Speaking In Tongues
by Talking Heads
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Talking Heads bestography
Speaking In Tongues is ranked 3rd best out of 19 albums by Talking Heads on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Talking Heads is Remain In Light which is ranked number 25 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 26,337.
(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 Speaking In Tongues on YouTube
Speaking In Tongues track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 85 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Speaking In Tongues rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 8 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  RockyRaccoon | Top 50 Music Albums of 1983 | 21/50 | 3 |
| 2026 |  AAL2014 | Top 60 Music Albums of 1983 | 5/60 | 5 |
| 2026 | brent13 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 14/100 | 17 |
| 2026 |  jeremy9 | Top 53 Music Albums of 1983 | 40/53 | 1 |
| 2026 | daCritic | Top 29 Music Albums of 1983 | 8/29 | 4 |
| 2026 |  sssvnnn | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 18/100 | 17 |
| 2026 | bonnequestion | Best albums from '75 to '84 | 85/100 | - |
| 2026 | JamesMowbray | Top 99 Music Albums of 1983 | 22/99 | 4 |
| 2026 |  junodog4 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 88/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | araidernomore | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 29/100 | 71 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 629 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 4,932 | |||
Speaking In Tongues collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 376 members
Speaking In Tongues 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 815 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 32 hours ago | platus | 5,933 | 74/100 |
| ! | 3 days ago | Siromynian | 1,708 | 76/100 |
| ! | 5 days ago | luukvdschepop | 767 | 75/100 |
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 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 80.9/100, a mean average of 80.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 81.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 12.6.
Speaking In Tongues favourites
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Speaking In Tongues forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 15 hours ago in Monthly overall chart movements BestEverAlbums 09/14/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5435): By flamingyesdept BestEverAlbums 09/13/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5434): By TaricSpeaking In Tongues comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Crumpet 07/20/2018 15:54 | #218543 | TOP COMMENT
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While I really enjoy Remain in Light, this is by far my favourite Talking Heads album I’ve heard so far and has spurred me on to explore the parts of their discography that I have yet to delve into.
The opener is amazing, actually the first three tracks are amazing, all very listenable. The rest of the album up until the penultimate track varies from good to great, and said penultimate track ‘Pull Up the Roots’ is another amazing one and the closer ‘This Must Be the Place’ is one of my favourite songs and is one of the best album closers of the 80s.
This album is one that I loved from the first listen, and I have found myself sticking it on more often than any of the other TH/David Byrne albums that I own.
hoyquarlow 08/28/2017 03:49 | #196820 | TOP COMMENT
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For some strange reason Speaking in Tongues is the only Talking Heads album I really like (I do agree that Remain in light is impressive though...) I just love the weird sounds and danceable, catchy melodies of the album. Every Halloween I feel the need the put on that record, oddly...
Song by song a classic album. Quirky and ground breaking, really one of the best records of the eighties full stop.
discojets1 12/04/2016 16:35 | #179571 | TOP COMMENT
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Not as good as Remain In Light but still a great Talking Heads release
There are some really good singles of this album. My personal favorites are Girlfriend is Better, Pull Up the Roots, and This Must Be the Place. Overall a good album, but definitely not their best. (Edited)
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