Alligator
by The National
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The National bestography
Alligator is ranked 4th best out of 18 albums by The National on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by The National is High Violet which is ranked number 121 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 10,355.
(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 Alligator on YouTube
Alligator track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 83 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Alligator rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 8 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Weepingguitarman | Top 25 Music Albums of 2005 | 2/25 | 5 |
| 2026 |  junodog4 | Top 20 Music Albums of 2005 | 20/20 | 0 |
| 2026 |  sssvnnn | Top 80 Music Albums of 2005 | 30/80 | 3 |
| 2026 | BlueNote | Top 99 Music Albums of the 2000s | 29/99 | 14 |
| 2026 |  Rhyner | Top 36 Music Albums of 2005 | 18/36 | 3 |
| 2026 |  Purplepash | Top 60 Music Albums of 2005 | 39/60 | 2 |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 100 Music Albums of 2005 | 16/100 | 4 |
| 2026 |  covecove | Top 100 Music Albums of 2005 | 59/100 | 2 |
| 2026 |  NowhereMan | Top 22 Music Albums of 2005 | 1/22 | 5 |
| 2026 | Cheboygan74 | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 35/100 | 61 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 522 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 3,561 | |||
Alligator collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 300 members
Alligator 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 739 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/30/2026 04:09 | jnmayles | 2,393 | 73/100 |
| ! | 09/28/2026 20:34 | luukvdschepop | 767 | 75/100 |
| ! | 08/27/2026 22:54 | Melway94 | 118 | 83/100 |
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 79.8/100, a mean average of 78.6/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.4.
Alligator favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 108 members
Alligator forum mentions
Romanelli 09/16/2026 16:05 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
BestEverAlbums 08/07/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5397): By Cheboygan74 BestEverAlbums 04/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movements - March 2026Alligator comments
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Love the energy in this one compared to Boxer, which is slightly more poppy or High Violet which is a little more dreary (in a good way).
This album has a more direct sound, more anger. I love it when Berninger screams the lyrics like in Abel and Mr. November, similar to the Pixies - has the same oomph.
The National at their finest. Best songwriting, best voice, and rawest sound.
buzzdainer TOP 100 COMMENTER 09/08/2020 22:44 | #257925 | TOP COMMENT
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Indie rockers The National has made a half-dozen albums that easily could have made my top 100 of all time list. That's how consistently great they've been over the past twenty years. Alligator is their best, as it's the album that best utilizes Matt Berninger's smoky baritone and often ambiguous lyrical style. The album's opener and best song, “Secret Meeting,” tells a quintessential introvert's narrative of wanting to become invisible to avoid an awkward social encounter. “Didn’t anybody tell you how to gracefully disappear in a room?” Berninger wonders over Bryan Devendorf’s sparse drum pattern before feigning an apology both plausible and absurd: “I’m sorry I missed you / I had a secret meeting in the basement of my brain.” If you can relate, you understand what it's like both craving social connection and resorting to the most desperate of tactics to avoid it.
My favourite album, a work of complete genius. Beautifully crafted songs with restrained melodies which allow Matt Berninger's cryptic lyrics to draw you into the secret meeting in the basement of his brain.
This was back before the National got lazy with their songwriting and started leaning on Berninger's velvety baritone. They were interesting once -- these days we have to settle for pleasant.
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