Phases And Stages
by Willie Nelson
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Willie Nelson bestography
Phases And Stages is ranked 3rd best out of 77 albums by Willie Nelson on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Willie Nelson is Red Headed Stranger which is ranked number 1717 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 994.
(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 Phases And Stages on YouTube
Phases And Stages track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 79 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Phases And Stages rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 5 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | cobbo95 | Top 92 Greatest Music Albums | 66/92 | 28 |
| 2026 | pjerske | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | 11/100 | 18 |
| 2026 | henrygreen0203 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | 26/100 | 15 |
| 2026 |  ERadio | Top 40 Music Albums of 1974 | 10/40 | 4 |
| 2026 |  covecove | Top 50 Music Albums of 1974 | 4/50 | 5 |
| 2026 |  Patman360 | Top 97 Music Albums of 1974 | 21/97 | 4 |
| 2026 |  zags7000 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | 57/100 | 9 |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 100 Music Albums of 1974 | 61/100 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Norman Bates | Top 100 Music Albums of 1974 | 46/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | Cheboygan74 | Top 12 Music Albums of 1974 | 10/12 | 1 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 85 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 440 | |||
Phases And Stages collection
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Phases And Stages 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 83 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/14/2026 19:21 |  Glitterboiii | 4,952 | 88/100 |
| ! | 06/07/2026 10:21 | cobbo95 | 360 | 74/100 |
| ! | 01/18/2026 18:16 | jhoe1994 | 41 | 86/100 |
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 3% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.5/100, a mean average of 76.6/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.6.
Phases And Stages favourites
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Phases And Stages forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 07/29/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5388): By pjerske
pedro1976 02/21/2026 07:23 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
Romanelli 03/27/2024 22:37 in What album are you listening to right now?Phases And Stages comments
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Phases and Stages is Willie Nelson's masterpiece and his finest collection and presentation of original songs.
Career Highlight: It's Not Supposed to Be That Way
Gem: I Still Can't Believe That You're Gone
buzzdainer TOP 100 COMMENTER 07/21/2016 14:46 | #171610 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
This concept album, organized around the loose theme of the "phases and stages" of a painful divorce, is probably the most artistically ambitious project of Willie Nelson's career. Several tracks are continuations of the album's titular song, which gives the album a feeling of simultaneous continuity and fragmentation--perhaps not unlike the incongruous feelings associated with divorce itself. The sad and empathic "Washing the Dishes" tells the story from the ex-wife's point of view, and shows the incredible emotional range that has always set Willie apart from his peers in the Nashville country music scene.
junodog4 TOP 100 COMMENTER 03/17/2015 00:01 | #137081 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
A very personal album during Willie Nelson's peak period.
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