Dead Letter Office
by R.E.M.

Dead Letter Office by R.E.M.
(Compilation album)
Year: 1987
Overall rank: 11,941st   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
72/100 (from 117 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1987 (151st)
Award Top albums of the 1980s (1,656th)
Award Best albums of all time (11,941st)

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Product Details
Availability

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eBay
R.E.M. REM Dead Letter Office Vinyl Record LP
Condition: Used


eBay
eBay
REM Dead Letter Office & Chronic Town CD 1987 EX-NM- Tested Plays Fine 20 Songs
Condition: Very Good


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REM Cassette Tape 80s Rock Indie DEAD LETTER OFFICE B SIDES RARITIES COMP
Condition: Very Good


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R.E.M. bestography

Dead Letter Office is ranked 19th best out of 36 albums by R.E.M. on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by R.E.M. is Automatic For The People which is ranked number 46 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 19,180.

R.E.M. album bestography « Higher ranked (11,740th)
Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage: 1982–2011
This album (11,941st)
Dead Letter Office
Lower ranked (11,941st) »
Dead Letter Office

(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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Dead Letter Office track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 74 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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Dead Letter Office rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 11,941st | 1980s rank: 1,656th | 1987 rank: 151st
Filter Filter
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YearSourceChartRankRank Score
2026cicadelicTop 100 Music Albums of 198782/1001
2026JohnnyoMost listened to albums in August 202289/99 -
2026shanelovesyou1111Top 65 Music Albums of 198738/652
2026LittleM1971Top 94 Music Albums of 198777/941
2026 ExTeaSeaTop 69 Music Albums of 198716/694
2026spewventuriTop 91 Music Albums of the 1980s63/916
2026matterhornriderTop 48 Music Albums of 198748/480
2025 MilhaudTop 100 Music Albums of the 1980s89/1002
2025 paladisiactop 65r albums (63), #0201-030067/100 -
2025bertdepoortereTop 100 Music Albums of the 1980s52/10010
2025arnellarsenTop 74 Music Albums of 198733/743
2025 FischmanTop 100 Music Albums of 198755/1002
2025RiveraTop 42 Music Albums of 198739/420
2025 RepoTop 100 Music Albums of 198774/1001
2025skrapoelTop 39 Music Albums of 19876/394
2025 paladisiacTop 100 Music Albums of 198768/1002
2025 IgtonumamaTop 100 Music Albums of 198723/1004
2025skrapoelTop 100 Music Albums of the 1980s77/1005
2025 paladisiac1980s 65rating (63.64-63), #001-100*22/59 -
2025 slatsheitTop 46 Music Albums of 198740/461
Total Charts: Help The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. 50
Total Rank Score: Help The total rank score. 98
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

Dead Letter Office collection

Dead Letter Office ratings

Average Rating: 
72/100 (from 117 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 5 ratings for this album.  | Show all 117 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
80/100
 
03/09/2026 23:43 matterhornrider  Ratings distribution  4,96181/100
 
75/100
 
02/16/2026 21:53 Milhaud  Ratings distribution  1,89070/100
 
80/100
 
09/21/2025 10:51 cicadelic  Ratings distribution  12,33773/100
 
75/100
 
11/28/2024 21:42 slatsheit  Ratings distribution  2,04181/100
 
60/100
 
11/19/2024 03:46 Cherrycolalover  Ratings distribution  12183/100

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 has a Bayesian average rating of 72.1/100, a mean average of 71.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 72.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.1.

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Dead Letter Office favourites

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Dead Letter Office comments

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Rating:  
65/100
From 04/30/2016 23:58 | #164914
Cool to hear VU covers... other than that just listen to Chronic Town and their real albums.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 11/19/2014 22:19 | #127457
It does sound good throughout. Nothing stands out as amazing though. Definitely a must for the REM fans because of the good new (now old) songs
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 06/21/2012 05:23 | #44922
Well, as a fellow R.E.M. fan, and some might say the biggest one on BEA, I can tell you why that is. They got kind of lazy with their B-sides during the Warner years. Most of their B-sides during this period were live cuts. There were a few great covers though that they did like Wichita Lineman, Wall of Death, and First, We Take Manhattan. A couple of original B-sides I think were on the deluxe version of the best of, but they didn't put out too many originals. Also, the single was becoming something of a dead medium. Anyways, Dead Letter Office is a weird oddity with a few great songs, and their debut EP Chronic Town, which makes it worth owning.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 06/21/2012 02:12 | #44915
Interesting only to R.E.M. fans. Some excellent covers and outtakes. Too bad we never got an album like this for the Warner Bros. years.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 06/20/2012 22:39 | #44881
Proof that one man's trash... Those who are not hard core REM heads won't dig this album. However, there are gems to be found here for the rest of us. Especially REM's read on Velvet Underground songs.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
65/100
From 06/14/2012 03:20 | #44393
Interesting, but there's a reason this is full of B sides. They didn't make the cut before.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Best Albums of 1987
1. The Joshua Tree by U2
2. Appetite For Destruction by Guns N' Roses
3. Sign "O" The Times by Prince
4. Strangeways, Here We Come by The Smiths
5. You're Living All Over Me by Dinosaur
6. Document by R.E.M.
7. Bad by Michael Jackson
8. Music For The Masses by Depeche Mode
9. Sister by Sonic Youth
10. Substance by New Order
11. Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me by The Cure
12. Hysteria by Def Leppard
13. Kick by INXS
14. Louder Than Bombs by The Smiths
15. Darklands by The Jesus And Mary Chain
16. Come On Pilgrim by Pixies
17. Diesel And Dust by Midnight Oil
18. Paid In Full by Eric B. & Rakim
19. Tango In The Night by Fleetwood Mac
20. Tunnel Of Love by Bruce Springsteen