Nocturama
by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Nocturama by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Year: 2003
Release date: 2003-02-03
Overall rank: 7,724th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
69/100 (from 125 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 2003 (146th)
Award Top albums of of the 2000s (1,339th)
Award Best albums of all time (7,724th)

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Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds bestography

Nocturama is ranked 19th best out of 30 albums by Nick Cave on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Nick Cave is Skeleton Tree which is ranked number 382 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 4,341.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album bestography « Higher ranked (4,683rd)
Kicking Against The Pricks
This album (7,724th)
Nocturama
Lower ranked (12,788th) »
The Best Of Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds

(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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Nocturama rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 7,724th | 2000s rank: 1,339th | 2003 rank: 146th
Filter Filter
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YearSourceChartRankRank Score
2026 videoheadcleanerTop 90 Music Albums of 200349/902
2026mrmcrookTop 100 Music Albums of the 2000s100/1000
2026 ExTeaSeaTop 100 Music Albums of 200387/1001
2026blueandthemoonTop 83 Music Albums of 200332/833
2026 HeliosTop 100 Music Albums of 200378/1001
2026cicadelicMonitor Best Albums 200330/32 -
2026 imacgillTop 100 Music Albums of 200386/1001
2026JohnnyoFavourite albums by Australian artists18/89 -
2026 TamthebamTop 100 Music Albums of 200381/1001
2026 dihansseTop 71 Music Albums of 200347/712
2026 AAL2014Top 53 Music Albums of 200353/530
2026Musicbuff123Top 25 Music Albums of the 2000s25/251
2026 covecoveTop 100 Music Albums of 200357/1002
2026mrmcrookTop 42 Music Albums of 200311/424
2025HyggevinylTop 63 Music Albums of 200351/631
2025mikepenTop 62 Music Albums of 200354/621
2025JohnnyoThey came from the land down under17/69 -
2025davidhuretRanking: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (+ Grinderman)18/20 -
2025cronadigallinaTop 100 Music Albums of 200379/1001
2025ThuramThugoodRanked - Nick Cave - Ranked19/41 -
Total Charts: Help The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. 78
Total Rank Score: Help The total rank score. 165
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

Nocturama collection

Nocturama ratings

Average Rating: 
69/100 (from 125 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 5 ratings for this album.  | Show all 125 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
75/100
 !
06/27/2026 23:51 mrmcrook  Ratings distribution  1,10477/100
 
70/100
 !
06/01/2026 09:42 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  14,68070/100
 
100/100
 !
12/21/2025 04:23 Kingturtle  Ratings distribution  7,57973/100
 
75/100
 !
12/01/2025 08:08 Tamthebam  Ratings distribution  23,08869/100
 
50/100
 !
11/28/2025 19:41 Musicbuff123  Ratings distribution  35970/100

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 has a Bayesian average rating of 69.2/100, a mean average of 68.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 69.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.0.

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Nocturama favourites

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Nocturama comments

Showing all 4 comments |
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Rating:  
75/100
An overlooked and forgotten album. If your a Nick Cave fan, this wont let you down. Not up there with his best but in no way a bad album. Good mix bag of piano driven slower numbers along with some of the classic rockier gothic crooning stuff. The final track is an interesting one. A rocker of close to 15 minutes that just chugs along with no deviation. Not bad, just long.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
60/100
So many people have panned this album. Most of the negative reviews refer to a certain laziness, as if NCATBS were simply dusting off some old, rejected, songs and churning them out in order to get an album out.

And, to be fair to the reviewers, it's nowhere near the Bad Seeds' best efforts. But it's not completely terrible. (I'm not sure any Bad Seeds album could be completely terrible.) Of the tracks on here, Dead Man In My Bed is probably the best for me, although I have a sneaking admiration for Babe, I'm On Fire, just because of the playing on it. But Rock of Gibraltar is horrible. It's almost like someone said "I bet you can find 16 rhymes for Gibraltar" and Nick Cave went "Watch me". Yuck.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
If there is a Nick Cave album that tends to be regarded as his weakest it's, nocturama. I don't understand why. I agree, it's not his best, but come on, it's Nick Cave, this is a guy who has never made a bad record, and, nocturama, is another fine LP. There are some great songs here, he wants you, being my favourite, with, wonderful life, bring it on, and, still in love, all excellent. If there is one complaint, it's the last track, baby's on fire. If it was four or five minutes long it would have been fine. As it is, it goes on for what feels like three months, although it is actually 15 minutes. Still, way too long. Aside from that, it's a good record.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (3 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
65/100
Definitely the master's weakest moment, and lauded as such, but hey, it's still fun at times.

Favorite tracks: "Bring It On", "Babe I'm On Fire"
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (3 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
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