The Letting Go
by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy

Album
The Letting Go by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Year: 2006
Release date: 2006-09-19
Overall rank: 3,648th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 87 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 2006 (63rd)
Award Top albums of of the 2000s (616th)
Award Best albums of all time (3,648th)

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Bonnie 'Prince' Billy bestography

The Letting Go is ranked 2nd best out of 38 albums by Will Oldham on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Will Oldham is I See A Darkness which is ranked number 934 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 1,855.

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy album bestography « Higher ranked (934th)
I See A Darkness This album (3,648th)
The Letting Go Lower ranked (5,864th) »
Master And Everyone

(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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The Letting Go rankings

The Letting Go rankings summary
Overall rank: 3,648th | 2000s rank: 616th | 2006 rank: 63rd  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: 2 hours ago)

The Letting Go collection

The Letting Go ratings

Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 87 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 87 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
70/100
 !		09/13/2026 02:47 daCritic  Ratings distribution  4,63173/100
 
45/100
 !		02/11/2026 05:27 Norman Bates  Ratings distribution  10,16875/100
 
70/100
 !		12/11/2025 10:51 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  15,63970/100

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 4% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.4/100, a mean average of 76.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.6.


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The Letting Go favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 12 members

Araldo
radio-head
Timestarter
Rivera
algaeruler
StefanR10
lukejones1104
Repo
CellarDoor
Juneof44

Forum mentions

This album has been referenced 15 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 08/11/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5401): By Repo
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by ) 1. by by by (1963) 4. by (1981) 5. by (1970) 6. by (1969) 7. by (1971) 8. by (1983) 9. (1986) 10. by (1965) 11. by (1984) 12. by by (1963) 14. by (1978) 15. by (2009) 16. by by (1969) 18. by (1941) 19. by (1977) 20. by (1951) 21. by (1956)…”
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From dihansse 12/15/2020 20:51 in My discoveries per year
“Two albums of 2006 I listened to: One already in my collection: I know this album fairly well but it's been a long time I listened to it completely just because it's such a long one. But I must say I supported the sheer length of the thing better than I thought. The album is fairly diverse and…”
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From baystateoftheart 10/24/2019 23:31 in You must listen to the album below you: canon edition
“1. This didn't fully click with me, but I enjoyed it more than I See A Darkness. The warm arrangements and female vocals were good additions. I can see how it's worthy of being in the mellow zone. Question: is the ending to "Then The Letting Go" as gruesome as it sounds? :shock: Or is there a…”
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The Letting Go comments

Showing all 3 comments |
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Rating:  
90/100
From 03/26/2017 21:14 | #188153 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Will Oldham should really have changed his moniker again for this one. Because he's all grown up. This is no longer Will channeling a Bonnie "Prince" Billie to sing about the darkest recesses of his soul. This is just Will. Producing some of the best mature country & indie rock songs about love and hurt out there. These songs stand on their own without any of that drama and theater that our boy Will is sort of known for. And the harmonies with Dawn McCarthy are simply dead on. In a lot ways this may be the best album of Oldham's career. It’s certainly more consistent than his better known work I See A Darkness.

Grade: A. Super solid mature country/indie rock album that holds up well to multiple replays. These are timeless songs that are perhaps the best of Will’s impeccable & prolific career. I like this even more than No Other so this moves all the way up to number three.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Rating:  
90/100
From 07/17/2015 16:04 | #145963 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Really something spectacular. None of the trappings of the indie folk that had become so common at this point.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Rating:  
90/100
From 05/07/2015 22:56 | #141039 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Will Oldham goes to Iceland, and write this stunning record with the help of the smooth voice of Dawn McCarthy.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Best Albums of  2006
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3. Back To Black by Amy Winehouse
4. Black Holes And Revelations by Muse
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6. Donuts by J Dilla
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