2026 |  ERadio | Top 80 Music Albums of 1981 | 60/80 | 1 |
| 2026 | Jakor | Top 90 Music Albums of 1981 | 44/90 | 3 |
| 2026 |  Wasinski | Top 100 Music Albums of 1981 | 78/100 | 1 |
| 2026 |  imacgill | Top 100 Music Albums of 1981 | 2/100 | 5 |
| 2026 | juanr1096 | Top 56 Music Albums of 1981 | 52/56 | 0 |
| 2026 |  ExTeaSea | Top 79 Music Albums of 1981 | 7/79 | 5 |
| 2026 | matterhornrider | Top 51 Music Albums of 1981 | 45/51 | 1 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 147 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 431 | |||
Speak & Spell collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 98 members
Speak & Spell 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 235 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/02/2026 05:21 | Olli | 7,939 | 62/100 |
| ! | 08/23/2026 04:10 | matterhornrider | 5,172 | 81/100 |
| ! | 06/02/2026 19:07 |  serpico | 909 | 85/100 |
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 has a Bayesian average rating of 70.6/100, a mean average of 69.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 70.6/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.3.
Speak & Spell favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 17 members
Speak & Spell forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 09/07/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5428): By ExTeaSea
neilgee 02/10/2026 18:45 in What album are you listening to? (cont.) neilgee 05/02/2023 22:26 in What album are you listening to right now?Speak & Spell comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Depeche Mode's debut album is full of throwaway pop with Vince Clarke at the helm. Obviously, just can't get enough, is a classic pop song, the rest is a combination of not bad and forgettable. It's funny listening to some of these songs, I mean, can you imagine Depeche Mode playing, what's your name? these days. Not a chance. Overall, speak and spell, is okay for the time and place but Depeche Mode were more of a singles band than an album band at this point.
salahshoori 10/15/2020 09:21 | #259321 | TOP COMMENT
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This shows the way from Kraftwerk to synthpop. It's not an awesome album but it's absolutely interesting.
Vince Clarke's song writing on this album is unintentionally hilarious.
timtooky 03/27/2014 19:50 | #107803 | TOP COMMENT
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if a band would release a record like this nowadays, they would surely be called genius. i adore the carefree, easy and a bit ridiculuos sound on this anachronistic album.
This poppy premier welcomes Depeche mode into the eighties and shows a tremendous potential for the band.
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