Closer
by Joy Division

Album
Closer by Joy Division
Year: 1980
Release date: 1980-07-18
Overall rank: 79th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
85/100 (from 1,933 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 5 albums of 1980 (2nd)
Award Top 20 albums of of the 1980s (11th)
Award Top 100 albums of all time (79th)

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Joy Division bestography

Closer is ranked 2nd best out of 12 albums by Joy Division on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Joy Division is Unknown Pleasures which is ranked number 39 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 20,445.

Joy Division album bestography « Higher ranked (39th)
Unknown Pleasures This album (79th)
Closer Lower ranked (1,437th) »
Substance

(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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Closer track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 86 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Atrocity Exhibition
Average Rating: 86 (409 votes)Comments: View 5
2.
Isolation
Average Rating: 87 (417 votes)Comments: View 1
3.
Passover
Average Rating: 84 (372 votes)Comments: View 2
4.
Colony
Average Rating: 82 (348 votes)Comments: View 2
5.
A Means To An End
Average Rating: 84 (362 votes)Comments: View 3
6.
Heart And Soul
Average Rating: 85 (382 votes)Comments: View 2
7.
Track pick (890 - 405 votes)
Twenty Four Hours
Average Rating: 89 (405 votes)Comments: View 2
8.
Track pick (880 - 393 votes)
The Eternal
Average Rating: 88 (393 votes)Comments: View 2
9.
Track pick (900 - 457 votes)
Decades
Average Rating: 90 (457 votes)Comments: View 6

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

Closer rankings

Closer rankings summary
Overall rank: 79th | 1980s rank: 11th | 1980 rank: 2nd  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: 6 hours ago)

Closer collection

Closer ratings

Average Rating: 
85/100 (from 1,933 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 1,933 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
95/100
 !		08/28/2026 03:20 Melway94  Ratings distribution  11883/100
 
80/100
 !		08/13/2026 11:19 TitoVampir  Ratings distribution  19776/100
 
80/100
 !		08/07/2026 07:30 barethman  Ratings distribution  20780/100

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 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 85.1/100, a mean average of 83.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 85.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.1.


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Closer favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 437 members

Steve_Emmett
DonPlankie
Exist-en-ciel
NYAndreas
nextorgd
elcapnsunshine
Iglou2981
edguyerrison
villagegreen831
ForARide

Forum mentions

This album has been referenced 194 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 4 days ago in Chart of the day (#5439): By joedec
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by joedec () 1. (1989) 2. by (1982) 4. (1990) 5. by (1980) 7. by by (1993) 10. by (1985) 11. by by by (1988) 14. by (1977) 16. by (1987) 17. by (1987) 18. by (1971) 19. by (1979) 20. by (1984) 22. by (1972) 23. by (1979) 24. by (1968) 25. by by…”
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From BestEverAlbums 09/14/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5435): By flamingyesdept
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s by flamingyesdept () 1. by (1980) 2. by (1986) 3. by (1985) 4. by (1984) 6. by (1983) 8. by (1985) 9. (1986) 10. by (1988) 11. (1980) 12. by (1988) 13. (1984) 14. by (1982) 15. by by by (1989) 18. (1980) 19. (1989) 20. by (1985) 22. by…”
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From BestEverAlbums 09/10/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5431): By Amirkhosro
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Amirkhosro () 1. by (1965) 2. by (1967) 3. by by (1970) 5. (2002) 6. by (1959) 7. (1966) 8. by by (1976) 10. by by (1968) 12. by (1959) 13. by (1959) 14. (1977) 16. by (1998) 18. by by (1989) 20. by (1998) 21. by (1962) 23. by (1980) 24. by…”
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Closer comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 127 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)
Rating:  
65/100
From 05/02/2026 15:59 | #314256
Up Down Up, a roller coaster ride, it starts on high but rushes down to lows and then with a thrill the ascent back to great heights at the end.
I love the overall darkness and dismal vibe of the album but don't like the middle section so much (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Reply
Rating:  
35/100
From 09/03/2025 15:06 | #310801
With the exception of some of the non-album singles and Disorder, I still just can't get into this band unfortunately. This album to me was slow and boring, cannot see how it is in the top 100 albums of all time. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Reply
Rating:  
95/100
From 08/14/2024 12:48 | #304757
Album Rating: 86.33
(777/9)

18.07.1980

Joy Division (UK): Closer

1.Atrocity Exhibition 83
2.Isolation 84
3.Passover 83
4.Colony 76
5.A Means To An End 84
6.Heart & Soul 81
7.Twenty Four Hours 98
8.The Eternal 90
9.Decades 98

In order of preference:

Joy Division (Closer) - Twenty Four Hours 98

Joy Division (Closer) - Decades 98
Joy Division (Closer) - The Eternal 90
Joy Division (Closer) - A Means To An End 84
Joy Division (Closer) - Isolation 84
Joy Division (Closer) - Atrocity Exhibition 83
Joy Division (Closer) - Passover 83
Joy Division (Closer) - Heart & Soul 81
Joy Division (Closer) - Colony 76 (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Reply
Rating:  
100/100
From 07/11/2024 16:34 | #304232
This is my favourite Joy Division album and maybe my favourite album of all time. It's a really dark album but the lyrics and music are beautiful. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Reply
Rating:  
70/100
From 02/09/2024 01:16 | #301846
Not an easy task to repeat the same instinctive performance of Unknown Pleasures and truly impossible to compare both records.
This one is interesting but clearly not as good.
Sounds like a transitional record so mabye the 3rd one would be a whole new world.
We'll never know ? (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (0 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
Reply

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Best Albums of  1980
1. Remain In Light by Talking Heads
2. Closer by Joy Division
3. Back In Black by AC/DC
4. Scary Monsters by David Bowie
5. Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables by Dead Kennedys
6. Peter Gabriel (1980) by Peter Gabriel
7. The River by Bruce Springsteen
8. Permanent Waves by Rush
9. Pretenders by Pretenders
10. Seventeen Seconds by The Cure