So (studio album)
by Peter Gabriel

So by Peter Gabriel
Year: 1986
Overall rank: 226th   
Average Rating: 
80/100 (from 933 votes)
     
Accolades:
Award Top 5 albums of 1986 (4th)
Award Top 50 albums of the 1980s (28th)
Award Top 500 albums of all time (226th)

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Peter Gabriel bestography

So is ranked as the best album by Peter Gabriel.

Peter Gabriel album bestography « Higher ranked
-
This album (226th)
So
Lower ranked (411th) »
Peter Gabriel (1980)

(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

Jan
10
Sat
19:30
RAEL - The Music of Genesis and Peter Gabriel
The Vogel at Count Basie Center for, Red Bank, United States. United States
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Jan
16
Fri
19:00
Abacab - The Music of Genesis, Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel
House of Blues Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, United States. United States
Tickets from Ticketmaster Get tickets
 
Discover more upcoming concerts

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So track list

   The tracks on this album have an average rating of 83 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Track pick (870 - 246 votes)
Average Rating: 87 (246 votes)Comments: View 2
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2.
Track pick (870 - 282 votes)
Average Rating: 87 (282 votes)Comments: View 5
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3.
Average Rating: 85 (253 votes)Comments: View 5
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4.
Average Rating: 80 (176 votes)Comments: View 1
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5.
Track pick (880 - 241 votes)
Average Rating: 88 (241 votes)Comments: View 3
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6.
Average Rating: 83 (192 votes)Comments: View 2
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7.
Average Rating: 80 (203 votes)Comments: View 3
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Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

So rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 226th | 1980s rank: 28th | 1986 rank: 4th

So collection

So ratings

Average Rating: 
80/100 (from 933 votes)
   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 933 ratings for this album.

Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
80/100
 !
11/12/2025 23:03 NYAndreas   1,43243/100
 
80/100
 !
11/08/2025 23:35 Exist-en-ciel   1,82269/100
 
100/100
 !
11/08/2025 16:00 CaptainPain   3,25361/100
 
85/100
 !
10/31/2025 18:01 Kalos   1,14877/100
 
80/100
 !
10/07/2025 16:54 JacobMullis   72388/100

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 80.3/100, a mean average of 79.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 80.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.7.

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So comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 62 comments |
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Rating:  
90/100
From 11/15/2025 20:59 | #311690
Peter Gabriel has done some great, nee, brilliant albums. This is his most consistently brilliant. No filler, all killer. Great album
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 05/08/2025 12:47 | #308876
What a great album that blends the African music style and has a soul to it. Everytime I hear this album it makes me think about the MTV sledgehammer video. This is an indication that they succeeded at giving people what they wanted to hear. Very comfortable making this album one of my favorites to listen to.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 04/08/2025 08:33 | #308404
Shortlisted for album of the year at the Grammys in 1987. The winner was Graceland by Paul Simon. This should have been the winner IMO
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 04/03/2025 21:39 | #308315
Did very well commercially but not how I would summarize typical commercial radio music. More like they picked up and ran with what seemed popular at the time. Quite haunting in scope and vocal. Many decent tracks. Love the duet with Kate.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 07/22/2024 19:28 | #304483
Great Album, Fun and Saddness all in one Album, some banging tunes
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 01/16/2023 21:35 | #292933
Quite good art-pop album with obvious highlights - powerful Red Rain, one of the best 80s hits Sledgehammer, magnificent In Your Eyes.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 06/06/2022 17:28 | #286047
It’s impossible to criticize Gabriel’s voice, which is impeccable. In Your Eyes is a legitimately great track. The rest of the songs fall into two categories: one, the radio-friendly pop song that stretches way longer than a pop song should; and two, the gratuitously weird song that sounds experimental for the sake of maintaining the weird British progressive bona fides.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 02/10/2022 14:57 | #281073
A BIG album with full of bangers, say no more.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
10/100
From 01/01/2022 11:44 | #278311
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -6 votes (0 helpful | 6 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 09/26/2021 10:40 | #274204
Listening to this album again after some time and looking at some of the reviews on this site and others I have the following comments. Firstly do not judge this album by the the 'commercial hits', 'Sledgehammer' and 'Big Time', these are not the best tracks on the album. Several listens are required to appreciate the other tracks, particularly 'In Your Eyes' which is an immaculately crafted piece of music, Gabriel's voice is perfection. 'Don't Give Up' is worth the price of the album on it's own, 'Red Rain' an outstanding opening track. Don't give up on this album, it's one of the best.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Best Albums of 1986
1. The Queen Is Dead by The Smiths
2. Master Of Puppets by Metallica
3. Graceland by Paul Simon
4. So by Peter Gabriel
5. Skylarking by XTC
6. The Colour Of Spring by Talk Talk
7. Reign In Blood by Slayer
8. Lifes Rich Pageant by R.E.M.
9. Licensed To Ill by Beastie Boys
10. Black Celebration by Depeche Mode
11. Evol by Sonic Youth
12. Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi
13. Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? by Megadeth
14. Parade by Prince And The Revolution
15. Raising Hell by Run-D.M.C.
16. Somewhere In Time by Iron Maiden
17. Invisible Touch by Genesis
18. Atomizer by Big Black
19. True Blue by Madonna
20. Your Funeral... My Trial by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
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