The Boy Named If
by Elvis Costello & The Imposters

The Boy Named If by Elvis Costello & The Imposters
Year: 2022
Release date: 2022-01-14
Overall rank: 6,844th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
70/100 (from 64 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 2022 (86th)
Award Top albums of the 2020s (450th)
Award Best albums of all time (6,844th)

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2022-ELVIS COSTELLO & THE IMPOSTERS-“THE BOY NAMED IF”-CD-PRE-OWNED
Condition: Like New


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Elvis Costello & The Imposters- The Boy Named If New/Sealed 2022
Condition: New


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Elvis Costello & The Imposters - The Boy Named If (2xLP) (180g) [New Vinyl LP]
Condition: New


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Elvis Costello & The Imposters bestography

The Boy Named If is ranked 15th best out of 37 albums by Elvis Costello on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Elvis Costello is This Year's Model which is ranked number 320 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 5,241.

Elvis Costello & The Imposters album bestography « Higher ranked (6,473rd)
All This Useless Beauty
This album (6,844th)
The Boy Named If
Lower ranked (7,112th) »
Look Now

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Upcoming concerts

Apr
02
Thu
Burning Witches with special guests Por Vida
Elevation 27, Virginia Beach, United States. United States
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Apr
28
Tue
Bob Dylan: Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour
Shreveport Municipal Memorial Audit, Shreveport, United States. United States
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Mar
22
Sun
Los Amigos Invisibles
Echoplex, Los Angeles, United States. United States
Tickets from Ticketmaster Get tickets
 

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The Boy Named If track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 75 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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The Boy Named If rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 6,844th | 2020s rank: 450th | 2022 rank: 86th
Filter Filter
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YearSourceChartRankRank Score
2026 dihansseTop 100 Music Albums of 202277/1001
2026matterhornriderTop 50 Music Albums of 202224/503
2026OlliTop 41 Music Albums of 202229/412
2026craabTop 100 Music Albums of the 2020s47/1007
2026SkernsTop 100 Music Albums of 202242/1003
2026 spigelwiiTop 25 Music Albums of 20224/254
2026 spigelwiiTop 100 Music Albums of the 2020s13/10011
2026 Graeme2Top 100 Music Albums of the 2020s31/1009
2026joathomeTop 92 Music Albums of 202254/922
2025mikepenTop 47 Music Albums of the 2020s12/4710
2025 paladisiactop 65r albums (63), #0001-010033/100 -
2025henriknaessTop 48 Music Albums of 202217/483
2025 PurplepashRanked listening log 2022 101-1268/26 -
2025 jwammo12Top 22 Music Albums of the 2020s14/225
2025craabTop 52 Music Albums of 202210/524
2025cicadelicAllMusic Best Of 202229/100 -
2025TuurTop 42 Music Albums of the 2020s27/425
2025amirmishaliTop 47 Music Albums of the 2020s7/4711
2025ThuramThugoodPt 2: 2022 Best Albums (Part 2): 101-20037/100 -
2025henriknaessTop 100 Music Albums of the 2020s55/1006
Total Charts: Help The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. 61
Total Rank Score: Help The total rank score. 187
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

The Boy Named If collection

The Boy Named If ratings

Average Rating: 
70/100 (from 64 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 64 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
60/100
 
03/03/2026 08:27 dukeboxkool  Ratings distribution  2,12072/100
 
70/100
 
02/25/2026 23:03 DaveH68  Ratings distribution  1,36376/100
 
50/100
 
12/29/2025 19:27 mutant  Ratings distribution  1,67156/100
 
80/100
 
12/28/2025 17:57 PadName  Ratings distribution  1,75181/100
 
85/100
 
12/04/2024 03:53 Skerns  Ratings distribution  5,07980/100

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 70.1/100, a mean average of 69.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 69.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.8.

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The Boy Named If favourites

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The Boy Named If comments

Showing all 5 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
85/100
From 03/03/2023 23:25 | #294675
This is a ridiculously good record considering how far into his career and age etc. If you're a fan in any way it's a must hear. Exceeded my expectations tremendously.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 10/16/2022 16:13 | #290529
Along with "Look now" this is one of the great latter day Costello releases. I don't think it's too much of a claim to suggest that this will become a top ten Elvis album. It's utterly compelling with an urgent sense of energy and grit. If "Look now" is Costello's latter day "Imperial bedroom" then "The Boy named if" is his latter day "Blood & chocolate". Superb.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 08/20/2022 00:38 | #288717
Elvis Costello, accompanied by a red hot sizzling Imposters lineup, is on fine form and shows that there’s still plenty of life in this old dog yet ;))
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 02/01/2022 22:40 | #280434
As of me writing this (February 1, 2022), this is my favorite album released in 2022. All but three songs ("The Man You Love to Hate," "The Death of Magic Thinking," and "Trick Out the Truth") are great, and it's on its way to becoming a classic (to me, at least).
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 01/14/2022 09:57 | #279307
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Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -4 votes (0 helpful | 4 unhelpful)
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