Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
by 
HoldenM 
As of this edit, it's May of 2026. It's been close to a decade since the last time I gave this a proper revision. Remaking it, I had to work not to overthink whether this or that album needed to be included, how well represented one artist needed to be represented, if I was being too precious about what entries typically make the list and being able to let favorites go for the time being.
The line for this chart used to be "In Progress. Always in progress." And that's true. Yet, I found myself editing this so often it felt like it was losing its meaning. Then, I was paralyzed to canonize new favorites. What I know now, and what has taken an embarrassingly long time to come full circle to, is that this is what the list is for now. I don't want to change it every few weeks or months, but I don't want to wait several years, either. It's just a snapshot. If something isn't on here, maybe it will be later. Maybe I'll grow out of what is here into something else. Most of all, I'll do it as long as it's fun and right.
In progress. Always in progress.
Enjoy!
- Chart updated: 07/02/2026 23:45
- (Created: 03/02/2013 03:49).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
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Whenever I learn what someone's "favorite" of anything is, I want to read into their taste. Does a favorite actually mean anything? Does it signify a person's larger experience within a medium? Does it speak to their personal values or morals? Does it insist or suggest some definition of character? Do you know someone's personality in any meaningful sense? I ask these questions of others because I ask them of myself. At the end of the day, I arrive at the same place: perhaps there are detailed answers to these questions, but in the end, a favorite is an emotional response later rationalized.
We Have the Facts isn't the first Death Cab for Cutie album I fell in love with. It's not the first I would recommend for newcomers, either. Yet, it's my favorite of theirs, and of every collection of songs. I won't argue it's the "best" or that you're crazy for not liking it; that would be dumb. For me to love it or any other album, it doesn't need to speak to anyone else but me.
While I am aging out of the perspective of mid-20s ennui that We Have the Facts is coming from, many of its observations and feelings still resonate--some more than others. Even when you settle down with a family, there's always more work to do, always something eluding you. You travel the world, friends and significant others are rarely permanent, and you're often left behind. Yet, most hardships resolve, and life goes on. Death Cab couches these ideas in evocative lyrics and intricate melodies with production whose immediacy puts you in the same space as the band. At the right time and right headspace, it's the only place I want to be.
Track picks
1. Title Tracks
3. For What Reason
6. Little Fury Things
7. Company Calls
9. No Joy in Mudville [First added to this chart: 03/02/2013]
We Have the Facts isn't the first Death Cab for Cutie album I fell in love with. It's not the first I would recommend for newcomers, either. Yet, it's my favorite of theirs, and of every collection of songs. I won't argue it's the "best" or that you're crazy for not liking it; that would be dumb. For me to love it or any other album, it doesn't need to speak to anyone else but me.
While I am aging out of the perspective of mid-20s ennui that We Have the Facts is coming from, many of its observations and feelings still resonate--some more than others. Even when you settle down with a family, there's always more work to do, always something eluding you. You travel the world, friends and significant others are rarely permanent, and you're often left behind. Yet, most hardships resolve, and life goes on. Death Cab couches these ideas in evocative lyrics and intricate melodies with production whose immediacy puts you in the same space as the band. At the right time and right headspace, it's the only place I want to be.
Track picks
1. Title Tracks
3. For What Reason
6. Little Fury Things
7. Company Calls
9. No Joy in Mudville [First added to this chart: 03/02/2013]
Year of Release:
2000
Appears in:
Rank Score:
987
Rank in 2000:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
In late April of 2015, I was coming home from a job interview. The several months preceding had been challenging, but I'd been slowly growing up and taking baby steps into adulthood. The walk to my bus top and the subsequent ride home was long enough to get through Ghosts of the Great Highway. I'd already become a fan of Mark Kozelek's other music--various Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon albums--but it was Benji from the year prior that gripped me most (more on that down the list!).
There I was, on a beautiful spring day, listening to these vibrant songs, ruminating on love, loss, death, parrots, and so much boxing, knowing in my heart that things were going to change for the better, that I was on my way. And for a brief few months, everything clicked into place (before getting rough). I took another job instead. I directed my first short film (that I'm still proud of). I finished a double album I'd been wanting to make for a few years. When I think of that time in my life, or when I want to give myself a kick in the pants, I throw on Ghosts of the Great Highway, and it's a bright afternoon riding down 500 East, the rest of my life ahead of me.
