There's A Riot Goin' On
by Sly & The Family Stone
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Sly & The Family Stone bestography
There's A Riot Goin' On is ranked as the best album by Sly & The Family Stone.
(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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There's A Riot Goin' On track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
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Track
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Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
There's A Riot Goin' On rankings
There's A Riot Goin' On rankings summary
Overall rank: 419th | 1970s rank: 97th | 1971 rank: 19th Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 5 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Foxforce5 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | 10/100 | 18 |
| 2026 |  Leonard | Top 100 Music Albums of 1971 | 35/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | matterhornrider | Top 73 Music Albums of 1971 | 18/73 | 4 |
| 2026 |  slatsheit | Top 72 Music Albums of 1971 | 13/72 | 4 |
| 2026 | fabm0 | List 1971 | 27/100 | - |
| 2026 | sweetness | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | 48/100 | 11 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Top 92 Music Albums of 1971 | 37/92 | 3 |
| 2026 | jdizzle123456 | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 83/100 | 18 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Greatest albums of all time (1 - 100) by Acclaimed Music | 61/100 | - |
| 2026 | lanadeleswift | Top 43 Music Albums of 1971 | 23/43 | 2 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 640 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 3,942 | |||
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!
There's A Riot Goin' On collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 375 members
There's A Riot Goin' On 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 713 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/30/2026 06:48 | Siromynian | 1,789 | 74/100 |
| ! | 09/08/2026 12:56 | pago82 | 3,241 | 71/100 |
| ! | 09/02/2026 07:49 | AndyLish79 | 505 | 81/100 |
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 81.0/100, a mean average of 80.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 81.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.8.
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There's A Riot Goin' On favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 135 members
There's A Riot Goin' On forum mentions
This album has been referenced 101 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From 
BestEverAlbums 5 days ago in Album of the day (#7585): There's A Riot Goin' On by Sly & The Family Stone
BestEverAlbums 5 days ago in Album of the day (#7585): There's A Riot Goin' On by Sly & The Family Stone“Today's album of the day There's A Riot Goin' On by Sly & The Family Stone ( | ) Year: 1971. Country: Sly & The Family Stone discography rank: 1st (out of Tracks: 1. Luv N' Haight 2. Just Like A Baby 3. Poet 4. 5. Africa Talks To You 'The Asphalt Jungle' 6. There's A Riot Goin' On 7. Brave & Strong…”
(6 mentions across Album of the Day topics)View latest topic →
From BestEverAlbums 09/10/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5431): By Amirkhosro
BestEverAlbums 09/10/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5431): By Amirkhosro“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Amirkhosro () 1. by (1965) 2. by (1967) 3. by by (1970) 5. (2002) 6. by (1959) 7. (1966) 8. by by (1976) 10. by by (1968) 12. by (1959) 13. by (1959) 14. (1977) 16. by (1998) 18. by by (1989) 20. by (1998) 21. by (1962) 23. by (1980) 24. by…”
(4 mentions across Chart of the Day topics)View latest topic →
From BestEverAlbums 09/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movements - August 2026
BestEverAlbums 09/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movements - August 2026“The overall chart is ever changing, and it's difficult to keep up with the detail of what's happening. So, for those people who are interested, this post attempts to show the latest movements - biggest climbers, movers, new entries and leavers for the top 100, 250, 500 & 1000 over the past month,…”
(6 mentions across Monthly Overall Chart Movements topics)View latest topic →
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There's A Riot Goin' On comments
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From
muzikluvah 12/05/2015 21:44 | #153965 | TOP COMMENT
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YES..... yesssss.... The dirty churning angst on this recording is so very raw, yet understated... powerful beyond explanation.... This is not the "Dance to the Music" Sly... This is the ruminatin' dark and burnin' out Sly... a hard rude awakening coming over the war-torn survivors of the Sixties sunshine utopia... now a sick joke, in the form of race riots across the country and the nation in flames.... Sly even mocks his own naivete with the return of the "Thankyoufaletinmebemicelf" refrain, words updated to reflect a new awareness... Despite album notes crediting The Family, Sly recorded much of the album by himself, instrument by instrument, and layered the tracks together with vocals....Maybe that partly accounts for a sort of lo-fi dirty sound that compliments the mood, lyrics, and vocal style here so perfectly... It's no frills hard and frustrated writhing funk....
When I think of the stunning quality of the honest and gut-wrenching emotion here, and the time, I think of two albums from other artists: Plastic Ono Band album, and especially "Tonight's the Night", by Neil Young... another very moody, thoughtful, sentimental but pissed-off album in the wake of the hopeful hippie revolution....
I have listened to "Riot" hundreds of times over the years... It's just blown me away along with so very many other fans and musicians.... Somehow the underlying tension and malevolent struggle to bust the hell out of the pit of despair has struck a very personal chord in so many of us at some point in our lives.... As good an example as any of the miraculous and transcendent power of music to convey something beyond mere word and sound.... If you know, then you know....
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From
ffudnebbuh TOP 100 COMMENTER 09/23/2012 12:53 | #51027 | TOP COMMENT
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ffudnebbuh TOP 100 COMMENTER 09/23/2012 12:53 | #51027 | TOP COMMENT
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It is interesting how you described this album, because before Miles Davis recorded "Bitches Brew", he attended a Sly and the family stone concert and was so moved by the crowd's excitement by Sly's music that he wanted to make an album that would produce a similar effect and so "Bitches Brew" was born.
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From
neon32 11/01/2012 19:59 | #53968 | TOP COMMENT
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what's going on? there is a freakin' riot going on.
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From
jstreets 04/09/2013 17:34 | #72222 | TOP COMMENT
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As the post 60s hang over set in Sly Stone maid this album from his bed without any live performances featuring the entire Family. The utopia Sly was prodded into creating by his record label burns to the ground on this record. The gritty funk sound on this record informed dozens of artists in the decade to come.
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From
EveryCheapHood 11/15/2011 02:16 | #30615 | TOP COMMENT
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There are days when I think this record is the greatest thing ever recorded. Sly was a genius.
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