Madman Across The Water
by Elton John
Listen & Collect
Complete your collection or upgrade your listening experience.
Elton John bestography
Madman Across The Water is ranked 2nd best out of 56 albums by Elton John on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Elton John is Goodbye Yellow Brick Road which is ranked number 207 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 7,216.
(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 Madman Across The Water on YouTube
Madman Across The Water track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 83 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Madman Across The Water rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 2 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | bonnequestion | Top 50 Music Albums of 1971 | 44/50 | 1 |
| 2026 |  MadhattanJack | Top 67 Music Albums of 1971 | 45/67 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Robert Anton Wilson | Top 36 Music Albums of 1971 | 14/36 | 3 |
| 2026 |  ERadio | Top 50 Music Albums of 1971 | 27/50 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Romanelli | Top 45 Music Albums of 1971 | 28/45 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Leonard | Top 99 Music Albums of 1971 | 45/99 | 3 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | 72/100 | 6 |
| 2026 | BorderFreeAndrew | Top 100 Music Albums of 1971 | 9/100 | 5 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Top 100 Music Albums of 1971 | 20/100 | 4 |
| 2026 |  Patman360 | Top 100 Music Albums of 1971 | 85/100 | 1 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 327 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 1,659 | |||
Madman Across The Water collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 259 members
Madman Across The Water 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 459 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/21/2026 21:00 | RemainInLight | 3,776 | 35/100 |
| ! | 07/25/2026 00:10 | coldesouza | 181 | 78/100 |
| ! | 07/23/2026 02:10 | stryker700 | 295 | 90/100 |
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 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.3/100, a mean average of 77.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.4.
Madman Across The Water favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 65 members
Madman Across The Water forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 09/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movements BestEverAlbums 08/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movementsMadman Across The Water comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Starts strong with some good songs but then goes mostly quite pedestrian sounding. 70's Elton is my preferred era of him though. (Edited)
One of my earliest vinyl’s I bought with great lyrics by Bernie Taupin. This is one of those albums that you can sit back and just listen or sing-along. Play side one, and flip play the other side. I consider this his best album because it didn’t sound has pop has some of his other albums. (Edited)
A few great songs mixed with some average tracks that makes for a decent listen on the whole but it isn't a record that will be amongst the elite. This record does have some of Elton's best ever songs on here in the form of Tiny Dancer and Levon which kick off the album in such style. It is a shame that this level of infectiousness and quality couldn't be maintained right till the end. Side 1 is far superior as well which makes the record feel very unbalanced as it could be argued that the second side could be skipped in its entirety. Elton John's vocal is phenomenal throughout however and I can see why so many people gravitate towards this record as his voice always draws me back to his albums. Overall, a decent listen that is inconsistent and definitely isn't the best of his records. (Edited)
Great Elton record (Edited)
Good pop album, definitely better than Tumbleweed Connection.
The top-voted comments get featured on our charts, Album of the Day, and the site newsletter.
