Hi, How Are You: The Unfinished Album
by Daniel Johnston
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Daniel Johnston bestography
Hi, How Are You: The Unfinished Album is ranked as the best album by Daniel Johnston.
(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 Hi, How Are You: The Unfinished Album on YouTube
Hi, How Are You: The Unfinished Album track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 79 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Hi, How Are You: The Unfinished Album 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 |  Hayden | Top 50 Music Albums of 1983 | 14/50 | 4 |
| 2026 | Untitled | Top 25 Music Albums of 1983 | 20/25 | 1 |
| 2026 | LosWochos | Top 99 Music Albums of 1983 | 21/99 | 4 |
| 2026 | LittleM1971 | Top 90 Music Albums of 1983 | 89/90 | 0 |
| 2026 |  sssvnnn | Tom Club (Waits`favs+sound-alikes) | 79/100 | - |
| 2026 | JamesMowbray | Top 99 Music Albums of 1983 | 5/99 | 5 |
| 2026 | TroutMaskGreg | Top 16 Music Albums of 1983 | 15/16 | 1 |
| 2026 | juanr1096 | Top 54 Music Albums of 1983 | 22/54 | 3 |
| 2026 |  DommeDamian | Top 63 Music Albums of the 1980s | 2/63 | 20 |
| 2026 | xhitmanx | Top 30 Music Albums of 1983 | 28/30 | 1 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 142 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 787 | |||
Hi, How Are You: The Unfinished Album collection
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Hi, How Are You: The Unfinished Album 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 175 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/10/2026 16:01 | DommeDamian | 7,796 | 48/100 |
| ! | 07/25/2026 14:31 | xhitmanx | 1,604 | 75/100 |
| ! | 05/20/2026 23:54 | bkogz | 937 | 85/100 |
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 21% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 73.7/100, a mean average of 72.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 73.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 18.5.
Hi, How Are You: The Unfinished Album favourites
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Hi, How Are You: The Unfinished Album forum mentions
CharlieBarley 01/22/2021 19:55 in What album are you listening to right now?
BestEverAlbums 04/09/2019 20:00 in Album of the day (#3038): Hi, How Are You by Daniel JohnstonHi, How Are You: The Unfinished Album comments
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louisjwyatt TOP 100 COMMENTER 04/20/2015 17:05 | #139914 | TOP COMMENT
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I think the cover art is really more iconic than the album itself. While most of Daniel's work is brilliant I wouldn't call this his best. It's a little less mature than Yip/Jump and 1990, so I'm not really sure why it gets the most praise (maybe because Kurt Cobain constantly cited it as a favorite of his). With that being said, it's still a great listen, as are most of his albums. There's some great jazz on here by John Dankworth that Daniel essentially sampled in the recordings, which sound really nice in lo-fi. Desperate Man Blues, for example, is definitely one of his best songs
Very charming little album, but due to its very harsh lo-fi sound it can be hard to listen to in places, and over time its quite grating, at least for me.
sophialeviev 08/03/2018 20:16 | #219156 | TOP COMMENT
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Recently revisited this record on my pursuit of acquainting myself with "outsider" music. There is something so lonely about the lo-fi machinations Johnston created as a 22 year old in his parents' basement, without any musical training... the innocence, sadness, and rawness of this record is a vivid emotional self-examination.
Favorite track: Walking the Cow
i know this album is his most iconic because of the cover art. But its not his best. Yip jump music is his true magnum opus, this album is alright too though.
Probably the most lo fi album I've ever came across. Beautiful in parts but definitely takes a few listens. Still prefer 1990 though.
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