The Unforgettable Fire
by U2
Listen & Collect
Complete your collection or upgrade your listening experience.
U2 bestography
The Unforgettable Fire is ranked 4th best out of 38 albums by U2 on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by U2 is The Joshua Tree which is ranked number 51 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 17,965.
(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 The Unforgettable Fire on YouTube
The Unforgettable Fire track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
The Unforgettable Fire rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 53 minutes ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Olli | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 15/100 | 17 |
| 2026 | BurndenAce | Top 75 Music Albums of the 1980s | 58/75 | 5 |
| 2026 | culwin | Top 64 Music Albums of 1984 | 19/64 | 4 |
| 2026 | javicho07 | Top 16 Music Albums of 1984 | 8/16 | 3 |
| 2026 |  nitomano | Top 33 Music Albums of 1984 | 9/33 | 4 |
| 2026 | fabm0 | Decade 1980s Pt 2 | 7/100 | - |
| 2026 | LittleM1971 | Top 91 Music Albums of 1984 | 11/91 | 4 |
| 2026 |  RockyRaccoon | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 68/100 | 7 |
| 2026 |  Wasinski | Top 99 Music Albums of 1984 | 81/99 | 1 |
| 2026 | Jakor | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 46/100 | 11 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 583 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 3,577 | |||
The Unforgettable Fire collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 554 members
The Unforgettable Fire 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 998 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/24/2026 22:18 | araidernomore | 491 | 70/100 |
| ! | 07/25/2026 21:48 | xhitmanx | 1,604 | 75/100 |
| ! | 07/04/2026 15:20 |  hoyquarlow | 541 | 76/100 |
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 3% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.5/100, a mean average of 76.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.3.
The Unforgettable Fire favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 157 members
Forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 5 days ago in Chart of the day (#5436): By Rivera BestEverAlbums 09/07/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5428): By ExTeaSea BestEverAlbums 08/22/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5412): By BraddlesHendoThe Unforgettable Fire 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)
Jboy56 05/08/2024 13:37 | #303420
One of the classic album of all time, the sound and the means.. (Edited)
My feelings are similar to the ones I had on War. There are 5 great tracks here, but other 5 are either bad or forgettable. Pride In The Name Of Love is one of their best songs, but it can't hold up the whole album.
DJFresh-Rock 04/21/2022 18:49 | #284468
I'm more of a fan of 90s U2 - probably because they got a little more experimental - but this is certainly a worthy addition to the canon. I'm not convinced by the reviews that are talking about a load of filler, but the album is certainly held up by a few stronger songs. The idea of a transitional album is right: there's just enough of the post-punk sensibilities remaining (e.g. Indian Summer Sky) but the band were slowly morphing into the art rock that became more apparent on The Joshua Tree. Of course, they abandoned that with their following album, but it was good whilst it lasted. And for the record: I like Elvis Presley And America. (Edited)
The music on here seems pretty safe in terms of its composition and there are a few tracks which don't meet the usual level of U2 which drag the album down. The album is carried by 3 very good songs which are Pride, The Unforgettable Fire and Bad the rest are pretty skippable in my opinion. On those 3 tracks though we are treated to brilliant vocals and some very infectious moments. They show the potential the group had and you can see how they got to The Joshua Tree from this album. However, tracks like Promenade, 4th Of July and Elvis Presley And America are pointless along with being very close to the edge of being bad songs. Also, they seem to be just lacking a spark that makes their other albums so exciting as I found myself quite disinterested while listening to this. Overall, a skippable record in the discography of U2 but I would still recommend listening to those 3 songs as they are great.
Very hard to rate this album, as it's essentially 3 incredible tracks (Bad, Unforgettable Fire, Pride In The Name Of Love) and the rest is so average. Wire and Indian Summer Sky are okay, I like A Sort Of Homecoming, but the rest is just filler and shouldn't have made it on to a U2 album. This could have been another great U2 album. Bad is such an incredible song - I get goosebumps when Bono sings "I'm wide awake", it's probably my favourite vocal performance ever. (Edited)
Your feedback for The Unforgettable Fire
The top-voted comments get featured on our charts, Album of the Day, and the site newsletter.
