Histoire De Melody Nelson
by Serge Gainsbourg
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Serge Gainsbourg bestography
Histoire De Melody Nelson is ranked as the best album by Serge Gainsbourg.
(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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Histoire De Melody Nelson track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 84 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
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Track
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Histoire De Melody Nelson rankings
Histoire De Melody Nelson rankings summary
Overall rank: 610th | 1970s rank: 134th | 1971 rank: 23rd Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 1 hour ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | davidhuret | Top 45 Music Albums of 1971 | 10/45 | 4 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Concept albums | 5/35 | - |
| 2026 | WayneMC | BBC Music Magazine: 1971-The 23 Greatest Albums | 23/23 | - |
| 2026 | fabm0 | Decade 1970s Pt 4 | 22/29 | - |
| 2026 | bonnequestion | Top 50 Music Albums of 1971 | 7/50 | 4 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Jul - Sept 2022 (2 B deleted) | 36/97 | - |
| 2026 | bonnequestion | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | 65/100 | 7 |
| 2026 |  Milhaud | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | 93/100 | 2 |
| 2026 | Mrump | Top 38 Music Albums of 1971 | 29/38 | 1 |
| 2026 | bonnequestion | Best Albums From Countries other than the UK, USA or Canada | 29/100 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 443 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 2,762 | |||
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Histoire De Melody Nelson collection
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Histoire De Melody Nelson 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).
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Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 478 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/24/2026 17:29 |  Tamthebam | 23,332 | 69/100 |
| ! | 08/27/2026 19:07 |  AAL2014 | 4,342 | 75/100 |
| ! | 08/21/2026 21:06 | RemainInLight | 3,834 | 36/100 |
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 80.8/100, a mean average of 79.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 81.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.2.
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Histoire De Melody Nelson favourites
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Histoire De Melody Nelson forum mentions
This album has been referenced 167 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From 
BestEverAlbums 10/08/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5459): By Applerill
BestEverAlbums 10/08/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5459): By Applerill“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Applerill () 1. by (1996) 2. by (2000) 3. (1993) 4. by (2013) 5. by (2002) 6. by (1995) 7. (2005) 8. (1975) 9. by by (2007) 11. by (1971) 12. by (2002) 13. by by (2002) 15. by (2006) 16. by (2014) 17. by (2019) 18. (2004) 19. (2000) 20. by…”
(3 mentions across Chart of the Day topics)View latest topic →
From BestEverAlbums 10/02/2026 08:18 in Monthly overall chart movements - September 2026
BestEverAlbums 10/02/2026 08:18 in Monthly overall chart movements - September 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,…”
(88 mentions across Monthly Overall Chart Movements topics)View latest topic →
From Johnnyo 12/26/2025 17:31 in The Romanelli Music Diary: Mexican Moon
“2359 SERGE GAINSBOURG HISTOIRE DE MELODY NELSON 1971 – PHILLIPS Produced By JEAN-CLAUDE DESMARTY 1. Melody 2. Ballade De Melody Nelson 3. Valse De Melody 4. Ah! Melody 5. L’Hotel Particulier 6. En Melody 7. Cargo Culte In 1971, Serge Gainsbourg, who had been making records since the late 1950’s,…”
View topic (2 mentions) →View all forum mentions
Histoire De Melody Nelson comments
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From
calsper 04/12/2015 02:14 | #139362 | TOP COMMENT
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calsper 04/12/2015 02:14 | #139362 | TOP COMMENT
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Trip-hop most certainly trace its roots back to the early 70's. Serge Gainsbourg's "Histoire de Melody Nelson" is a daring and controversial concept album that I am extremely fond of.
The soundscape, jam, and dynamics of the simple instrumental setup is sharply contrasted with the flamboyant symphonic arrangements that carries the dynamic of this album to an unprecedented level of freely associative instrumentation.
The story in French is in spoken words and is circling around the story of the androgynous person of Melody Nelson that Gainsbourg bumps into and falls in love with - creepy.
What I like most about this album, though, is the stylistic consistency and similarity throughout the album that gives it qualities resemblant of a single extended musical piece with a number of progressions.
"Histoire de Melody Nelson"'s mix of freewheeling guitar, funk style bass, spoken word vocals and lush, deep orchestrated string music together makes this one of my favorite albums.
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From
garycottier TOP 100 COMMENTER 07/08/2016 11:05 | #170874 | TOP COMMENT
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To be honest I was a little disappointed by this album. Due to it's reputation I was expecting a lot more. It's basically an album of narration and considering I don't speak French it certainly lowers the impact. Don't get me wrong, I like the album, it's just I wanted to like it more than I currently do. Still, in time, who knows? (Edited)
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Brad1770 TOP 100 COMMENTER 02/24/2018 08:22 | #209430 | TOP COMMENT
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Brad1770 TOP 100 COMMENTER 02/24/2018 08:22 | #209430 | TOP COMMENT
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What an awesome surprise this album was , never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would love a 47yo French Spoken album as much as I did
I jumped on line and read the lyrics in English , the story of this album goes something like this: the main protagonist whilst driving a Rolls Royce has an accident with a 15yo girl called Melody Nelson , soon a relationship develops and at one stage the two end up in a Hotel where things have obviously turned sexual. Unfortunately Melody Nelson dies in a plane crash and the protagonist is left heart broken and empty
This album sparkles with sexy vocals , lush orchestral moments , choirs and moody guitars . Its all over in 7 tracks and I was left wanting more
Stunning
90/100
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From
Johnnyo TOP 100 COMMENTER 05/11/2023 13:13 | #296878 | TOP COMMENT
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I think that it’s worth saying about this album is that it’s very much a collaboration between gainsbourg and Jean-Claude Vannier who co wrote some of the album and was the musical director for the orchestration on the album. Together they produced something of real beauty
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From
romaint 08/22/2008 15:59 | #900 | TOP COMMENT
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The best French album of all time. Easily !
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