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: 29 hours ago
- (Created: 09/24/2013 01:36).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 125 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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The Silver Gymnasium is a criminally underrated record, one that gets overshadowed when we talk about Okkervil River because they're recorded so many great albums in such a short time. I understand, though, that not all listeners will identify with it as much as I do. These are Will Sheff's stories of growing up in a small New England town, an experience that resonates for me, having grown up in the next state over. The stories are unsettling, with hints of violence and darkness always lurking just around the corner, as in these lyrics from "Down Down the Deep River": "We lie awake at night in a tent and I say / Tell me about your uncle and his friend / Because they seem like very bad men / Well we'll want to keep away from them." Haunting. This feels like a thematic step toward a Will Sheff solo album, although the sound of the band as a whole has never sounded more full.
[First added to this chart: 09/25/2013]
4
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A very different album from the ones that surround it on my charts, Red has many qualities that would normally get it knocked down a few notches. It's pretty self indulgent. At times I think it is lacking in self awareness. It's definitely infuriating in places. Is it any wonder, listening to this album, why Taylor Swift has struggled with romantic relationships? But having said all that, I find the songs on this album consistently good, emotionally resonant, impeccably written and performed, and above all, true. There is a lovely vulnerability to these songs about breakups and lost love and the magic of newfound romance that is undeniable. I was late arriving to the Taylor Swift party, but I'm glad I showed up.
[First added to this chart: 09/30/2022]
Year of Release:
2012
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,178
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This is the album that lifted Jason Isbell to the summit of Americana's songwriting mountain, the one that established him as the finest craftsman working today at his particular art. It's no coincidence that this was the first album he recorded after quitting drinking. While he wrote a number of terrific songs while still suffering from the ravages of alcoholism--he was a notoriously mean drunk, so much that his bandmates in Drive-By Truckers, no saints themselves, kicked him out of the band for his own good--the songs on this album have an emotional clarity, and raw honesty, that make them unlike anything he'd done previously. These are songs of heartache and addiction, but also profound redemption and gratitude. Isbell's singing has never been stronger, too, as evidenced by the powerful and fantastic opener, "Cover Me Up." I always get a lump in my throat when he sings, "In days when we raged / We flew off the page / Such damage was done / But I made it through / To somebody new / I was meant for someone."
[First added to this chart: 03/07/2015]
Year of Release:
2013
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Rank Score:
1,469
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This triple album is where Joanna Newsom's performances and songwriting came to full maturity. Her previous work showcases her intricate harp playing, her complicated song structures and storytelling, and her endearingly idiosyncratic voice. But nothing she'd ever done before is as lovely and earthy and heartbreaking as on Have One on Me. Here she eschews some of the "freak" side of "freak folk," meaning that her vocal style here seems less intentionally quirky, more like a woman in full control of her artistic powers. And lest you be lulled by the sweetness of her voice into thinking that Joanna Newsom only sings about nice sentiments, check out these lines from the heartstoppingly beautiful "Baby Birch": "I saw a rabbit as slick as a knife and as pale as a candlestick / And I had thought it'd be harder to do but I caught her and skinned her quick, held her there / Kicking and mewling upended unspooling unsung and blue / Told her wherever you go little runaway bunny I will find you / And then she ran / As they're liable to do / Be at peace baby, and be gone." Damn.
[First added to this chart: 02/07/2016]
Year of Release:
2010
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Rank Score:
4,969
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The making of this album is one of my favorite stories in recent memory of a collaborative creative process involving both the artist and their fans. The Portland, Oregon, based band first created a draft version of the album, and then held several listening events in various locations in the country where fans could hear the songs, offer their feedback, and sometimes have their suggestions incorporated into the released version of the album. I think that's an incredibly creative and generous gift for a band to offer its fans. The result is a surprisingly personal rumination on the collective, societal result of cultural memory loss, the kind of historical forgetting that could lead a country like the United States to elect a carnival barker like Donald Trump to be its president. It's a dark, disturbing vision, to be sure, but also one infused with hope. An absolutely brilliant, artistically and intellectually complicated album that seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle of all that was happening in the worlds of both music and politics in the frenetic year of 2018.
