R.E.M. 
Aliases: Bingo Hand Job.
The best album credited to R.E.M. is Automatic For The People which is ranked number 45 in the overall greatest album chart with a total rank score of 18,466.
R.E.M. is ranked number 15 in the overall artist rankings with a total rank score of 57,316.
R.E.M. official website: http://remhq.com
- 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.
- Peter Buck
Listen & Collect
Complete your collection or upgrade your listening experience.
Listen to R.E.M. on YouTube
R.E.M. best albums
The following albums by R.E.M. are ranked highest in the greatest album charts:
R.E.M. bestography composition
R.E.M. 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.
R.E.M. 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 artist. | Show all 348 ratings for this artist.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Artist ratings | Avg. artist rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/24/2026 08:10 |  nextorgd | 29 | 91/100 |
| ! | 07/31/2026 19:29 | stareaterogni0n | 55 | 75/100 |
| ! | 05/07/2026 23:44 | seaniedimes_ | 50 | 80/100 |
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 is rated in the top 1% of all artists on BestEverAlbums.com. This artist has a Bayesian average rating of 83.9/100, a mean average of 83.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 84.2/100. The standard deviation for this artist is 15.0.
R.E.M. favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this artist as a favourite | Show all 123 members
R.E.M. forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 5 days ago in Chart of the day (#5474): By Mr NovemberView latest topic →
dihansse 05/02/2026 14:54 in American, UndergroundView all forum mentions
R.E.M. comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
babyBlueSedan TOP 100 COMMENTER 03/03/2014 04:12 | #105232
I once heard REM described as a band that everyone loves but no one ever listens to. This describes my attitude about them pretty well - I always love hearing their albums but it takes a lot to get me to listen to them in the first place (except Automatic for the People, that one's always in rotation). As varied as their output is, it always retains the same theme and general sound, which works to their advantage. One of the best of all time for sure.
RoundTheBend TOP 100 COMMENTER 08/09/2016 04:25 | #172538
One of the best discographies for a band at it for 30 years. Absolutely instrumental in the independent/alternative movement. They have that bitter-sweet, pop yet anti-social aesthetic that I absolutely adore.
I compare them to the Kinks: great career but overshadowed by other bands of the same period.
DeusExMackia TOP 100 COMMENTER 11/18/2020 22:13 | #261057
R.E.M. have utterly enamoured me for nigh on 10 of the 23 years I've been on this planet for. My ever-long love for sounds that delve into the American psyche and expose it has kept me coming back, and in some extra-political, attitude focused way, R.E.M. do it in a way like no one else. You feel a sublime desolation, a triumph that things are the way they are - no matter how bad - with every record. Dividing their discography into individual albums feels wrong, theirs was a never-ending work that captured something beyond the realms of conventional alternative rock. An all time favourite band of mine.
Mr. Shankly TOP 100 COMMENTER 07/28/2009 12:32 | #5416
R.E.M. is right behind the Beatles for me in greatness. This is one of the bands that invented alternative music, not to mention pioneered indie rock.
