The Eternal
by Sonic Youth
Listen & Collect
Complete your collection or upgrade your listening experience.
Sonic Youth bestography
The Eternal is ranked 11th best out of 44 albums by Sonic Youth on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Sonic Youth is Daydream Nation which is ranked number 74 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 14,848.
(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 Eternal on YouTube
The Eternal track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 78 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
The Eternal 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 |  Wasinski | Top 65 Music Albums of 2009 | 41/65 | 2 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Surfing On Steam Top 25 Albums of 2009 | 9/25 | - |
| 2026 | cmoshier | Top 99 Music Albums of 2009 | 45/99 | 3 |
| 2026 | Skerns | Top 72 Music Albums of 2009 | 48/72 | 2 |
| 2026 |  ssteve | Top 53 Music Albums of 2009 | 26/53 | 3 |
| 2026 | Steppenwolf666 | Top 100 Music Albums of 2009 | 47/100 | 3 |
| 2026 |  imacgill | Top 100 Music Albums of 2009 | 37/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | fabm0 | List 2009 | 78/88 | - |
| 2026 |  briggs54 | Top 75 Music Albums of 2009 | 72/75 | 0 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Aversion Best Albums 2009 | 4/10 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 137 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 418 | |||
The Eternal collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 65 members
The Eternal 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 172 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 10/14/2026 10:13 | Exist-en-ciel | 16,716 | 70/100 |
| ! | 08/10/2026 13:46 |  SomethingSpecial | 1,821 | 82/100 |
| ! | 06/18/2026 11:16 | cicadelic | 14,318 | 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 has a Bayesian average rating of 72.0/100, a mean average of 71.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 72.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.6.
The Eternal favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 14 members
The Eternal forum mentions
imacgill 08/27/2022 02:39 in What album are you listening to right now?The Eternal comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
great album, the best of 2009
C_Krug2009 10/24/2012 21:51 | #53339 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Best album of the 2000s to me, has some great songs to chill while long boarding
Of all Sonic Youth albums, this one seems to have people split the most.
As a fan of Sonic Youth, I love this album, it's a return to their roots as an indie band but it also has hints of straightforward rock in there too. It's not an essential album for the casual listener, but I would recommend it to any fan of Alternative music, or anyone who enjoys other stuff by SY. The only moment I'll point out on this album that I would show to anyone is "Massage the History", a fantastic ballad that is completely different from anything else SY ever out out, truly one of their best songs.
Favorite Tracks: Anti-Orgasm, Antenna, What We Know, Malibu Gas Station, No Way, Walkin Blue, Massage the History.
Everything sounds the same. It's the musical equivalent of wet snow.
Very good final album. Best song is anti-orgasm.
The top-voted comments get featured on our charts, Album of the Day, and the site newsletter.
