John Barleycorn Must Die
by Traffic

John Barleycorn Must Die by Traffic
Year: 1970
Release date: 1970-07-01
Overall rank: 2,044th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
77/100 (from 259 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1970 (46th)
Award Top albums of of the 1970s (367th)
Award Best albums of all time (2,044th)

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Traffic bestography

John Barleycorn Must Die is ranked as the best album by Traffic.

Traffic album bestography « Higher ranked
-
This album (2,044th)
John Barleycorn Must Die
Lower ranked (2,173rd) »
Mr. Fantasy

(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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John Barleycorn Must Die track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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

John Barleycorn Must Die rankings

John Barleycorn Must Die rankings summary
Overall rank: 2,044th | 1970s rank: 367th | 1970 rank: 46th  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 2 hours ago)

John Barleycorn Must Die collection

John Barleycorn Must Die ratings

Average Rating: 
77/100 (from 259 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 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 259 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
80/100
 !
4 days ago Yurls  Ratings distribution  390/100
 
70/100
 !
08/09/2026 21:29 AledJames  Ratings distribution  1,67169/100
 
75/100
 !
07/12/2026 00:44 traistboar  Ratings distribution  1,76979/100

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 4% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.6/100, a mean average of 75.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.7.


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John Barleycorn Must Die favourites

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Forum mentions

This album has been referenced 45 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From Johnnyo 4 days ago in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
What album are you listening to? (cont.)
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From Johnnyo 08/16/2026 08:06 in Albums / music that changed my life
As a Brummie, what are your favourite Birmingham albums Johnny? my word, where do i start. You obviously can't ignore Parnoid, Black Sabbath and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath are essential albums although they degenerated later in their career, the first two which is a great album. I could go on and on.…
View forum post →

From Johnnyo 08/06/2026 09:31 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
What album are you listening to? (cont.)
View forum post →

View all forum mentions

John Barleycorn Must Die comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 13 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Rating:  
85/100
From 03/27/2025 21:30 | #308222
Cet album est une magnifique vitrine du talent de Steve Winwood.
Vous trouverez notamment 2 pépites à la fin de chaque face.
Un chef d'œuvre. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
65/100
From 11/12/2021 12:59 | #276201
A did not hate it. Just kinda lame
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
A great album early '70s British rock album that is strong from start to finish. This album began a run of four in a row in which Traffic found its groove, that being leaning toward longer, progressive/jazz fusion-based compositions. The best was yet to come (see their next album, The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys), but this one is almost as good, featuring some of their very best songs, including Freedom Rider and Empty Pages. I definitely recommend this for all. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
65/100
From 04/22/2021 19:22 | #268871
john barleycorn and little else (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (0 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 02/15/2018 20:39 | #208355
Ammetto di essere stato a lungo prevenuto nei confronti di questo disco ed in generale dei Traffic. Il fatto è che tutto ciò che odora di progressive mi ripugna istintivamente ed un album che usciva nel 1970, che coniugava rock, psichedelia, folk e jazz e che - orrore - aveva tra i suoi strumenti cardine il flauto, sulla carta non poteva che respingermi. In più la canzone che titolava il tutto e che già conoscevo non mi piaceva granchè. E invece… Invece succede che qui gli ingredienti di cui sopra sono dosati perfettamente, che non c'è mai ma proprio mai la tendenza a suonarsi addosso tipica del progressive, che le canzoni sono eccellenti ( tutte più della title track, secondo me ) e… si, che pure il flauto riesca ad inserirsi bene nel contesto.
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