Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
by 
briggs54 
Here it is! A list of the albums that I have listened to 10+ times, enjoyed, found enriching, and have pushed forward my understanding of music. All tracks must be not only listenable, but engaging all the way through. And yeah a few of these are technically compilations, but guess what? I don't care. What I do care about is this concept of the "archive" which the great philosopher Jacques Derrida talks about. When we place an album into the musical canon we inevitably also leave a great album out. Thus, we have this tension in the archive of both preserving and destroying. We have to do our best to be responsible with this task of archiving the supposed "best ever albums", to carefully consider each album we place in the cannon: to be open to unique voices and sounds, to be gentle with the majority of our ratings or simply not rate at all (unless a severe rebuke is deserved). As long as we are conscious of this tension within the archive and the violence we potentially do to a lot of great art, we can (hopefully) act in a responsible way. That being said, there's probably a lot more country on here than a lot of other people would be comfortable with. I used to have albums on here like Carla Bley's "Escalator" or Faust's first LP, but I have finally reconciled to myself that while I think those albums are cool and different, I almost never listen to them and when I do I can never really get into them. Maybe someday my taste will get better, but for now I have taken them off in an attempt to be more honest about what I actually like.
I have tried to represent all genres I listen to regularly throughout this list (some better than others). I would have liked to do one album per artist, but sometimes there's an album that I just can't not include (like Van or The Velvets). And yes some genres of music are underrepresented (or completely unrepresented). That does not mean I do not appreciate those musical niches. I just do not know them well enough to make a good judgment of where classic albums within those genres should be ranked on my chart. Don't hate. Recommend something to which I should listen if you notice a particularly great album from a genre at looks conspicuously absent. If you recommend something from within a genre to which a lot of albums on this list already belong, I will probably listen to that album, but my opinions probably will not change.
Here is also a list of some of my favorite songs. Again a mixture of Pop, Rock, Scaruffi, Jazz, Rap, R&B, and Country.
Favorite Songs:
1. Night Moves: Bob Seger
2. Ghost: Albert Ayler
3. Red-Headed Stranger: Willie Nelson
4. Two-Headed Boy Pt. 2: Neutral Milk Hotel
5. Like A Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan
6. Ooh La La: The Faces
7. Stand By Your Man: Tammy Wynette
8. All My Friends: LCD Soundsystem
9. International Players Anthem: UGK feat. Outkast
10. Elevate Me Later: Pavement
11. Ignition (Remix): R. Kelly
12. Blue Train: John Coltrane
13. 100,000 Fireflies: Magnetic Fields
14. Hello It's Me: Todd Rundgren
15. Behind Closed Doors: Charlie Rich
16. Dogon AD: Julius Hemphill
17. Let's Get It On: Marvin Gaye
Finally, apologies for not having descriptions of most albums here. If you have a specific question about an album feel free to message me, but more descriptions are coming soon, I promise.
Pet peeve: people who give bad ratings without comments. At least give some constructive criticism man, come on. (and yet people continue to do it).
- Chart updated: 06/26/2019 20:45
- (Created: 12/26/2013 04:08).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 41 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 90 out of 100 (from 77 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from the 1980s. (Remove this filter)
Buy album
- #Sponsored
A dance with death or falling through the levels of hell. I don't even know.
[First added to this chart: 05/12/2015]
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 01/23/2015]
Year of Release:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,739
Rank in 1984:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 12/28/2013]
Year of Release:
1985
Appears in:
Rank Score:
11,719
Rank in 1985:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 10/14/2016]
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 08/02/2015]
Buy album
- #Sponsored
Yip yip yip
[First added to this chart: 10/14/2016]
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 10/14/2016]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,763
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 08/11/2015]
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 09/19/2015]
Total albums: 9. Page 1 of 1
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 4 | 4% | |
| 1960s | 19 | 19% | |
| 1970s | 38 | 38% | |
| 1980s | 9 | 9% | |
| 1990s | 19 | 19% | |
| 2000s | 6 | 6% | |
| 2010s | 5 | 5% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Van Morrison | 3 | 3% | |
| Robbie Băsho | 2 | 2% | |
| Miles Davis | 2 | 2% | |
| Willie Nelson | 2 | 2% | |
| Don Cherry | 1 | 1% | |
| Keith Jarrett | 1 | 1% | |
| Fela Kuti & Africa 70 | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| |
70 | 70% | |
 |
10 | 10% | |
 |
5 | 5% | |
 |
4 | 4% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
There have been no changes to this chart.Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similar charts
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|---|---|---|---|---|
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| PPV Overall Ranking | bea | Custom chart | 2021 | |
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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 77 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/31/2024 17:14 | Johnnyo | 2,565 | 80/100 |
| ! | 03/28/2021 04:31 | RioBravo | 201 | 84/100 |
| ! | 02/25/2020 03:14 | HotZappsBoogaloo | 77 | 81/100 |
| ! | 12/23/2019 06:53 |  Tamthebam | 649 | 85/100 |
| ! | 12/23/2019 06:20 | DrewHamster | 317 | 79/100 |
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 2% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 90.4/100, a mean average of 90.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 91.0/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 7.0.
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums favourites
Showing all 10 members who have added this chart as a favourite
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 41 comments |
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Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)
From Johnnyo 08/31/2024 17:15 | #305056
Not all of your chart is to my taste but admire the selections non the less. Great chart
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
gidgidi 06/18/2019 20:16 | #237805
gidgidi 06/18/2019 20:16 | #237805
Nice unknown albums to hear.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
DommeDamian 06/18/2019 09:28 | #237773
DommeDamian 06/18/2019 09:28 | #237773
Gimme that Toot-toot
And lemme give you that Beep-beep
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From 
Julelios 12/03/2018 09:44 | #226079
Julelios 12/03/2018 09:44 | #226079
Nice !
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (0 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
From Lgk21 09/30/2018 00:04 | #221857
This is pretty awesome. I was listening ti Veedon Fleece the other day and wow is it good. I've got to find a way to work it onto my chart, I'm glad you did.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From 
Boltzmann 09/29/2018 12:55 | #221841
Boltzmann 09/29/2018 12:55 | #221841
BAHAHAHA Trout Mask Replica. That’s a ballsy move, man. +5 points for that. The rest is little surprising.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (0 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
From 
junodog4 03/09/2018 23:50 | #210514
junodog4 03/09/2018 23:50 | #210514
Impressive... especially putting Broken Social Scene at #1.
...but I really think you need to give Jon Spencer another listen.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Ulf 03/09/2018 20:15 | #210492
Nice one
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (0 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
From 
Luciano1962 03/09/2018 11:03 | #210458
Luciano1962 03/09/2018 11:03 | #210458
personal and important. great musical culture
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From 
ForegroundNoise 03/09/2018 09:29 | #210453
ForegroundNoise 03/09/2018 09:29 | #210453
Really love this list; only criticism would be to stop worrying about Scaruffi's opinion and write your own! You clearly know how to write about music so defy his taste with your own passion not excerpts from his reviews
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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