What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World
by The Decemberists
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The Decemberists bestography
What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World is ranked 8th best out of 19 albums by The Decemberists on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by The Decemberists is The Crane Wife which is ranked number 773 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 2,228.
(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 What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World on YouTube
What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 76 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World 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 | martintho | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s | 15/100 | 17 |
| 2026 |  HoldenM | Top 73 Music Albums of 2015 | 69/73 | 0 |
| 2026 |  junodog4 | Top 20 Music Albums of 2015 | 10/20 | 3 |
| 2026 |  Rhyner | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s | 98/100 | 1 |
| 2026 |  zdwyatt | Top 61 Music Albums of 2015 | 4/61 | 5 |
| 2026 |  paladisiac | my CURRENT favorite artists | 15/100 | - |
| 2026 |  imacgill | Top 100 Music Albums of 2015 | 79/100 | 1 |
| 2026 | joathome | Top 95 Music Albums of 2015 | 39/95 | 3 |
| 2026 | jdizzle123456 | Top 100 Music Albums of 2015 | 95/100 | 0 |
| 2026 | Skerns | Top 92 Music Albums of 2015 | 23/92 | 4 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 94 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 248 | |||
What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 46 members
What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World 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 176 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 07/12/2026 23:51 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,633 | 70/100 |
| ! | 06/28/2026 20:06 |  Milhaud | 2,156 | 71/100 |
| ! | 04/24/2026 22:37 | Moondance | 20,810 | 72/100 |
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 69.9/100, a mean average of 69.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 69.7/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.9.
What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World favourites
Showing all 8 members who have added this album as a favourite
Forum mentions
Rhyner 06/20/2025 17:53 in What album are you listening to? (cont.) imacgill 06/14/2025 00:46 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World comments
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luigybetis 07/10/2022 02:01 | #287235
First half of the album is much better than the second, but it is still a nice album. Better than their previous and next in my opinion, but not as gold as the first 5 ones.
Brad1770 12/13/2017 08:52 | #203050 | TOP COMMENT
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This was the first Decemberists album that truly resonated with me
This was my number 1 album for 2015 (daylight number 2 )
This album made me delve deep into The Decemberist back catalogue ( I am now a huge Decemberist fan)
This album came along at a very special time in my life and whenever I listen to it I’m transported back to that magical period
This album as I write this in 2020 is now 5 years post release and sounds as good today as it did in 2015
This album has been added to my top 100 All Time Album list
Also, 'A Beginning Song' should be he first song, not the last!
This is a pretty good record. I feel it would have been better if a couple of the songs were left off (anti-summersong, Lake song, 12-17-12). It starts off pretty good but becomes a tad boring towards the end
Another great album - a bit of a grower but still great.
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