Donuts
by J Dilla

Donuts by J Dilla
Year: 2006
Release date: 2006-02-07
Overall rank: 410th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
81/100 (from 533 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 10 albums of 2006 (6th)
Award Top 100 albums of of the 2000s (66th)
Award Top 500 albums of all time (410th)

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J Dilla Donuts Music CDs New
Condition: Brand New


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Donuts by J Dilla (Record, 2011)
Condition: Used


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J Dilla / Jay Dee CD Lot. Welcome 2 Detroit, Ruff Draft, Jay Dee Donuts
Condition: Like New


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J Dilla bestography

Donuts is ranked as the best album by J Dilla.

J Dilla album bestography « Higher ranked
-
This album (410th)
Donuts
Lower ranked (22,918th) »
The Shining

(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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Donuts track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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#
Track
Rating/Comments
2.
Track pick (870 - 114 votes)
Average Rating: 87 (114 votes)Comments: View 0
10.
Track pick (870 - 108 votes)
Average Rating: 87 (108 votes)Comments: View 1
30.
Track pick (850 - 93 votes)
Average Rating: 85 (93 votes)Comments: View 0

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

Donuts rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 410th | 2000s rank: 66th | 2006 rank: 6th
Filter Filter
Sort Sort by
YearSourceChartRankRank Score
2026 eclabTop 19 Music Albums of 200613/192
2026 ExTeaSeaTop 79 Music Albums of 200624/794
2026shanelovesyou1111Top 65 Music Albums of 200650/651
2026cicadelicUrb Best Albums 20061/10 -
2026blueandthemoonTop 100 Music Albums of 200615/1004
2026jonny5244Upcoming Album Club Picks 25/100 -
2026jdizzle12345621st Century40/50 -
2026KettwigTop 25 Music Albums of 200620/251
2026lanadeleswiftTop 56 Music Albums of 200616/564
2026sweetnessTop 100 Music Albums of the 2000s31/10014
2026Drbassexpert24Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s59/1008
2026Liks_on_musicTop 86 Greatest Music Albums69/8621
2026jdizzle123456Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s15/10017
2026daCriticTop 26 Music Albums of 20064/264
2026jonny5244Top 46 Music Albums of 20064/465
2026juanr1096Top 100 Music Albums of 20061/1005
2026Exist-en-cielTop 100 Music Albums of the 2000s44/10011
2026jdizzle123456Greatest Hip Hop Albums of All Time20/50 -
2026jtrizzle35Top 65 Music Albums of the 2000s16/6515
2026 HaydenTop 100 Music Albums of the 2000s10/10018
Total Charts: Help The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. 480
Total Rank Score: Help The total rank score. 4,032
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

Donuts collection

Donuts ratings

Average Rating: 
81/100 (from 533 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 533 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
100/100
 !
05/05/2026 20:58 seaniedimes_  Ratings distribution  7480/100
 
85/100
 !
04/15/2026 20:35 Liks_on_music  Ratings distribution  65381/100
 
100/100
 !
04/11/2026 18:31 samueljlakin  Ratings distribution  3956/100
 
100/100
 !
03/24/2026 23:30 kinginsomniac12  Ratings distribution  56799/100
 
75/100
 !
03/22/2026 16:32 MagicSix  Ratings distribution  1,04460/100

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 81.3/100, a mean average of 79.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 81.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 17.7.

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Donuts comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 24 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:  
85/100
From 09/06/2024 18:42 | #305160
The tracks are too short to rate this album per track... I also always zone out when I'm listening to this, so I can almost never tell when the track changes... it's as if this album is one giant instrumental track. Maybe it sounds like I'm criticizing it but nope... I'm definitely praising it. This is something else.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 01/05/2023 21:40 | #292528
Bagunça boa pra porra!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 05/09/2021 17:00 | #269526
Great instrumental album. There is genius and death in those beats.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 04/25/2021 04:12 | #268951
lo-fi hip-hop pioneer??
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 02/07/2021 12:31 | #265954
Happy 15th Anniversary To This Album!

Fav. Tracks:

- Workinonit
- Waves
- Light My Fire
- Stop
- The Diff'rence
- Time: The Donut Of The Heart
- Glazed
- One Eleven
- Two Can Win
- Don't Cry
- Anti-American Graffiti
- Dilla Says Go
- Last Donut Of The Night
- Welcome To The Show / Donuts (Intro)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 01/21/2021 21:33 | #264809
This is cool in and of itself, but it's more resonant when you know something about the context in which it was made.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 06/15/2020 23:23 | #253607
Donuts is an incredibly sad last effort by J Dilla. This album is amazing.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
On the 7th of February 2006, after around 4 months of label disputes J Dilla's 'Donuts' was finally released.
3 days later he was dead.

Donuts is so much more than just a beat tape, it's the final swan-song of a dying man who felt that in his final moments he had to push himself into making something worth being remembered by. 29 out of the 31 tracks were recorded from a hospital bed in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with nothing but an Boss SP-303 small 45 record player his friends had brought him as a gift, Dilla was undergoing treatment for TPP and lupus, records that his mother would bring him were used as the sources of the sampling for the album. It's a common complaint that all of the songs here are too short and fleeting, but to me it's perfect. It's sort of hauntingly symbolic of how life itself is too short and fleeting, but personal meaning aside, every song here is so lush and beautiful, tiny little details are spread across all 31 tracks, it's impossible to listen to them and not hear something new. I wish they could go on forever. I really do.

I am not worthy of listening to this. I can't even believe this thing exists. I listen to this and I think about how terrifying death is, how scared Dilla must have been. there are no words to describe how breathtaking this music is.


fuck.
RIP.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +9 votes (9 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 03/20/2019 13:45 | #233787
One of the records that got me into listening to hip hop music in general.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
60/100
From 03/03/2019 15:09 | #232940
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -6 votes (2 helpful | 8 unhelpful)
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