The Nightfly
by Donald Fagen
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Donald Fagen bestography
The Nightfly is ranked as the best album by Donald Fagen.
(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 Nightfly on YouTube
The Nightfly track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
The Nightfly 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 | cronadigallina | Top 99 Music Albums of 1982 | 66/99 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Repo | Top 100 Music Albums of 1982 | 82/100 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Leonard | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 30/100 | 14 |
| 2026 | stryker700 | Top 20 Music Albums of the 1980s | 16/20 | 5 |
| 2026 |  spigelwii | Top 9 Music Albums of 1982 | 3/9 | 4 |
| 2026 | martintho | Top 55 Music Albums of 1982 | 38/55 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Rhyner | Top 20 Music Albums of 1982 | 13/20 | 2 |
| 2026 | Skerns | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 66/100 | 7 |
| 2026 | Cyrax | Top 96 Greatest Music Albums | 47/96 | 51 |
| 2026 | Finky | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 60/100 | 8 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 347 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 2,319 | |||
The Nightfly collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 213 members
The Nightfly 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 394 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/09/2026 07:21 | Juneof44 | 2,629 | 69/100 |
| ! | 09/08/2026 08:51 | conallmalone | 1,743 | 74/100 |
| ! | 07/23/2026 02:19 | stryker700 | 295 | 90/100 |
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 76.9/100, a mean average of 75.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 17.6.
The Nightfly favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 58 members
The Nightfly forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 09/14/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5435): By flamingyesdept BestEverAlbums 08/25/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5415): By JR
Liedzeit 06/29/2026 19:49 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)The Nightfly comments
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Shortlisted for album of the year at the 1983 Grammys. The Winner was Toto IV by Toto (Edited)
This album is full of depth and feels so rich to the ears when you listen to it. Even to this day the quality of the production is fantastic with the flow of the record being incredible and each instrument being allowed to pop. This is even more difficult to do with the huge array of diverse instrumentation and they are all blended together so beautifully. This has led to a focused and cohesive listen which feels complete when you finish the record which leaves a feeling of fulfilment for the listener. The mastery of sound and instrumentation on here by Fagen is staggering and everyone should admire the phenomenal work he has done on this record. Overall, this album is grand, rich and a really relaxing listen and its quality is vastly under appreciated. (Edited)
Larcx13 11/12/2022 14:22 | #291239
Some of the comments and lower scores here are just.... man.... makes me wonder what the average age of BEA members is.... anyway
Good record. I'd say closer to pop than any Steely Dan record but still as good. If you like Jazz Rock I suppose....
I'm glad to say that Im in my 20s and I can say I enjoy this.
A-
Another comment said the last 2 were filler.... that's some damn good fillers then if that's the case.
As enjoyable as typical Steely Dan record, nice, smooth and great in background. The production on I.G.Y. and The Nightfly is excellent and sound slick. Last two tracks are total filler not up to the rest of the album.
Crisp as anything.
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