The Head On The Door
by The Cure

The Head On The Door by The Cure
Year: 1985
Release date: 1985-08-30
Overall rank: 353rd   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
81/100 (from 815 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 10 albums of 1985 (7th)
Award Top 50 albums of of the 1980s (48th)
Award Top 500 albums of all time (353rd)

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The Cure bestography

The Head On The Door is ranked 3rd best out of 40 albums by The Cure on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by The Cure is Disintegration which is ranked number 27 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 25,568.

The Cure album bestography « Higher ranked (289th)
Pornography
This album (353rd)
The Head On The Door
Lower ranked (588th) »
Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me

(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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The Head On The Door track list

  Track ratings 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 (900 - 305 votes)
Average Rating: 90 (305 votes)Comments: View 7
7.
Track pick (890 - 265 votes)
Average Rating: 89 (265 votes)Comments: View 9

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

The Head On The Door rankings

The Head On The Door rankings summary
Overall rank: 353rd | 1980s rank: 48th | 1985 rank: 7th  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)

The Head On The Door collection

The Head On The Door ratings

Average Rating: 
81/100 (from 815 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 815 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
90/100
 !
09/02/2026 01:23 xhitmanx  Ratings distribution  1,60475/100
 
80/100
 !
09/01/2026 15:23 AndyLish79  Ratings distribution  50581/100
 
75/100
 !
08/25/2026 10:22 AledJames  Ratings distribution  1,68269/100

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 81.4/100, a mean average of 80.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 81.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 12.7.


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The Head On The Door favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 147 members

Forum mentions

This album has been referenced 168 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 22 hours ago in Chart of the day (#5435): By flamingyesdept
Today's chart of the day Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s by flamingyesdept () 1. by (1980) 2. by (1986) 3. by (1985) 4. by (1984) 6. by (1983) 8. by (1985) 9. (1986) 10. by (1988) 11. (1980) 12. by (1988) 13. (1984) 14. by (1982) 15. by by by (1989) 18. (1980) 19. (1989) 20. by (1985) 22. by…
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From BestEverAlbums 09/01/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5422): By CharlieBarley
Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by CharlieBarley () 1. by (1975) 2. by (1970) 3. by (1978) 5. by (1971) 6. (1982) 7. by (1975) 8. (1989) 9. by (1968) 10. by (1965) 11. by by (1977) 13. by (1969) 14. by (1993) 15. by (1970) 16. by (1971) 17. by (1986) 18. by (1969) 19. (1970)…
View forum post →

From BestEverAlbums 08/18/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5408): By Vasco
Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Vasco () 1. by (1994) 2. by (1979) 3. by (1977) 5. (2012) 7. (1982) 9. by by (1990) 12. by (1989) 14. by (2023) 15. (2019) 16. (1998) 17. by (2013) 20. by (1973) 21. by (2024) 22. (1992) 23. by (2022) 24. by (2006) 25. by (1975) 26. by…
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The Head On The Door comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 42 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Rating:  
95/100
Other than Disintegration and maybe Seventeen Seconds, The Cure record I've listened to the most. And wouldn't you believe it? This thing still holds up. After stumbling a bit with The Top, The Head on the Door shows The Cure able to craft some of the most textured and sugary sweet new wave music of the era. You almost wouldn't guess that the same band that gave us Faith and Pornography were capable of "In Between Days" and "Close to Me," but that's The Cure for you. Capable of some of the dreariest and most unsettling rock music, as well as some of the most unforgettable happy-sad pop ever made.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 02/06/2023 23:20 | #293666
A more pop centred attempt from The Cure which works extremely well on the two huge songs which are two of their most listened tracks of all time. Despite this, it is a few of the lesser known songs that steal the show in my opinion with the trio of Six Different Ways, Push and A Night Like This being three of my favourite ever Cure tracks. All three do such a good job of getting stuck in my head with the build up on Push being absolutely brilliant and it makes the pay off of the second half of the song even better. Robert's lyrics are just as incredible as ever and they deserve your attention as you are listening through. His vocal delivery is just as good as well but it is a little more varied on this record due to the pop style and it works very effectively. However, the quality is a little more inconsistent than some of their other releases and a few of the cuts on here I would consider skippable to the average listener but if you love their music like I do then you will enjoy them. Overall, this was a much needed transition in musical style for The Cure and while it is extremely successful in places it can be a little weak in others but it is still an elite level record.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 12/23/2022 03:59 | #292151
Very strong entry after a bit of a misstep with The Top. In Between Days, Six Different Ways and Close To Me are brilliant songs and overall the band lightened up a bit while maintaining their creativity.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 12/07/2022 18:16 | #291822
This album marks a change of style in The Cure discography, which pays off. The results in more alternative-pop oriented tracks like Inbetween Days, Push or Close To Me are incredible. Also tracks that are similar to their previous albums - Kyoto Song or A Night Like This are big standouts here. I really like unconventional The Blood and Sinking is excellent ending.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 12/31/2021 21:16 | #278290
My favourite Cure album. I tend to find that even though I love the band and they have written some of my favourite songs, that the albums are too hit-and-miss and contain too many duds. This one is in my opinion their most consistent album. My highlights are In Between Days and A Night Like This - both incredible songs, + Push just behind them. Screw, Sinking and The Baby Screams are the weakest tracks. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)

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