50 Song Memoir
by The Magnetic Fields
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The Magnetic Fields bestography
50 Song Memoir is ranked 2nd best out of 14 albums by The Magnetic Fields on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by The Magnetic Fields is 69 Love Songs which is ranked number 489 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 3,482.
(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 50 Song Memoir on YouTube
50 Song Memoir track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 78 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
50 Song Memoir rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 3 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  johnner | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 43/100 | 56 |
| 2026 | joathome | Top 87 Music Albums of 2017 | 83/87 | 0 |
| 2026 |  Purplepash | Ranked listening log 2017 201-280 | 34/80 | - |
| 2026 |  baystateoftheart | 2017 Honorable Mentions | 78/85 | - |
| 2026 |  imimesis | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s | 22/100 | 16 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Top 53 Music Albums of 2017 | 25/53 | 3 |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 100 Music Albums of 2017 | 81/100 | 1 |
| 2026 |  imacgill | Missed The Cut- 2017 | 14/31 | - |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Rockdelux Discos internacionales 2017 | 6/51 | - |
| 2026 | jdizzle123456 | Top 100 Music Albums of 2017 | 75/100 | 1 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 95 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 321 | |||
50 Song Memoir collection
Showing all 17 members who have this album in their collection
50 Song Memoir 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 94 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 07/18/2026 02:44 | Proto | 4,411 | 33/100 |
| ! | 07/07/2026 21:38 | Exist-en-ciel | 16,426 | 70/100 |
| ! | 06/28/2026 08:48 | cicadelic | 14,253 | 73/100 |
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 is rated in the top 11% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 74.6/100, a mean average of 73.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 74.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.0.
50 Song Memoir favourites
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50 Song Memoir forum mentions
Purplepash 09/27/2018 10:05 in What album are you listening to right now?
dihansse 06/05/2017 19:50 in Magnetic Fields: which epic album do you prefer?50 Song Memoir comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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johnner TOP 100 COMMENTER 03/08/2017 23:29 | #187158 | TOP COMMENT
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It's true, it's Merritt's best since '69 Love Songs' with some monster, killer songs on offer that easily rank as his best - even if it includes some of his oddest arrangements to date. There is one big difference though, where '69 Love Songs' favoured a more spartan instrumentation 'Memoir' is a hell of a lot more colourful, even at times psychedelic befitting his familial background. Even so, he still finds room for the kind of piano-led compositions last seen on '69' or 'i'. Whatever, he's on top form here and this is gonna be glued to my stereo for a long, long time.
Having squeezed out sixty-nine love songs for the album of the same name almost two decades ago, Stephin Merritt somehow found the energy to hammer out another ultra-long album this year, this time themed around his fifty years on the planet. Sure it’s not all gold, but I can’t imagine many other artists managing such a feat so well.
SleepDealer 06/11/2017 12:59 | #192396 | TOP COMMENT
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While it's definitely a step up from their previous two album releases, this is a decidedly hit-and-miss affair, even compared with 69 Love Songs, which features some of the band's finest moments. The concept works to a degree and it is not a bad album, but probably for fans only.
this is some magic stuff!
Disc 1: 7.5/10
Disc 2: 8/10
Disc 3: 7.5/10
Disc 4: 8.5/10
Disc 5: 8/10
50 Song Memoir: 7.9/10
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