Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by 
buzzdainer 
There are so many ways to make a "100 Greatest Albums" list. What do we mean, after all, by "greatest"? Do we mean most important? Most popular? Most influential? I'd end up with very different lists for each of those questions. What I've done is select the albums that are most meaningful to me personally, the ones I keep wanting to hear time and time again. These are the albums that have fed my soul in some way, often riding in the car or spacing out on my bed. My tastes lean toward Americana, but you'll see multiple genres represented here. In general, I prefer sincerity over sarcasm, earnestness over cynicism, sentiment over cleverness, and subtlety over bombast (though I'm sure you'll see exceptions). I've included no more than one album by any primary artist, which is an accurate reflection of my tastes: I like to listen to many different artists as opposed to concentrating on only a few. That's the college DJ in me coming out, I suppose. I invite your feedback and (especially) your music recommendations. Enjoy!
As difficult as it is to rank albums, it's probably even more difficult to rate other people's charts. Really, it all comes down to taste, which is subjective, or at least a product of our own individual listening experiences, preferences, biases, phobias, and desires. If you like the Cramps and I don't, who's to say who's correct? As Public Image Ltd. put it so many years ago, "I could be right; I could be wrong." Originally I tried to evaluate the quality of the albums on user charts, but I have learned that doing so was basically impossible. Now it seems to me that charts that are lovingly created, and with a sense of some depth and breadth of knowledge, are, by definition, good. I don't use my ratings and comments to try to police other people's tastes, but instead to seek common ground and spark conversation.
- Chart updated: 3 days ago
- (Created: 09/24/2013 01:36).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 124 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 92 out of 100 (from 116 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
View the complete list of 53,000 charts on BestEverAlbums.com from The Charts page.
Buy album
- #Sponsored
Toots and the Maytals are often regarded as the quintessential roots reggae band, and one of Bob Marley's key influences. I love them, but I did have a bit of a challenge deciding which of their albums to rank highest, especially since there are multiple versions of Funky Kingston that are quite different from one another. My first and only purchase of a Toots album was a compilation that included tracks from both Funky Kingston and In the Dark. In the end, I decided to give the nod to Funky Kingston, as it's the one that most fully captures the fun and soul of Toots Hibbert's vocals and songwriting. Even if you're referring to the original 1972 album under the Funky Kingston name, every song here is a gem.
[First added to this chart: 10/28/2020]
Year of Release:
1973
Appears in:
Rank Score:
545
Rank in 1973:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
9
Buy album
- #Sponsored
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, rather than taking major steps in any new direction, is a kind of ”taking stock” record that collates and refines everything Spoon had done incredibly well on their prior records. This project results, then, in an incredible inventory of sounds: a grand arsenal of hand claps, Motown-lifted tambourine bursts, music-hall piano lines, and bass levels that hover in the red. Let's not call it a formula, though; let's just acknowledge it for what it is: a great band doing all the things it does best, particularly on the lead single "The Underdog," one of their bounciest, brassiest songs to date.
[First added to this chart: 09/06/2021]
Year of Release:
2007
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,609
Rank in 2007:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
I have not always loved Prince. But some years ago I had a friend who was obsessed with Prince: he had Lovesexy on vinyl, and he had the absurdly naked inside sleeve tacked to his wall. And this friend wasn't even gay. He just liked Prince that much. Purple Rain, however, is the gold standard of Prince's discography, with the wonderful and sexy "When Doves Cry" as the track I want to hear again and again.
[First added to this chart: 02/22/2016]
Year of Release:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
16,436
Rank in 1984:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
During the late eighties, Excitable Boy was in heavy rotation at the pizza place in Auburn, Maine, where I worked in the kitchen after school to earn pocket cash. It might have been the only album that was universally liked by all the high school aged staff who worked in the kitchen those years. It's easy to see why we all liked it so much: the songs are snappy, the lyrics clever, the instrumentation solid. At the time "Lawyers, Guns, and Money" and "Werewolves of London" were the songs everybody knew, but upon reflection I think "Tenderness on the Block" and "Accidentally Like a Martyr" are the most lyrically mature songs here, and the ones that keep me coming back. They're also the ones that anticipate the songwriter Warren Zevon was becoming as he faced getting older and, eventually, confronted his own mortality. Overall just a very solid collection of straight-ahead rock songs.
[First added to this chart: 09/18/2020]
Year of Release:
1978
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,432
Rank in 1978:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
I first heard Fun and Games during the fall semester of my freshman year of college, when a guy from Atlanta who lived downstairs from me in my freshman dorm couldn't stop raving about it, and about the Connells more generally. The band was a sensation on college radio at the time, and were all the rage in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. They were "fratty," as another buddy of mine has said more recently. Yet what strikes me, listening to this album all these many years later, is how sweet, melodic, and sensitive these alternative rock songs are--sort of the antithesis of the fraternity scene of their origins. The Connells were never brilliant lyricists, but they more than make up for it with memorable melodies and guitar hooks you'll carry around with you for the rest of the day.
