Fisherman's Blues
by The Waterboys
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The Waterboys bestography
Fisherman's Blues is ranked 2nd best out of 24 albums by The Waterboys on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by The Waterboys is This Is The Sea which is ranked number 903 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 1,921.
(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 Fisherman's Blues on YouTube
Fisherman's Blues track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 78 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Fisherman's Blues rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 3 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 66/100 | 7 |
| 2026 | davidhuret | Top 6 Music Albums of 1988 | 2/6 | 4 |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 100 Music Albums of 1988 | 34/100 | 3 |
| 2026 |  Romanelli | Top 74 Music Albums of 1988 | 60/74 | 1 |
| 2026 | Jakor | Top 60 Music Albums of 1988 | 28/60 | 3 |
| 2026 |  Repo | Top 87 Music Albums of 1988 | 19/87 | 4 |
| 2026 |  AAL2014 | Top 45 Music Albums of 1988 | 33/45 | 1 |
| 2026 | Rm12398 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 97/100 | 1 |
| 2026 | fabm0 | List 1988 | 100/100 | - |
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Best Of The 80's Pt.3 (201-300) | 77/100 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 233 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 1,269 | |||
Fisherman's Blues collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 119 members
Fisherman's Blues 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 235 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/03/2026 20:46 |  HoldenM | 1,882 | 84/100 |
| ! | 08/18/2026 17:20 |  Leonard | 6,610 | 70/100 |
| ! | 05/11/2026 16:39 | Jakor | 5,535 | 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 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.9/100, a mean average of 77.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.2.
Fisherman's Blues favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 36 members
Forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 09/06/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5427): By StreakyNuno BestEverAlbums 08/22/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5412): By BraddlesHendoFisherman's Blues 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)
HoldenM 09/03/2026 20:46 | #315977
Really caught me off guard. What a great time.
Great album that followed the excellent This Is The Sea. Though strangely Fisherman’s Blues probably stands the test of time better. One has to wonder what Scott & Wallanger could have achieved if they had not parted ways after This Is The Sea (Edited)
Sandrof1969 02/11/2018 14:30 | #207619
Disco che sa di prati irlandesi, di sole, di mare, di aria fresca; canzoni eccellenti e ben fatte, scrittura ispirata, obiettivi ben chiari in testa e perfettamente raggiunti. Il momento magico in cui tutto ti riesce bene e quindi puoi permetterti di fare una cover della "Sweet thing" di Van Morrison migliore dell'originale ed in mezzo inserirci un estratto da "Blackbird" dei Beatles e tutto funziona alla perfezione.
planetneutral 01/29/2018 14:07 | #206758
Meh. I kind of liked the energy at first, but it started to feel self-indulgent to me after a while.
Along with, This is the sea, this is the best Waterboys album. Excellent tracks in, And a bang on the ear, We will not be lovers, and the title track. Excellent record.
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