Friends
by The Beach Boys
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The Beach Boys bestography
Friends is ranked 7th best out of 77 albums by The Beach Boys on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by The Beach Boys is Pet Sounds which is ranked number 11 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 36,172.
(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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Friends track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 78 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Friends rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 5 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  RoundTheBend | Top 60 Music Albums of 1968 | 53/60 | 1 |
| 2026 | martintho | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s | 2/100 | 20 |
| 2026 | Juneof44 | Top 50 Music Albums of 1968 | 35/50 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Norman Bates | Top 100 Music Albums of 1968 | 50/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | Weepingguitarman | Top 38 Music Albums of 1968 | 31/38 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Repo | Top 64 Music Albums of 1968 | 25/64 | 3 |
| 2026 |  LebowskiRams | Top 50 Music Albums of the 1960s | 25/50 | 10 |
| 2026 |  NowhereMan | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s | 86/100 | 3 |
| 2026 |  bertrandu | *All Time* Psychedelic Pop Albums | 13/100 | - |
| 2026 | LittleM1971 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s | 57/100 | 9 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 203 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 899 | |||
Friends collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 109 members
Friends 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 323 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 10/10/2026 04:39 | brent13 | 2,227 | 66/100 |
| ! | 09/28/2026 12:53 |  Taka | 1,096 | 80/100 |
| ! | 08/18/2026 13:47 | Jakor | 5,550 | 70/100 |
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 6% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 75.7/100, a mean average of 74.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 75.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.3.
Friends favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 33 members
Friends forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 09/21/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5442): By martinthoView latest topic →
Liedzeit 01/29/2026 08:01 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)View all forum mentions
Friends comments
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(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
This really is a lovely album, short and sweet. That certainly is the charm of the album, but it's also frustrating because of it. Opener, meant for you, is beautiful, but it fades out before it even reaches the 40 second mark, it's just a waste of a lovely melody. Other tracks aren't quite so short, but I wish they could have extended them a bit. Having said that, the album is fine. Dennis' two contributions, little bird, and especially, be still, are excellent. The title track is nice, as is wake the world. As I said, it's lovely, just wish it went on a bit longer. (Edited)
Jimmy Dread TOP 100 COMMENTER 01/12/2012 12:14 | #35077 | TOP COMMENT
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A simply beautiful and beautifully simple record, probably the best place to migrate to for those who love Pet Sounds. And Dennis found his voice - Little Bird is lovely!
Friends captures a gentleness that evidently originated from Brian, making it one of the last Beach Boys albums dominated by his vision. There are two different schools of thought about this album – either it’s one of the most coherent and unified albums in The Beach Boys catalogue, full of charm and melody, or it’s relatively lightweight and insubstantial. I’m part of the second camp; while Beach Boys’ strengths like warm vocals and strong melodies are present here, so are weaknesses like ridiculous lyrics (‘Anna Lee, The Healer’), and no single song individually measures up among the groups’ best. (Edited)
This is the first Beach Boys album that made me realize they're more than just Pet Sounds. But I do agree with comments below; every song feels too short like it is cut off prematurely. Little Bird is my favorite non-Brian Wilson Beach Boys song by a landslide (Edited)
Great, overlooked album. Really, really chill and peaceful. Standout tracks: Meant For You, Busy Doin' Nothin', Diamond Head (Edited)
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