Distortion
by The Magnetic Fields
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The Magnetic Fields bestography
Distortion is ranked 6th best out of 15 albums by The Magnetic Fields on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by The Magnetic Fields is 69 Love Songs which is ranked number 508 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 3,386.
(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 Distortion on YouTube
Distortion track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 77 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Distortion rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 5 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  MadhattanJack | Top 76 Music Albums of 2008 | 55/76 | 1 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Top 100 Music Albums of 2008 | 93/100 | 0 |
| 2026 |  johnner | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 85/100 | 16 |
| 2026 |  Helios | Top 90 Music Albums of 2008 | 30/90 | 3 |
| 2026 |  imacgill | Top 100 Music Albums of 2008 | 46/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Delusions Of Adequacy Top 50 of 2008 | 45/51 | - |
| 2026 |  Kalos | Top 18 Music Albums of 2008 | 13/18 | 2 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Aversion Best Albums 2008 | 7/10 | - |
| 2025 | johnner | Best Shoegaze & Dreampop Albums | 39/100 | - |
| 2025 | cicadelic | Robert Christgau: Dean's List 2008 | 10/71 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 52 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 154 | |||
Distortion collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 21 members
Distortion 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 53 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/23/2026 15:21 | namethattune | 2 | 70/100 |
| ! | 06/08/2026 10:05 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,557 | 70/100 |
| ! | 11/27/2025 15:38 | cicadelic | 13,816 | 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 has a Bayesian average rating of 71.2/100, a mean average of 69.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 71.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 17.2.
Forum mentions
imacgill 01/02/2026 23:59 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
SleepDealer 02/03/2020 12:12 in What album are you listening to right now?Distortion comments
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Feels like the distortion element was an afterthought and added to the production to match the album title. Great songwriting and melodies as per The Magnetic Fields but not their best album.
Sandrof1969 02/22/2018 20:30 | #209266
L'ho trovato meglio di come lo ricordassi questo "Distortions", ma in ogni caso mi pare che queste "distorsioni" non si adattino granchè bene alle melodie dei Magnetic Fields.
A disappointment as far as The Magnetic Fields are concerned, but still a halfway decent album.
johnner 01/02/2012 19:51 | #34230 | TOP COMMENT
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Perfect pop drenched in noise & feedback, even the cellos. Brilliant.
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