Into The Great Wide Open
by Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers
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Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers bestography
Into The Great Wide Open is ranked 5th best out of 32 albums by Tom Petty on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Tom Petty is Full Moon Fever which is ranked number 524 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 3,305.
(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 Into The Great Wide Open on YouTube
Into The Great Wide Open track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Into The Great Wide Open 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 |  Romanelli | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | 82/100 | 4 |
| 2026 |  timtooky | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | 26/100 | 15 |
| 2026 | mrmcrook | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | 72/100 | 6 |
| 2026 |  ExTeaSea | Top 72 Music Albums of 1991 | 9/72 | 4 |
| 2026 | Moondance | Top 100 Music Albums of 1991 | 31/100 | 4 |
| 2026 | saltysurprise | Top 56 Music Albums of 1991 | 42/56 | 1 |
| 2026 | mrmcrook | Greatest Music Albums #201 - 300 | 77/100 | - |
| 2026 |  Taka | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | 56/100 | 9 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | 23/100 | 16 |
| 2026 | Romanelli | My Overall Chart: 201-300 | 63/100 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 197 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 699 | |||
Into The Great Wide Open collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 125 members
Into The Great Wide Open 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 231 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/13/2026 07:51 |  slatsheit | 2,074 | 81/100 |
| ! | 09/12/2026 15:02 |  NowhereMan | 1,495 | 77/100 |
| ! | 05/11/2026 17:38 | meyermd23us | 1,044 | 81/100 |
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 3% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.3/100, a mean average of 77.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.6/100. The standard deviation for this album is 12.0.
Into The Great Wide Open favourites
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Into The Great Wide Open forum mentions
pedro1976 09/26/2026 06:00 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)Into The Great Wide Open comments
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Jeff lynne brings pop sensibilities and great guitar production, tones and intricate melodies. Some say he ruined Tom petty but that's nonsense. Three good to excellent albums including this resulted. This next only to full moon fever. Highlights learning to fly, two gunslingers and title track. I don't think petty wrote stronger tunes alone. Lynne collaborations were superior in my view.
A companion album to, Full moon fever, and up there with that record in terms of overall quality. Learning to fly and the title track are standouts but there is plenty of good stuff here. It is a bit samey and predictable but the quality is never in doubt. Good album.
to me this is an improvement over the also excellent full moon fever. in a very good catalog i feel this is the best album. A great collection of well crafted songs. The, title track and learning to fly are the best along with kings highway.
What do you do after Full Moon Fever? I know this album gets knocks because it seems like Full Moon Fever 2; but, it is slower in pace, creates its own sound, is consistent from start to finish and is entirely enjoyable. One of my favorite albums.
Jeff Lynne produces this Heartbreakers album after working on Tom Petty's solo album Full Moon Fever. I wouldn't say Into the Great Wide Open is as good as Full Moon Fever, but it definitely has some strong moments. Learning to Fly is one of Petty's all time greatest tunes. The early 90s were a pretty good time for Petty.
Key tracks: Learning to Fly, Into the Great Wide Open, King's Highway and Makin' Some Noise
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