Fly By Night
by Rush

Fly By Night by Rush
Year: 1975
Release date: 1975-02-15
Overall rank: 3,403rd   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
77/100 (from 388 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1975 (55th)
Award Top albums of of the 1970s (584th)
Award Best albums of all time (3,403rd)

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Rush bestography

Fly By Night is ranked 10th best out of 38 albums by Rush on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Rush is Moving Pictures which is ranked number 162 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 8,722.

Rush album bestography « Higher ranked (3,122nd)
Clockwork Angels
This album (3,403rd)
Fly By Night
Lower ranked (3,705th) »
Rush

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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Fly By Night track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Fly By Night rankings

Fly By Night rankings summary
Overall rank: 3,403rd | 1970s rank: 584th | 1975 rank: 55th  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 3 hours ago)

Fly By Night collection

Fly By Night ratings

Average Rating: 
77/100 (from 388 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
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 5 ratings for this album.  | Show all 388 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
90/100
 !
06/30/2026 04:41 nextorgd  Ratings distribution  1,21184/100
 
80/100
 !
06/12/2026 18:33 JR  Ratings distribution  1,11381/100
 
45/100
 !
05/24/2026 08:32 Pavloss  Ratings distribution  48850/100
 
90/100
 !
05/10/2026 19:34 emnasut  Ratings distribution  15387/100
 
80/100
 !
04/12/2026 16:35 matterhornrider  Ratings distribution  5,12081/100

Rating metrics: Help 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 4% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.7/100, a mean average of 76.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.9.


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Fly By Night comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 13 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)
Rating:  
85/100
It's just so good...Fly By Night delivers! Perhaps their best music was still to come, but this release balances accessibility with complexity and ambition - a balance Rush don't always strike with their albums.

A strong release from this iconic Canadian three-piece.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 06/23/2020 21:56 | #254331
Underrated. To me, Fly By Night is definitely one of the finest works of Rush.

8.5/10
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 05/13/2020 09:34 | #251345
Right from the off, there's Neil Peart. Total gear-shift from the debut album. Increased variety and loads of proggy elements. Good album
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
A precursor of what was yet to come. This is a very good album and the presence of Neil Peart in the drum stool countered with his lyrical expertise hints to exciting times ahead. Anthem and By Tor set the scene for the classics which will follow
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Few bands can make a second record so good as Rush did. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 02/10/2017 19:23 | #185217
Rivendell is incredible, I can't understand why it has the lowest rating in the album. In my opinion it is the best only overcome by Anthem, Fly By Night and In The End.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 12/14/2016 22:17 | #180160
Kickass album here bookended by the superb opening 'Anthem' and close by the epic 'In the End.' All the stuff in between is excellent as well, especially the title cut.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
A very solid second album for Rush. As a whole it's not incredible, but there are some real shining moments. You can really view this as the birth of Rush as we know them as it is the first record to feature Neil Peart on drums and first to introduce the more prog songwriting.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
65/100
From 07/30/2015 00:24 | #146706
"Anthem" and "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" were quality numbers. The rest is only ok. "In the End" follows musical just about every musical cliche in the book.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 02/10/2015 04:09 | #134558
Best Track: Fly By Night
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)

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