The Wayward Bus
by The Magnetic Fields
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The Magnetic Fields bestography
The Wayward Bus is ranked 7th best out of 14 albums by The Magnetic Fields on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by The Magnetic Fields is 69 Love Songs which is ranked number 489 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 3,481.
(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 The Wayward Bus on YouTube
The Wayward Bus track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 79 out of 100 (10 out of 20 tracks have been rated).
The Wayward Bus 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 |  Purplepash | Top 63 Music Albums of 1992 | 51/63 | 1 |
| 2026 |  meccalecca | Top 100 Music Albums of 1992 | 24/100 | 4 |
| 2026 |  imacgill | Top 100 Music Albums of 1992 | 34/100 | 3 |
| 2026 |  DommeDamian | Top 22 Music Albums of 1992 | 13/22 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Hayden | Top 50 Music Albums of 1995 | 23/50 | - |
| 2026 |  AAL2014 | The Magnetic Fields: So Far.. | 3/10 | - |
| 2026 |  SingingPeasant96 | Kissing Just For Practice : Indie Pop (Twee & Jangle) | 2/98 | - |
| 2026 | lanadeleswift | Top 38 Music Albums of 1992 | 10/38 | 4 |
| 2026 | Hayden | Top 50 Music Albums of 1992 | 31/50 | 2 |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 100 Music Albums of 1992 | 45/100 | 3 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 43 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 148 | |||
The Wayward Bus collection
Showing all 14 members who have this album in their collection
The Wayward Bus 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 61 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 10/16/2026 08:14 | Hayden | 7,964 | 72/100 |
| ! | 10/16/2026 08:14 |  Captain_Dude | 10,215 | 74/100 |
| ! | 10/16/2026 08:14 |  Kingturtle | 7,579 | 73/100 |
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 11% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 74.7/100, a mean average of 75.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 75.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 11.8.
The Wayward Bus favourites
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The Wayward Bus forum mentions
albummaster 10/17/2026 08:20 in Year Change Notices imacgill 11/18/2022 20:25 in Song Chronicle
baystateoftheart 07/30/2020 02:58 in Complicated MergeView all forum mentions
The Wayward Bus comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Many consider The Magnetic Fields one of the essential acts in alternative music. Usually, this claim is immediately defended with mentions of Stephin Merritt's songwriting and vision. While I could never knock one of the greatest pop figures of our times or diminish the fact that the Fields really are his brainchild, I will fight to the grave the notion that The Magnetic Fields were not at their absolute peak under their early female vocalist Susan Anway. The delicacy of her delivery combined with whatever you want to chock up Merritt's songwriting to - starry-eyed youth, a keen cleverness - resulted in one of the most serene, delectable dishes in the indie lexicon.
SingingPeasant96 TOP 100 COMMENTER 06/21/2014 04:44 | #114923 | TOP COMMENT
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Wall of sound at its sweetest, cutest and yet saddest
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