Spike
by Elvis Costello
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Elvis Costello bestography
Spike is ranked 10th best out of 37 albums by Elvis Costello on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Elvis Costello is This Year's Model which is ranked number 334 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 5,012.
(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 Spike on YouTube
Spike track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 77 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Spike rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 1 hour ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  Sandrof1969 | Top 15 Music Albums of 1989 | 6/15 | 3 |
| 2026 | Tuur | Top 25 Music Albums of the 1980s | 14/25 | 10 |
| 2026 | Foxforce5 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 48/100 | 11 |
| 2026 | matterhornrider | Top 49 Music Albums of 1989 | 48/49 | 0 |
| 2026 |  spigelwii | Top 6 Music Albums of 1989 | 4/6 | 3 |
| 2026 |  imacgill | Top 100 Music Albums of 1989 | 34/100 | 3 |
| 2026 |  zags7000 | Top 100 Music Albums of 1989 | 59/100 | 2 |
| 2026 | Skerns | Top 87 Music Albums of 1989 | 86/87 | 0 |
| 2026 | Foxforce5 | Top 37 Music Albums of 1989 | 8/37 | 4 |
| 2026 |  slatsheit | Top 32 Music Albums of 1989 | 24/32 | 1 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 108 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 347 | |||
Spike collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 73 members
Spike 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 144 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 07/26/2026 18:03 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,672 | 70/100 |
| ! | 04/30/2026 17:37 | gmessian | 385 | 60/100 |
| ! | 02/28/2026 16:30 | DaveH68 | 1,363 | 76/100 |
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 has a Bayesian average rating of 72.3/100, a mean average of 71.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 72.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.3.
Spike favourites
Showing all 10 members who have added this album as a favourite
Spike forum mentions
neilgee 11/19/2025 06:43 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
dihansse 02/13/2025 21:26 in My discoveries per year
albummaster 09/22/2023 09:39 in Why not use Coalesce() in the Bestographies?Spike comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
My favourite Elvis album featuring my favourite Elvis song. The brilliant "Veronica"
Too many ingredients and different flavours means that somehow this album manages to be less than the sum of its parts. Which is a shame as there are some great songs here - he would of been better off grouping them for 2 (or even 3) separate albums (1 pop, 1 folk, 1 jazz).
TheDude85 04/12/2019 13:26 | #234824
Purchased this disc for the McCartney/Costello collaboration, "Veronica", and was enamored the entire way through. Great songs everywhere.
junodog4 TOP 100 COMMENTER 10/22/2018 02:19 | #222942 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Tramp the Dirt Down is a better song than Veronica.
indieshins 04/19/2018 23:43 | #213239 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
This album runs long, and some of the songs are definitely filler. That being said, the best songs here make it worth the listen - the first five are all strong. Tramp the Dirt Down is a deliciously ironic takedown of Margaret Thatcher. These are the main highlights, but there are also some lesser songs that are good enough to remain on the album. Though it could have been cut down to about ten tracks, Spike is still a good album and a worthy entry in Costello's catalogue.
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