Leaders Of The Free World
by Elbow

Album
Leaders Of The Free World by Elbow
Year: 2005
Release date: 2005-09-12
Overall rank: 3,606th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 161 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 2005 (69th)
Award Top albums of of the 2000s (607th)
Award Best albums of all time (3,606th)

Listen on Spotify SPOTIFY
eBay
Sorry, no matches on eBay for "Leaders Of The Free World Elbow".
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 Elbow merchandise on Amazon (T-shirts & more)
  • Need a birthday or celebration gift? Browse unique music memorabilia on Amazon

Elbow bestography

Leaders Of The Free World is ranked 5th best out of 19 albums by Elbow on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Elbow is The Seldom Seen Kid which is ranked number 553 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 3,100.

Elbow album bestography « Higher ranked (2,632nd)
The Take Off And Landing Of Everything This album (3,606th)
Leaders Of The Free World Lower ranked (4,492nd) »
Cast Of Thousands

(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 Leaders Of The Free World on YouTube

Loading content from YouTube...

Leaders Of The Free World rankings

Leaders Of The Free World rankings summary
Overall rank: 3,606th | 2000s rank: 607th | 2005 rank: 69th  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: 2 hours ago)

Leaders Of The Free World collection

Leaders Of The Free World ratings

Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 161 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 161 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
35/100
 !		06/30/2026 13:33 Leginlists  Ratings distribution  3,84083/100
 
85/100
 !		06/27/2026 20:35 Gedi  Ratings distribution  36783/100
 
70/100
 !		06/07/2026 02:14 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  15,66170/100

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 6% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 75.6/100, a mean average of 74.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 75.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.9.


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

Leaders Of The Free World favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 16 members

Pktara
fractaljazz
KingJonestown
WayneMC
Mez123
GirlsOnFire
swagnadalf
MARTINBORS
Button001
frndet32

Forum mentions

This album has been referenced 15 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 08/03/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5393): By videoheadcleaner
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s by ) 1. (2001) 2. by by (2002) 5. by by by (2004) 8. by by (2004) 10. by by (2006) 12. by (2004) 13. by by (2005) 15. by (2003) 17. by (2007) 19. by (2000) 21. by by (2001) 23. by (2001) 25. by (2005) 26. by by by by (2005) 31. by (2006)…”
View forum post →

From mrmcrook 01/22/2026 21:32 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
“What album are you listening to? (cont.)”
View forum post →

From dihansse 12/11/2025 20:18 in My discoveries per year
“Only an album I already own/know from 2005: Still a surprisingly good album from a band which is in my opinion not as good anymore than they used to be, for example on this album. The title tracks is great and there are many other goodies here so the album goes from the 73rd to the 53rd rank of the…”
View forum post →

View all forum mentions

Leaders Of The Free World comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 7 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:  
80/100
From 01/22/2026 21:38 | #312758
Not their best but still bloody good. The great thing is you always know what you're getting with an Elbow album. They never let me down. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Reply
Rating:  
45/100
From 02/15/2022 09:40 | #281322 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
It's not one of their best albums, but as always with Elbow there is some beautiful stuff on this. My highlights are Great Expectations, Station Approach and Forget Myself.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Reply
Rating:  
80/100
From 07/09/2016 14:41 | #170948 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Another solid Elbow album. As always, full of inventive pop with a strong Peter Gabriel influence. Not as good as, asleep in the back, but still decent.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Reply
From 02/11/2016 18:29 | #159376 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Nothing on this one really blew me away, except for the title track. This album is kinda like a warm-up for the Seldom Seen Kid.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Reply
Rating:  
80/100
From 07/26/2015 20:46 | #146481
I think the best album by Elbow. Very consistent
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Reply

Please log in or create an account if you want to be able to add a comment

Your feedback for Leaders Of The Free World

Anonymous
What do you think of this album? Leave a comment or rate it below.
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 and join the discussion.
Best Albums of  2005
1. Illinois by Sufjan Stevens
2. Demon Days by Gorillaz
3. Late Registration by Kanye West
4. Silent Alarm by Bloc Party
5. Takk... by Sigur Rós
6. I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning by Bright Eyes
7. Alligator by The National
8. X&Y by Coldplay
9. Feels by Animal Collective
10. I Am A Bird Now by Antony & The Johnsons