Best Ever Albums

Re: The best and worst years

rkm — Thu, 7 Jul 2016 02:45:21 GMT

Author: rkm

Posted: 07/07/2016 06:45

Ray LaMontagne's "Ouroboros" is 8 tracks

Re: The best and worst years

RoundTheBend — Thu, 7 Jul 2016 00:17:27 GMT

Author: RoundTheBend

Posted: 07/07/2016 04:17

Ashamedly I'm thinking of this album, but I'm pretty sure I've come across maybe 3-5 more from the 2010s that aren't EPs, but albums like this.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Ghost Stories by Coldplay

Re: The best and worst years

rkm — Wed, 6 Jul 2016 23:00:12 GMT

Author: rkm

Posted: 07/07/2016 03:00

sethmadsen wrote:

rkm wrote:

So, why is it that artists still produce albums, when the public mostly are only interested in singles?
I guess it's still the desire to make larger artistic statements.

I have noticed that for the first time since the 60s/70s an 8 track album has come back, or at least is more common than it was in the 90s, etc.

I also totally stole your graph (downloaded the pic and shared with others and quoted "RKM").

Totally fine. You're welcome.

What 8 track album are you thinking of?

One thing the chart enlightened me about, is why I'm finding it so hard to fill the 1981 shelf in my CD collection.

Re: The best and worst years

RoundTheBend — Wed, 6 Jul 2016 21:34:45 GMT

Author: RoundTheBend

Posted: 07/07/2016 01:34

rkm wrote:

So, why is it that artists still produce albums, when the public mostly are only interested in singles?
I guess it's still the desire to make larger artistic statements.

Re: The best and worst years

rkm — Wed, 6 Jul 2016 20:13:43 GMT

Author: rkm

Posted: 07/07/2016 00:13

So, why is it that artists still produce albums, when the public mostly are only interested in singles?
I guess it's still the desire to make larger artistic statements.

Re: The best and worst years

RoundTheBend — Wed, 6 Jul 2016 19:59:09 GMT

Author: RoundTheBend

Posted: 07/06/2016 23:59

Interesting stuff.

Re: The best and worst years

rkm — Wed, 6 Jul 2016 18:16:46 GMT

Author: rkm

Posted: 07/06/2016 22:16

Sales figures and music criticism aren't the same thing, but this chart largely lines up with my other chart, with spikes for 1977, 1984, 1991, 1994, and 1999, and then a decline from 2003 to 2009.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Re: The best and worst years

rkm — Wed, 6 Jul 2016 18:00:20 GMT

Author: rkm

Posted: 07/06/2016 22:00

Other stuff I've read about formats informs this:
- 1967 was the first year that albums outsold singles, as artists began using the LP format to make larger artistic statements.
- 1999 was the peak year for albums sales (CDs)
- in 2003, albums sales began to decline and singles sales began to rise, due to downloads. By 2009, singles outsold albums again, marking the end of the album era.

Re: The best and worst years

Anti — Wed, 6 Jul 2016 11:37:03 GMT

Author: Anti

Posted: 07/06/2016 15:37

I mean, I guess a lot of the data makes absolute sense since more recent albums have not had the same amount of time to crystallize themselves into a higher ranking and you get a bit of a hill during the dad-rock 80's, but does averaging out the top ten albums' over ranks really show anything?

That's just off the top of my head with no deep analysis so I could be completely off.

The best and worst years

rkm — Wed, 6 Jul 2016 11:24:12 GMT

Author: rkm

Posted: 07/06/2016 15:24

I made this chart, which shows two sets of data... #1 Album Overall Rank for each year, and the Top Ten Albums Overall Rank Average for each year.

Based on this, the best years are: 1967, 1969, 1971, 1994, 1991, 1968, 1977.
The worst years are: 2015, 2014, 1981, 2013, 1966, 1990, 1965.

I found it interesting, so I thought I'd share it.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.