Overall Chart

Explore the overall rankings of the best albums in history, based on over 2 million album rankings across 59,000 charts.
Last updated: 3 hours ago.

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301.

Master Of Reality

Black Sabbath

"Maybe the best sabbath album, but hard to decide with the previous two and Heaven and Hell... With Children of the Grave the best sabbath riff in my opinion and perfect for listening in one session, not one bad song. Orchid and Embryo are really good instrumentals compared to other "fillers", loo..." [+] Reply

- ElDuderino | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

740 charts

Rank Score:

5,514

Rank in 1971:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

301

Average Rating:

84 (1,072 votes)

Comments:

302.

War

"Actually, I've changed my mind about this, it's a really solid album. i still believe it to be U2's best though." Reply

- | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

786 charts

Rank Score:

5,496

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

302

Average Rating:

79 (1,217 votes)

Comments:

303.

Melodrama

Lorde

"Pop is usually not my genre, but Lorde achieves something magical with this album!" Reply

- Eiwynn | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +8 votes (8 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2017

Appears in:

668 charts

Rank Score:

5,448

Rank in 2017:

Rank in 2010s:

Overall Rank:

303

Average Rating:

81 (802 votes)

Comments:

304.

Blue Train

John Coltrane

"Coltrane's best album, IMHO" Reply

cyto | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

601 charts

Rank Score:

5,426

Rank in 1958:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

304

Average Rating:

84 (668 votes)

Comments:

305.

Scary Monsters

David Bowie

"The last iconic Bowie album before Outside and The Next Day. David Bowie missed a bit of direction needed in the 80's, but this album does NOT succumb to that. This is a good album, and a quite experimental one at that." Reply

- | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

773 charts

Rank Score:

5,418

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

305

Average Rating:

81 (1,136 votes)

Comments:

306.

Late Registration

Kanye West

"Spoiler alert: The upcoming review is totally biased. I am not sure if I can maintain the slightest degree of objectivity (not a fan of the term when it comes to music, but you get the point) To my mind Kanye West is a godlike figure not only in hip hop but music in general. To say he single – ha...""Spoiler alert: The upcoming review is totally biased. I am not sure if I can maintain the slightest degree of objectivity (not a fan of the term when it comes to music, but you get the point) To my mind Kanye West is a godlike figure not only in hip hop but music in general. To say he single – handedly ignited my interest for this particular genre would be a fair assessment. One might argue that he leans towards the poppier end of the spectrum, so it’s understandable that I find him more accessible than other hip hop greats. He is not too hip hop, but also not too non hip hop, if that makes sense. Maybe that’s the case. No matter how he did it, he opened a whole new world for me and made me realise the endless arising possibilities. Ok, I am a fanboy, point taken, let’s move on. To follow up the widely acclaimed and commercially successful College Dropout was no easy task, but he delivered. Production is once more the major attraction, it’s head and shoulders above every other aspect of the album. Lyrics are often the center of attention in hip hop. Well, not here. For all I care, he could be mumbling random nonsense that nobody understands and it would still sound majestic nonetheless. I don’t mean to suggest that he does, there are many great lines here. In the space of a year he managed to reinvent the sound of his debut album. The themes are a bit more serious (though there are still some moments of fun) but he doesn’t hold anything back, he is as honest and ever. The sound is, well, massive. Bigger than a Hollywood blockbuster, more epic than Homer’s poems, you name it. The variety is also outstanding. Every song is unique. The core of his sound is still a pop take on soul/funk, but he has expanded in many different directions. Picking some highlights would be close to impossible, it’s more or less the whole album (yes, even the skits were entertaining). In Heard’ em Say he struggles dealing with the difficulties of life (“So this is in the name of love like Robert say Before you ask me to go get a job today Can I at least get a raise of the minimum wage? And I know that the government administer AIDS So I guess we just pray like the minister say Allāhu Akbar and throw in some hot cars”) , but he accompanies it with none other than Adam Levine (crazy, I know). He makes a song with Adam Levine work, for that alone he deserves full credit, don’t know who else could have pulled that off. Touch the Sky comes with a pinch of disco, followed by the club/party oriented Gold Digger which provides tons of fun. Drive Slow has an irresistible jazzy vibe, the saxophone is on steroids. By the way, Paul Wall also belongs to the Adam Levine category (in the sense that Kanye makes these things work seemingly out of nowhere, even though they seem destined to fail). Crack Music is another cool tune with a wonderful gospel touch as the icing on the cake. Roses flows as smooth as anything I can think of. Kanye is on top form there (as a rapper I mean). Even the silly Addiction is so addictive (these cringeworthy puns are becoming a thing). Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix) is just a huge song. Not a fan of remixes in general, but this is exemplary. If I had to pick one track that represents the whole album the most accurate, it would most likely be this one. We Major features Nas and is considered one of the weaker tracks. This speaks volumes about the depth of the album. Hey Mama is the pinnacle of songwriting, one of the most emotional and touching songs you can possibly encounter (“I wanna tell the whole world about a friend of mine This little light of mine and I'm finna let it shine I'm finna take y'all back to them better times I'm finna talk about my mama if y'all don't mind”). Then, as the title suggests, it’s time for Celebration- and deservedly so. And after all this insane ride, it seems he saved best for last. Gone keeps improving verse by verse. That’s what it means to go out with a bang. It’s worth noting that what I usually complain about in other album, here works the other way around. The most obvious example is the duration. It is 70 minutes long and it feels so short, it leaves you thirsty for more." [+] Reply