Track picks
1. Glenn Tipton
2. Carry Me Ohio
5. Floating
8. Duk Koo Kim
10. Pancho Villa [First added to this chart: 04/13/2015]
There I was, on a beautiful spring day, listening to these vibrant songs, ruminating on love, loss, death, parrots, and so much boxing, knowing in my heart that things were going to change for the better, that I was on my way. And for a brief few months, everything clicked into place (before getting rough). I took another job instead. I directed my first short film (that I'm still proud of). I finished a double album I'd been wanting to make for a few years. When I think of that time in my life, or when I want to give myself a kick in the pants, I throw on Ghosts of the Great Highway, and it's a bright afternoon riding down 500 East, the rest of my life ahead of me.
Track picks
1. Glenn Tipton
2. Carry Me Ohio
5. Floating
8. Duk Koo Kim
10. Pancho Villa [First added to this chart: 04/13/2015]
Year of Release:
2003
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,343
Rank in 2003:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
I was 11 years old when I first started getting into music in a major way, where I wanted to know where all of these great songs came from, where it mattered who made them and what else they had. While I still like many of those formative artists, it's The Cure who has stood the test of time and grown for me.
As I get older, most beloved albums have dulled in their ability to overwhelm me. Even new discoveries rarely hit like they could when I was in my early 20s. Not Disintegration. These songs still engulf me, still haunt me, still bring me to tears. They continue to swallow me like waterfalls pouring from great heights, confounding in their natural awesomeness, and whose flow never thins. I know these songs so well, yet each time I hear them together, I explore a world I'll never see the end of.
Track picks
2. Pictures of You
3. Closedown
6. Lullaby
10. Disintegration
11. Homesick [First added to this chart: 03/02/2013]
As I get older, most beloved albums have dulled in their ability to overwhelm me. Even new discoveries rarely hit like they could when I was in my early 20s. Not Disintegration. These songs still engulf me, still haunt me, still bring me to tears. They continue to swallow me like waterfalls pouring from great heights, confounding in their natural awesomeness, and whose flow never thins. I know these songs so well, yet each time I hear them together, I explore a world I'll never see the end of.
Track picks
2. Pictures of You
3. Closedown
6. Lullaby
10. Disintegration
11. Homesick [First added to this chart: 03/02/2013]
Year of Release:
1989
Appears in:
Rank Score:
25,776
Rank in 1989:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
The Replacements are a fuckups who, in their way, failed upward. Could they have been better if they were more disciplined? Would they have had a more robust career? Maybe. It wasn't for lack of trying from outside parties. For better and worse, it is their defiance which defines The Replacements. These Minneapolis punks who came from shitty homes, but who loved making music, and who were all dedicated musicians. They are simply too talented and too eager to share that talent not to leave some kind of footprint.
Let It Be is their apex, where they are a unified band, where Paul Westerberg has honed his songwriting genius, where addiction has not overtaken Bob Stinson, and where they are willing to take all the help people want to give them. The Replacements have other great albums--it's not hard to have a favorite outside of this one--but Let It Be is a work of joy and longing, whose swaggering attitude balks at authority and stands up for the marginalized. It's fiery and fun and sincere to the bitter end. They are the best, most authentic versions of themselves.
Track picks
1. I Will Dare
2. My Favorite Thing
3. We're Coming Out
5. Androgynous
8. Seen Your Video [First added to this chart: 03/02/2013]
Let It Be is their apex, where they are a unified band, where Paul Westerberg has honed his songwriting genius, where addiction has not overtaken Bob Stinson, and where they are willing to take all the help people want to give them. The Replacements have other great albums--it's not hard to have a favorite outside of this one--but Let It Be is a work of joy and longing, whose swaggering attitude balks at authority and stands up for the marginalized. It's fiery and fun and sincere to the bitter end. They are the best, most authentic versions of themselves.
