The Waterboys

The best album credited to The Waterboys is This Is The Sea which is ranked number 906 in the overall greatest album chart with a total rank score of 1,914.

The Waterboys is ranked number 415 in the overall artist rankings with a total rank score of 4,578.

Members: N.B. The member list may not contain a full list of members (and there may be notable omissions). If a member has never released a solo album, or their solo albums do not appear on BEA, they will not be able to be listed as a member. These omissions are not meant to cause offense to anybody. The member list is solely meant as an additional navigation aid to browse between the items listed on the site.
Barny Fletcher
World Party
Mike Scott
Anthony Thistlethwaite

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The Waterboys best albums

The following albums by The Waterboys are ranked highest in the greatest album charts:

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This Is The Sea

The Waterboys

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

302 charts

Rank Score:

1,914

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Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

232 charts

Rank Score:

1,245

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Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

94 charts

Rank Score:

452

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Year of Release:

1990

Appears in:

45 charts

Rank Score:

245

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Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

76 charts

Rank Score:

227

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Rank in 1980s:

848

Overall Rank:

5,978

Average Rating:

75 (83 votes)

Comments:

The Best Of The Waterboys 81-90
Compilation

The Waterboys

Year of Release:

1991

Appears in:

12 charts

Rank Score:

107

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An Appointment With Mr. Yeats

The Waterboys

Year of Release:

2011

Appears in:

18 charts

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Year of Release:

2015

Appears in:

24 charts

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Year of Release:

1993

Appears in:

30 charts

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10.

All Souls Hill

The Waterboys

Year of Release:

2022

Appears in:

8 charts

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Overall artist rank:

415

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Total albums: 24. Page 1 of 3

This may not be a complete discography for The Waterboys.This listing only shows those albums by this artist that appear in at least one chart on this site. If an album is 'missing' that you think deserves to be here, you can include it in your own chart from the My Charts page!

The Waterboys bestography composition

Decade	Albums	%

1930s	0	0%
1940s	0	0%
1950s	0	0%
1960s	0	0%
1970s	0	0%
1980s	4	0%
1990s	5	0%
2000s	5	0%
2010s	5	0%
2020s	5	0%

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	20	83%
Yes	4	17%

Live?	Albums	%
No	22	92%
Yes	2	8%

The Waterboys best tracks

Include tracks from compilations & live albums | Exclude tracks from compilations & live albums The same track can appear on multiple albums, so excluding tracks from compilations and live albums helps to remove duplicates from this list.

Track

Rating/Comments

The Whole Of The Moon

(from the album This Is The Sea)

Average Rating: 87 (109 votes)Comments: 0

Fisherman's Blues

(from the album Fisherman's Blues)

Average Rating: 87 (79 votes)Comments: 2

This Is The Sea

(from the album This Is The Sea)

Average Rating: 87 (88 votes)Comments: 3

Don't Bang The Drum

(from the album This Is The Sea)

Average Rating: 84 (76 votes)Comments: 0

We Will Not Be Lovers

(from the album Fisherman's Blues)

Average Rating: 84 (53 votes)Comments: 0

The Pan Within

(from the album This Is The Sea)

Average Rating: 83 (74 votes)Comments: 1

Pagan Place

(from the album A Pagan Place)

Average Rating: 83 (26 votes)Comments: 1

Sweet Thing

(from the album Fisherman's Blues)

Average Rating: 82 (47 votes)Comments: 2

Church Not Made With Hands

(from the album A Pagan Place)

Average Rating: 82 (27 votes)Comments: 1

10.

Red Army Blues

(from the album A Pagan Place)

Average Rating: 82 (21 votes)Comments: 1

11.

And A Bang On The Ear

(from the album Fisherman's Blues)

Average Rating: 81 (51 votes)Comments: 0

12.

Be My Enemy

(from the album This Is The Sea)

Average Rating: 81 (61 votes)Comments: 0

13.

A Girl Called Johnny

(from the album The Waterboys)

Average Rating: 81 (26 votes)Comments: 0

14.

Old England

(from the album This Is The Sea)

Average Rating: 81 (65 votes)Comments: 0

15.

