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: 04/07/2024 16:15
- (Created: 09/24/2013 01:36).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 122 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.
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[First added to this chart: 04/30/2023]
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This self-titled album, Indigo Girls' second full-length, is one of the most iconic of my college years, and the album that my high school sweetheart loved more than any other. In terms of production, it's a big step forward from their self-produced debut Strange Fire, and it includes some well-chosen guest appearances from members of fellow Athens, Georgia, natives R.E.M. The formula here is pretty simple: acoustic guitar-driven folk music with a slightly dark edge and an air of Emory University pretentiousness.
[First added to this chart: 10/11/2020]
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The Cult was one of my favorite rock bands of the eighties, with Ian Astbury's Jim Morrison-like persona and Billy Duffy's scorching work on the guitar leading the charge. The Cult managed to weave together New Wave eighties vocal stylings, the loudness and grittiness of metal, and the New Age mysticism of post-punk, producing on their second full-length album one of the most undeniably great albums of the eighties. The high point here is the mysterious and hard-rocking "She Sells Sanctuary," one of the best, if not also one of the most lyrically impenetrable, songs of its generation. Unfortunately, The Cult never came close to making another album anywhere near this great, and they've gradually settled back into obscurity. But for the brief time that they shined, they sure did shine brightly.
[First added to this chart: 09/16/2020]
Year of Release:
1985
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,087
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Back when I was a DJ for my college station, some of the staff at the station pasted little reviews onto the covers of new albums as they came in. I remember when I first saw the review for this one: it was the most effusive that I ever saw during my time there (with the possible exception of the one for Galaxie 500's This Is Our Music). The review began with an observation about the perfect pathos of the opening lines to "Gratitude Walks": "Why don't you be good for something / And draw down the shade?" Much as I found some of my peers at the station condescending and pretentious, I couldn't disagree with their assessment of this record; it is gorgeous, meticulously crafted, alternately piano- and guitar-driven, with moments of sly humor. Perfection.
[First added to this chart: 07/19/2016]
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Prior to Evening Machines, I had a feeling Boulder, Colorado, singer-songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov was due for a truly great album. His previous work was strong, often excellent, but none of his songs struck me as completely memorable, just competent. Evening Machines corrected all that. The most transcendent moment here is the absolutely great "San Luis," an impressionistic lyrical and acoustic journey through the Colorado landscapes and people I came to love deeply during the three years I lived there. I'm reminded of a drive through the open, rolling hillscapes of southern Colorado on my way to climb San Luis Peak. a remote 14,000-foot mountain somewhere in a forgotten corner of the San Juan Range, one of the state's most beautiful and iconic.
[First added to this chart: 01/01/2019]
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Kishi Bashi is one of my favorite musicians, and my love for his brand of loop-heavy dance pop began with this album. He is truly a musician's musician, the kind of person who is equally comfortable fronting a trio in a small nightclub as he is playing violin with a full orchestra. "It All Began with a Burst" is my favorite track from 151a, a groovy dance number centered on a soaring bass line and a looped violin riff, for which he got a club full of sweaty concertgoers at a dive bar called the Filling Station in Bozeman, Montana, clapping their hands and dancing like crazy. He's since moved to Bozeman, at least part time, and he's been a fantastic addition to our little mountain community.
[First added to this chart: 06/15/2022]
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"Not simply an excellent album," wrote Matt LeMay in his review for Pitchfork, "Chutes Too Narrow is also a powerful testament to pop music's capacity for depth, beauty and expressiveness." That is such a great summary of what I love about this album. James Mercer and company have crafted here a collection of songs that make excellent use of Mercer's impressive vocal range, while at the same time showing an attention to detail in performance and production that give the album a timeless feel. "So Says I", the album's first single and my favorite track here, succeeds largely through the subtle variations worked into its verses, and enjoys its strongest moment in the transcendent harmonies adorning its brief, seamless bridge, concluding with these lines: "But all our crying voices, they can't turn it around / And you've had some crazy conversations of your own."
[First added to this chart: 11/19/2016]
Year of Release:
2003
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,170
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This album is a recent riser in my charts, thanks to a fellow BEA user who pointed out that I really ought to have more representation from Down Under, especially given that I once lived there. Australian jangle pop legends the Go-Betweens really just had this one great album. Everything else they've done has felt patchy to me. I think what makes 16 Lovers Lane such a success is its simplicity and unity of vision: heavy on mellow guitars, light on synths, and jam-packed with the poetry of their native Queensland. The end result is an album emotionally split somewhere between the giddy pleasure of a newfound crush and unabashed heartbreak.
[First added to this chart: 10/23/2020]
Year of Release:
1988
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Rank Score:
1,877
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I think I'm in the minority, but I like alt-rock darlings Sonic Youth best when they are at least somewhat accessible, and when they record things that sound at least a little bit like songs. Which is why I prefer Dirty to, say, Daydream Nation. Here Thurston Moore's whirling, swirling guitars layered over Steve Shelley's pounding drumming make most sense to me, since it's all in the context of songs that strain at the seams of conventional song structures but never quite fall apart completely. This is also the album where Kim Gordon's contributions ring most true, as she challenges stereotypes and expectations about women who rock in ways that are both compelling and vaguely threatening. "Wish Fulfillment" is a great song, and indicative of this album, because it depicts alienation and disaffectation in a way that is so messy and distorted that it feels quintessentially human.
[First added to this chart: 03/25/2017]
Year of Release:
1992
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Rank Score:
2,172
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I've loved many of the songs on this album for a long time, in some cases long before I knew they were Velvet Underground songs. My awakening to the greatness of this album came in part thanks to R.E.M., my favorite band when I was in high school, who recorded cover versions of several Velvet Underground songs that were later included on their B-sides compilation Dead Letter Office. This isn't easy listening, but the songs are creative, quirky, and impeccably written. The contributions of freaky folk singer Nico are pitch perfect. Andy Warhol's iconic banana on the album cover is one of rock's signature moments. It would have been really hard not to include this album somewhere on my "best ever" chart.
[First added to this chart: 05/11/2022]
Year of Release:
1967
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Rank Score:
46,146
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Total albums: 100. Page 9 of 10
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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| 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 | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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| Talking Heads | 1 | 1% | |
| Joni Mitchell | 1 | 1% | |
| Cruz Contreras | 1 | 1% | |
| The Byrds | 1 | 1% | |
| Nick Drake | 1 | 1% | |
| The Velvet Underground & Nico | 1 | 1% | |
| Sufjan Stevens | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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78 | 78% | |
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10 | 10% | |
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2 | 2% | |
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2 | 2% | |
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2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 1 from 53rd to 52nd For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 52nd to 53rd Funeral by Arcade Fire |
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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 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 |
| 85/100 | 02/02/2022 23:12 | Moondance | | 84/100 |
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 91.6/100, a mean average of 91.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 92.1/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 12.0.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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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) | -1 votes (0 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
For some reason my comment was banned indicating that you rated me 55 for revenge. DSOTM and WYWH by Pink Floyd if they aren't on the 5 best albums ever, I don't know what you know about music?
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (0 helpful | 2 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)
45/100
From StreakyNuno 04/19/2021 18:45
for vengeance you ranked my chart with 55 ... that's not liking music and sharing music.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (1 helpful | 3 unhelpful)
45/100
From StreakyNuno 04/19/2021 18:44
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -3 votes (0 helpful | 3 unhelpful)
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