Permanent Waves
by Rush

Album
Permanent Waves by Rush
Year: 1980
Release date: 1980-01-14
Overall rank: 571st   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
80/100 (from 637 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 10 albums of 1980 (8th)
Award Top 100 albums of of the 1980s (89th)
Award Top 1,000 albums of all time (571st)

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Rush bestography

Permanent Waves is ranked 3rd best out of 38 albums by Rush on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Rush is Moving Pictures which is ranked number 161 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 8,641.

Rush album bestography « Higher ranked (473rd)
2112 This album (571st)
Permanent Waves Lower ranked (658th) »
Hemispheres

(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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Permanent Waves track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 84 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Track pick (890 - 252 votes)
The Spirit Of Radio
Average Rating: 89 (252 votes)Comments: View 8
2.
Track pick (870 - 208 votes)
Freewill
Average Rating: 87 (208 votes)Comments: View 4
3.
Jacob's Ladder
Average Rating: 83 (134 votes)Comments: View 5
4.
Entre Nous
Average Rating: 80 (130 votes)Comments: View 4
5.
Different Strings
Average Rating: 79 (125 votes)Comments: View 4
6.
Track pick (860 - 156 votes)
Natural Science
Average Rating: 86 (156 votes)Comments: View 6

Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Permanent Waves rankings

Permanent Waves rankings summary
Overall rank: 571st | 1980s rank: 89th | 1980 rank: 8th  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 3 hours ago)

Permanent Waves collection

Permanent Waves ratings

Average Rating: 
80/100 (from 637 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
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 637 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
85/100
 !		21 hours ago Philly28  Ratings distribution  96169/100
 
100/100
 !		09/24/2026 01:45 Yurls  Ratings distribution  2287/100
 
50/100
 !		09/22/2026 09:04 DanielNunes93  Ratings distribution  2,81961/100

Rating metrics: Help 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 80.5/100, a mean average of 79.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 80.6/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.7.


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Permanent Waves favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 121 members

abbolton
Exist-en-ciel
Iglou2981
Deckard
rfowler
slatsheit
BurndenAce
mash
lrtzandrsn
JoeyJ

Permanent Waves forum mentions

This album has been referenced 56 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 09/17/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5438): By luigybetis
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by luigybetis () 1. by (2015) 2. (1977) 3. by by (1975) 5. by by (2015) 7. (1997) 10. by by (1973) 12. (2005) 13. by (1996) 14. by by (1969) 16. by by (1995) 18. by (1968) 19. by (2018) 20. by (1969) 21. by (2003) 23. by (2017) 24. by by by by…”
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From BestEverAlbums 09/07/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5428): By ExTeaSea
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s by ExTeaSea () 1. by by (1982) 3. by (1980) 4. (1981) 5. by (1981) 6. by by (1981) 8. by (1980) 9. by by (1985) 11. by (1983) 12. by (1987) 13. by (1986) 15. by (1988) 16. (1986) 17. by by (1982) 20. (1982) 21. by by by by by (1981) 27. by…”
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From BestEverAlbums 08/20/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5410): By Deckiller
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Deckiller () 1. by by (2015) 3. by (2002) 4. by (1969) 5. by (1969) 6. by by (1992) 8. by by by (1970) 11. by by (1986) 13. by (1981) 15. (1977) 17. by (1986) 18. by (2013) 20. (1969) 21. by (1972) 22. by (1973) 23. by (1971) 24. by by…”
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Permanent Waves comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 33 comments |
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Rating:  
95/100
From 11/30/2016 20:14 | #179395 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
This is one of Rush's most consistent . . . and best ... albums. Along with the "hits" (Spirit of Radio, Freewill), there is the concise but brilliant 'Entre Nous,' and possibly the group's most intelligent and greatest epic length cut, 'Natural Science.' (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 5
Reply
Rating:  
100/100
From 03/09/2018 01:46 | #210419 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Rush really had 80s music down cold
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 8
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Rating:  
100/100
From 05/03/2018 04:31 | #214088 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
The perfect bridge between their super-proggy stuff and their 80s sound
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Rating:  
80/100
From 06/15/2016 04:21 | #168751 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Rush entered the 80s with Permanent Waves, and there change of sound was already starting. "Spirit of the Radio" is an awesome track, but my personal favourite is "Freewill". Its lyrics and its constantly shifting time signature are just so good. Rest of the album is solid but unspectacular.
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Rating:  
100/100
From 05/16/2018 21:14 | #214942 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
My favourite Rush. It's incredibly consistent and good, every song was my favourite at some moment and this is all around one of the best albums to listen to at any given time. Currently, my favourites of the bunch are Different Strings, Jacob's Ladder and Freewill.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 2
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Best Albums of  1980
1. Remain In Light by Talking Heads
2. Closer by Joy Division
3. Back In Black by AC/DC
4. Scary Monsters by David Bowie
5. Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables by Dead Kennedys
6. Peter Gabriel (1980) by Peter Gabriel
7. The River by Bruce Springsteen
8. Permanent Waves by Rush
9. Pretenders by Pretenders
10. Seventeen Seconds by The Cure