The Seldom Seen Kid
by Elbow
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Elbow bestography
The Seldom Seen Kid is ranked as the best album by Elbow.
(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 The Seldom Seen Kid on YouTube
The Seldom Seen Kid track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 83 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
The Seldom Seen Kid rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 6 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | wizardalien | Top 100 Greatest British Albums | 7/100 | - |
| 2026 | LittleM1971 | Top 94 Music Albums of 2008 | 91/94 | 0 |
| 2026 |  Squonk007 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s | 17/100 | 17 |
| 2026 |  RockyRaccoon | Top 54 Music Albums of 2008 | 1/54 | 5 |
| 2026 |  Romanelli | Top 53 Music Albums of 2008 | 36/53 | 2 |
| 2026 | DJStuart79 | Top 100 Music Albums of 2008 | 12/100 | 4 |
| 2026 |  Bach | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s | 96/100 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Dingerbell | Top 20 Music Albums of 2008 | 13/20 | 2 |
| 2026 | Skerns | Top 79 Music Albums of 2008 | 46/79 | 2 |
| 2026 | Moondance | Top 100 Music Albums of 2008 | 9/100 | 5 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 483 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 3,097 | |||
The Seldom Seen Kid collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 300 members
The Seldom Seen Kid 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 590 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 06/21/2026 11:36 | libbyshuss | 99 | 79/100 |
| ! | 06/09/2026 20:09 | Exist-en-ciel | 16,085 | 70/100 |
| ! | 05/09/2026 04:12 |  HoldenM | 1,900 | 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 77.7/100, a mean average of 76.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.7.
The Seldom Seen Kid favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 94 members
The Seldom Seen Kid forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 10/02/2026 08:18 in Monthly overall chart movements - September 2026 BestEverAlbums 09/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movements - August 2026 BestEverAlbums 08/31/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5421): By Simon_bramhallThe Seldom Seen Kid comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
RoundTheBend TOP 100 COMMENTER 05/30/2016 02:23 | #167231 | TOP COMMENT
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I remember the first time I put on the album I turned it up pretty loud and the horns on Starlings scared the shit out of me... ahaha.
FANTASTIC record. Heard it once and fell in love immediately.
HazeyTwilight TOP 100 COMMENTER 05/17/2013 20:59 | #76422 | TOP COMMENT
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This is how complex British music and song-writing can get. Riveting experience with a bunch of great anthems.
Elbow are one of my favourite bands, and the best live band I've seen by far. This album has a few filler tracks in the middle, but the fact that even with these I still give it a 100/100 rating says a lot. Highlights are One Day Like This, Grounds for Divorce, The Bones of You and the final track Friends of Ours which is just a beautiful track, especially when you find out who the subject of the song is and the story behind it. I love Guy Garvey's lyrics and this album has a few gems - my favourite being "You are the only thing in any room you're ever in" from Starlings. And love the lyrics on An Audience with the Pope - "I have an audience with the pope and I'm saving the world at 8, but if she says she needs me everybody's gonna have to wait". I'm quite surprised this album isn't higher up on the overall chart. (Edited)
Criminally underrated; beautiful composition with impeccable lyrics, but I only find myself in the mood to listen to it on Autumn evenings
Beautiful harmonies, creative arrangements, great lead vocals... I like this album a lot. Favourite track is probably The Fix, but there are many contenders. (Edited)
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