[First added to this chart: 10/20/2018]
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I had the great pleasure of seeing Hiss Golden Messenger perform live in support of this album at Turf Club, an intimate venue in Minneapolis where I could easily get close to the stage and fully appreciate both the quality of these songs and the incredible tightness of this band. These are songs of deep introspection and regret, the main subject of which seems to be the ambivalence a musician feels when he's on the road and away from his family. It's terrain that's been explored before, of course, but rarely with the depth and nuance of "Cracked Windshield": "Monday morning, early, getting the kids to school / I can fix this, babe / I can fix this, babe / I can see the ghosts coming over the tidewater plains / I don't know if I'm running." That aching repetition of "I can fix this, babe": I can feel the pain of the narrator as he wonders aloud who he's trying to convince.
[First added to this chart: 11/22/2019]
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Blind Pilot's hooks-packed, low-key indie folk isn't exactly the stuff of groundbreaking, genre-busting experimentation, but rather the product of painstaking craftsmanship and gorgeous songwriting. They're pretty likeable, too, as original members Israel Nebeker and Ryan Dobrowski have logged thousands of miles touring North America on bicycles, both as environmental statement and aesthetic declaration of purpose. The opener to We Are the Tide, "Half Moon," is a warm, affable celebration of change, a song that Israel Nebeker says he wrote as a way of experimenting with the thought of leaving his longtime partner through music, rather than actually doing it. That's an interesting take on the creative process--one that I've thought a lot about since I heard him explain his songwriting process during one of Blind Pilot's live performances.
[First added to this chart: 08/26/2016]
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The first time I listened to Strange Trails back in 2015, I could have sworn I'd heard every song on it before, and even felt like I could have sung along. That's how immediately agreeable this indie folk album is. Sometimes an album that's so familiar has a tendency to lose its appeal quickly, since it might be based on a formulaic approach, or on well-worn melodies and tropes. I can't deny that there's something of a middle-of-the-road feel to Ben Schneider's pacing, melodies, and lyrics. At the same time, I think he hones those qualities to such perfection that the album as a whole feels fresh, exciting, and immediate, even after many listens. There's such an evocative quality of these lines from "Meet Me in the Woods" that reminds me of cool summer nights and young love: "I have seen what the darkness does / Say goodbye to who I was / I ain't never been away so long / Don't look back, those days are gone / Follow me into the endless night / I can bring your fears to life / Show me yours and I'll show you mine / Meet me in the woods tonight."
[First added to this chart: 08/28/2021]
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Irish indie folk singer James Vincent McMorrow grabbed my attention a few years back with his excellent album Post Tropical, but it wasn't until I started digging back through his back catalog that I came to fully appreciate him. Early in the Morning contains a whole lot of McMorrow's trademark falsetto, as well as guitars and banjos that sound like they could have been outtakes from Mumford and Sons' debut album. I mean that as praise. The result is a warm, affable, immediately likeable collection of songs. "We Don't Eat" might be the track you're most likely to have heard before, but there's not a weak song anywhere here. An excellent, and underrated, record.
[First added to this chart: 09/23/2022]
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John Moreland's Big Bad Luv follows the most straightforward of southern rock formulas: upbeat, swampy, blues-inflected rock interspersed with gorgeous folksy love songs. It works perfectly for Moreland because he has all the qualities of a performer needed to make this time-honored formula feel fresh: a smoky voice honed by years singing in punk rock bands, the guitar chops needed to effortlessly pull off some searing riffs, and most of all, a vulnerable storytelling style that feels absolutely authentic on every track. "Sallisaw Blue" is the most instantly likeable song here because of its incredible bluesy guitar licks, but for me the most memorable song here is "Lies I Chose to Believe," a devastating portrait of lost love, or unrequited love, that strikes at the deepest and most tender places in the heart.
[First added to this chart: 09/12/2020]
Total albums: 22. Page 1 of 3
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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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| James McMurtry | 1 | 1% | |
| Toots & The Maytals | 1 | 1% | |
| Jason Isbell | 1 | 1% | |
| Andrew Bird | 1 | 1% | |
| Indigo Girls | 1 | 1% | |
| U2 | 1 | 1% | |
| Paul Simon | 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% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 1 from 54th to 53rd Graceland by Paul Simon |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 53rd to 54th 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 100/100  | 9 hours ago | 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.
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From buzzdainer 4 hours ago
buzzdainer 4 hours ago
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 9 hours ago
Larcx13 9 hours ago
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.
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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)
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