Tender Prey
by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
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Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds bestography
Tender Prey is ranked 10th best out of 30 albums by Nick Cave on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Nick Cave is Skeleton Tree which is ranked number 369 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 4,478.
(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 Tender Prey on YouTube
Tender Prey track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Tender Prey rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 2 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 63/100 | 8 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 96/100 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Dankel | Top 28 Music Albums of 1988 | 9/28 | 4 |
| 2026 |  Purplepash | Top 48 Music Albums of 1988 | 7/48 | 4 |
| 2026 |  dihansse | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 97/100 | 4 |
| 2026 | stangetzaway | Top 33 Music Albums of 1988 | 12/33 | 3 |
| 2026 |  covecove | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 13/100 | 88 |
| 2026 | dihansse | Top 51 Music Albums of 1988 | 7/51 | 4 |
| 2026 | xhitmanx | Top 29 Music Albums of 1988 | 18/29 | 2 |
| 2026 | Fritz | Top 15 Music Albums of 1988 | 9/15 | 2 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 310 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 1,467 | |||
Tender Prey collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 130 members
Tender Prey 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 341 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/19/2026 05:33 | martintho | 4,732 | 75/100 |
| ! | 09/03/2026 13:41 | xhitmanx | 1,604 | 75/100 |
| ! | 07/02/2026 16:20 |  HoldenM | 1,896 | 84/100 |
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 78.6/100, a mean average of 78.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.6.
Tender Prey favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 46 members
Tender Prey forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 09/14/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5435): By flamingyesdept BestEverAlbums 08/22/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5412): By BraddlesHendo
Repo 05/24/2025 00:46 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)Tender Prey comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
HoldenM TOP 100 COMMENTER 07/02/2026 16:25 | #315145
The crazy thing is that I know for a fact there are better albums from this group to come. And yet, Tender Prey reigns in darkness as well as any other Bad Seeds record. Even the poppy "Deanna" is a nasty little number. As they close out the '80s, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have perfected their gothic aesthetic, gripping with one morbid tale after another. It's a career peak for anyone else. For NCatBS, the only way is up. (Edited)
Another Brilliant Nick Cave album! (Edited)
Timestarter 07/12/2021 22:33 | #271569
Highlights:
- The Mercy Seat
- Up Jumped the Devil
Yet another great Nick Cave album, and really the last of the more darker earlier records. After this, Cave wouldn't exactly turn into Elton John, but his music would become more accessible, although still not exactly commercial. The tender prey kicks off with, the mercy seat, another classic Cave moment, but the album never lets up. Deanna, is a kind of twisted soul number, city of refuge, another strong cut, and, up jumped the devil, is excellent. Slowly goes the night, is lighter, but like the whole record, it still retains it's dark undertow. Great stuff. (Edited)
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