Zaireeka
by The Flaming Lips
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The Flaming Lips bestography
Zaireeka is ranked 11th best out of 47 albums by The Flaming Lips on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by The Flaming Lips is Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots which is ranked number 117 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 10,631.
(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 Zaireeka on YouTube
Zaireeka track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Zaireeka rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 4 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  AAL2014 | Top 55 Music Albums of 1997 | 32/55 | 2 |
| 2026 |  flamingyesdept | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | 55/100 | 9 |
| 2026 |  ERadio | Top 50 Music Albums of 1997 | 24/50 | 3 |
| 2026 | flamingyesdept | The Flaming Lips' Albums Ranked | 7/19 | - |
| 2026 |  ssteve | Top 69 Music Albums of 1997 | 39/69 | 2 |
| 2026 |  ExTeaSea | Top 93 Music Albums of 1997 | 47/93 | 3 |
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Top 90 Music Albums of 1997 | 61/90 | 2 |
| 2026 | bonnequestion | Best albums from '95 to '04 | 67/100 | - |
| 2026 | bonnequestion | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | 59/100 | 8 |
| 2026 |  EyeKanFly | Top 94 Music Albums of 1997 | 24/94 | 4 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 90 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 239 | |||
Zaireeka collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 51 members
Zaireeka 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 135 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/15/2026 13:47 | TitoVampir | 197 | 76/100 |
| ! | 05/28/2026 16:09 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,606 | 70/100 |
| ! | 12/11/2025 03:20 |  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 6% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 75.5/100, a mean average of 75.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 75.7/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.5.
Zaireeka favourites
Showing all 9 members who have added this album as a favourite
Forum mentions
NoisyBeast 07/07/2022 18:47 in What album are you listening to right now?
teague 08/12/2021 17:55 in What album are you listening to right now?Zaireeka 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)
Heavy, immersive, inventive and emotional, Zaireeka doesn't seem to get the love it deserves, presumably because people either view it as a gimmick or just can't find a way to play it (CDs/Vinyls are expensive and require 4 devices, not available on Spotify, YouTube laden with ads, etc). I'd say it's up there with Transmissions and Clouds in terms of quality, but still is totally its own thing. Really does feel like an experience. (Edited)
teague 08/17/2021 23:05 | #272605
I've yet to experience this album properly, but the songs are great and the idea behind the album is really cool.
I work for a school and run a club that listens to full records once a week. This is the only album I have done every year, the very last album of the year. So much fun with high schoolers. (Edited)
One of my favourites from them and just about scrapes into my top 100 greatest albums chart, which is no mean feat ! "Zaireeka" is unashamedly experimental and melodically complex, but actually the songs are quite accessible and quite frankly excellent. It's a brave step into the unknown for the Lips who flirt with the progressive pop that defines some of their later records, but as it is, this is a grand achievement and a slightly forgotten one at that.
I don't even have to listen to this simultaneously through 4 speakers around my room to recognise that this is a staggering record (for your information, there are a few uploads of "Zaireeka" on YouTube where all four CDs are compressed, so check it out if you're unable to listen to it in the intended way).
Also, it's not just filled to the brim with uniformly great compositions, it provides a crucial turning point between their noise rock records in the past decade and their poppier psychedelic records in the future. "Zaireeka" is a brave step forward from "Clouds Taste Metallic" where they experiment with an eclectic range of sounds and frequencies, coalescing together to form extravagant chaos. This isn't just for die-hard fans of The Flaming Lips, it's for music lovers everywhere... and hopefully I'll listen to it at a Zaireeka event at some point in my life, I imagine the experience will be completely different. (Edited)
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