[First added to this chart: 04/01/2018]
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 01/07/2023]
Buy album
- #Sponsored
Somewhere, maybe on someone's chart, I saw a comment saying that The War on Drugs is a band that appeals to the "bridge and tunnel crowd." I had to Google the phrase to find out what it means; apparently it's a term of condescension applied by New Yorkers to folks who commute into the city from New Jersey and elsewhere. The implication, I suppose, is that such people have gauche, unrefined musical tastes. Well, I live in Montana, and whatever it may say about me, I love The War on Drugs. A Deeper Understanding is an aptly titled album, as I think it far surpasses their previous albums (which I also liked) in consistency and emotional depth. I love the spaciousness of the production on this album, and I love the way these songs breathe. "Strangest Thing" is a slow burner that lumbers out the gate full of portent and, over the course of its eleven-minute runtime, expertly dials up the drama, with Wurlitzer organs and a wall of synths leading to a booming finale.
[First added to this chart: 06/10/2018]
Year of Release:
2017
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,550
Rank in 2017:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 01/07/2023]
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 03/24/2024]
Buy album
- #Sponsored
This is the sixth album by dual banjoists Kendl Winter and Palmer T. Lee, who take their name from a John Hartford poem, a fitting tribute to their Americana roots. I haven't heard any of their other albums, though I'm making that a priority given the strength of The Perfect Plan. It's hard to say at this point whether or not this album will have lasting staying power for me, but as an encapsulation of the feelings the year 2020 brought up for me, it's hard to imagine coming up with anything more perfect than this. That's not to say The Lowest Pair are a technically perfect band, but what it does mean is that they've artfully captured the longings and regrets of a year spent deep in isolation.
[First added to this chart: 03/27/2021]
Total albums: 100. Page 8 of 10
Don't agree with this chart? Create your own from the My Charts page!
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 4 | 4% | |
| 1970s | 14 | 14% | |
| 1980s | 16 | 16% | |
| 1990s | 21 | 21% | |
| 2000s | 17 | 17% | |
| 2010s | 22 | 22% | |
| 2020s | 6 | 6% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| The Shins | 1 | 1% | |
| The Flying Burrito Brothers | 1 | 1% | |
| Tyler Ramsey | 1 | 1% | |
| alt-J | 1 | 1% | |
| XTC | 1 | 1% | |
| Okkervil River | 1 | 1% | |
| James Vincent McMorrow | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
78 | 78% | |
 |
10 | 10% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 1 from 55th to 54th Car Wheels On A Gravel Road by Lucinda Williams |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 54th to 55th Funeral by Arcade Fire |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similar charts
- Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s by buzzdainer (2023)
- Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s by buzzdainer (2022)
- If The BEA Overall Chart Had A One Album Per Artist Rule... by
Romanelli (2015) - Albums To LIsten To for One Peach Martine Pt 1 by smrtboi2120 (2022)
- BEA 100 (One Album per Artist) by
BozoTyrannus (2020) - Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by
Freddie55 (2016) - Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by tim0505 (2024)
- My Most Scrobbled Artists by
Rhyner (2021) - Rearrange Top 100 by
Larcx13 (2020) - My Ranking of the BEA top 100 by
sszwalbenest (2021)
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similarity to your chart(s)
Not a member? Registering is quick, easy and FREE!
Why register?
Join a passionate community of over 50,000 music fans.- Create & share your own charts.
- Have your say in the overall rankings.
- Post comments in the forums and vote on polls.
- Comment on or rate any album, artist, track or chart.
- Discover new music & improve your music collection.
- Customise the overall chart using a variety of different filters & metrics.
- Create a wishlist of albums.
- Help maintain the BEA database.
- Earn member points and gain access to increasing levels of functionality!
- ... And lots more!
Register now - it only takes a moment!
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
92/100 (from 116 votes)
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 chart. | Show all 116 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 100/100  | 04/23/2024 11:28 | Larcx13 | | 86/100 |
| 90/100 | 01/12/2024 16:35 | joathome | | 80/100 |
| 90/100 | 06/26/2023 07:17 |  Applerill | | 75/100 |
| 100/100 | 02/19/2023 13:32 | BraddlesHendo | | 91/100 |
| 100/100 | 06/26/2022 02:53 | Rm12398 | | 89/100 |
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 91.7/100, a mean average of 91.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 92.2/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 12.0.