Track picks
1. I Will Dare
2. My Favorite Thing
3. We're Coming Out
5. Androgynous
8. Seen Your Video [First added to this chart: 03/02/2013]
Year of Release:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
7,411
Rank in 1984:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
The strongest memory I have of Illinois, an album I've listened to dozens of times as an adult, are of the afternoons I spent my sophomore year of high school listening to it on repeat, playing Kingdom Hearts II on PS2 for hours and eating Chex Mix, instead of doing homework (ironically, this was academically my strongest year of high school, and not a bad showing all things considered).
As I played through one world after another, discovering the game's spin on classic stories and characters, it was the place Sufjan Stevens was singing of that enchanted me most. Illinois just southwest of where I lived, only a few hours away, but I liked Stevens version better: a place of remarkable history, both national and personal. There was a land of great curiosity, humor, sadness, terror, and hope. They have aliens, zombies, serial killers, and expressions of love gone awry, but they also have Superman and Abraham Lincoln. I've been to Illinois many times, yet it still exists as this magical, far off place in my mind (in my mind).
Maybe it's the breadth of stories Stevens tells, maybe it's the meticulous layers of instrumentation so perfectly constructed that they never feel dull or cluttered. It's a rich tapestry that seems to go on forever, and why it still transports me now.
Track picks
1. Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, IL
9. Chicago
10. Casimir Pulaski Day
15. The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!
22. Out of Egypt, into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals as I Run [First added to this chart: 03/02/2013]
As I played through one world after another, discovering the game's spin on classic stories and characters, it was the place Sufjan Stevens was singing of that enchanted me most. Illinois just southwest of where I lived, only a few hours away, but I liked Stevens version better: a place of remarkable history, both national and personal. There was a land of great curiosity, humor, sadness, terror, and hope. They have aliens, zombies, serial killers, and expressions of love gone awry, but they also have Superman and Abraham Lincoln. I've been to Illinois many times, yet it still exists as this magical, far off place in my mind (in my mind).
Maybe it's the breadth of stories Stevens tells, maybe it's the meticulous layers of instrumentation so perfectly constructed that they never feel dull or cluttered. It's a rich tapestry that seems to go on forever, and why it still transports me now.
Track picks
1. Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, IL
9. Chicago
10. Casimir Pulaski Day
15. The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!
22. Out of Egypt, into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals as I Run [First added to this chart: 03/02/2013]
Year of Release:
2005
Appears in:
Rank Score:
19,478
Rank in 2005:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
There's no shortage of music about being young for and from young people. Very little of it is all that novel or insightful. If anything, what is being said is less revealing than who says it or how it's said. Then there's The Hold Steady, who, early on, make the primal volatility of young adulthood their stock and trade. Yet, the band were a bit older than their contemporaries when their debut Almost Killed Me came around. At the release of Boys and Girls in America, Craig Finn is in his mid-30s. A lesser songwriter with this subject matter might be more dismissive of messy-ass teens.
As fate would have it, The Hold Steady write exceptional songs, and Finn approaches his downtrodden subjects with the utmost empathy. It's that very hindsight and hyper-literate perspective which allows the band to tell these stories with clarity. These kids are self-destructive, short-sighted, and chaotic. They look for relief in all the wrong places with all the wrong people, and they can't just say what they mean. That doesn't mean their heartbreak and wounded souls are any less deserving of our understanding. They want love and respite like anyone else. When these salves elude us, it's okay to have a little fun.
Track picks
1. Stuck Between Stations
5. First Night
6. Party Pit
7. You Can Make Him Like You
10. Chillout Tent [First added to this chart: 03/02/2013]
As fate would have it, The Hold Steady write exceptional songs, and Finn approaches his downtrodden subjects with the utmost empathy. It's that very hindsight and hyper-literate perspective which allows the band to tell these stories with clarity. These kids are self-destructive, short-sighted, and chaotic. They look for relief in all the wrong places with all the wrong people, and they can't just say what they mean. That doesn't mean their heartbreak and wounded souls are any less deserving of our understanding. They want love and respite like anyone else. When these salves elude us, it's okay to have a little fun.
