Seventeen Seconds
by The Cure

Album
Seventeen Seconds by The Cure
Year: 1980
Release date: 1980-04-18
Overall rank: 623rd   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 708 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 10 albums of 1980 (10th)
Award Top 100 albums of of the 1980s (98th)
Award Top 1,000 albums of all time (623rd)

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The Cure bestography

Seventeen Seconds is ranked 5th best out of 40 albums by The Cure on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by The Cure is Disintegration which is ranked number 28 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 25,444.

The Cure album bestography « Higher ranked (588th)
Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me This album (623rd)
Seventeen Seconds Lower ranked (714th) »
Wish

(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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Seventeen Seconds track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
A Reflection
Average Rating: 77 (136 votes)Comments: View 1
2.
Track pick (850 - 167 votes)
Play For Today
Average Rating: 85 (167 votes)Comments: View 1
3.
Secrets
Average Rating: 79 (138 votes)Comments: View 0
4.
In Your House
Average Rating: 81 (147 votes)Comments: View 1
5.
Three
Average Rating: 75 (132 votes)Comments: View 0
6.
The Final Sound
Average Rating: 71 (124 votes)Comments: View 1
7.
Track pick (900 - 299 votes)
A Forest
Average Rating: 90 (299 votes)Comments: View 4
8.
M
Average Rating: 81 (144 votes)Comments: View 0
9.
At Night
Average Rating: 80 (144 votes)Comments: View 0
10.
Seventeen Seconds
Average Rating: 83 (144 votes)Comments: View 1

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

Seventeen Seconds rankings

Seventeen Seconds rankings summary
Overall rank: 623rd | 1980s rank: 98th | 1980 rank: 10th  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: 7 hours ago)

Seventeen Seconds collection

Seventeen Seconds ratings

Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 708 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 708 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
100/100
 !		20 hours ago nextorgd  Ratings distribution  1,22784/100
 
70/100
 !		07/30/2026 20:37 Special  Ratings distribution  3,03372/100
 
80/100
 !		07/22/2026 19:18 xhitmanx  Ratings distribution  1,60475/100

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 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.4/100, a mean average of 77.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.4.


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Seventeen Seconds favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 107 members

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Seventeen Seconds forum mentions

This album has been referenced 78 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 21 hours ago in Chart of the day (#5445): By MW19704U
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by MW19704U () 1. by (1973) 2. by (1967) 3. by (1972) 4. by (1998) 6. (1970) 7. by (1968) 8. by by (1969) 10. by by by (1994) 15. by (1982) 16. by (2003) 17. by (1968) 19. by (2002) 20. (1966) 21. by by (1979) 23. by (1970) 24. by by by (1980)…”
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From BestEverAlbums 09/18/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5439): By joedec
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by joedec () 1. (1989) 2. by (1982) 4. (1990) 5. by (1980) 7. by by (1993) 10. by (1985) 11. by by by (1988) 14. by (1977) 16. by (1987) 17. by (1987) 18. by (1971) 19. by (1979) 20. by (1984) 22. by (1972) 23. by (1979) 24. by (1968) 25. by by…”
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From BestEverAlbums 08/18/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5408): By Vasco
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Vasco () 1. by (1994) 2. by (1979) 3. by (1977) 5. (2012) 7. (1982) 9. by by (1990) 12. by (1989) 14. by (2023) 15. (2019) 16. (1998) 17. by (2013) 20. by (1973) 21. by (2024) 22. (1992) 23. by (2022) 24. by (2006) 25. by (1975) 26. by…”
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Seventeen Seconds comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 34 comments |
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Rating:  
40/100
From 03/30/2024 22:32 | #302766
A Forest is one of their best tracks, but other than Play for Today the rest of the album is really boring and there's very little of note. Yet another disappointing Cure album, their discography is pretty much a 50/50 chance of getting a great album or a dud. And this is a dud. (Edited)
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Rating:  
95/100
From 09/07/2023 01:07 | #299011
If Three Imaginary Boys shows The Cure as a band capable of writing decent post punk, Seventeen Seconds shows them galvanizing their strengths, leaning into moody, gothic atmosphere, darker songwriting, and consistent quality across the board. If it's not a masterpiece, it's their first exceptional record. (Edited)
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Rating:  
75/100
From 05/10/2023 16:50 | #296862
If you like The Cure, then listen Russian legendary band Kino (Кино) ??? Kino is a little more interesting by music ?
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Rating:  
85/100
From 01/16/2023 23:39 | #292944
This is the album where the group found direction and knew what sort of music and band they were going to become. This leads to a bit of a scatted album that can be bare in places but it is still packed full of amazing moments and potential that drag the quality up. There are 2 or 3 filler cuts that take up about 6 or 7 minutes of the run time but all of the rest is pure Cure classics. The highlights for me being M, A Forest and Play For Today. However, the song that steals the show for me every time is At Night with its dark atmosphere and brilliant lyrics that make for a tense listen. This is the first time we get a full record of Robert Smith's stunning writing as well with Three Imaginary Boys lyrics being a bit all over the place and it elevates this album so much. Overall, this is the first time the group demonstrate everything they have to offer with the atmosphere, song writing, vocal performance, instrumentation and cohesiveness of the songs all coming together on here and laying out the structure for their future releases making it a pivotal moment in their careers as well as an elite level record.
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Rating:  
85/100
From 12/23/2022 03:23 | #292148
The band took shape on this album and is the 1st of a trilogy including Faith and Pornography. Play for Today and A Forest are among their best work and the album is cohesive throughout. At Night is a great deep cut.
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Best Albums of  1980
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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