The People's Key
by Bright Eyes
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Bright Eyes bestography
The People's Key is ranked 8th best out of 17 albums by Bright Eyes on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Bright Eyes is I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning which is ranked number 427 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 3,912.
(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 The People's Key on YouTube
The People's Key track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 75 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
The People's Key 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 | cicadelic | NPR Music's 50 Favorite Albums Of 2011 | 11/49 | - |
| 2026 | martintho | Top 100 Music Albums of 2011 | 97/100 | 0 |
| 2026 |  RockyRaccoon | Top 100 Music Albums of 2011 | 91/100 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Rhyner | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s | 73/100 | 6 |
| 2026 |  imacgill | Top 100 Music Albums of 2011 | 91/100 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Top 88 Music Albums of 2011 | 66/88 | 1 |
| 2026 | mutant | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s | 91/100 | 2 |
| 2025 |  Patman360 | Top 100 Music Albums of 2011 | 67/100 | 2 |
| 2025 |  paladisiac | Top 100 Music Albums of 2011 | 80/100 | 1 |
| 2025 |  Igtonumama | Top 100 Music Albums of 2011 | 68/100 | 2 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 65 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 169 | |||
The People's Key collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 55 members
The People's Key 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 110 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 07/03/2026 23:30 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,692 | 70/100 |
| ! | 06/18/2026 14:23 | brokenpop | 155 | 82/100 |
| ! | 01/19/2026 00:16 | mutant | 1,671 | 56/100 |
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 70.1/100, a mean average of 69.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 70.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.5.
The People's Key favourites
Showing all 9 members who have added this album as a favourite
The People's Key forum mentions
Rhyner 12/09/2025 18:18 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
FlorianJones 09/12/2015 02:50 in What album are you listening to right now?The People's Key comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
adnielsen 02/05/2019 05:10 | #231379 | TOP COMMENT
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Overall OK but underwhelming. I listened to this album a lot in 2011-2012 years and listening back now in 2019, I’m less impressed. Standouts for me include a signature Oberst sad sad song “Ladder Song”, the Rastafarian-influenced “One for You, One for Me”, and “Jejune Stars” which the band once played on American late night tv. There are a lot of dull songs sandwiched between the standouts. Not in my top five favourite Bright Eyes releases but I enjoy it ever now and again.
paladisiac TOP 100 COMMENTER 12/15/2011 22:43 | #33057 | TOP COMMENT
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While i like this bright eyes album, it's the least inventive and compelling of his bright eyes moniker. Maybe the wunderkid has lost the fire and has slipped into the creative sterility of old age.
Album that sounds good. Nice music. This is not an outstanding work but at least you can listen to it quietly and not to just wait finally ended.
covecove TOP 100 COMMENTER 04/18/2011 01:58 | #20467 | TOP COMMENT
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A fine album, Oberst mantains that country style vibe to casually lead his lyrics, sometimes pretencious others beautiful. Nothing special though.
The Ladder Song. Wow.
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