Track picks
1. Stuck Between Stations
5. First Night
6. Party Pit
7. You Can Make Him Like You
10. Chillout Tent [First added to this chart: 03/02/2013]
Year of Release:
2006
Appears in:
Rank Score:
883
Rank in 2006:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
When Justin Vernon describes Bon Iver's self-titled sophomore LP as a "spring album," I was a bit perplexed. Though I lived in the midwest, it's taken years to understand that his idea of spring is more reflective of a burgeoning warmth fighting through the cold that, if you're from Wisconsin, persists long past the ostensible winter months. Snowfall in April is not unheard of in the midwest. Overcast days whose temperatures are above freezing but not warm enough to melt the remaining patches of snow stretch for weeks.
Bon Iver, Bon Iver finds Vernon and company emerging from that mythologized cabin where For Emma, Forever Ago and the name under which it was made were born, and blossoming as remnants of a passing season fade. The first sounds we here are of wind rustling metal outdoors. In a couple short minutes, the band booms forth. It's a ferocity that the album never matches again, but that clears the way for everything that follows.
These songs take us from place to place throughout America--some real, some imagined--and bittersweet fragments which linger. The specter of cities we'll never really know and memories that lose their definition never leave us. Through dense, precarious performances, a hazy sheen, and obtuse lyrics, it can be somewhat challenging to gain one's bearings here. But sometimes the feeling or the suggestion of one is all you need. The paradox of abstraction is that losing the exact shape of a thing, or seeing how it exists in a grander tapestry, often offers clarity where there was none.
Track picks
2. Minnesota, WI
3. Holocene
4. Towers
8. Calgary
10. Beth/Rest [First added to this chart: 03/02/2013]
Bon Iver, Bon Iver finds Vernon and company emerging from that mythologized cabin where For Emma, Forever Ago and the name under which it was made were born, and blossoming as remnants of a passing season fade. The first sounds we here are of wind rustling metal outdoors. In a couple short minutes, the band booms forth. It's a ferocity that the album never matches again, but that clears the way for everything that follows.
These songs take us from place to place throughout America--some real, some imagined--and bittersweet fragments which linger. The specter of cities we'll never really know and memories that lose their definition never leave us. Through dense, precarious performances, a hazy sheen, and obtuse lyrics, it can be somewhat challenging to gain one's bearings here. But sometimes the feeling or the suggestion of one is all you need. The paradox of abstraction is that losing the exact shape of a thing, or seeing how it exists in a grander tapestry, often offers clarity where there was none.
Track picks
2. Minnesota, WI
3. Holocene
4. Towers
8. Calgary
10. Beth/Rest [First added to this chart: 03/02/2013]
Year of Release:
2011
Appears in:
Rank Score:
8,453
Rank in 2011:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
One of the most unfair aspects of being a creative person trying to get your work out there is that you can't predict what people will respond to. You can slave away on a project that pushes you, that brings out your strongest instincts, and that fills you with pride, only for it to be met with a shrug. There's no doubt that American Football cared deeply about making a good album with their debut, but to hear Mike Kinsella tell it, its delayed success is a bit of a surprise. The band only played a couple dozen shows before calling it quits. They moved on with their lives and with other bands. Kinsella has said he could easily pick out as many songs from his project Owen that as good or better.
However the band feels about it, their debut LP endures for good reason. These are skilled, but young musicians (Kinsella already part of one emo masterpiece with Cap'n Jazz as a teenager) just writing and recording songs that are exciting to them. It's that vitality and effortless sense of possibility that elevates this beyond beyond melancholy and twinkling guitars. Put on some headphones and throw this on while taking a walk during the fall and you will hear that earnestness in every moment of this flowing with you.
Track picks
1. Never Meant
3. Honestly?
7. I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional
8. Stay Home [First added to this chart: 06/20/2015]
However the band feels about it, their debut LP endures for good reason. These are skilled, but young musicians (Kinsella already part of one emo masterpiece with Cap'n Jazz as a teenager) just writing and recording songs that are exciting to them. It's that vitality and effortless sense of possibility that elevates this beyond beyond melancholy and twinkling guitars. Put on some headphones and throw this on while taking a walk during the fall and you will hear that earnestness in every moment of this flowing with you.
Track picks
1. Never Meant
3. Honestly?
7. I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional
8. Stay Home [First added to this chart: 06/20/2015]
Year of Release:
1999
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,437
Rank in 1999:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
It's the same old coming-of-age story, isn't it? The reckless youth who learns the hard way that they are not the center of the universe and that life is not to be taken for granted. Choices have consequences, and stories are more complicated and unstructured as childhood leads us to believe, but joy is rediscovered and held with greater care.
