Lightbulb Sun
by Porcupine Tree
Listen & Collect
Complete your collection or upgrade your listening experience.
Porcupine Tree bestography
Lightbulb Sun is ranked 5th best out of 46 albums by Porcupine Tree on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Porcupine Tree is Fear Of A Blank Planet which is ranked number 453 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 3,725.
(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 Lightbulb Sun on YouTube
Lightbulb Sun 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.
Lightbulb Sun rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 2 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  JMGL95 | Top 42 Music Albums of 2000 | 19/42 | 3 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Top 91 Music Albums of 2000 | 4/91 | 5 |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 100 Music Albums of 2000 | 52/100 | 2 |
| 2026 | stevengnz | Top 100 Music Albums of 2000 | 1/100 | 5 |
| 2026 |  paladisiac | 2000s, #201-300* | 50/68 | - |
| 2026 | wizardalien | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s | 66/100 | 7 |
| 2026 | Rm12398 | Top 32 Music Albums of 2000 | 7/32 | 4 |
| 2026 | paladisiac | top albums, #1901-2000* | 71/80 | - |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s | 43/100 | 12 |
| 2026 | Sonoffatboy | Top 15 Music Albums of the 2000s | 9/15 | 9 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 161 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 815 | |||
Lightbulb Sun collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 87 members
Lightbulb Sun 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 242 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/17/2026 19:26 | NiceLemon282 | 83 | 84/100 |
| ! | 06/18/2026 10:47 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,549 | 70/100 |
| ! | 03/01/2026 18:58 |  EyeKanFly | 8,848 | 65/100 |
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 80.1/100, a mean average of 79.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 80.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.9.
Lightbulb Sun favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 33 members
Forum mentions
Rhyner 05/02/2024 18:45 in What album are you listening to right now?
baystateoftheart 11/01/2021 02:19 in You must listen to the album below you.Lightbulb Sun comments
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)
Outstanding album and very possibly my favourite PT album. Personal favourites:
- Shesmovedon
- Hatesong (in my top 3 of PT tracks, so musically diverse and that Mellotron…)
- Russia on Ice
So consistent, no weak tracks whatsoever. The title track is one of my favourite songs. Another brilliant album by Porcupine Tree - they went on absolute tear in the late 90s to late 2000s.
LedZep 04/22/2018 21:48 | #213447 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
My favourite Steven Wilson work. Every song is fantastic, usually I don't think he's a lyrical genius but the lyrics here are great, the whole album flows so smoothly... Also my favourite Steven Wilson track, Lightbulb Sun, starts this whole masterpiece. Yes, that's really my favourite.
I know that SW does not like this record but is my favourite album. Great melodies and his best guitar solo, "Shemovesdown"
Brad1770 12/16/2017 09:36 | #203261
not much excited me here except Russia On Ice which is far and away the best track here.
Your feedback for Lightbulb Sun
The top-voted comments get featured on our charts, Album of the Day, and the site newsletter.
