Three Imaginary Boys
by The Cure
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The Cure bestography
Three Imaginary Boys is ranked 9th best out of 40 albums by The Cure on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by The Cure is Disintegration which is ranked number 27 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 25,551.
(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 Three Imaginary Boys on YouTube
Three Imaginary Boys track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 77 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Three Imaginary Boys rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 6 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  neilgee | Top 100 Music Albums of 1979 | 16/100 | 4 |
| 2026 | stangetzaway | Top 49 Music Albums of 1979 | 45/49 | 1 |
| 2026 |  videoheadcleaner | Top 100 Music Albums of 1979 | 16/100 | 4 |
| 2026 |  foxytreeko | Top 50 Music Albums of the 1970s | 38/50 | 5 |
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Top 100 Music Albums of 1979 | 56/100 | 2 |
| 2026 |  mutley88 | Top 19 Music Albums of 1979 | 10/19 | 3 |
| 2026 |  LedZep | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | 52/100 | 10 |
| 2026 | Kettwig | Top 29 Music Albums of 1979 | 23/29 | 1 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | 45/100 | 11 |
| 2026 | edguyerrison | Top 40 Greatest Music Albums | 35/40 | 14 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 283 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 1,174 | |||
Three Imaginary Boys collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 169 members
Three Imaginary Boys 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/07/2026 10:17 | platus | 5,876 | 74/100 |
| ! | 07/30/2026 20:37 |  Special | 3,008 | 72/100 |
| ! | 06/01/2026 22:48 |  serpico | 907 | 85/100 |
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 6% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 75.5/100, a mean average of 74.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 75.6/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.1.
Three Imaginary Boys favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 48 members
Forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 07/18/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5377): By Liedzeit
Liedzeit 06/26/2026 07:24 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
dihansse 01/19/2025 19:23 in My discoveries per yearThree Imaginary Boys 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)
A great debut. Personally I think it’s only gotten better with age too! (Edited)
A slightly different sound to what I'm used to from this band. A decent album but lacking real high-points. Object is my favourite track. (Edited)
HoldenM 09/06/2023 21:54 | #299009 | TOP COMMENT
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One of those debuts where all the pieces are there, and there are even a few strong highlights, but there's plenty of room for improvement. Luckily, we know just how much room The Cure is able to find moving forward. Relative to their highs, it's hard not to see Three Imaginary Boys as much more than a footnote even for the debut of one of the most consequential bands of the 1980s. On its own, it's still a notable post punk record worth a few spins. (Edited)
My favourite Cutre album from their best era imo (Edited)
This album is good new wave effort, but nothing very original. I love its instrumentals and vocals a little less. I also think that its best tracks are great and it shows future potential of this band. (Edited)
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