Please log in or register if you want to be able to leave a rating
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums favourites
Showing latest 20 members who have added this chart as a favourite | Show all 26 members
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 124 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Maximum Rated First |
Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)
From buzzdainer 04/23/2024 16:57
buzzdainer 04/23/2024 16:57
Larcx13, I hear you on Taylor Swift. What can I say, except that we can't help who we love? I'll check out some music from the countries you suggest. If there are particular artists I should hear, don't hesitate to shout them out!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From Larcx13 04/23/2024 11:35
Larcx13 04/23/2024 11:35
I honestly can't stand Taylor Swift... But this chart is quite original and I appreciate the fact that there was a lot of work put into it too. I love that Digable Planets and Parliament are somewhere in there. Cool stuff!
At this point I feel I can only recommend one thing: check out more foreign music, if you haven't already. Personally, I got into Ukraine, Brazil, Russia and Japan. Maybe I can push it a little and recommend music from my home province of Quebec.
Peace
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From buzzdainer 10/02/2022 18:32
buzzdainer 10/02/2022 18:32
Thank you for your kind comment, DiogoSRNunes! I don't consciously avoid the albums that are more popular and conventional, but I just think my tastes gravitate to the things that are less mainstream. That said, a Taylor Swift album just recently cracked my top ten of all time. So maybe I'm becoming more of a pop music fan in my old age.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From buzzdainer 10/02/2021 17:16
buzzdainer 10/02/2021 17:16
Thank you for that generous and insightful comment, Mercury. Like you, I love March 16, 1992, and there are things about that album that I love even more than Anodyne. Albums that contain a lot of covers tend to get less attention on my charts than albums of mostly originals, which partially explains my preference for Anodyne. On that note, I have Uncle Tupelo, among others, to thank for my love of all things Gram Parsons. They recorded a version of "Blue Eyes," an early Gram Parsons tune, on one of the Gram Parsons tribute albums that came out in the early nineties. That led me on a search to hear more of his stuff, and the rest is history. If you love the Americana and alt-country movements, you can't help but love just about everything Gram Parsons ever did.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
Mercury 09/18/2021 18:12
Mercury 09/18/2021 18:12
Well, jeez, not sure how I have never come by your chart, my friend. Considering how many time while scrolling all 100 albums I was nodding appreciatively I am surprised we *only* have 8 albums in common. This is a downright excellent chart, and especially love the down and gritty americana/alt-country/folk tradition that is so beautifully shown throughout this album. Oh and that tasty tasty Gram Parsons run from 24 to 26 was beautiful to see :). Love this, truly.
And yeah, Anodyne is a great record. I may slightly prefer March 16-20 1992, but they are neck and neck. I consider Tweedy/Farrar royalty in the alt-country kingdom. the last guy who commented is a character lol.
Oh and I meant to leave a comment on your 2020s chart but its not open for such at this time, and I wanted to thank you for the kind and enthusiastic comment on my 2020s chart. Agreed Stapleton and Starting Over are treasures. I need to listen to it a few more times, as I think I am not giving it nearly enough love and attention. A Truly resonant album and indeed a great stable rock in music form for these crazy times we are all experiencing. The album I've gleaned the most comfort and reassurance from in this young and chaotic decade so far is ... hmm, none from the decade lol. My top albums have been pretty damn bleak, harsh or escapist.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From buzzdainer 07/20/2021 00:52
buzzdainer 07/20/2021 00:52
StreakyNuno, can you show me on the doll where Jeff Tweedy hurt you?
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
45/100
From StreakyNuno 07/18/2021 20:08
Anodyne by Uncle tupelo ........best album ever.ahahahahaahaha
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From buzzdainer 07/11/2021 20:30
buzzdainer 07/11/2021 20:30
If Okkervil River’s The Silver Gymnasium and Drive-By Truckers’ The Dirty South aren't on your 5 best albums ever, I don't know what you know about music?
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
45/100
From StreakyNuno 07/07/2021 16:23
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -3 votes (0 helpful | 3 unhelpful)
From buzzdainer 04/20/2021 17:25
buzzdainer 04/20/2021 17:25
StreakyNuno, I have the utmost respect for your chart. But Pink Floyd best ever album and Pink Floyd in second ???? Sorry, I respect but I don't feel like listening to the other albums in your chart.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Please log in or register if you want to be able to add a comment
Your feedback for Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
Let us know what you think of this chart by adding a comment or assigning a rating below!
If you enjoy our site, please consider supporting us by sparing a few seconds to disable your ad blocker.
A lot of hard work happens in the background to keep BEA running, and it's especially difficult to do this when we can't pay our hosting fees :(
We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.
A lot of hard work happens in the background to keep BEA running, and it's especially difficult to do this when we can't pay our hosting fees :(
We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.