The Royal Scam
by Steely Dan
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Steely Dan bestography
The Royal Scam is ranked 6th best out of 21 albums by Steely Dan on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Steely Dan is Aja which is ranked number 150 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 8,938.
(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 The Royal Scam on YouTube
The Royal Scam track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 84 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
The Royal Scam 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 | Rm12398 | Top 26 Music Albums of 1976 | 15/26 | 2 |
| 2026 |  O.T. | Top 30 Music Albums of 1976 | 19/30 | 2 |
| 2026 | bonnequestion | Top 35 Music Albums of 1976 | 31/35 | 1 |
| 2026 |  RockyRaccoon | Top 100 Music Albums of 1976 | 25/100 | 4 |
| 2026 |  neilgee | Top 100 Music Albums of 1976 | 72/100 | 1 |
| 2026 |  flamingyesdept | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | 27/100 | 15 |
| 2026 |  sszwalbenest | Top 24 Music Albums of 1976 | 19/24 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Best of The 70s Pt.2 (101-200) | 52/100 | - |
| 2026 | Moondance | Top 100 Music Albums of 1976 | 16/100 | 4 |
| 2026 |  Fischman | Top 100 Music Albums of 1976 | 15/100 | 4 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 271 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 1,660 | |||
The Royal Scam collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 209 members
The Royal Scam 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 381 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/02/2026 07:02 |  Liedzeit | 2,509 | 74/100 |
| ! | 07/20/2026 10:18 | Johnnyo | 9,836 | 77/100 |
| ! | 07/16/2026 21:13 | Devilwoac | 1,495 | 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 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 80.9/100, a mean average of 79.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 81.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.8.
The Royal Scam favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 61 members
Forum mentions
Liedzeit 09/02/2026 07:01 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
BestEverAlbums 09/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movementsThe Royal Scam 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)
American banks are Scam? ? I didn’t know that.
Larcx13 11/07/2022 19:45 | #291130
Damn, great tracks from 1 to 7 then slacks off on the last two (not bad though). The production is maybe a bit too... "clean" for me? Anyway, great record for sure.
A-
Another very chill and relaxing SD album but it does fall a little short of their better albums for me. This record is front heavy with the 2 massive songs coming right at the start with Kid Charlemagne and The Caves Of Altamira. Both have fantastic instrumental performances on and I love the guitar solos that really give these songs an edge. The album then remains consistent in its style but the quality does drop a little. Every song contributes to the record though and altogether they build this fantastic environment for the listener to enjoy. After the slight dip you then get Haitian Divorce which is brilliant and it acts as a peak that keeps me entertained during the slower part. Overall, this album is very good and has moments of excellence but can't keep that up on this record unlike some of their other work. (Edited)
Jboy56 04/14/2022 13:18 | #284225
One of my favorite bands, albeit for many SD is too clean, but not for me. I do appreciate good production, great sonics, and musicianship. (Edited)
For me, their second best, after the epic Aja. Countdown to Ecstasy also ranks way up there. Oh, and Gaucho. OK, I love SD. (Edited)
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