British Steel
by Judas Priest
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Judas Priest bestography
British Steel is ranked as the best album by Judas Priest.
(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 British Steel on YouTube
British Steel track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
British Steel 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 | juanr1096 | Top 57 Music Albums of 1980 | 34/57 | 2 |
| 2026 | culwin | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 32/100 | 14 |
| 2026 | Untitled | Top 27 Music Albums of 1980 | 4/27 | 4 |
| 2026 |  Repo | Micro-genres: NWOBHM | 24/62 | - |
| 2026 |  ERadio | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 32/100 | 14 |
| 2026 | Hyggevinyl | Top 52 Music Albums of 1980 | 46/52 | 1 |
| 2026 | mrmcrook | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 11/100 | 18 |
| 2026 | svk4ever | Top 43 Music Albums of 1980 | 12/43 | 4 |
| 2026 | jonny5244 | Top 26 Music Albums of 1980 | 22/26 | 1 |
| 2026 |  ssteve | Top 32 Music Albums of 1980 | 27/32 | 1 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 321 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 1,589 | |||
British Steel collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 213 members
British Steel 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 397 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/31/2026 16:00 | AledJames | 1,689 | 69/100 |
| ! | 08/31/2026 02:30 | xhitmanx | 1,604 | 75/100 |
| ! | 07/01/2026 13:43 | fabm0 | 7,009 | 58/100 |
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 77.6/100, a mean average of 76.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.7/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.7.
British Steel favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 66 members
British Steel forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 09/06/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5427): By StreakyNuno BestEverAlbums 09/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movements BestEverAlbums 08/08/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5398): By mrmcrookBritish Steel comments
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Released in the same year Black Sabbath released Heaven and Hell and Saxon released Wheels of Steel. The metal scene at the time was sizzling with new talent and this album with its iconic timeless cover was timed perfectly. Rob Halford's voice has taken me a while to gravitate to but there is no denying the power that this album delivers. Now that I have the vinyl version I enjoy it much more. (Edited)
A perfectly timed breakout release for Judas Priest. British Steel does have a bit lighter lyrics than some of Priest's earlier releases and a lot of the band's concert staples came with this album.
Key tracks: Living After Midnight, Breaking the Law, Metal Gods and You Don't Have to Be Old to Be Wise
Absolutely killer album, heavy metal in purest form. It's a shame that on this site no Priest album is in top 1000 oat, because this album definitely deserves it, it is filled with raw energy and great metal classics.
Favorites: Rapid Fire, Breaking The Law, Grinder, Metal Gods, Living After Midnight. (Edited)
Metal classic. Some absolute legendary tracks. A couple are a bit cheesy but you can overlook that due to the fantastic musicianship on them. Fantastic album from start to finish. Part of the staple diet of NWOBHM (Edited)
StefanR10 06/18/2020 22:12 | #253852 | TOP COMMENT
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Great record i love the outstanding tracks Breaking the Law and Living After Midnight deserves his place but coul be ranked higher. (Edited)
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