The Big Express
by XTC

Album
The Big Express by XTC
Year: 1984
Release date: 1984-10-15
Overall rank: 5,033rd   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
75/100 (from 94 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1984 (78th)
Award Top albums of of the 1980s (726th)
Award Best albums of all time (5,033rd)

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XTC bestography

The Big Express is ranked 12th best out of 30 albums by XTC on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by XTC is Skylarking which is ranked number 372 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 4,445.

XTC album bestography « Higher ranked (4,907th)
Chips From The Chocolate Fireball (An Anthology) This album (5,033rd)
The Big Express Lower ranked (5,033rd) »
The Big Express

(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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The Big Express rankings

The Big Express rankings summary
Overall rank: 5,033rd | 1980s rank: 726th | 1984 rank: 78th  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: 51 minutes ago)

The Big Express collection

The Big Express ratings

Average Rating: 
75/100 (from 94 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 94 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
70/100
 !		02/20/2026 11:46 MetalMan67  Ratings distribution  6,25071/100
 
80/100
 !		12/21/2025 14:43 AAL2014  Ratings distribution  4,33175/100
 
65/100
 !		11/12/2025 23:40 NYAndreas  Ratings distribution  1,43344/100

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 9% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 74.8/100, a mean average of 74.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 75.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 12.5.


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The Big Express favourites

Showing all 8 members who have added this album as a favourite

NYAndreas
matterhornrider
MadhattanJack
OuttaKingsley
sageamagoo
lanadeleswift
nosepail
Nonsuch

The Big Express forum mentions

This album has been referenced 25 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From dihansse 09/28/2026 20:37 in My discoveries per year
“Two albums of 1984 I listened to: First an album I already own/know: The 3rd album by Pretenders and released after a number of new people joined the band because of drug related deaths. And it's clear the Chrissie Hynde has found a new breath here. The songs sound very inspired especially at the…”
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From BestEverAlbums 07/30/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5389): By Rich150
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by ) 1. by (1982) 2. by (1995) 3. by by (1998) 5. (1972) 6. by (1986) 8. by (1984) 10. by (1979) 11. by (1985) 13. by (1967) 14. by (2010) 15. by (2004) 17. by by (1985) 19. by by (1984) 21. by (1984) 22. by by by by (2005) 27. by (1984) 28. by…”
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From matterhornrider 10/15/2025 17:02 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
“What album are you listening to? (cont.)”
View forum topic (4 mentions) →

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The Big Express comments

Showing all 4 comments |
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Rating:  
90/100
From 03/29/2013 22:59 | #70493 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
I'm surprised The Big Express doesn't get more love here. Seems like everyone loves Skylarking, but I personally prefer The Big Express.
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Rating:  
85/100
From 01/30/2018 22:17 | #206873 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
I do like the more industrial sound of this album but find it a little more up and down than most of their albums. Because of that although I score it the same as Mummer I position it lower.
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Rating:  
95/100
From 03/27/2017 23:12 | #188297 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Somehow The Big Express is ranked here as the single worst XTC album. That's just crazy! Every song is great, especially the shining career-wide highlight I Remember The Sun which never fails to leave me breathless.
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Rating:  
60/100
From 07/21/2019 20:28 | #240091 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Nice songs (as always) but so chronically over-produced it hurts my ears.
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Best Albums of  1984
1. Purple Rain by Prince And The Revolution
2. Ride The Lightning by Metallica
3. Born In The U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen
4. The Smiths by The Smiths
5. Let It Be by The Replacements
6. Hatful Of Hollow by The Smiths
7. Double Nickels On The Dime by Minutemen
8. Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads
9. Treasure by Cocteau Twins
10. Powerslave by Iron Maiden