Reality
by David Bowie
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David Bowie bestography
Reality is ranked 18th best out of 97 albums by David Bowie on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by David Bowie is The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars which is ranked number 6 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 40,537.
(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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Reality track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 77 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Reality rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 5 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | PapaShiz86 | Top 100 Music Albums of 2003 | 69/100 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Brandon8 | David Bowie Albums Ranked | 15/27 | - |
| 2026 |  ExTeaSea | Top 100 Music Albums of 2003 | 49/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | stangetzaway | Top 28 Music Albums of 2003 | 11/28 | 3 |
| 2026 | Olli | Top 22 Music Albums of 2003 | 18/22 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Pastiche | Top 98 Music Albums of the 2000s | 75/98 | 5 |
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s | 31/100 | 14 |
| 2026 |  Purplepash | Top 59 Music Albums of 2003 | 46/59 | 1 |
| 2026 | Jakor | Top 60 Music Albums of 2003 | 28/60 | 3 |
| 2026 | LittleM1971 | Top 90 Music Albums of 2003 | 78/90 | 1 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 145 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 491 | |||
Reality collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 144 members
Reality 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 286 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/27/2026 19:40 | luukvdschepop | 767 | 75/100 |
| ! | 07/16/2026 12:07 | glebrus | 469 | 81/100 |
| ! | 06/01/2026 08:09 | Exist-en-ciel | 16,176 | 70/100 |
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 72.7/100, a mean average of 71.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 72.7/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.0.
Reality favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 19 members
Reality forum mentions
pedro1976 09/15/2026 09:53 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
dihansse 12/20/2023 20:07 in My discoveries per year
imacgill 10/24/2023 23:24 in What album are you listening to right now?Reality comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
I like this so much better than so much of Bowie's work, it's amazing that this album didn't get more attention from fans. It's bittersweet, and sometimes downright sad, but it's also the best thing on a musical level that Bowie has done since 1992's Buddha of Suburbia. The instrumentation is spacey and both pretty and atmospheric. This is a major improvement over Heathen, and in my opinion, better than several of Bowie's albums of the 70s, and just a consistently good, occasionally great album!
Good album overall, terrible cover though. Seriously, it looks like the cover of a crappy anime fan fiction of Bowie set in a dystopian future.
The highlights for me are Pablo Picasso and Never Get Old, but they're not really outstanding. It doesn't have bad tracks, but at the same time it doesn't have any songs that I would see myself coming back often.
Tamthebam TOP 100 COMMENTER 01/14/2016 18:36 | #156524 | TOP COMMENT
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Not on a par with his albums from the 70's but definitely better than most albums since then excluding Outside, there isn't a bad track here standouts - New Killer Star, Bring me The Disco King, The Loneliest Guy & Never Get Old. I could do without She'll Drive The Big Car. Overall his best effort since Outside.
Brandon8 TOP 100 COMMENTER 05/08/2013 22:56 | #75547 | TOP COMMENT
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I bought this recently after listening to The Next Day and I think it's a remarkable album. The first three songs rock hard then there is a change of pace before it picks it up again. I was pleasantly surprised it's a great lift after Heathen which is more somber.
Although I think Bowie lost his way a bit after Let's Dance for about a decade, the recovery started at Black Tie White Noise and steadily improved through the next few albums before delivering this superb effort 20 years after Let's Dance.
His voice is great throughout with Fall Dog Bombs The Moon probably my favourite. Only down spot is the final track Bring Me The Disco King which I just feel doesn't really go anywhere.
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