McCartney II
by Paul McCartney

McCartney II by Paul McCartney
Year: 1980
Release date: 1980-05-16
Overall rank: 3,035th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
70/100 (from 214 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1980 (56th)
Award Top albums of the 1980s (449th)
Award Best albums of all time (3,035th)

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Paul McCartney - Mccartney II [New CD]
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NEW Paul McCartney McCartney I, II, III LP Vinyl Record Set 3-Disc 180 G Vinyl
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McCartney II Special Edition Remastered Paul McCartney Archive Collection CD
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Paul McCartney bestography

McCartney II is ranked 8th best out of 50 albums by Paul McCartney on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Paul McCartney is Band On The Run which is ranked number 261 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 6,194.

Paul McCartney album bestography « Higher ranked (2,685th)
Flaming Pie
This album (3,035th)
McCartney II
Lower ranked (3,355th) »
New

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

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McCartney II track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 78 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

McCartney II rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 3,035th | 1980s rank: 449th | 1980 rank: 56th
Filter Filter
Sort Sort by
YearSourceChartRankRank Score
2026Juneof44Top 50 Music Albums of 198024/503
2026 BozoTyrannusBeatles' Solo Projects24/34 -
2026cicadelicTop 100 Music Albums of 198075/1001
2026TroutMaskGregTop 100 Music Albums of the 1980s81/1004
2026fabm0List 198055/100 -
2026matterhornriderTop 70 Music Albums of 198064/701
2026 AAL2014Top 69 Music Albums of 198021/694
2026lanadeleswiftTop 42 Music Albums of 198036/421
2026davidhuretRanking: Paul McCartney's albums (excluding his classical works)9/32 -
2026juanr1096Top 56 Music Albums of 198053/560
2026 serpicoTop 100 Music Albums of the 1980s90/1002
2026 TamthebamTop 98 Music Albums of 198058/982
2026davidhurettop 25 solo Beatles albums (1970-2020)16/25 -
2026 NowhereManTop 21 Music Albums of 19803/215
2026 NowhereManPaul McCartney/Wings/The Fireman/Twin Freaks: RANKED18/33 -
2026fabm0Platinum year 198040/74 -
2026davidhuretTop 19 Music Albums of 19804/194
2026 NowhereManTop 100 Music Albums of the 1980s22/10016
2026TroutMaskGregTop 24 Music Albums of 198012/243
2026 NowhereManBeatles Solo Works - RANKED26/52 -
Total Charts: Help The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. 131
Total Rank Score: Help The total rank score. 505
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

McCartney II collection

McCartney II ratings

Average Rating: 
70/100 (from 214 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 214 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
80/100
 
05/31/2026 08:41 mostlymor  Ratings distribution  6,93979/100
 
80/100
 
05/29/2026 20:17 serpico  Ratings distribution  78086/100
 
75/100
 
05/08/2026 19:28 Jakor  Ratings distribution  5,43470/100
 
80/100
 
04/11/2026 02:24 indieshins  Ratings distribution  4383/100
 
65/100
 
03/17/2026 01:53 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  11,41470/100

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 68.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 70.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.4.

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McCartney II comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 19 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Rating:  
85/100
From 08/19/2023 16:07 | #298718
This album SLAPS. I enjoyed it so much.
Probably one of my favorite McCartney albums.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 05/17/2023 08:40 | #297035
Listened to this one again after getting through Paul's '70s album. It's grown on me. A weird album that Paul wasn't even going to release - just a way to get back to making music after the break up of Wings and a short stint in jail in Japan for marijuana possession, and something for him to play for his own enjoyment and for friends and family. But someone convinced him to release it officially. So it's the sound of one of the greatest songwriters of all time tinkering and playing around with sounds. Sometimes that results in a mediocre song, like Bogey Music or Nobody Knows, but I enjoy most of the songs here. Coming Up is obviously great, Temporary Secretary is really divisive but I personally love it, Waterfalls, Summer's Day Song and One of These Days are three of his most beautiful and unique songs, and Dark Room is a sinister bit of synth pop. I even like the two instrumentals, which isn't a very popular opinion, I know. I'm becoming a massive Macca nerd now, thanks to listening to his work in order and listening to the corresponding episode of Take It Away: The Paul McCartney Podcast. This is a great one, especially from someone coming out of a stint with his second hugely successful band - certainly one of the weirdest albums from someone of his stature. But that's the thing - Paul is weird, and I think a lot of people don't know that. I didn't, for quite a while.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 04/07/2022 14:34 | #283898
Partially experimenting with synths and things, this feels unfinished, almost like a demo?,
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 01/08/2022 06:09 | #278817
I've only heard it twice, so this could go up or down in rating. At the moment, I think it's a noble experiment after some pretty bland material in the 70s (as well as some awesome stuff like RAM and Band on the Run), but there's some meh songs on here. Still, there's also some great stuff. Waterfalls in particular is a beautiful and haunting track. I also like the opener and closer, the latter allegedly being about Lennon, which makes it all the more poignant as John would be murdered less than six months after the album's release.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
65/100
From 04/09/2021 19:28 | #268395
That was... unh... disappointing
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (1 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 12/09/2020 05:49 | #262323
I always avoided this album like the plague, as its sessions produced one of my least favorite songs of all time: Wonderful Christmas Time. However, recently this album has become something of a guilty pleasure of mine. Coming Up is just a great piece of Funk Rock, and the album has its dope moments like Temporary Secretary and Frozen Jap. I'll throw this one on while no one's looking every once in a while.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 11/24/2020 18:52 | #261336
Strangely cool! Rating (75.45)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 04/30/2020 19:52 | #250715
I've just listened to this album for the first time some forty years after seeing it all over the record shops as a twenty year old. At the time Paul was a little irrelevant to my post punk/reggae world and there was no Youtube where you could hear albums you didn't necessarily want to buy, yet I had a curiousity about it and wondered what it was like all the same. So four decades too late I get to say that in my opinion the album is okay overall but I'm shocked at the inclusion of the two vacuous instrumentals on the album, I mean I am really shocked, they are truly awful! I suppose that's what happens when everybody around you is telling you you are a musical genius, you think you can turn your hand to any kind of music, but clearly McCartney made an arse of himself on those two tracks anyway.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 09/08/2017 16:29 | #197565
Best Tracks: Check My Machine, Summer's Day Song
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From 11/02/2016 22:44 | #177890
Lo-fi home record experimental McCartney. Overall better than McCartney1 ten years before.

The obvious standout tracks are four: the pop of Coming up, the electronica of Temporary secretary, the outstandingly beautiful Waterfalls and the warm One of these days.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Best Albums of 1980
1. Remain In Light by Talking Heads
2. Closer by Joy Division
3. Back In Black by AC/DC
4. Scary Monsters by David Bowie
5. Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables by Dead Kennedys
6. Peter Gabriel (1980) by Peter Gabriel
7. The River by Bruce Springsteen
8. Permanent Waves by Rush
9. Pretenders by Pretenders
10. Seventeen Seconds by The Cure