Sleep Well Beast
by The National
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The National bestography
Sleep Well Beast is ranked 5th best out of 18 albums by The National on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by The National is High Violet which is ranked number 121 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 10,361.
(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 Sleep Well Beast on YouTube
Sleep Well Beast track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Sleep Well Beast rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 4 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Fritz | Top 20 Music Albums of 2017 | 16/20 | 1 |
| 2026 | AledJames | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 28/100 | 71 |
| 2026 |  paladisiac | Top 100 Music Albums of 2017 | 6/100 | 5 |
| 2026 | gregthealien | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s | 60/100 | 8 |
| 2026 |  Hayden | Top 100 Music Albums of 2017 | 86/100 | 1 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Record Collector Best New Releases of 2017 | 8/36 | - |
| 2026 | Moondance | Top 100 Music Albums of 2017 | 7/100 | 5 |
| 2026 |  Xxnu99etxX | Top 51 Music Albums of 2017 | 30/51 | 2 |
| 2026 | saltysurprise | Top 64 Music Albums of 2017 | 22/64 | 3 |
| 2026 |  dihansse | Top 100 Music Albums of 2017 | 52/100 | 2 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 509 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 3,043 | |||
Sleep Well Beast collection
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Sleep Well Beast 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 556 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 10/01/2026 02:24 | jnmayles | 2,393 | 73/100 |
| ! | 09/16/2026 11:28 | ASOARE | 2,553 | 78/100 |
| ! | 09/13/2026 04:05 | tyleraepps | 484 | 83/100 |
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 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 79.4/100, a mean average of 78.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.6/100. The standard deviation for this album is 12.2.
Sleep Well Beast favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 72 members
Sleep Well Beast forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 09/25/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5446): By RasmV
pedro1976 09/08/2026 16:07 in What album are you listening to? (cont.) BestEverAlbums 08/27/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5417): By TamthebamSleep Well Beast comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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HoldenM TOP 100 COMMENTER 09/06/2017 23:03 | #197397 | TOP COMMENT
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Okay, gave it a couple more listens.
This is as sleek and deceptive a record as one could want from The National. It's like the band listened to FKA twigs's LP1 over and over, and thought, "What if we did our version of this?" It's hard to tell if anything will stand with the rest of The National's highlights, or even where this will fit into their air-tight discography--because, really you could make a case for any of their albums Alligator forward as being their strongest work. I'll tell you, though--I don't mind a glitchy version of The National. Not one bit. The songwriting is still there. The emotional punch still hits hard. The consistency is as in tact as ever. Maybe it's lacking in dynamic range, but all of these songs are terrific in one way or another.
God, what a damn fine year for music.
Is it better than Boxer? I don't know, but the fact that I'm having this discussion at all says what I need to say about the quality of this record.
A beautiful, apocalyptic masterpiece.
micah88800 09/15/2017 07:22 | #198028 | TOP COMMENT
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I was worried about this album. I loved everything they've done since Alligator, but the 2015 release "Sunshine on my back" was exceptionally weak and began to sound like a band getting too comfortable with their sound. Thankfully, this album is nothing like that. It's fantasitic and fresh. Sure it has that National trademark sound, but it takes a liberal amount musical liberties as well. The result is a album that sounds fresh, fun, and most importantly, good.
Favorite songs: Dark Side of the Gym, Nobody Else Will Be There
While I did enjoy Trouble Will Find Me, it was definitely one of their weaker albums. This however is freaking wonderful, sonically beautiful and still carrying thay emotional punch The National are so amazing at bringing. Of all their albums post-Alligator, Sleep Well Beast is definitely the most vicious,Turtleneck maybe being the band's most biting track to date. Undoubtedly my album of the year thus far.
Strangel TOP 100 COMMENTER 09/12/2017 04:32 | #197834 | TOP COMMENT
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This is undoubtedly a very very good album. After a couple of listens I know It's going to get many more rotations before I've wrung it dry of all the subtle (and not so subtle) elements within. And this is what makes a great album - being able to keep you returning to it time and again so as to improve upon the experience with each listen. SO far I've barely touched the surface of the lyrics and composition. Vying with Fleet Foxes for AoTY so far.
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