Black Sabbath
by Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath
Year: 1970
Release date: 1970-02-13
Overall rank: 246th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
83/100 (from 1,190 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 20 albums of 1970 (12th)
Award Top 100 albums of of the 1970s (58th)
Award Top 500 albums of all time (246th)

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Black Sabbath bestography

Black Sabbath is ranked 2nd best out of 48 albums by Black Sabbath on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Black Sabbath is Paranoid which is ranked number 50 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 18,275.

Black Sabbath album bestography « Higher ranked (50th)
Paranoid
This album (246th)
Black Sabbath
Lower ranked (300th) »
Master Of Reality

(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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Black Sabbath track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 85 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Track pick (890 - 344 votes)
Average Rating: 89 (344 votes)Comments: View 7
2.
Track pick (880 - 298 votes)
Average Rating: 88 (298 votes)Comments: View 3
4.
Track pick (900 - 311 votes)
Average Rating: 90 (311 votes)Comments: View 3

Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Black Sabbath rankings

Black Sabbath rankings summary
Overall rank: 246th | 1970s rank: 58th | 1970 rank: 12th  Overall chart history
(Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). (Last updated: 1 hour ago).
Filter Filter
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YearSourceChartRankRank Score
2026wizardalienTop 10 Music Albums of 19708/102
2026Marswolf68Top 100 Greatest Music Albums6/10091
2026Rm12398Top 50 Music Albums of 197012/504
2026adbrack1988Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s79/1004
2026AledJamesTop 100 Music Albums of the 1970s65/1007
2026Marswolf68Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s3/10020
2026bonnequestionBest albums from '65 to '74100/100 -
2026MasterOfPuppetsTop 12 Music Albums of 19701/125
2026 Robert Anton WilsonTop 100 Greatest Music Albums30/10069
2026AbsurdCheesecakeTop 70 Music Albums of the 1970s55/705
2026mrmcrookTop 21 Music Albums of 19703/215
2026bonnequestionTop 55 Music Albums of 197021/553
2026 serpicoTop 100 Greatest Music Albums62/10039
2026timosbuechereiTop 80 Music Albums of the 1970s4/8019
2026 serpicoTop 96 Music Albums of the 1970s4/9619
2026 ExTeaSeaTop 62 Music Albums of 19708/624
2026Johnnyo100 debut (2 B deleted)6/19 -
2026BraddlesHendoTop 100 Greatest Music Albums64/10037
2026 RhynerTop 39 Music Albums of 197027/392
2026AndrasTop 51 Music Albums of the 1970s38/515
Total Charts: Help The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. 850
Total Rank Score: Help The total rank score. 6,403
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

Black Sabbath collection

Black Sabbath ratings

Average Rating: 
83/100 (from 1,190 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 5 ratings for this album.  | Show all 1,190 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
85/100
 !
34 hours ago wadwicz5  Ratings distribution  89786/100
 
80/100
 !
07/19/2026 01:50 xhitmanx  Ratings distribution  1,44979/100
 
80/100
 !
07/12/2026 16:05 liquidbottle  Ratings distribution  77582/100
 
80/100
 !
07/06/2026 12:30 TheWongs  Ratings distribution  80771/100
 
85/100
 !
07/03/2026 19:11 classicjoe  Ratings distribution  50778/100

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 83.4/100, a mean average of 82.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 83.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.7.


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Black Sabbath comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 60 comments |
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Rating:  
100/100
From 03/10/2026 15:51 | #313509
56 years ago, February 13, 1970, the debut album with the alarming name BLACK SABBATH was released.
The album featured harsh, dark, and difficult-to-listen-to music with scary-horror lyrics sung by a vocalist with a very unusual, strange, but attractive voice.
This album was the first step towards the development of powerful and diverse genres in alternative music at the time, particularly heavy metal, and later, thrash, death, speed, doom, and more were influenced by the Sabbat's creations.
Interestingly, the Sabbat performed songs from this album at all their concerts for 55 years.
This album deserves the highest rating! Sabbath - respect and admiration!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
I was a 12 year old in 1970 living in, as Ozzy and the guys would see it, the wrong side of Birmingham. For those who are not aware, football is a religion in Birmingham and the city is split across the city centre and your either a villain (supporting Aston Villa), or if you come from the south of the city you’re a bluenose (supporting Birmingham City). I’m a proud bluenose and the band all support the villa. Never the Twain shall meet. Until……..

Birmingham is the quintessential blue collar city. Back then, The home of British Leyland and heavy industry. The city of a thousand trades. If you wanted it built, Birmingham could do it with highly skilled tradesmen. That was our identity and it was a rough place to grow up but we didn’t think of it that way as kid. It was just Birmingham.

What we didn’t have as teenagers was our own identity as far as music, not like Liverpool with The Beatles or London with The Stones. Then along came The Sabb.

The first time I heard the self titled album I wasn’t interested in Gezzer’s politics, although this became more important and relevant as I got older, no, it was the first time that I heard anything that sounded like the city that I loved. Industrial, visceral, something that actually had a physical effect on you.

We didn’t know that a whole new genre of music was being created in our city, me and my friends had simply found the music that felt like our city. Didn’t matter which side of the city you lived, there was no divide as far as the band were concerned.

Ozzy famously hated putting music into genre but I do feel proud that, more than 50 years later, and after many sub genre of heavy metal, my city is still the place where it was born.

Ozzy and the band mean a huge amount to me and although my musical palette has expanded hugely since my early teens I still love going back to Black Sabbath for a fix on a regular basis
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 07/24/2025 18:10 | #310275
Rest in peace, Ozzy.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (2 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 02/27/2025 18:33 | #307801
Um álbum de estreia excepcional, a primeira faixa, é icônica
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
50/100
From 02/11/2025 22:33 | #307557
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -3 votes (0 helpful | 3 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
There are very few albums which have “blown me away” on first listen, this was the first to do so. I was 13 in 1971 when I heard this round at a mate house on what would now be described as a very crappy “stereo”. Two sides of vinyl which changed my musical direction for years to come. The bedrock of a whole genre of music. Amazing stuff
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 02/22/2023 11:41 | #294329
One of the most influential and important albums in metal music. It might lack the consistency and heights they reached on later releases but it is still a solid debut with some phenomenal playing on here. It still sounds just as heavy today with the guitars on N.I.B. being a testament to that. This really does feel like the birth of something exciting and I get that feeling every time I listen to this record. Overall, great performances, great songs and a unique style leads to a thoroughly enjoyable album that is full of potential.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 01/22/2023 22:15 | #293189
Genial começo! A atmosfera pesada do Heavy Metal nascendo.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 09/06/2022 17:07 | #289351
Classic. One of the first metal albums
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 01/14/2022 06:04 | #279304
Almost perfect first album from one of the greatest heavy metal bands of all time if not the greatest.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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