Substance
by New Order

Album
Substance by New Order
(Compilation album)
Year: 1987
Release date: 1987-08-07
Overall rank: 577th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
84/100 (from 497 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 10 albums of 1987 (10th)
Award Top 100 albums of of the 1980s (90th)
Award Top 1,000 albums of all time (577th)

Listen on Spotify SPOTIFY

Log in or create an account to rate this album, leave comments or join the discussion.
eBay
Sorry, no matches on eBay for "Substance New Order".
See full search results on eBay

  My favourite store:  

Listen & Collect

Complete your collection or upgrade your listening experience.

  • Listened Upgrade your listening setup on Amazon(headphones, turntables & speakers)
  • Find vinyl editions of this album on eBay
  • Browse New Order merchandise on Amazon (T-shirts & more)
  • Need a birthday or celebration gift? Browse unique music memorabilia on Amazon

New Order bestography

Substance is ranked 2nd best out of 32 albums by New Order on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by New Order is Power, Corruption & Lies which is ranked number 252 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 6,248.

New Order album bestography « Higher ranked (252nd)
Power, Corruption & Lies This album (577th)
Substance Lower ranked (662nd) »
Low-Life

(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 Substance on YouTube

Loading content from YouTube...

Substance track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 87 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Track pick (910 - 169 votes)
Ceremony
Average Rating: 91 (169 votes)Comments: View 3
2.
Everything's Gone Green
Average Rating: 83 (88 votes)Comments: View 0
3.
Temptation
Average Rating: 90 (152 votes)Comments: View 0
4.
Track pick (920 - 233 votes)
Blue Monday
Average Rating: 92 (233 votes)Comments: View 4
5.
Confusion
Average Rating: 84 (88 votes)Comments: View 0
6.
Thieves Like Us
Average Rating: 87 (104 votes)Comments: View 1
7.
Perfect Kiss
Average Rating: 89 (101 votes)Comments: View 1
8.
Subculture
Average Rating: 83 (77 votes)Comments: View 1
9.
Shellshock
Average Rating: 84 (80 votes)Comments: View 2
10.
State Of The Nation
Average Rating: 81 (75 votes)Comments: View 0
11.
Track pick (910 - 176 votes)
Bizarre Love Triangle
Average Rating: 91 (176 votes)Comments: View 1
12.
True Faith
Average Rating: 90 (133 votes)Comments: View 1

Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Substance rankings

Substance rankings summary
Overall rank: 577th | 1980s rank: 90th | 1987 rank: 10th  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 7 hours ago)

Substance collection

Substance ratings

Average Rating: 
84/100 (from 497 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 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 497 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
65/100
 !		09/04/2026 13:57 bonnequestion  Ratings distribution  1,70170/100
 
85/100
 !		08/27/2026 23:09 Melway94  Ratings distribution  11883/100
 
80/100
 !		08/14/2026 21:58 JamesMowbray  Ratings distribution  5,70869/100

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 is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 83.6/100, a mean average of 82.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 83.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.8.


Please log in or create an account if you want to be able to leave a rating

Substance favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 104 members

Melway94
filidaw
Exist-en-ciel
NYAndreas
Iglou2981
nextorgd
slatsheit
imacgill
NeonOctifish
Stevo796

Substance forum mentions

This album has been referenced 126 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 4 days ago in Chart of the day (#5450): By DeusExMackia
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by DeusExMackia () 1. by (1971) 2. by (1985) 3. by (1988) 4. by (1984) 5. by (1967) 6. (1987) 7. (1991) 8. (1996) 9. by (1976) 10. (1972) 11. by (1973) 12. (2016) 13. by by (2019) 15. by by (1972) 18. by (1979) 19. by (2020) 20. (1977) 21. by…”
View forum post →

From BestEverAlbums 09/25/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5446): By RasmV
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by RasmV () 1. by by (2001) 3. by (2007) 5. by by (1989) 7. by by (2006) 9. by (2014) 10. by (2013) 12. (2011) 13. (2015) 14. (2010) 15. by (2004) 16. by (2003) 17. by by (2017) 19. by (1969) 20. by (1971) 21. by (1967) 22. (1966) 23. by by…”
View forum post →

From BestEverAlbums 09/18/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5439): By joedec
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by joedec () 1. (1989) 2. by (1982) 4. (1990) 5. by (1980) 7. by by (1993) 10. by (1985) 11. by by by (1988) 14. by (1977) 16. by (1987) 17. by (1987) 18. by (1971) 19. by (1979) 20. by (1984) 22. by (1972) 23. by (1979) 24. by (1968) 25. by by…”
View forum post →

View all forum mentions

Substance comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 38 comments |
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Rating:  
100/100
From 09/16/2015 18:20 | #149893 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Let me try and put this into context: you have a band that changed the definition of what an indie rock/alternative band could be, pioneered the new wave genre, released a number of songs that become club classics and have since gone onto to define electronica and dance music.

And then, you take all of their best work, their biggest hits, a couple of remixes and some previously unheard work, and put into a double album which has one of the best names for an album ever.

The result is Substance.
This isn't just some compilation or 'best of' album; it's the New Order bible.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 11
Reply
Rating:  
95/100
From 11/26/2017 09:48 | #202095 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
just picked this up from a record fair. Been playing this all night. Had forgotten how good it is. A must for fans of post-punk dance music.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 4
Reply
Rating:  
95/100
From 06/17/2017 14:14 | #192757 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Agree with most of the other comments, the first disc of Substance (up through True Faith) is unbelievable, better than any New Order studio album imo, the tracks are in chronological order and this gives the listener a great sense of the band's progression throughout the 80s.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 3
Reply
From 09/03/2018 22:36 | #220536 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
“Blue Monday” was so ahead of its time, it’s not even fair. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 5
Reply
Rating:  
90/100
From 07/22/2018 13:05 | #218650 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
One of the best compilation album ever
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 5
Reply
Anonymous
What do you think of this album? Join the conversation!.
The top-voted comments get featured on our charts, Album of the Day, and the site newsletter.

Log in or create an account to rate this album, leave comments or join the discussion.
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