The Bends
by Radiohead
Listen & Collect
Complete your collection or upgrade your listening experience.
Radiohead bestography
The Bends is ranked 4th best out of 25 albums by Radiohead on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Radiohead is OK Computer which is ranked number 1 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 59,452.
(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 Bends on YouTube
The Bends track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 88 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
The Bends rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 7 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | jlsfourth | Top 100 Albums of the 20th Century | 22/100 | - |
| 2026 | ornot27 | Top 92 Greatest Music Albums | 4/92 | 95 |
| 2026 | cobbo95 | Top 92 Greatest Music Albums | 59/92 | 36 |
| 2026 | LittleM1971 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | 19/100 | 16 |
| 2026 |  JMGL95 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | 4/100 | 19 |
| 2026 | Simon_bramhall | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 12/100 | 88 |
| 2026 |  sssvnnn | Top 80 Music Albums of 1995 | 38/80 | 3 |
| 2026 |  AwaitingAndrew | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 39/100 | 61 |
| 2026 | blueandthemoon | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | 28/100 | 15 |
| 2026 | Kettwig | Top 27 Music Albums of 1995 | 2/27 | 5 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 2,698 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 27,430 | |||
The Bends collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 1735 members
The Bends 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 3,967 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 3 days ago | thenamesbaka | 78 | 85/100 |
| ! | 4 days ago | Neil_71 | 140 | 78/100 |
| ! | 08/31/2026 22:03 | ikeguy | 45 | 86/100 |
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 87.1/100, a mean average of 85.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 87.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.3.
The Bends favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 1162 members
Forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 09/06/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5427): By StreakyNuno BestEverAlbums 09/03/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5424): By fabm0 BestEverAlbums 08/31/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5421): By Simon_bramhallThe Bends 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)
Not as musically interesting as one might hope for, given what this band would later become. But there are too many great tunes here to deny this is a classic album. Full of anthemic chords, it almost comes off as bombastic at times, but it works. Also contains hints of the musical genius that would come in their next album, this one seems like an incubation of sorts. But if you just want nice songs and easy to understand music, this could arguably be just as good.
I can barely hate a Radiohead album. This one is definitely in my top 3 alongside with OK Computer and In Rainbows (Edited)
szoze 12/22/2025 21:21 | #312260
Amazing album. 30 years later I still love it. (Edited)
Their best by a landslide. In my opinion, all of the accolades later bestowed on OK Computer and Kid A were just overcompensations by the snobs who originally slept on the brilliance of The Bends back in '95. Gorgeous production, lovely arrangements, and some really fun hard rock moments. (Edited)
My favourite Radiohead head album. Every song is a masterpiece. "My Iron Lung" is one of my all time favourite tunes... (Edited)
Your feedback for The Bends
The top-voted comments get featured on our charts, Album of the Day, and the site newsletter.
