Musicology
by Prince

Musicology by Prince
Year: 2004
Release date: 2004-04-20
Overall rank: 6,025th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
72/100 (from 125 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 2004 (90th)
Award Top albums of the 2000s (1,042nd)
Award Best albums of all time (6,025th)

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Prince bestography

Musicology is ranked 14th best out of 66 albums by Prince on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Prince is Purple Rain which is ranked number 73 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 15,556.

Prince album bestography « Higher ranked (4,535th)
Emancipation
This album (6,025th)
Musicology
Lower ranked (7,111th) »
Graffiti Bridge

(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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Musicology rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 6,025th | 2000s rank: 1,042nd | 2004 rank: 90th

Musicology collection

Musicology ratings

Average Rating: 
72/100 (from 125 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 125 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
80/100
 
05/12/2026 16:04 Jakor  Ratings distribution  5,43470/100
 
85/100
 
05/06/2026 01:23 Brandon8  Ratings distribution  1,04689/100
 
50/100
 
02/21/2026 21:02 brent13  Ratings distribution  2,06367/100
 
75/100
 
02/05/2026 02:58 imacgill  Ratings distribution  2,75679/100
 
55/100
 
11/24/2025 16:24 EyeKanFly  Ratings distribution  8,75665/100

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 has a Bayesian average rating of 72.3/100, a mean average of 71.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 72.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.8.

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Musicology favourites

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Musicology comments

Showing all 8 comments |
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From 07/30/2025 09:19 | #310345
Shortlisted for R&B album of the year at the 2005 Grammys. The winner was The Diary Of Alicia Keys by Alicia Keys
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 01/12/2025 11:11 | #306935
Shame he'd lost most of his fanbase (myself included) as this is Prince back to being "Prince" again. Not as good as when in his heyday but definitely deserves more recognition
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
65/100
From 02/12/2021 18:21 | #266227
Far from his best, but an unexpectedly good comeback nonetheless.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 04/15/2020 18:36 | #249985
This was definitely a mainstream comeback. My favorite tracks are Musicology, Life ‘O’ The Party & Cinnamon Girl. It was a nice return to form after working on more experimental music.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 03/07/2016 22:16 | #161514
We all lose our edge eventually.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
55/100
From 01/03/2015 20:23 | #130718
Cinnamon Girl is one of my favorites, but the rest of the album is very forgettable.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
60/100
From 05/22/2014 10:28 | #112598
A fun album with its moments but nothing near anything great.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
60/100
From 05/10/2012 04:10 | #41960
A great album. I didn't even buy The Rainbow Children but this one felt like an amazing comeback. The songs are all great, and it's shorter, feeling leaner and more powerful than anything he'd done in a long time.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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