At the beginning of Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City, our narrator is praying his dick gets as big as the Eiffel Tower, and at the end, he's pleading to God for salvation. The genius of this record is that the way there is a natural progression. Though we open on a prayer that becomes the emotional climax of this story, it also parallels that, for kids like Kendrick Lamar, their lives are already a foregone conclusion. He is born poor and in a violence place with a predetermined idea of who black boys like him are, so he may as well have fun with it. Talk up a girl, get into trouble with his friends, and rap some silly verses over these songs.
Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City has an elliptical structure mirroring its themes of breaking cycles. It begins and ends in parallel places. It's steeped in West Coast traditions while drawing from southern and east coast sounds, and throwing in samples from the indie darlings of the time. The low key moods and steady beats draw us into Lamar's psychology, his thoughts on what it's like to grow up in Compton, and how giving voice to wanting and chasing more when having opportunities to follow your passion are fewer and far between when you're born with less. Kendrick Lamar did not invent vulnerability in hip-hop, but there's almost no one who bears their soul with has much courage.
Track picks:
2. Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe
4. The Art of Peer Pressure
5. Money Trees
7. Good Kid
10. Sing About Me/Dying of Thirst [First added to this chart: 03/02/2013]
At the beginning of Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City, our narrator is praying his dick gets as big as the Eiffel Tower, and at the end, he's pleading to God for salvation. The genius of this record is that the way there is a natural progression. Though we open on a prayer that becomes the emotional climax of this story, it also parallels that, for kids like Kendrick Lamar, their lives are already a foregone conclusion. He is born poor and in a violence place with a predetermined idea of who black boys like him are, so he may as well have fun with it. Talk up a girl, get into trouble with his friends, and rap some silly verses over these songs.
Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City has an elliptical structure mirroring its themes of breaking cycles. It begins and ends in parallel places. It's steeped in West Coast traditions while drawing from southern and east coast sounds, and throwing in samples from the indie darlings of the time. The low key moods and steady beats draw us into Lamar's psychology, his thoughts on what it's like to grow up in Compton, and how giving voice to wanting and chasing more when having opportunities to follow your passion are fewer and far between when you're born with less. Kendrick Lamar did not invent vulnerability in hip-hop, but there's almost no one who bears their soul with has much courage.
Track picks:
2. Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe
4. The Art of Peer Pressure
5. Money Trees
7. Good Kid
10. Sing About Me/Dying of Thirst [First added to this chart: 03/02/2013]
Year of Release:
2012
Appears in:
Rank Score:
20,961
Rank in 2012:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
The Dark Side of the Moon is not the first album I ever fell in love with, but it is, on some basic level, what I think music is or should be. There are plenty of albums on this list I would consider foundational, and none of them feel nostalgic. There are plenty of albums and artists I have outgrown. The Dark Side of the Moon comes the closest to being such a staple of my preadolescence that it's impossible not to feel fondness, but it never feels stale.
How does it still sound so modern all these years later? Is it the collage of sounds and dialogue? The gliding textures from David Gilmour and Richard Wright? Is it the stylistic variation? Of course, it's a confluence of all of these elements, taking us on an odyssey through space, time, consciousness, life, and death. Many albums this colorful can be described as restless, but The Dark Side of the Moon is rather curious, probing through the major dimensions of the human experience in grand detail, offering something new as one shifts their perspective.
Track picks
1. Speak to Me/Breathe
3. Time
4. Great Gig in the Sky
7. Any Color You Like
9. Eclipse [First added to this chart: 03/02/2013]
How does it still sound so modern all these years later? Is it the collage of sounds and dialogue? The gliding textures from David Gilmour and Richard Wright? Is it the stylistic variation? Of course, it's a confluence of all of these elements, taking us on an odyssey through space, time, consciousness, life, and death. Many albums this colorful can be described as restless, but The Dark Side of the Moon is rather curious, probing through the major dimensions of the human experience in grand detail, offering something new as one shifts their perspective.
Track picks
1. Speak to Me/Breathe
3. Time
4. Great Gig in the Sky
7. Any Color You Like
9. Eclipse [First added to this chart: 03/02/2013]
Year of Release:
1973
Appears in:
Rank Score:
57,234
Rank in 1973:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 3 | 3% | |
| 1970s | 4 | 4% | |
| 1980s | 18 | 18% | |
| 1990s | 21 | 21% | |
| 2000s | 39 | 39% | |
| 2010s | 15 | 15% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| The National | 4 | 4% | |
| Radiohead | 3 | 3% | |
| Arcade Fire | 3 | 3% | |
| Pink Floyd | 3 | 3% | |
| Death Cab For Cutie | 3 | 3% | |
| Mark Kozelek | 2 | 2% | |
| Weezer | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| |
65 | 65% | |
 |
23 | 23% | |
 |
5 | 5% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 1 from 40th to 39thXX by The xx |
| Up 1 from 39th to 38thDemon Days by Gorillaz |
| Up 1 from 38th to 37thThe Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place by Explosions In The Sky |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 26 from 14th to 40thYoshimi Battles The Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips |
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums 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 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 145 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 06/02/2026 02:32 | Cheddar | 13 | 100/100 |
| ! | 06/01/2026 19:40 |  serpico | 177 | 81/100 |
| ! | 03/03/2025 14:29 | DrewHamster | 314 | 79/100 |
| ! | 03/02/2025 11:23 |  SomethingSpecial | 1,087 | 85/100 |
| ! | 01/15/2025 16:27 | Exist-en-ciel | 162 | 97/100 |
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 charts can have several thousand ratings)
This chart is rated in the top 1% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 92.8/100, a mean average of 92.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 93.2/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 7.6.
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums favourites
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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From
Cheddar 06/02/2026 02:34 | #314746
Excellent list. And I love all the annotations for each album. Your writing is superb. This is what I hope my own list can be in the future as I wind down the road of my own musical rating journey.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From
serpico 06/01/2026 19:41 | #314734
serpico 06/01/2026 19:41 | #314734
Un gran chart, no conozco muchos de los álbumes o artistas pero es genial que cada entrada tenga un cometario tuyo, ayuda bastante a darse una idea de los discos que no conozco.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From
Johnnyo 08/31/2024 17:19 | #305058
This chart ticks so many of the right button for me. The National. One of my top 10 bands of all time, maybe even top 5. Quality chart
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From
Keatownrodriguez 12/08/2020 22:57 | #262313
Keatownrodriguez 12/08/2020 22:57 | #262313
Mostly classics, in a very cool order though, going against the grain a little with your top 10 (we have the facts is easily top 3 Death Cab records, glad you love it like I do)
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From
pctrooper 01/28/2020 22:40 | #247266
This feels like the most objective list I have ever seen that still deviates from the overall chart. Even if I'm not in love with all of these albums, I have to admit that I find almost all of them impressive. Your notes are the best part, though. Simple and relatable, written like a true music lover. I also used to do homework to "Wish You Were Here" when I was younger, then fall asleep to it hoping it would influence my dreams. I agree, it never gets old each time one comes back!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From
kynes 11/25/2019 15:36 | #245154
kynes 11/25/2019 15:36 | #245154
This has been a great chart since back in like...2013, when I made my first bea account. It never disappoints.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From
DommeDamian 06/14/2018 08:38 | #216713
DommeDamian 06/14/2018 08:38 | #216713
Why have I not discovered this amazing chart, 'til now?
You deserve your average rating!!!!!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From
michael44bishop 05/23/2018 04:19 | #215462
We Have The Facts And We're Voting Yes is very underrated on this site. Plans and Transatlanticism are very good but WHTFAWVY is just as good if not better. It might be due to the fact that the album came out before Death Cab For Cutie was on every critic's radar. A lot of other very good choices in the chart.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From
badger 08/30/2017 20:14 | #196957
Great chart, little from the 60s and 70s but plenty of everything else. Great descriptions and reasons given of the albums too, I'll be taking some of these as recommendations
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From
TheHolyKiwi 05/25/2017 11:58 | #191377
TheHolyKiwi 05/25/2017 11:58 | #191377
Only chart where I can excuse the repetition and re-use of artist albums. Because damn this shit is fucken diverse, grand, and entirely unique, great job.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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