Build A Rocket Boys!
by Elbow
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Elbow bestography
Build A Rocket Boys! is ranked 2nd best out of 19 albums by Elbow on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Elbow is The Seldom Seen Kid which is ranked number 553 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 3,101.
(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 Build A Rocket Boys! on YouTube
Build A Rocket Boys! track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 76 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Build A Rocket Boys! 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 | wizardalien | Top 100 Greatest British Albums | 28/100 | - |
| 2026 |  dihansse | Top 79 Music Albums of 2011 | 68/79 | 1 |
| 2026 |  zags7000 | Top 100 Music Albums of 2011 | 78/100 | 1 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Rock First Best Albums 2011 | 20/65 | - |
| 2026 | mrmcrook | Top 20 Music Albums of 2011 | 12/20 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Romanelli | Top 34 Music Albums of 2011 | 24/34 | 2 |
| 2026 | martintho | Top 100 Music Albums of 2011 | 41/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | Foxforce5 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s | 2/100 | 20 |
| 2026 | Moondance | Top 100 Music Albums of 2011 | 13/100 | 4 |
| 2026 | wizardalien | Top 100 Greatest Albums (Outside of BEA Top 1,000) | 9/100 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 172 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 887 | |||
Build A Rocket Boys! collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 123 members
Build A Rocket 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 217 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 07/27/2026 14:58 | Mafedere | 786 | 74/100 |
| ! | 07/02/2026 18:18 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,633 | 70/100 |
| ! | 05/03/2026 13:21 |  Squonk007 | 768 | 24/100 |
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 71.8/100, a mean average of 71.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 71.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.2.
Build A Rocket Boys! favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 12 members
Forum mentions
Romanelli 12/10/2025 03:31 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)Build A Rocket Boys! comments
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Squonk007 05/03/2026 13:22 | #314272
A solid album bookended by the best 2 tracks. One or two not upto the usual standard but the album is a good Sunday listen. (Edited)
Distinctly Elbow and a great follow up - I like their sound so don't change too much
Following The Seldom Seen Kid was a difficult task, but I reckon they did a great job on this. The album title Build A Rocket Boys is a lyric from Lippy Kids, which is a beautiful song and probably my favourite on the album. My other highlights are Open Arms (surprisingly overlooked in my opinion) and Dear Friends. Again Elbow produce an album littered with beautiful songs.
A decent follow up to, the seldom seen kid, but that's it for me. It's all very competent and well done, but there's certainly no surprises here. It's what you would expect from Elbow, but I want it all to be less predictable. Still, it's a decent record, just not that interesting.
This is a goddamn beautiful record.
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