Hot Rats
by Frank Zappa

Album
Hot Rats by Frank Zappa
Year: 1969
Release date: 1969-10-10
Overall rank: 236th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
83/100 (from 1,008 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 10 albums of 1969 (10th)
Award Top 50 albums of of the 1960s (38th)
Award Top 500 albums of all time (236th)

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Frank Zappa bestography

Hot Rats is ranked as the best album by Frank Zappa.

Frank Zappa album bestography « Higher ranked
- This album (236th)
Hot Rats Lower ranked (487th) »
Freak Out!

(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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Hot Rats 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.
Track pick (900 - 278 votes)
Peaches En Regalia
Average Rating: 90 (278 votes)Comments: View 5
2.
Track pick (880 - 267 votes)
Willie The Pimp
Average Rating: 88 (267 votes)Comments: View 3
3.
Track pick (870 - 211 votes)
Son Of Mr. Green Genes
Average Rating: 87 (211 votes)Comments: View 1
4.
Little Umbrellas
Average Rating: 82 (178 votes)Comments: View 1
5.
The Gumbo Variations
Average Rating: 85 (196 votes)Comments: View 4
6.
It Must Be A Camel
Average Rating: 82 (164 votes)Comments: View 1

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

Hot Rats rankings

Hot Rats rankings summary
Overall rank: 236th | 1960s rank: 38th | 1969 rank: 10th  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: 4 hours ago)

Hot Rats collection

Hot Rats ratings

Average Rating: 
83/100 (from 1,008 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 1,008 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
75/100
 !		5 days ago JoshN125  Ratings distribution  11666/100
 
90/100
 !		08/29/2026 23:49 xhitmanx  Ratings distribution  1,59876/100
 
100/100
 !		08/08/2026 03:18 Gussy  Ratings distribution  1,26188/100

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 83.2/100, a mean average of 81.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 83.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.3.


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Hot Rats favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 218 members

evstratios
Exist-en-ciel
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Forum mentions

This album has been referenced 158 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 09/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movements
“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,…”
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From BestEverAlbums 08/25/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5415): By JR
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by JR () 1. by (1976) 2. by (1971) 3. by (1966) 4. by (1969) 5. by (2005) 7. by (1965) 8. by (1985) 9. by (1998) 10. (2004) 11. by (1986) 12. by (1972) 13. by (1973) 14. by (1979) 15. by (1972) 16. by (1975) 17. by (1980) 18. by (1998) 19. by…”
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From BestEverAlbums 08/17/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5407): By Charade
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Charade () 1. by (1980) 2. by (2005) 4. (1977) 5. (1981) 6. by by (1972) 8. by (2000) 9. by (2024) 10. by (1962) 11. by (1975) 12. by (2003) 13. by (1976) 14. (1999) 15. by (2016) 16. (1974) 17. by (1997) 18. by (1973) 19. by (1968) 20. by…”
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Hot Rats comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 57 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)
Rating:  
100/100
From 03/30/2026 01:28 | #313685
Incredible (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Reply
Rating:  
100/100
From 07/22/2024 06:15 | #304474
PUSH START BUTTON
(R) 1969 BIZARRE (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Reply
Rating:  
95/100
From 03/03/2023 23:50 | #294677 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Instrumentally, this is probably Frank Zappa's strongest release including everything he did with the Mother Of Invention. The music on here just feels so full of life and ideas that it is so easy to get lost in the soundscapes he creates. This is primarily done through the use of his guitar which is simply phenomenal and it displays the control and quality he has over the instrument. On every track he shines with the guitar highlights for me being The Gumbo Variations and Willie The Pimp. We are treated to a diverse array of instrumentation as well with fantastic performances from his whole ensemble. A special mention has to be given to the incredible work from Ian Underwood who stands out as a vital piece of the puzzle which makes this all come together. The compositions from Zappa are just superb also with each one being allowed to breathe and given time to develop so that at the end of each track you go into the next one feeling extremely fulfilled with what you have heard. Overall, Zappa displays his musical genius once again with some progressive jazz rock that stood out at the time it was released and still stands out today as a musical masterpiece. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Rating:  
85/100
From 08/07/2022 20:29 | #288267
Wonderful instrumentation of jazz and prog rock (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Rating:  
85/100
From 05/07/2022 19:29 | #285094
This is great jazz rock album, it has weird moments but sounds really cool. The only thing I would complain about is the vocals and lyrics on Willie The Pimp, they ruin a song for me on which i admire Zappa's musicianship as on whole record. I was surprised that I enjoyed that as I mostly hate his work with Mothers Of Invention.
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Best Albums of  1969
1. Abbey Road by The Beatles
2. In The Court Of The Crimson King by King Crimson
3. Led Zeppelin II by Led Zeppelin
4. Let It Bleed by The Rolling Stones
5. Led Zeppelin by Led Zeppelin
6. The Velvet Underground by The Velvet Underground
7. Five Leaves Left by Nick Drake
8. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
9. In A Silent Way by Miles Davis
10. Hot Rats by Frank Zappa