Medicine Bow

(from the album This Is The Sea)

Average Rating: 81 (64 votes)Comments: 0

16.

Spirit

(from the album This Is The Sea)

Average Rating: 81 (67 votes)Comments: 0

17.

How Long Will I Love You?

(from the album Room To Roam)

Average Rating: 81 (14 votes)Comments: 1

18.

Strange Boat

(from the album Fisherman's Blues)

Average Rating: 80 (47 votes)Comments: 2

19.

The Big Music

(from the album A Pagan Place)

Average Rating: 80 (24 votes)Comments: 1

20.

Trumpets

(from the album This Is The Sea)

Average Rating: 80 (63 votes)Comments: 1

N.B. Tracks must have received at least 3 ratings to appear in the above list.

The Waterboys ratings

Average Rating:

75/100 (from 30 votes)

Showing latest 3 ratings for this artist. | Show all 30 ratings for this artist.

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Artist ratings	Avg. artist rating
85/100 !	02/05/2026 18:54	Johnnyo	3,239	74/100
100/100 !	10/24/2023 16:22	DaaN	9	92/100
85/100 !	10/23/2023 09:57	MaxStorm98	542	92/100

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 artists can have several thousand ratings)
This artist has a Bayesian average rating of 75.1/100, a mean average of 75.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 75.0/100. The standard deviation for this artist is 17.4.

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The Waterboys favourites

Showing all 10 members who have added this artist as a favourite

The Waterboys forum mentions

This artist has been referenced 6 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.

From

BestEverAlbums 10/01/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5452): By LittleM1971

“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s by LittleM1971 () 1. by (1989) 2. by by (1984) 4. (1980) 6. by (1988) 7. by (1985) 8. by (1980) 9. by (1986) 10. by (1988) 11. by (1983) 12. (1985) 13. (1989) 14. (1984) 15. by (1980) 16. by (1980) 17. by by (1987) 20. (1982) 21. by (1984)…”

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From

BestEverAlbums 09/14/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5435): By flamingyesdept

“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s by flamingyesdept () 1. by (1980) 2. by (1986) 3. by (1985) 4. by (1984) 6. by (1983) 8. by (1985) 9. (1986) 10. by (1988) 11. (1980) 12. by (1988) 13. (1984) 14. by (1982) 15. by by by (1989) 18. (1980) 19. (1989) 20. by (1985) 22. by…”

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From

BestEverAlbums 09/12/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5433): By Johnnyo

“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Johnnyo () 1. by (1978) 2. by (1971) 3. by (1968) 4. by (1971) 5. by (1975) 6. by (1970) 7. by (1973) 8. by (2004) 9. (2005) 10. by (1991) 11. by (1975) 12. (1991) 13. (1988) 14. by (1969) 15. by (1967) 16. by (1969) 17. (1976) 18. by (1989)…”

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The Waterboys comments

Rating:

90/100

From

jhuik TOP 100 COMMENTER 08/17/2013 14:22 | #84114

Mike Scott is a musical genius that dug deep on so many of the great Waterboys' songs. I find it unbelievable how sadly overlooked this band is. Sure, they peaked with This is the Sea and Fisherman's Blues but what a peak that was.

Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 1

Rating:

40/100

From BraddlesHendo 12/22/2013 00:15 | #98311

Still listen to them today, but only those essential albums. Excellent band. Still doing it great today and better than most.

Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 1

Rating:

100/100

From michaelroc2011 12/08/2013 10:45 | #96789

Totally agree with above comment. Really overlooked band. My second favourite band after The Doors. Their first 6 albums are magnificent. Last four not as good but all have their moments.

Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 0

Rating:

65/100

From

thirstyDog 08/09/2017 04:25 | #195788

I like Mike Scott's "whoohoo!"s
Best albums: The Waterboys, This Is The Sea, Fisherman's Blues
There's some very good and interesting stuff on A Rock In The Weary Land, too

Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 0

Rating:

85/100

From Johnnyo TOP 100 COMMENTER 11/12/2012 21:29 | #54903

The 1st 3 albums are glorious. Fisherman's Blues was good but I sort of lost them after that.

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