Document
by R.E.M.
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R.E.M. bestography
Document is ranked 3rd best out of 36 albums by R.E.M. on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by R.E.M. is Automatic For The People which is ranked number 45 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 18,501.
(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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Document 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.
Document rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 2 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | joathome | Top 33 Music Albums of 1987 | 9/33 | 4 |
| 2026 | pinkfreud1981 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 90/100 | 2 |
| 2026 | fabm0 | Platinum decade 1980s Pt 3 | 75/100 | - |
| 2026 | Finky | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 18/100 | 17 |
| 2026 |  NowhereMan | R.E.M - RANKED | 8/12 | - |
| 2026 |  Sandrof1969 | Top 20 Music Albums of 1987 | 4/20 | 4 |
| 2026 | javicho07 | Top 15 Music Albums of 1987 | 8/15 | 3 |
| 2026 | Siromynian | Top 28 Music Albums of 1987 | 6/28 | 3 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | listened to of 2023 (deleting) | 75/89 | - |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 19/100 | 82 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 717 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 4,501 | |||
Document collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 525 members
Document 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 939 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 37 minutes ago | Siromynian | 1,726 | 76/100 |
| ! | 5 days ago | luukvdschepop | 767 | 75/100 |
| ! | 09/17/2026 15:00 |  RockyRaccoon | 7,234 | 84/100 |
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 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 80.3/100, a mean average of 79.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 80.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.0.
Document favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 147 members
Document forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 10 hours ago in Chart of the day (#5454): By mianfei BestEverAlbums 09/12/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5433): By JohnnyoDocument comments
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REM's fifth album, sees the band starting to lean towards the mainstream, at least in terms of commercial success. Document, is similar to predecessor, life's rich pageant, in that it's predominately a rock album, but this record has a bigger, fuller sound. It kicks off with an REM classic, finest worksong, is one of the band's great opening tracks. The album also contains two other gems, it's the End of the world as we know it, is Michael Stipe's, subterranean homesick blues, a waterfall of nonsensical words, which would become one of REM's most enjoyable songs. The one I love, is another important song, and the band's first hit, an excellent track. Other standouts are fireplace, welcome to the occupation, and the brilliant, exhuming McCarthy. There's a cover of Wire's, strange, and, the record ends with the slight eastern drone of, king of birds, and then finally, oddfellows local 151. It's a very good LP, though the band were swiftly moving away from their independent roots. This would be the last album on the IRS label, Warner Bros. lie in wait, as does superstardom.
This is the album which really showed that R.E.M. was a force to be reckoned with. Up until this point they were a really good up and coming band but this album displayed a more mature sound and demonstrated the command of their songwriting and musical power. Get it!
Boltzmann TOP 100 COMMENTER 09/03/2018 11:56 | #220483 | TOP COMMENT
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The upbeat sound of their earlier records is just gone. That’s what I loved about R.E.M.: that they didn’t try hard to be so deep and pessimistic like most post-punk bands at the time that had heard Unknown Pleasures and wanted to remake it.
There are some nice guitar riffs on here though, especially the opening track.
Another great album from R.E.M. I personally don't like it as much as the albums that came before it, but it is still very good. Tracks 1-4 are great, and 6 & 7 are their best known songs for a reason. After that it loses my interest a little.
This for me is the album where REM really started to find their sound
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