- kokkinos | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2005

Appears in:

772 charts

Rank Score:

5,416

Rank in 2005:

Rank in 2000s:

Overall Rank:

306

Average Rating:

82 (1,219 votes)

Comments:

307.

Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs

Derek & The Dominos

"‘Layla’ is an extremely raw album with minimal production and a loose, laid back feel. It is also an emotionally raw album with Clapton’s soul laid bare. He was in turmoil during this period with personal problems involving Patti Boyd, then George Harrison’s wife, running like a thread through th..." [+] Reply

- Willie24 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1970

Appears in:

791 charts

Rank Score:

5,404

Rank in 1970:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

307

Average Rating:

81 (973 votes)

Comments:

308.

Bryter Layter

Nick Drake

"I recently became aware of Nick Drake's music, and now I know all his albums pretty well. They all provide very fine songs and great music, though some of the posthumously released albums are somewhat uneven. Among his three original albums, I have come to the conclusion that his second, "Bryter ...""I recently became aware of Nick Drake's music, and now I know all his albums pretty well. They all provide very fine songs and great music, though some of the posthumously released albums are somewhat uneven. Among his three original albums, I have come to the conclusion that his second, "Bryter Later", is his most successful and in any case the album I would only recommend a friend. It is his most "produced" album with musical assistance from the three members of Fairport Convention Richard Thompson, Dave Pegg and Dave Mattacks. Furthermore contributing John Cale on a few numbers. Several tracks have tasteful stringsarrangements written by Nick's good friend Robert Kirby. All the songs are good, but you obviously get your favorites. "One of These Things First" is a quiet and very beautiful song with nice accompaniment by Paul Harris, Ed Carter and Mike Kowalski. "Fly" with nice contributions from John Cale at the harpsichord and viola is number seems to be better every time you hear it. Perhaps most moving on the album, if that title does not go to the album's second track with significant contributions from John Cale - "Northern Sky". This was the song I fell for the first: there's something magnificent about this beautiful and airy number. "Poor Boy" is almost a little jazzy, with strong vocal backing from PP Arnold and Doris Troy. There's something very liberating unpretentious over both lyrics and music. The same can be said about "Hazey Jane II", which also has fine lead guitar from Richard Thompson. "Hazey Jane I" is a totally different song - as I hear it, they have only the title in common. Also a nice song with backing from Mattacks, and Pegg. There are three instrumental tracks - are all fine and well distributed across the album as 1, 6 and 10th tracks On all 10 tracks you have Drake's acoustic guitar, which he mastered to almost perfection. A strong album that deservedly has become a classic, albeit pretty long after its release in 1970, where it was almost unnoticed. https://www.angelfire.com/nv/Badfinger/BANDnickdrake.html" [+] Reply

- Rovers | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

736 charts

Rank Score:

5,401

Rank in 1971:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

308

Average Rating:

83 (906 votes)

Comments:

309.

Liquid Swords

GZA/Genius

"Nothing but love for this. People on here rate by genre too much and are too closed minded and hinder the better rating this deserves. GZA is a Genius." Reply

Larcx13 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1995

Appears in:

613 charts

Rank Score:

5,361

Rank in 1995:

Rank in 1990s:

Overall Rank:

309

Average Rating:

84 (627 votes)

Comments:

310.

Atrocity Exhibition

Danny Brown

"It's great how rappers can rap over anything these days; no more need being restricted to boom bap drum loops. Atrocity Exhibition might be the best demonstration of this I've heard yet" Reply