Big Star 
The best album credited to Big Star is #1 Record which is ranked number 399 in the overall greatest album chart with a total rank score of 4,544.
Big Star is ranked number 215 in the overall artist rankings with a total rank score of 9,697.
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- Chris Bell
- Alex Chilton
Condition: Used
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Big Star best albums
The following albums by Big Star are ranked highest in the greatest album charts:
This may not be a complete discography for Big Star.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!
Big Star bestography composition
Decade | Albums | % | |
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1930s | 0 | 0% | |
1940s | 0 | 0% | |
1950s | 0 | 0% | |
1960s | 0 | 0% | |
1970s | 3 | 0% | |
1980s | 0 | 0% | |
1990s | 5 | 0% | |
2000s | 3 | 0% | |
2010s | 6 | 0% | |
2020s | 0 | 0% |
Big Star 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.
Big Star 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 75 ratings for this artist.
Rating | Date updated | Member | Artist ratings | Avg. artist rating |
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100/100 ![]() | 11/03/2023 01:27 | BorderFreeAndrew | ![]() | 91/100 |
85/100 ![]() | 09/22/2023 16:53 | Stevo796 | ![]() | 74/100 |
80/100 ![]() | 03/05/2023 22:20 | ![]() | ![]() | 78/100 |
90/100 ![]() | 01/06/2023 20:58 | adbrack1988 | ![]() | 88/100 |
80/100 ![]() | 11/07/2022 02:33 | ![]() | ![]() | 74/100 |
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 84.2/100, a mean average of 84.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 85.4/100. The standard deviation for this artist is 12.3.
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Big Star favourites
Showing all 13 members who have added this artist as a favourite
Big Star comments
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It took me quite a while, but I can finally say that this is the most underrated band in rock music history. All 3 records are equally great, and it's a shame that they didn't have more commercial success. Look on the bright side, though! At least their discography remained flawless, not counting the forgotten 2005 album.

Great melodic tunes that surprisingly slipped through the cracks commercially speaking.

How they created so much incredible music over just 3 albums and 3 years is just astonishing

I think Big Star gets the fair amount of plaudits here... An underrated gem from the 70s, pulling out riffs and hooks from thin air.

This site rates a lot of artists fairly that other lists seem to underrate. It's a shame then that Big Star isn't more well-respected here. I can't believe none of their albums are in the top 500 - these guys didn't change music, but they were a huge influence of a lot of underground artists. Everything these guys did was gold.
Also, if you enjoy music documentaries, I highly recommend Nothing Can Hurt Me. It paints a great picture of Big Star's failed attempts to reach a larger audience.
Formed in 1971 by ex- Box Tops Chilton and Bell, Big Star were a truly groundbreaking band who had a significant impact on the course of rock music but achieved no real commercial success. They were the first band to bring together the innovation of the Beatles, the aggression of the Who and merge them with the close harmony sound typified by the Byrds. In the early seventies few bands tried to take the best of pop or light rock forward, most groups taking the ‘heavy’ option. Big Star were one of the few (Badfinger being another example) who tried and succeeded artistically but failed commercially.
Tension in the band, possibly caused by lack of any significant success, led to Bell leaving in 1972 (he was to be killed a car crash in 1978) and the band broke up only to reform in 1974 and released another decent record in Radio City which again failed to score commercially.
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