The Idiot
by Iggy Pop

The Idiot by Iggy Pop
Year: 1977
Release date: 1977-03-18
Overall rank: 743rd   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
80/100 (from 550 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 20 albums of 1977 (20th)
Award Top albums of of the 1970s (164th)
Award Top 1,000 albums of all time (743rd)

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Iggy Pop bestography

The Idiot is ranked 2nd best out of 36 albums by Iggy Pop on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Iggy Pop is Lust For Life which is ranked number 526 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 3,301.

Iggy Pop album bestography « Higher ranked (526th)
Lust For Life
This album (743rd)
The Idiot
Lower ranked (2,128th) »
Post Pop Depression

(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 Idiot track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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#
Track
Rating/Comments
2.
Track pick (850 - 136 votes)
Average Rating: 85 (136 votes)Comments: View 0
5.
Track pick (860 - 136 votes)
Average Rating: 86 (136 votes)Comments: View 0

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

The Idiot rankings

The Idiot rankings summary
Overall rank: 743rd | 1970s rank: 164th | 1977 rank: 20th  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 Idiot collection

The Idiot ratings

Average Rating: 
80/100 (from 550 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 550 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
85/100
 !
08/08/2026 22:09 luukvdschepop  Ratings distribution  75075/100
 
60/100
 !
07/21/2026 00:54 xhitmanx  Ratings distribution  1,57274/100
 
90/100
 !
07/12/2026 19:31 liquidbottle  Ratings distribution  77582/100
 
80/100
 !
06/20/2026 21:16 MasterOfPuppets  Ratings distribution  84583/100
 
35/100
 !
06/16/2026 14:36 DommeDamian  Ratings distribution  7,67448/100

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 80.1/100, a mean average of 79.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 80.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.2.


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The Idiot comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 36 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:  
100/100
From 06/06/2026 05:15 | #314811
El verdadero tercer disco de la trilogía berlinesa en mi opinión, junto a Low y “Heroes” de David Bowie. En The Idiot, Iggy Pop es el conejillo de Indias para toda la experimentación de nuevos sonidos de Bowie, cosa que después perfeccionaría en Low. Contiene algunas de las mejores canciones en la carrera de Iggy Pop como China Girl, Nightclubbing, Tiny Girls, o el magnífico cierre, Mass Production. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 07/03/2025 22:16 | #309883
an iconic and influential record that still feels fresh (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 01/29/2023 01:21 | #293355
I knew about this record having been produced by Bowie, but after listening to it and reading a bit more, this can be easily considered a Bowie album. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 12/28/2022 03:10 | #292272
Iggys’s solo debut was a great collaboration with David Bowie. Best tracks are Sister Midnight, Nightclubbing, Funtime, China Girls and Dum Dum Boys about his old band. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 04/23/2022 12:14 | #284524
There are some pretty good songs here like Nightclubbing, Funtime and China Girl, the rest isn't so great, but as a whole it works.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
15/100
From 09/08/2021 16:56 | #273518
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -3 votes (0 helpful | 3 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 10/31/2020 00:26 | #259975
Sister Midnight, China Girl, Dum Dum Boys, and Nightclubbing are really good. The rest are fine. For an album with 8 songs, that's a fine rate, but for me it's not as memorable or as front to back listenable as Lust for Life or the Stooges albums.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
Krautrock meets Garage Rock in a nocturnal album with a plenty of industrial influence. Maybe the birth of Post-Punk. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 06/24/2020 02:00 | #254344
The Idiot sees Iggy Pop at his most creative. Songs like Nightclubbing and Funtime are good examples of the industrial flavors this album contains, they’re very hypnotic and driving.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 07/21/2019 11:52 | #240075
Favourite track: "Mass Production"
Least-favourite track: "Tiny Girls"
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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