War
by U2

Album
War by U2
Year: 1983
Release date: 1983-02-28
Overall rank: 298th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 1,218 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 5 albums of 1983 (4th)
Award Top 50 albums of of the 1980s (38th)
Award Top 500 albums of all time (298th)

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U2 bestography

War is ranked 3rd best out of 38 albums by U2 on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by U2 is The Joshua Tree which is ranked number 51 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 17,937.

U2 album bestography « Higher ranked (111th)
Achtung Baby This album (298th)
War Lower ranked (472nd) »
The Unforgettable Fire

(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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War track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Track pick (900 - 491 votes)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Average Rating: 90 (491 votes)Comments: View 8
2.
Seconds
Average Rating: 80 (218 votes)Comments: View 2
3.
Track pick (890 - 438 votes)
New Year's Day
Average Rating: 89 (438 votes)Comments: View 3
4.
Like A Song...
Average Rating: 80 (213 votes)Comments: View 3
5.
Drowning Man
Average Rating: 79 (213 votes)Comments: View 1
6.
The Refugee
Average Rating: 75 (209 votes)Comments: View 1
7.
Two Hearts Beat As One
Average Rating: 81 (225 votes)Comments: View 3
8.
Red Light
Average Rating: 74 (204 votes)Comments: View 2
9.
Surrender
Average Rating: 78 (209 votes)Comments: View 1
10.
40
Average Rating: 80 (215 votes)Comments: View 5

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

War rankings

War rankings summary
Overall rank: 298th | 1980s rank: 38th | 1983 rank: 4th  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)

War collection

War ratings

Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 1,218 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 1,218 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
70/100
 !		08/31/2026 09:29 Purplepash  Ratings distribution  4,99675/100
 
80/100
 !		07/25/2026 13:56 xhitmanx  Ratings distribution  1,60475/100
 
65/100
 !		07/12/2026 16:13 liquidbottle  Ratings distribution  77582/100

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 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 79.1/100, a mean average of 77.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.4.


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War favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 183 members

barrski67
NYAndreas
Tainaz
Iglou2981
DaveBee166
rfowler
Pienk
slatsheit
JoeyJ
Natster1972

War forum mentions

This album has been referenced 70 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 09/07/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5428): By ExTeaSea
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s by ExTeaSea () 1. by by (1982) 3. by (1980) 4. (1981) 5. by (1981) 6. by by (1981) 8. by (1980) 9. by by (1985) 11. by (1983) 12. by (1987) 13. by (1986) 15. by (1988) 16. (1986) 17. by by (1982) 20. (1982) 21. by by by by by (1981) 27. by…”
View forum post →

From matterhornrider 09/02/2026 21:21 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
“What album are you listening to? (cont.)”
View forum topic (10 mentions) →

From BestEverAlbums 08/20/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5410): By Deckiller
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Deckiller () 1. by by (2015) 3. by (2002) 4. by (1969) 5. by (1969) 6. by by (1992) 8. by by by (1970) 11. by by (1986) 13. by (1981) 15. (1977) 17. by (1986) 18. by (2013) 20. (1969) 21. by (1972) 22. by (1973) 23. by (1971) 24. by by…”
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View all forum mentions

War comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 82 comments |
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Rating:  
95/100
From 07/22/2024 19:23 | #304482
This was their Best Album, complete end to end! They could have released all of the tracks and they would have charted to 20 or better. I don't any of their other albums were ever quite so good (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 0
Reply
From 03/22/2023 16:19 | #295300
This is their best album. Most of the songs are great. "Drowning Man" doesn't get enough respect. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 3
Reply
Rating:  
80/100
From 10/18/2022 10:20 | #290583
Quite decent record with two big highlights (Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Year's Day). Unfortunately it is less consistent than Boy and most songs on second side are not that good.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 1
Reply
Rating:  
75/100
From 09/07/2022 01:14 | #289469
Solid record
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 0
Reply
Rating:  
85/100
From 01/28/2022 12:43 | #280220
A very frontloaded album with the classic bangers on the A side.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 0
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Best Albums of  1983
1. Murmur by R.E.M.
2. Violent Femmes by Violent Femmes
3. Power, Corruption & Lies by New Order
4. War by U2
5. Synchronicity by The Police
6. Speaking In Tongues by Talking Heads
7. Swordfishtrombones by Tom Waits
8. Kill 'Em All by Metallica
9. Let's Dance by David Bowie
10. The Final Cut by Pink Floyd