Roots
by Curtis Mayfield
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Curtis Mayfield bestography
Roots is ranked 3rd best out of 26 albums by Curtis Mayfield on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Curtis Mayfield is Super Fly which is ranked number 551 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 3,101.
(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 Roots on YouTube
Roots track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Roots rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 4 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | stevengnz | Top 88 Music Albums of 1971 | 58/88 | 2 |
| 2026 | LittleM1971 | Top 65 Music Albums of 1971 | 4/65 | 5 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | male solo artists (2 B deleted) | 77/99 | - |
| 2026 |  Repo | Top 80 Music Albums of 1971 | 56/80 | 2 |
| 2026 |  ExTeaSea | Top 65 Music Albums of 1971 | 54/65 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Patman360 | Top 100 Music Albums of 1971 | 15/100 | 4 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Most listened to albums of June 2021 | 53/99 | - |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Top 100 Music Albums of 1971 | 88/100 | 1 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Greatest soul / funk albums of the 70’s | 38/67 | - |
| 2026 |  imacgill | Top 57 Music Albums of 1971 | 42/57 | 1 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 109 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 309 | |||
Roots collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 41 members
Roots 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 95 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/25/2026 18:04 | RemainInLight | 3,811 | 36/100 |
| ! | 05/06/2026 19:07 | Jakor | 5,550 | 70/100 |
| ! | 03/06/2026 15:50 | matterhornrider | 5,182 | 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 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.1/100, a mean average of 77.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.7/100. The standard deviation for this album is 11.7.
Roots favourites
Showing all 9 members who have added this album as a favourite
Roots forum mentions
pedro1976 07/21/2026 06:48 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
neilgee 07/06/2023 18:02 in What album are you listening to right now?Roots comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Tamthebam TOP 100 COMMENTER 07/10/2016 13:24 | #171008 | TOP COMMENT
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A soulful album a little different & softer than his debut Curtis but just as solid. Underground & We Got to Have Peace are great songs along with Get Down which makes this a must for soul fans. (Edited)
I never was the biggest fan of the debut album by Mr. Mayfield, barring If there's a Hell Below and Move on Up (which are two of the greatest soul songs of all time). I always found the rest of the album to be cheesy and boring.
This album right here though, Curtis decided to take the opener of the first album (Hell Below), and make an entire album in the same style. This one is much darker and kicks much more ass. Not as good as Superfly, but if you're looking for some filthy sounding soul, this is where to start. (Edited)
A heartfelt release by Mr. Mayfield. Not as poppy as his previous records but a good album. (Edited)
junodog4 TOP 100 COMMENTER 01/20/2015 03:56 | #132006 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Not on par with Curtis or Superfly, but still much better than this ranking suggests.
Stands a bit in the shadow of the two records it was released inbetween, but there’s tons of dope tunes on this one too. How is it not even in the top 10 000 here? Yall need some more love for good soul/funk like this.
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