Permanent Waves
by Rush

Permanent Waves by Rush
Year: 1980
Release date: 1980-01-14
Overall rank: 571st   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
81/100 (from 634 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 162 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 8,807.

Rush album bestography « Higher ranked (456th)
2112
This album (571st)
Permanent Waves
Lower ranked (644th) »
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).

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#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Track pick (890 - 251 votes)
Average Rating: 89 (251 votes)Comments: View 8
2.
Track pick (870 - 206 votes)
Average Rating: 87 (206 votes)Comments: View 4
6.
Track pick (860 - 155 votes)
Average Rating: 86 (155 votes)Comments: View 6

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

Permanent Waves rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 571st | 1980s rank: 89th | 1980 rank: 8th

Permanent Waves collection

Permanent Waves ratings

Average Rating: 
81/100 (from 634 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 5 ratings for this album.  | Show all 634 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
95/100
 !
05/10/2026 19:34 emnasut  Ratings distribution  15387/100
 
90/100
 !
05/01/2026 06:48 ASOARE  Ratings distribution  2,31576/100
 
70/100
 !
04/28/2026 16:44 Pavloss  Ratings distribution  48850/100
 
80/100
 !
04/01/2026 14:28 TescoHomeCooking  Ratings distribution  34877/100
 
100/100
 !
03/25/2026 16:44 Menelao  Ratings distribution  18371/100

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 79.6/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 80.7/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.3.

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Permanent Waves comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 33 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
80/100
From 01/11/2026 10:35 | #312569
This is a famous Rush album due to the hit single, and well known classic Spirit Of The Radio. I'm not a big fan of the lead singer's vocals but I do love a couple of songs from this album and it's always interesting to get into the Ayn Rand inspired lyrics of Neil Peart. Natural Science is the epic history of humanity type of song, but I like the romantic and french titled Entre Nous which might be inspired by a french poem (that is a wild guess). The lyrics are superb and always interesting.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
50/100
From 05/31/2025 21:27 | #309184
Spirit of Radio is an incredible and unique song, absolutely love it. Freewill is also good but I can pass on the rest of the tracks. I prefer this to their more critically acclaimed later album Moving Pictures.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 03/23/2023 22:19 | #295356
First rush album to have listen to, and it is very good. I intend to listen to their five best albums according to this web site over next year.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 09/07/2022 01:12 | #289458
One of Rush's best
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 08/08/2022 11:47 | #288287
Another solid Rush album with great opener and closer.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 06/12/2022 12:20 | #286279
A superb album. This was my first real introduction to Rush. I immediately took to Jacob's Ladder, Entre Nous and Different Strings which are still amongst my favourite ever tracks by anyone. The only weak point for me is the closer which is a shame, I've never taken to it.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 03/28/2022 08:14 | #283508
After going overboard with the previous album, we hear a more grounded Rush here. Still firmly rooted in progressive rock, the tracks don't beat around the bush and don't overstay their welcome. Not perfect, but highly recommended.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 02/21/2021 21:52 | #266598
Grande álbum, já mais próximo de uma sonoridade radiofônica.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 11/15/2020 20:32 | #260860
Great album by Rush. Entre Nous and freewill are my favourites.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 05/18/2020 14:32 | #251672
It's good
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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