Freedom
by Neil Young
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Neil Young bestography
Freedom is ranked 11th best out of 98 albums by Neil Young on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Neil Young is After The Gold Rush which is ranked number 83 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 14,029.
(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 Freedom on YouTube
Freedom track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Freedom rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 4 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Untitled | Top 26 Music Albums of 1989 | 26/26 | 0 |
| 2026 | LittleM1971 | Top 89 Music Albums of 1989 | 41/89 | 3 |
| 2026 |  junodog4 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 85/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | saltysurprise | Top 67 Music Albums of 1989 | 34/67 | 3 |
| 2026 | junodog4 | Best 100 of Canada | 47/100 | - |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Most listened to albums in March 2021 (To delete) | 70/95 | - |
| 2026 | bonnequestion | Top 18 Music Albums of 1989 | 12/18 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Best of The 80s Pt.2 (101-200) | 44/100 | - |
| 2026 | Juneof44 | Top 50 Music Albums of 1989 | 6/50 | 5 |
| 2026 |  paladisiac | top albums, #1801-1900* | 46/79 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 292 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 1,136 | |||
Freedom collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 179 members
Freedom 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 339 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/24/2026 21:16 |  JR | 1,124 | 81/100 |
| ! | 07/01/2026 17:57 | BorderFreeAndrew | 15,736 | 74/100 |
| ! | 06/21/2026 12:04 | Devilwoac | 1,529 | 97/100 |
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 3% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.4/100, a mean average of 76.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.2.
Freedom favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 41 members
Freedom forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 09/12/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5433): By Johnnyo
pedro1976 10/02/2025 15:20 in What album are you listening to? (cont.) BestEverAlbums 06/22/2024 20:00 in Album of the day (#4934): Freedom by Neil YoungFreedom comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Tamthebam TOP 100 COMMENTER 02/12/2015 07:58 | #134777 | TOP COMMENT
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After 6 rather disappointing studio albums in the 80's he left Geffen records and returned to Reprise and a great return to form with this album. Great album there are elements of rock, folk, country everything Neil Young is good at. (Edited)
junodog4 TOP 100 COMMENTER 06/24/2012 17:10 | #45296 | TOP COMMENT
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Neil snaps out of his 80s funk. No more experiments to alienate the record companies, no more exploring new musical styles, no homages. Just simple straight forward rock and roll. His best since Live Rust.
Not spectacular, but certainly the best Neil Young album since, rust never sleeps. Rockin' in the free world is one of Young's greatest ever songs. The rest isn't bad either.
Much has been said about Neil Young's experimentation in the 1980s.
As a fan, it was decent work. It looks like many listeners are just not satisfied unless Neil reprises his role as either a country-folk acoustic troubadour or rocks out with Crazy Horse.
I enjoyed Neil's dynamic 1980s experimentation and it was nice to hear some return to form for this record.
Never mind style. Neil is his best when he has a strong set of songs that don't go on too long. Aside from the Rockin' in the Free World crowd-pleaser, there are excellent songs here like Hangin' on a Limb and Wrecking Ball.
The production doesn't stray too far from the country-folk he is known for, and it mostly keeps its role of supporting the songs instead of distracting the listener.
Recommended.
A Side: Rockin' in the Free World
B Side: Wrecking Ball
teague TOP 100 COMMENTER 06/14/2020 01:44 | #253492 | TOP COMMENT
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A fine enough record. It is undeniably his best of the 80s, but the bar is set pretty damn low. This album does feature Rockin' in the Free World, an absolute anthem. Other than that, the music is fairly uninteresting, but not without highlights (Crime In the City, Eldorado).
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