Essence
by Lucinda Williams
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Lucinda Williams bestography
Essence is ranked 5th best out of 25 albums by Lucinda Williams on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Lucinda Williams is Car Wheels On A Gravel Road which is ranked number 771 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 2,236.
(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 Essence on YouTube
Essence track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 77 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Essence 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 |  Tamthebam | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s | 16/100 | 17 |
| 2026 | henrygreen0203 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s | 89/100 | 2 |
| 2026 | Skerns | Top 86 Music Albums of the 2000s | 73/86 | 3 |
| 2026 | craab | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s | 56/100 | 9 |
| 2026 |  cestuneblague | Top 100 Music Albums of 2001 | 87/100 | 1 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Top 100 Music Albums of 2001 | 35/100 | 3 |
| 2026 |  covecove | Top 100 Music Albums of 2001 | 43/100 | 3 |
| 2026 |  zags7000 | Top 100 Music Albums of 2001 | 13/100 | 4 |
| 2026 | Skerns | Top 90 Music Albums of 2001 | 6/90 | 5 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Le monde 2001 La sélection de la rédaction | 38/38 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 73 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 198 | |||
Essence collection
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Essence 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 50 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 06/23/2026 11:24 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,683 | 70/100 |
| ! | 05/01/2026 15:39 | replacementlevel | 7,810 | 70/100 |
| ! | 03/30/2026 17:09 | cicadelic | 14,008 | 73/100 |
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 4% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.2/100, a mean average of 77.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.5.
Essence favourites
Showing all 6 members who have added this album as a favourite
Essence forum mentions
Romanelli 10/06/2020 16:22 in What Song Are You Listening To Right Now?
babyBlueSedan 06/22/2016 14:30 in What album are you listening to right now?Essence comments
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This album is real mellow but evokes much emotion with the vocal delivery, arrangements & production. I listen to this very frequently. Probably my 2nd fav Lucinda album slightly behind "Car Wheels". Very stripped and sparsely arranged, which suit these songs perfectly. Fav tracks: "Lonely Girls", "Steal Your Love", "Get Right With God", "Essence", "Out OF Touch" & "I Envy The Wind". Least fav "Broken Butterflies". A+ Good listening for some couch sitting lovin with your date. Romance enhancer for sure MEZ
drivebytornado 02/25/2013 23:36 | #66130 | TOP COMMENT
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Originally my Number One album of 2001, in a year that I saw her live, which may have had some influence on my feelings toward this album. I still love this one, even though it's a change of pace from her classic previous release, Car Wheels. This one is much more bare and subtle than the classic country-rock of Car Wheels. It's typified by "Blue" - as that word also describes the overriding mood of the album.
"Lonely Girls," "Essence," and "I Envy the Wind" also fit in with the melancholy, and are also among Lucinda's better songs.
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