Workingman's Dead
by Grateful Dead
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Grateful Dead bestography
Workingman's Dead is ranked 2nd best out of 164 albums by Grateful Dead on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Grateful Dead is American Beauty which is ranked number 396 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 4,143.
(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 Workingman's Dead on YouTube
Workingman's Dead track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Workingman's Dead 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 |  Rhyner | Top 41 Music Albums of 1970 | 25/41 | 2 |
| 2026 | Jaymantheman | Top 60 Music Albums of the 1970s | 59/60 | 1 |
| 2026 | Juneof44 | Top 50 Music Albums of 1970 | 34/50 | 2 |
| 2026 |  O.T. | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 3/100 | 98 |
| 2026 |  Glitterboiii | Top 50 Music Albums of 1970 | 28/50 | 2 |
| 2026 | Pluto11 | Top 100 Music Albums of 1970 | 31/100 | 4 |
| 2026 |  DommeDamian | Scaruffi Best Albums of 1970 | 37/67 | - |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Greatest all time of all time (401 - 500) by Acclaimed Music | 60/100 | - |
| 2026 |  RockyRaccoon | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | 38/100 | 13 |
| 2026 | matterhornrider | Top 75 Music Albums of 1970 | 25/75 | 3 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 282 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 1,458 | |||
Workingman's Dead collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 258 members
Workingman's Dead 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 443 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 4 days ago | Philly28 | 968 | 69/100 |
| ! | 09/19/2026 23:36 |  Repo | 2,234 | 85/100 |
| ! | 09/15/2026 11:56 |  NowhereMan | 1,495 | 77/100 |
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 78.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.8.
Workingman's Dead favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 69 members
Workingman's Dead forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 10/02/2026 08:18 in Monthly overall chart movements - September 2026 BestEverAlbums 09/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movements - August 2026 BestEverAlbums 08/04/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5394): By O.T.Workingman's Dead comments
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Romanelli TOP 100 COMMENTER 03/06/2011 18:58 | #18973 | TOP COMMENT
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In 1970, the Dead released their 2 best studio albums: American Beauty and Workingman's Dead. Inspired by Music From Big Pink, this album is not about jams...it's about songs. All 8 tracks here are excellent, played and sung to perfection. "Uncle John's Band" and "Casey Jones" are the well known classics, but also "Dire Wolf" and the rest are just as excellent. This is a great blues and country rock album with top notch lyrics and harmonies.
The Dead started to slip in the studio after 1970, but they continued to play historic live shows. This album is a good reminder of what they were capable of doing early on, and of why the live shows had great material to rely on.
(Edited)
The Dead will always be known as a touring band, and one of the best ever. Their genius came from turning their somewhat loosely constructed songs from the record into epic explorations on the stage. In 1970 they shocked everyone by releasing two folky, acoustic-based albums, just months apart. When I think of American Beauty and this one, I think of them together, almost as if they are part of a double album. To the uninitiated, I would suggest Live/Dead to give you a feel of the 'real' band. But I would say either of these - why not both! - next. (Edited)
planetneutral 01/30/2021 01:31 | #265279 | TOP COMMENT
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A step behind American Beauty as an album, but featuring more songs on my all-time favorite playlist. (Edited)
Brandon8 TOP 100 COMMENTER 04/23/2020 03:16 | #250384 | TOP COMMENT
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Not as consistently strong as a American Beauty but it’s peaks are just as high. (Edited)
Excellent effort by the Dead! Could have been a double album with American Beauty. (Edited)
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