Blue Lines
by Massive Attack
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Massive Attack bestography
Blue Lines is ranked 2nd best out of 9 albums by Massive Attack on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Massive Attack is Mezzanine which is ranked number 135 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 9,598.
(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 Blue Lines on YouTube
Blue Lines track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 83 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Blue Lines rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 3 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  NowhereMan | Top 14 Music Albums of 1991 | 8/14 | 3 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Best Electronic / Dance albums of all time by DigitalDreamDoor | 12/100 | - |
| 2026 | Skerns | Top 69 Music Albums of 1991 | 26/69 | 3 |
| 2026 |  Squonk007 | Top 25 Music Albums of 1991 | 17/25 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Romanelli | Top 100 Music Albums of 1991 | 54/100 | 2 |
| 2026 | byuzak | Top 39 Music Albums of 1991 | 1/39 | 5 |
| 2026 | matterhornrider | Top 101-200 Greatest Music Albums | 95/100 | - |
| 2026 |  O.T. | Top 62 Music Albums of the 1990s | 2/62 | 20 |
| 2026 | jonny5244 | Top 40 Music Albums of 1991 | 4/40 | 5 |
| 2026 | wizardalien | Top 100 Greatest Albums of the 20th Century | 20/100 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 749 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 5,002 | |||
Blue Lines collection
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Blue Lines 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 932 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 16 hours ago | OldWiseOne1969 | 160 | 82/100 |
| ! | 19 hours ago | JoshN125 | 137 | 68/100 |
| ! | 5 days ago | Siromynian | 1,773 | 74/100 |
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 is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 80.1/100, a mean average of 79.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 80.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.4.
Blue Lines favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 160 members
Blue Lines forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 10/02/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5453): By Bach BestEverAlbums 09/15/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5436): By Rivera BestEverAlbums 08/24/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5414): By Graeme2Blue Lines comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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demetrios 01/28/2012 07:08 | #36015 | TOP COMMENT
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Ground breaking, time defining music.
Not only did it help launch the "Bristol scene" (Portishead, Tricky, etc) but it actually shaped it.
If you are interested in the history of music, you should definitely own a copy of this album.
birth of the trip-hop genre! a pioneering piece of work, this gem doesn't have a single track that isn't great. i love how the whole thing is unmistakably british as well.
one of the best debuts of the 90s, easily stands with the likes of supreme talent such as portishead & björk.
It's hard to choose between "Blue Lines", "Protection", or "Mezzanine" because each album in Massive Attack's trilogy of early albums has it's own merits. "Blue Lines" trumps the other two primarily because it was there first and launched the Bristol sound, which gave birth to trip-hop and created a whole new generation of performers that called themselves deejays instead of rock musicians. "Blue Lines" is important because it signaled the end of the rock and roll era and the triumph of the post-rock sound of electronica.
A laidback, enjoyable listen, though I prefer the more expansive and darker sound they went with on Mezzanine.
Top quality debut, not my usual type of music as I'm not into rap really but Massive Attack are a huge exception.
Love every song and in my top twenty albums ever.
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