Friends
by The Beach Boys

Album
Friends by The Beach Boys
Year: 1968
Release date: 1968-06-24
Overall rank: 1,866th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 321 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1968 (34th)
Award Top albums of of the 1960s (180th)
Award Best albums of all time (1,866th)

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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 36,325.

The Beach Boys album bestography « Higher ranked (1,379th)
Sunflower This album (1,866th)
Friends Lower ranked (2,302nd) »
Wild Honey

(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 rankings

Friends rankings summary
Overall rank: 1,866th | 1960s rank: 180th | 1968 rank: 34th  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: 4 hours ago)

Friends collection

Friends ratings

Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 321 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 321 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
75/100
 !		08/18/2026 13:47 Jakor  Ratings distribution  5,54670/100
 
80/100
 !		05/08/2026 15:17 michelefarina  Ratings distribution  6986/100
 
75/100
 !		04/18/2026 22:08 davidleewrong  Ratings distribution  2,35781/100

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 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.


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Friends favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 33 members

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Friends forum mentions

This album has been referenced 48 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 37 hours ago in Chart of the day (#5442): By martintho
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s by martintho () 1. by (1968) 2. (1968) 3. by (1969) 4. by (1967) 5. (1966) 6. by (1969) 7. by (1968) 8. by (1964) 9. by (1964) 10. by (1969) 11. by (1967) 12. by (1967) 13. (1965) 14. by (1965) 15. by (1963) 16. by (1968) 17. by (1969) 18.…”
View forum post →

From Liedzeit 01/29/2026 08:01 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
“What album are you listening to? (cont.)”
View forum topic (7 mentions) →

From Filipe 12/08/2025 08:05 in Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys
“N. Friends (1968) aka The SMiLE SEquEL: Here Comes The Sun Wake the world with a brand new morning Say hello to another fine morning Got my face in the running water Making my life so much brighter - "Wake The World" It was a mistake. Order matters. I never should have listened to The…”
View forum topic (2 mentions) →

View all forum mentions

Friends comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 14 comments |
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Rating:  
80/100
From 08/14/2022 12:23 | #288476
Pretty nice, psyche era BB. Unconventional for them..
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 0
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Rating:  
60/100
From 07/02/2021 23:21 | #271281
The album is just too short. There is so much potential in almost every single song that it makes the album a frustrating listen at times. You can see exactly what the songs could have become if given the time and were allowed to flourish properly. There is still a lot of beautiful lyrics and music on display that make the album both worth a listen and an essential listen. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 2
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Rating:  
80/100
From 07/24/2020 23:35 | #256169
Pleasant yet brief. Friends definitely doesn't overstay its welcome, and the songwriting isn't anything to scoff at either. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 1
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Rating:  
80/100
From 06/16/2018 00:20 | #216844
So tender and soft...
Fav tracks: Busy Doin' Nothin', Little Bird, Meant for You and When a Man Needs a Woman.
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Rating:  
60/100
From 01/25/2017 21:50 | #184279 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
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)
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Best Albums of  1968
1. The Beatles (The White Album) by The Beatles
2. Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
3. Astral Weeks by Van Morrison
4. Odessey And Oracle by The Zombies
5. The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society by The Kinks
6. Beggars Banquet by The Rolling Stones
7. White Light/White Heat by The Velvet Underground
8. Bookends by Simon & Garfunkel
9. Music From Big Pink by The Band
10. At Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash