Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
by replacementlevel 
I published a book documenting a prior ranking of my 1,000 favorite albums from 1957 to 2017. Learn more here: https://fortherecord1000.home.blog/
- Chart updated: 01/17/2025 21:15
- (Created: 07/30/2013 19:29).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
View the complete list of 57,000 charts on BestEverAlbums.com from The Charts page.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 5 | 5% | |
| 1960s | 20 | 20% | |
| 1970s | 17 | 17% | |
| 1980s | 11 | 11% | |
| 1990s | 23 | 23% | |
| 2000s | 16 | 16% | |
| 2010s | 7 | 7% | |
| 2020s | 1 | 1% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| The Beatles | 4 | 4% | |
| Radiohead | 3 | 3% | |
| The Rolling Stones | 3 | 3% | |
| R.E.M. | 2 | 2% | |
| Charles Mingus | 2 | 2% | |
| Kendrick Lamar | 2 | 2% | |
| OutKast | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 56 from 90th to 34thWhen The Pawn... by Fiona Apple |
| Up 52 from 81st to 29thHorses by Patti Smith |
| Up 37 from 86th to 49thPretenders by Pretenders |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 62 from 24th to 86thHissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? by of Montreal |
| Down 43 from 47th to 90thRitual De Lo Habitual by Jane's Addiction |
| Down 41 from 9th to 50thFuneral by Arcade Fire |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similar charts
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | alert23 | Overall chart | 2025 |  |
| Ya joking? Should've been higher! All Time edition |  Purplepash | Custom chart | 2025 |  |
| BEA Top 100 Reorganized According To My Taste | bonnequestion | Custom chart | 2025 |  |
| Going With My Gut: The Overall Chart Top 100 Re-ranked |  CharlieBarley | Custom chart | 2024 |  |
| BEA+RYM Overall Rank | Imaybeparanoid | Custom chart | 2017 | |
| Objectively Ranking BEA’s Top 100 |  AAL2014 | Custom chart | 2024 | |
| My Personal Ranking of Best Ever Albums' Top 100 |  Xxnu99etxX | Custom chart | 2022 | |
| My Ranking of the BEA top 100 |  sszwalbenest | Custom chart | 2021 | |
| Rearrange Top 100 |  Larcx13 | Custom chart | 2020 |  |
| Ranking the BEA top 1000 by track score | Johnnyo | Custom chart | 2025 | |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similarity to your chart(s)
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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 89 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 10/11/2025 17:51 | BorderFreeAndrew | 104 | 81/100 |
| ! | 02/24/2025 19:45 | C0NB9NN | 20 | 85/100 |
| ! | 02/24/2025 14:16 |  NowhereMan | 292 | 82/100 |
| ! | 02/24/2025 11:27 |  DommeDamian | 1,004 | 89/100 |
| ! | 01/17/2025 23:07 | mrmcrook | 766 | 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 charts can have several thousand ratings)
This chart is rated in the top 3% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 89.7/100, a mean average of 89.6/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 90.1/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 8.8.
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums favourites
Showing all 7 members who have added this chart as a favourite
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 48 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First |
Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)
Nice to see Andrew Bird, Cat Power, Moby Grape, Sinéad O'Connor, and Terry Callier getting some well-deserved Top 100 love.
Top notch chart
flyingcitrus 03/25/2019 19:17 | #234015
This looks like a very informed and varied list. I like seeing Highway 61 and Marquee Moon get some love
ForegroundNoise 03/25/2019 15:50 | #234009
Lots of great albums here (if a little safe, only six outside the BEA top 1,000). Would love to see your written opinions of some of these in note form!!
Great chart, I'd like to see that 1,000 list as well.
Great chart, we have a lot in common. I would love to see that full top 1,000 list.
DommeDamian 12/12/2017 10:19 | #203008
Loads in common, great to see OutKast in the top 10. I may not always agree, but it's still classy
JulianR 08/26/2017 20:53 | #196776
good stuff! very well thought out
flamingyesdept 12/07/2016 18:50 | #179723
Excellent chart. 21 albums in common and more than a few in my 101-200. Great stuff! Also woo Terry Callier :)
Great!!!
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| Best Artists of the 1980s | |
|---|---|
| 1. The Smiths | |
| 2. Prince | |
| 3. Pixies | |
| 4. The Cure | |
| 5. Talking Heads | |
| 6. U2 | |
| 7. Metallica | |
| 8. Kate Bush | |
| 9. R.E.M. | |
| 10. The Stone Roses | |
| 11. Sonic Youth | |
| 12. Michael Jackson | |
| 13. Bruce Springsteen | |
| 14. Iron Maiden | |
| 15. Prince And The Revolution | |
| 16. Tom Waits | |
| 17. Joy Division | |
| 18. New Order | |
| 19. Talk Talk | |
| 20. Rush |
