Surf's Up
by The Beach Boys
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The Beach Boys bestography
Surf's Up is ranked 3rd best out of 77 albums by The Beach Boys on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by The Beach Boys is Pet Sounds which is ranked number 11 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 36,197.
(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 Surf's Up on YouTube
Surf's Up track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Surf's Up rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 2 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  dihansse | Top 46 Music Albums of 1971 | 46/46 | 0 |
| 2026 | Jakor | Top 95 Music Albums of 1971 | 30/95 | 3 |
| 2026 | Foxforce5 | 301 - | 40/64 | - |
| 2026 | lanadeleswift | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | 7/100 | 19 |
| 2026 |  imacgill | Top 57 Music Albums of 1971 | 30/57 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Best Of The 70s Pt.3 (201-300) | 70/100 | - |
| 2026 | juanr1096 | Top 52 Music Albums of 1971 | 35/52 | 2 |
| 2026 | Filipe | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 39/100 | 61 |
| 2026 | fabm0 | List 1971 Pt 2 | 3/11 | - |
| 2026 | TroutMaskGreg | Top 37 Music Albums of 1971 | 20/37 | 2 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 381 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 2,233 | |||
Surf's Up collection
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Surf's Up 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 569 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/30/2026 06:47 | Siromynian | 1,789 | 74/100 |
| ! | 08/18/2026 03:24 |  Taka | 1,094 | 80/100 |
| ! | 07/24/2026 09:15 | Charlesd | 111 | 83/100 |
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 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.9/100, a mean average of 78.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.0.
Surf's Up favourites
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Surf's Up forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 10/02/2026 08:18 in Monthly overall chart movements - September 2026View latest topic →
BestEverAlbums 08/10/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5400): By BLOView latest topic →
BestEverAlbums 02/24/2026 21:00 in Album of the day (#5546): Surf's Up by The Beach BoysView latest topic →
View all forum mentions
Surf's Up comments
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pranafilms 04/25/2017 13:38 | #189811 | TOP COMMENT
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This album is a bit of a missed opportunity. Some of The Beach Boys' best songs are on this album, and some of most fantastic ballads as well.
"Surf's Up" is the best song and the brainchild of Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks and one of the best songs from the SMiLE sessions, "Long Promised Road", my personal favorite "Feel Flows" and the criminally short "'Til I Die". But songs like "Student Demonstration Time" hinders the album by not keeping with this soft and somber tone.
"Take a Load Off Your Feet, Pete" sounds like it'd be more in place with Sunflower than with this album. It also took a while to get used to Rieley's vocals of "A Day in the Life of a Tree", but now I see it as kind of haunting.
It was also a mistake not to put in some of Dennis' songs on the album, cause his songs during these session are fantastic, especially "(Wouldn't It Be Nice) To Live Again", calling in mind their hit Pet Sounds song, which including a more somber and morbid subject matter.
It's ballads are the high point and worth a listen.
Best Tracks: Surf's Up, Feel Flow, Long Promised Road, 'Til I Die, Disney Girls (1957)
Worst Tracks: Student Demonstration Time (Edited)
After the collaborative optimism of Sunflower bombed commercially, The Beach Boys created Surf’s Up; a more disjointed and darker effort. Surf’s Up may be frustratingly inconsistent, but the best songs are so amazing that anyone interested in Brian Wilson’s work will need to hear it.
Jbalbinolr 11/18/2017 20:21 | #201600 | TOP COMMENT
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A flawed masterpiece, but the highs are sooo high, my second favorite of the band behind obviously Pet Sounds. Also it´s one of a few albums that the ballads are actually the best part of the album.
DIsney Girls is one of the greatest 1970s pop songs, Feel Flows is among Carl Wilson's finest hours as a composer and is a huge psychedelic treat, and the three tracks at the end have to be some of the most ingenious music penned... well ever.
Surf's up, the title track must be Brian's most moving work from the smile sessions. Several other gems are Long promised road, Feel flows, Disney girls and 'Til I die. Don Quijote on the cover fulfills the irony of the title. One of the first records which mentions environment caring!
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