Aladdin Sane
by David Bowie

Aladdin Sane by David Bowie
Year: 1973
Release date: 1973-04-19
Overall rank: 307th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
82/100 (from 1,335 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 10 albums of 1973 (8th)
Award Top 100 albums of of the 1970s (75th)
Award Top 500 albums of all time (307th)

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David Bowie bestography

Aladdin Sane is ranked 7th best out of 96 albums by David Bowie on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by David Bowie is The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars which is ranked number 6 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 40,721.

David Bowie album bestography « Higher ranked (279th)
"Heroes"
This album (307th)
Aladdin Sane
Lower ranked (308th) »
Scary Monsters

(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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Aladdin Sane track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 84 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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Aladdin Sane rankings

Aladdin Sane rankings summary
Overall rank: 307th | 1970s rank: 75th | 1973 rank: 8th  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: 7 hours ago)

Aladdin Sane collection

Aladdin Sane ratings

Average Rating: 
82/100 (from 1,335 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 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 1,335 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
95/100
 !
08/21/2026 13:54 frollant  Ratings distribution  3692/100
 
90/100
 !
07/23/2026 02:07 stryker700  Ratings distribution  29590/100
 
85/100
 !
07/19/2026 16:45 junodog4  Ratings distribution  3,01070/100

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 82.4/100, a mean average of 81.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 82.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 12.8.


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Aladdin Sane favourites

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Forum mentions

This album has been referenced 116 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 08/08/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5398): By mrmcrook
Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by ) 1. by (1973) 2. by (1982) 3. by (1977) 4. by by (1979) 7. by (2013) 8. by (1986) 9. by by by (1995) 12. by (1973) 13. by (1981) 14. by (1970) 15. by by (1972) 17. by (1991) 19. by (1998) 20. (1996) 21. (1984) 22. by (1973) 23. by (1971)…
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From BestEverAlbums 07/07/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5366): By Brandon8
Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by ) 1. by (1967) 2. by (1967) 3. by (1972) 4. by (1965) 5. by (1967) 6. by (1972) 7. by (1984) 8. by (1967) 10. by by (1975) 12. by (1966) 13. by (1969) 14. (1970) 15. (1972) 16. by (1969) 17. by (1966) 18. by (1979) 19. by (1968) 21. by…
View forum post →

From BestEverAlbums 07/01/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5360): By hoyquarlow
Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by ) 1. (1989) 2. by (1986) 5. by (1979) 6. by (1975) 7. by (1985) 8. by (1993) 9. by (1977) 10. (1991) 11. by (1969) 12. by (1993) 13. by (1973) 14. by (1972) 15. by (1987) 16. by (1990) 17. (1990) 18. by (1979) 19. by by (1983) 21. by (1994)…
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Aladdin Sane comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 82 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Rating:  
90/100
From 02/17/2025 16:21 | #307635
There are around 10 Bowie albums on my all-time list but only this one and my own favourite favourite Hunky Dory would make the upper reaches. He made some extremely good albums late in his career but only these and Ziggy and The Man Who Sold the World really conjure conjure up that amount of love. Lets Dance and his posthumous release do it more for love of the artist himself, rather than for any world-changing artistic factors.


This album is pure class and picking out individual tracks would not do justice to its overall brilliance. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 02/16/2023 00:22 | #294071
This is definitely a step down from what Bowie released previously but it still has a lot you can enjoy on here. There is never a dull record when it comes to Bowie as he always gives us something to enjoy as he is just so good at entertaining. On here we have classics such as The Jean Genie, Drive-In Saturday and the title track bulking up the release as well as a few more which are pretty good. Instrumentally, it is varied, diverse and interesting which means there is plenty to keep you engaged. Despite this, there are some weak cuts with the obvious one being the cover as it just sucks me out of the album every time I hear it. Overall, this isn't my favourite Bowie album but it is fun to revisit it every now and again. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (0 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 12/26/2022 09:47 | #292222
Aladdin Sane is an album that I've found a little hard to review. Like its predecessor, "Ziggy Stardust" the album has received classic status, but although there are many fine tracks on "AS", I don't think the album reaches level of its predecessor.
The album contains some fine straight ahead rockers like the opening track "Watch That Man", which is reminiscent of both Chuck Berry and "Suffragette City" from "ZS" The album's strongest, though, is "The Jean Genie", which was also one of two big hits. "Panic in Detroit" and "Cracked Actor" are more in T-Rex style, and certainly among the more memorable numbers.

Among the more melodic tracks "Drive in Saturday" is a favourite, a song that could well have fitted into Ziggy Stardust and also the album's second big hit.

Title track "Alladin Sane" is definitely also one of the most exciting numbers, unfortunately, it may appear a bit longwinded and the crooked piano and saxophone solos are not easily grasped. Ballads "Time" and "The Grinning Soul" are both okay, but not really that memorable.

"The prettiest Star" is a little Musichallish, and basically just weary. "Let's Spend the Night Together" is a completely unnecessary copy of one Rolling Stones' weaker hits.

https://www.angelfire.com/nv/Badfinger/BANDdavidbowie.html (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 12/07/2022 00:22 | #291811
very good album with novel and entertaining songs, although i've heard better from Bowie.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 09/06/2022 17:08 | #289358
Solid but not one of my favorites from Bowie
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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