Don McLean 
The best album credited to Don McLean is American Pie which is ranked number 2,058 in the overall greatest album chart with a total rank score of 811.
Don McLean is ranked number 1,532 in the overall artist rankings with a total rank score of 876.
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Don McLean best albums
The following albums by Don McLean are ranked highest in the greatest album charts:
This may not be a complete discography for Don McLean.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!
Don McLean bestography composition
Decade | Albums | % | |
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1930s | 0 | 0% | |
1940s | 0 | 0% | |
1950s | 0 | 0% | |
1960s | 0 | 0% | |
1970s | 7 | 0% | |
1980s | 2 | 0% | |
1990s | 3 | 0% | |
2000s | 1 | 0% | |
2010s | 1 | 0% | |
2020s | 1 | 0% |
Don McLean 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.
Don McLean ratings

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 artist. | Show all 10 ratings for this artist.
Rating | Date updated | Member | Artist ratings | Avg. artist rating |
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75/100 ![]() | 12/13/2020 18:02 | platus | ![]() | 71/100 |
100/100 ![]() | 06/24/2016 02:22 | TrekkiELO | ![]() | 99/100 |
70/100 ![]() | 01/15/2015 00:45 | mostlymor | ![]() | 70/100 |
50/100 ![]() | 09/24/2014 06:27 | HollyGarner | ![]() | 52/100 |
60/100 ![]() | 11/09/2013 18:27 | Willie24 | ![]() | 67/100 |
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 74.3/100, a mean average of 73.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 73.5/100. The standard deviation for this artist is 13.0.
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Don McLean favourites
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Don McLean comments
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I guess he did pretty well for himself, even if he's defined by one song.
Don Mclean is an artist who will always be remembered and defined by one song, the legendary American Pie. Throughout the mid 60’s McLean was a jobbing folk musician with a small following in New York City. His first album was largely ignored but the release of American Pie changed everything and went to the top of the album and singles chart. McLean was an unspectacular but accomplished guitarist with an understated vocal style. His songwriting, particularly his lyrics are idiosyncratic, charming and beautifully crafted.
Although McLean was more than a one hit wonder it is true to say that most of his subsequent work failed to live up to the same standards and his career slowly stalled in the mid seventies. His career did pick up in the early eighties when he covered Roy Orbision’s Crying. His career then moved into the folk sphere where his early songs, especially American Pie are always warmly received.
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