The River
by Bruce Springsteen
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Bruce Springsteen bestography
The River is ranked 5th best out of 161 albums by Bruce Springsteen on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Bruce Springsteen is Born To Run which is ranked number 81 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 14,278.
(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 The River on YouTube
The River track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 79 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
The River 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 |  imacgill | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 29/100 | 14 |
| 2026 | Kettwig | Top 32 Music Albums of 1980 | 2/32 | 5 |
| 2026 | Rm12398 | Top 25 Music Albums of 1980 | 8/25 | 4 |
| 2026 |  Helios | Top 80 Music Albums of 1980 | 58/80 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Purplepash | Scrobbles Don't Lie | 84/100 | - |
| 2026 | microjude | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 92/100 | 9 |
| 2026 |  Hayden | Top 100 Music Albums of 1980 | 75/100 | 1 |
| 2026 | matterhornrider | Top 20 Double Albums | 19/20 | - |
| 2026 | saltysurprise | Top 49 Music Albums of 1980 | 7/49 | 4 |
| 2026 |  jhuik | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 68/100 | 31 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 609 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 3,778 | |||
The River collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 480 members
The River 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 884 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/25/2026 14:23 | billyboy66 | 47 | 83/100 |
| ! | 08/25/2026 10:22 | AledJames | 1,682 | 69/100 |
| ! | 07/22/2026 23:45 | xhitmanx | 1,604 | 75/100 |
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 78.6/100, a mean average of 77.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.7/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.5.
The River favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 132 members
Forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 5 hours ago in Chart of the day (#5436): By Rivera BestEverAlbums 08/02/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5392): By leniad BestEverAlbums 08/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movementsThe River 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)
Jboy56 01/08/2024 14:50 | #300990
Classic Boss, but some songs are definitely filler tracks but listenable (Edited)
Brad1770 08/22/2023 08:07 | #298791
Originally signed off and submitted as a single album, Bruce on his manger’s suggestion would at the last minute scrap this version and go back to the drawing board with the more than 50 tracks the sessions had produced. Should he have stuck with the original single album? General consensus is yes, however Bruce felt he had more to say that could only be expressed across 4 sides. Personally I’ve always believed there was plenty of fat that could have been trimmed namely “Crush on You (o-o-o)”, “I Wanna Marry You”, “I’m a Rocker”, “Ramrod”, “Sherry Darling” (with its cheesy 80’s sax solo) and “Wreck on the Highway” (what a downer to end the album) just off the top of my head
HoldenM 05/25/2023 17:12 | #297217
Kinda wish it was its best tracks, but still a fantastic display of rock and roll history, not to mention some of Bruce's sharpest songwriting and production up to this point.
Great record
Another solid album from Bruce, but not as consistent as previous two, especially on the second half. But great tracks are really great, I would like to highlight The River (of course), Independence Day, Hungry Heart, Point Blank, Sherry Darling, Two Hearts and I also think that Wreck On The Highway is great closer which is the most underrated song here. There is a big amount of filler on this album, but most of it is fun (I really like Cadillac Ranch). The only track I really don't enjoy is Crush On You because of annoying chorus repeated too many times. Overall this album creates great experience, but it's not as cohesive as Born To Run or Darkness On The Edge Of Town. (Edited)
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