This Was
by Jethro Tull
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Jethro Tull bestography
This Was is ranked 9th best out of 48 albums by Jethro Tull on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Jethro Tull is Aqualung which is ranked number 319 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 5,148.
(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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This Was track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 75 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
This Was rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 8 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  NoisyBeast | 1960's ~ Wish List | 84/99 | - |
| 2026 | JoshN125 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s | 36/100 | 13 |
| 2026 | bonnequestion | Top 33 Music Albums of 1968 | 18/33 | 2 |
| 2026 | Juneof44 | Top 50 Music Albums of 1968 | 15/50 | 4 |
| 2026 |  AAL2014 | Top 88 Music Albums of 1968 | 87/88 | 0 |
| 2026 | amirmishali | Top 100 Music Albums of 1968 | 73/100 | 1 |
| 2026 | bonnequestion | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s | 96/100 | 1 |
| 2026 |  jeremy9 | Top 15 Music Albums of 1968 | 6/15 | 3 |
| 2026 | mrmcrook | Top 63 Music Albums of the 1960s | 52/63 | 4 |
| 2026 | Skerns | Top 54 Music Albums of 1968 | 33/54 | 2 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 91 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 387 | |||
This Was collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 83 members
This Was 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 160 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 07/22/2026 16:32 | platus | 5,876 | 74/100 |
| ! | 05/17/2026 18:41 | matterhornrider | 5,154 | 81/100 |
| ! | 05/10/2026 19:25 | emnasut | 153 | 87/100 |
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 23% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 73.6/100, a mean average of 72.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 73.7/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.6.
This Was favourites
Showing all 9 members who have added this album as a favourite
Forum mentions
Jboy56 09/22/2022 10:36 in What album are you listening to right now?This Was comments
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Jboy56 09/22/2022 11:57 | #289864 | TOP COMMENT
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I like this a lot, bluesy and jazzy, but not without the flute of the madman ;) (Edited)
Gran disco de debut, aunque no marcarían claramente su rumbo hasta el siguiente. Toques de jazz y blues para un álbum magnífico. (Edited)
Boltzmann 12/24/2019 14:35 | #245917
Just your usual hard rock album of the late sixties... with a very out of place flute. Anyway, they try to make blues heavy and they succeed. Do they succeed exceptionally more so than their contemporaries? With Jimi in their back and Led Zeppelin hovering in the near distance, I can see why they're mostly forgotten. (Edited)
Good bluesy album. Almost a Mayall vibe here.
The guitar replacement soon will leave Ian leading the band completely. Golden JT era ahead. (Edited)
Robert Anton Wilson 08/23/2012 15:10 | #49083 | TOP COMMENT
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A very strong debut album. Hints at what Tull were to become but stand out. Their 3 earlier albums (Stand Up, This Was & Benefit) are blues rock and stand slightly apart from the rest of their musical corpus. If you are into late 60s-early 70s blues-rock, these early Tull albums are essential. (Edited)
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