Javelin (studio album)
by Sufjan Stevens

Javelin by Sufjan Stevens
Year: 2023
Release date: 2023-10-06
Overall rank: 913th   
Average Rating: 
81/100 (from 292 votes)
     
Accolades:
Award Top 5 albums of 2023 (2nd)
Award Top 20 albums of the 2020s (14th)
Award Top 1,000 albums of all time (913th)

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Sufjan Stevens bestography

Javelin is ranked 6th best out of 34 albums by Sufjan Stevens on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Sufjan Stevens is Illinois which is ranked number 43 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 20,380.

Sufjan Stevens album bestography « Higher ranked (777th)
Seven Swans
This album (913th)
Javelin
Lower ranked (1,572nd) »
The Ascension

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Upcoming concerts

Feb
03
Tue
20:00
Ricardo Arjona - LO QUE EL SECO NO DIJO TOUR
Spectrum Center, Charlotte, United States. United States
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Jan
17
Sat
19:30
Escape the Fate
Encore, Tucson, United States. United States
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Feb
08
Sun
13:00
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2: Live In Concert
Atlanta Symphony Hall, Atlanta, United States. United States
Tickets from Ticketmaster Get tickets
 
Discover more upcoming concerts

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Javelin track list

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

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Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Average Rating: 85 (95 votes)Comments: View 0
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2.
Average Rating: 84 (92 votes)Comments: View 0
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3.
Track pick (880 - 101 votes)
Average Rating: 88 (101 votes)Comments: View 1
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4.
Average Rating: 82 (87 votes)Comments: View 0
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5.
Average Rating: 82 (86 votes)Comments: View 0
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6.
Average Rating: 82 (84 votes)Comments: View 0
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7.
Track pick (870 - 96 votes)
Average Rating: 87 (96 votes)Comments: View 0
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9.
Track pick (880 - 94 votes)
Average Rating: 88 (94 votes)Comments: View 0
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10.
Average Rating: 82 (81 votes)Comments: View 0
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Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Javelin rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 913th | 2020s rank: 14th | 2023 rank: 2nd

Javelin collection

Javelin ratings

Average Rating: 
81/100 (from 292 votes)
   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 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 292 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
50/100
 !
31 hours ago mutant   1,63455/100
 
90/100
 !
5 days ago Oid   21278/100
 
0/100
 !
12/24/2025 00:48 subnam   5842/100
 
100/100
 !
12/19/2025 07:26 stwhelan   2100/100
 
55/100
 !
12/12/2025 02:37 maxacare   36468/100

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 81.4/100, a mean average of 79.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 81.7/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.1.

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Javelin comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 12 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)

Rating:  
100/100
From 10/05/2025 20:09 | #311221
Ok for some this will not be his best work, but to me, it's a classic!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 12/25/2024 17:38 | #306642
Heartbreakingly beautiful he really captures that feeling of loss and heartbreak without being too melodramatic. Illinois, Carrie & Lowell, 7 Swans and Javelin are amazing albums. Different from each other but his genius is present in all 4 of these albums. Javelin is special to me as is Carrie & Lowell they are both in my Top 100 both rank 90/100.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
20/100
From 01/01/2024 19:58 | #300834
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -5 votes (4 helpful | 9 unhelpful)
Rating:  
10/100
From 01/01/2024 02:36 | #300816
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -6 votes (4 helpful | 10 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 12/18/2023 16:03 | #300537
Album Rating: 82.70
(827/10)

06.10.2023

Sufjan Stevens (UK): Javelin

1.Goodbye Evergreen. 79
2.A Running Start. 73
3.Will Anybody Ever Love Me? 94
4.Everything That Rises. 75
5.Genuflecting Ghost. 75
6.My Red Little Fox. 86
7.So You Are Tired. 91
8.Javelin (To Have And To Hold). 79
9.Shït Talk. 95
10.There’s A World. 80
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (1 helpful | 3 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 11/08/2023 19:07 | #299877
Creo que, a veces, las expectativas que nosotros mismos nos generamos sobre algo terminan jugando en nuestra contra, deteriorando nuestra experiencia... lamentablemente eso fue lo que me pasó con este álbum. Pero no me malentiendan, "Javelin" es bueno y va de menos a más, solo que no me enganchó lo suficiente como para decir ¡wow!

canciones favoritas:
*Everything That Rises
*Genuflecting Ghost
*Shit Talk.

English review:
I think that sometimes the expectations we generate for ourselves about something end up working against us, deteriorating our experience... unfortunately that's what happened to me with this album. But don't get me wrong, "Javelin" is good and goes from strength to strength, it just didn't hook me enough to say wow!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (2 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 11/03/2023 20:58 | #299771
His best work since Carrie & Lowell. Delicate, powerful and heartwrenching. AOTY candidate, to me.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (7 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 10/30/2023 01:41 | #299698
Excellent. Poor guy.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (3 helpful | 3 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 10/29/2023 19:59 | #299696
For me, Sufjan’s thirteenth studio offering perfectly matches in mood its autumnal release date. Sonically, it is almost ‘folklore’-esque at times and I found it to be the perfect musical accomplice for making apple crumble during one cold afternoon late in October. This quality sits in juxtaposition with the emotive, personal lyric writing, conveying the trauma he’s experienced during the last year or so. Overall, I think this contrast is what makes for a very good album, if not an all time classic.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (2 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 10/19/2023 21:32 | #299556
This sounds like an amalgamation of several of his albums to date. You can hear the sounds of Carrie and Lowell, Illinois, Age of Adz, and Seven Swans easily throughout the whole album. This is really his first real album since Seven Swans in his early work where he hasn’t taken an entirely new sonic route for a new album. It’s very good but doesn’t have the originality and intense creativity of his past work. It’s a great album but far from his best but I’ll give him plenty of leeway considering all he’s been through recently. All love to Sufjan :)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (7 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
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