The Yes Album
by Yes

The Yes Album by Yes
Year: 1971
Release date: 1971-02-19
Overall rank: 503rd   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
82/100 (from 721 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1971 (21st)
Award Top albums of of the 1970s (111th)
Award Top 1,000 albums of all time (503rd)

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The Yes Album YES 1971 Gatefold Cover VG Orig-in/Sleeve Atlantic SD-8283 LP VG+
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The Yes Album - YES - 1971 Gatefold Vinyl Record LP - Atlantic SD-8283 - VG/VG+
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The Yes Album Record Vinyl 12” Yes Rhino Rock
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Yes bestography

The Yes Album is ranked 3rd best out of 69 albums by Yes on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Yes is Close To The Edge which is ranked number 86 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 13,544.

Yes album bestography « Higher ranked (272nd)
Fragile
This album (503rd)
The Yes Album
Lower ranked (1,281st) »
90125

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

The Yes Album rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 503rd | 1970s rank: 111th | 1971 rank: 21st
Filter Filter
Sort Sort by
YearSourceChartRankRank Score
2026 Patman360Top 100 Music Albums of 197151/1003
2026MoondanceTop 100 Music Albums of 197110/1005
2026pinkfreud1981Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s88/1003
2026SkernsTop 100 Music Albums of the 1970s51/10010
2026 Squonk007Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s21/10016
2026 Robert Anton WilsonCustom chart12/61 -
2026juanr1096Top 52 Music Albums of 197128/522
2026tim0505Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s71/1006
2026AledJames1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die90/100 -
2026 dihansseTop 46 Music Albums of 197110/464
2026stevengnzTop 100 Music Albums of the 1970s41/10012
2026leniadTop 301-400 Greatest Music Albums26/100 -
2026whatissoulTop 40 Greatest Music Albums20/4051
2026bonnequestionTop 49 Music Albums of 197116/493
2026 Squonk007Top 26 Music Albums of 19711/265
2026adbrack1988Top 51 Music Albums of 197119/513
2026blueandthemoonTop 41 Music Albums of 19716/414
2026MrOlanTop 100 Greatest Music Albums26/10072
2026 RockyRaccoonTop 100 Music Albums of 197134/1003
2026pinkfreud1981Top 16 Music Albums of 197114/161
Total Charts: Help The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. 509
Total Rank Score: Help The total rank score. 3,437
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

The Yes Album collection

The Yes Album ratings

Average Rating: 
82/100 (from 721 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 721 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
85/100
 !
06/30/2026 18:25 Pluto11  Ratings distribution  12,22872/100
 
100/100
 !
06/29/2026 07:28 nextorgd  Ratings distribution  1,20684/100
 
80/100
 !
06/15/2026 19:23 JR  Ratings distribution  1,10681/100
 
90/100
 !
05/26/2026 02:42 progfan  Ratings distribution  3295/100
 
95/100
 !
05/26/2026 00:07 Skerns  Ratings distribution  5,10180/100

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 81.9/100, a mean average of 81.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 82.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.0.

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The Yes Album comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 49 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:  
80/100
From 03/27/2026 15:48 | #313658
The Yeah Sure Why Not Album. (It's very good!)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 02/27/2026 18:25 | #313361
Excellent early progressive rock album with great instrumental performances the whole way through. Such an easy album to spin and get entertained for the full play. "Yours Is No Disgrace" is a tremendous opening and the bass work is off the scale. The transitioning in "Starship Trooper" between parts makes this probably their best song ever. Steve Howe really shines on this album with his blend of acoustic and electric guitars.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 02/17/2023 10:35 | #294134
A solid set of tracks on this album. Great melodies and some wonderful instrumental passages. Steve Howe really shines on this record (his first with the band), adding a variety of tone and technique that was missing on the earlier albums. Jon Anderson's voice is stronger here than on many subsequent records and the bass playing and drumming of Squire and Bruford is sublime. I personally prefer the more subdued keyboard style of Kaye than what was to come afterwards, so this is my favourite Yes album.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 01/28/2023 10:07 | #293330
An impressive early prog release from Yes with their being a lot of moments of brilliance that demonstrate their quality. There are some great instrumental performances the whole way through on here with the peak of that coming on track 4 for me. Every song is enjoyable and has some form of quality about it making this one of their more consistent records. It is just such an easy album to put on and be entertained for the full run time without losing interest or becoming bored as it is kept at a near perfect length. Overall, this album is fun and thoroughly enjoyable with it also being full of quality.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 09/06/2022 17:12 | #289379
Solid prog record
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 08/18/2022 15:43 | #288620
Great album and the true starting point for the Yes prog legend!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 07/25/2022 04:20 | #287804
Certainly one of Yes' best efforts. More consistently good than Fragile, and more digestible than Close to the Edge.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 01/23/2022 19:31 | #279915
Very good early prog rock album.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 01/14/2022 15:46 | #279358
Love it, my first introduction to Yes and thankful for it. These tracks have stayed with me for most of my life.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 06/06/2021 11:28 | #270421
A great starting point if you’re new to ‘Yes’ catchy prog songs that are very assessable and a great introduction to the classics close to the edge and fragile but still a fantastic album in its own right.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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