Past Masters • Volumes One & Two
by The Beatles
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The Beatles bestography
Past Masters • Volumes One & Two is ranked 22nd best out of 71 albums by The Beatles on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by The Beatles is Abbey Road which is ranked number 3 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 53,591.
(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 Past Masters • Volumes One & Two on YouTube
Past Masters • Volumes One & Two track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Past Masters • Volumes One & Two rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 6 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | blueandthemoon | Top 26 Music Albums of 1988 | 5/26 | 4 |
| 2026 | xhitmanx | Top 29 Music Albums of 1988 | 13/29 | 3 |
| 2026 | stareaterogni0n | Top 42 Music Albums of the 1980s | 16/42 | 13 |
| 2026 |  sszwalbenest | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 31/100 | 14 |
| 2026 |  junodog4 | Top 20 Music Albums of 1988 | 3/20 | 5 |
| 2026 | Steppenwolf666 | Top 99 Music Albums of 1988 | 65/99 | 2 |
| 2026 | blueandthemoon | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 20/100 | 16 |
| 2025 | sszwalbenest | Top 17 Music Albums of 1988 | 5/17 | 4 |
| 2025 | mostlymor | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 60/100 | 8 |
| 2024 |  AlvaroIesus | Greatest songs of all time - GSOAT | 32/48 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 45 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 184 | |||
Past Masters • Volumes One & Two collection
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Past Masters • Volumes One & Two 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 224 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/03/2026 13:41 | xhitmanx | 1,604 | 75/100 |
| ! | 06/19/2026 20:55 | Exist-en-ciel | 16,172 | 70/100 |
| ! | 03/24/2026 15:32 | Fritz | 1,374 | 77/100 |
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 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 83.6/100, a mean average of 82.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 84.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.8.
Past Masters • Volumes One & Two favourites
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Past Masters • Volumes One & Two forum mentions
Past Masters • Volumes One & Two comments
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To Jackbrown. Yes, I'm aware those songs are respectively on, A hard day's night, and, Help!, but what I was referring to on that point was, Past masters, as a coherent listening experience. Yes, it mops up the songs not on any 'official' albums, but that's all it does, sonically it's all over the place. This is maybe the only Beatles compilation you need theoretically, but it's too uneven to work as an album. As I said a UK singles album from Love me do, to, Let it be, and their B-sides would be the ultimate Beatles comp which would flow effortlessly and as well as sonically it would also historically be a great listening experience and yes, feature, Can't buy me love, and, Ticket to ride, but technically, as it is, Past masters, is the only essential compilation. (Edited)
The problem with past masters is that it does exactly what it says on the tin. It mops up all the band's official songs not released on an album, I.e., singles, b-sides, and e.p tracks. You can't argue with the quality of the music, but it feels insubstantial. The jump of two years between rain, and, lady Madonna, is just sonically uncomfortable. The first disc doesn't really suffer too badly from this, but it still misses out great songs like, can't buy me love, and, ticket to ride. It would have been better if they released a U.K. singles album with all the a and b sides, but then you would miss out on the long tall Sally e.p., bad boy, and the original version of, across the universe. I could live without the German versions of she loves you, and, I want to hold your hand, but the rest is essential. It includes wonderful early b-sides such as, the lovely, I'll get you, which is a personal favourite of mine, and the gorgeous, this boy. Other essentials are Paul's, she's a woman, and the aforementioned, rain. The only problem is, it's not really a coherent listening experience. Still, it's a must have for any Beatles fanatics.
Some of my favorite Beatles songs are singles that weren't on the albums proper. This is a necessary part of the complete discography. (Edited)
It's excellent compilation! Past Masters must be ranked overall higher than 400 (Edited)
Rain is exceptional. Can't believe it doesn't have a higher rating. (Edited)
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