Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s
by bonafini

Since the '70s were dominated by a small group of legendary bands that released more than one great record, I decided that on this chart there would be only one album per artist because equally good works were released by people outside this elite and they deserve place here. So, even though pieces like The Doors' "Morrison Hotel", The Stooges' "Raw Power" or David Bowie's "Ziggy" were hugely influential and totally badass, they were cut out in favour of diversity. They can still be seen here before 26/07/2015 with that retrospective feature, though.

• Chart updated: 08/21/2020 19:45
• (Created: 01/05/2014 17:17).
• Chart size: 100 albums.

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1. (=)

Clube Da Esquina 

 Milton Nascimento / Lô Borges

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The parallel between this album and Sgt. Pepper's is inevitable. Both made use of orchestral elements with a rock base and both influenced everyone that came after them. But Milton and Lô had something that The Beatles never could've had: the tropical poetic sensibility in music. The abuse of allegorical elements in the lyrics and the Brazilian historical references represent a delicate but very powerful music statement with repercussions that goes until the present times and that surpasses Brazil's borders. [First added to this chart: 01/05/2014]

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

331 charts

Rank Score:

4,070

Rank in 1972:

11

Rank in 1970s:

100

Overall Rank:

412

Average Rating:

 82 (335 votes)

Comments:

22

2. (=)

Unknown Pleasures 

 Joy Division

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Product of a suicidal man's hopeless and suffering look at life, it's just unique. It's at the same time pop and avant-garde, simple and pretentious, well-thought and sincere. It's lyricism and experimentalism influenced pretty much everyone, and in such a strong way that music history is best divided in 'before' and 'after Unknown Pleasures'. [First added to this chart: 01/05/2014]

Year of Release:

1979

Appears in:

1,984 charts

Rank Score:

21,840

Rank in 1979:

3

Rank in 1970s:

9

Overall Rank:

38

Average Rating:

 86 (2,336 votes)

Comments:

190

3. (=)

África Brasil 

 Jorge Ben

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It's an utterly impossible task to pick one best phase of Jorge Ben's discography: in the course of his career, the guy explored every possibility of his sound.
Thirteen years after his debut, though, his sound would reach a maturity that is captured in its pinnacle in África Brasil. The funky rhythms, product mainly of a research on African-Brazilian traditional music, create the perfect background for the imagistic, naive lyrics -- the themes vary as much as occultism from soccer and historical characters like Xica da Silva and Zumbi dos Palmares are evoked, placing the last brick in the construction of a lyrical and musical universe all of Jorge's own. [First added to this chart: 01/05/2014]

Year of Release:

1976

Appears in:

169 charts

Rank Score:

1,518

Rank in 1976:

18

Rank in 1970s:

236

Overall Rank:

1,143

Average Rating:

 80 (187 votes)

Comments:

11

4. (=)

Marquee Moon 

 Television

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[First added to this chart: 01/05/2014]

Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

1,807 charts

Rank Score:

20,090

Rank in 1977:

3

Rank in 1970s:

12

Overall Rank:

44

Average Rating:

 86 (1,898 votes)

Comments:

149

5. (=)

Transa 

 Caetano Veloso

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[First added to this chart: 01/05/2014]

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

143 charts

Rank Score:

1,151

Rank in 1972:

28

Rank in 1970s:

286

Overall Rank:

1,471

Average Rating:

 80 (161 votes)

Comments:

7

6. (=)

Nelson Cavaquinho 

 Nelson Cavaquinho

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[First added to this chart: 09/14/2014]

Year of Release:

1973

Appears in:

18 charts

Rank Score:

117

Rank in 1973:

176

Rank in 1970s:

1,463

Overall Rank:

10,132

Average Rating:

 78 (23 votes)

Comments:

1

7. (=)

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band 

 John Lennon

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With so much going on at the time both in the world and in his personal life, John decided to take the Primal Scream idea heavily seriously. Critic of everything and everyone, this is undoubtedly the most visceral record ever made. It contains so much anguish that listening to it is at the same time agonizing and sanative. You feel the pain, you identify with it, you project yourself on it and, most importantly, you feel the urge to do something about it. And that's the beauty of the thing. It has the power of showing the most deep and obscure parts of human soul but for people to be authentic, to go and try to make things better.

Very few people acknowledge the influence this album had to the development of punk rock. John's forthright lyrics and singing voice as well as some minimalist melodies and arranges are as powerful and raw as in any Velvet Underground album. 'I Found Out' is punk and 'Well Well Well' is very punk. When he says "the dream is over", he is declaring the failure of the hippie movement... and, consequently, the beginning of what comes as a response to it. Let's please give John Lennon his rightful place amongst the proto-punks. [First added to this chart: 01/05/2014]

Year of Release:

1970

Appears in:

1,108 charts

Rank Score:

9,486

Rank in 1970:

5

Rank in 1970s:

37

Overall Rank:

146

Average Rating:

 83 (1,428 votes)

Comments:

128

8. (=)

3rd 

 Big Star

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Big dreams turned out like big disappointment. The band of those who had everything to be the rockers of the generation ended up with one less genius, a lot less money and approaching the end of the line. Nevertheless, it is in moments like this that bitterness and desperation gives birth to brilliance.
The personal chaos of Alex Chilton is translated into the language of irony ("Thank You Friends"), a general farewell ("Take Care") and sheer horror ("Holocaust"). The connection that the singer and Chris Bell developed in the form of a friendship/rivalry haunts one of the saddest songs ever, "Big Black Car", in which the first frightfully foresees the accident that killed the latter and unadvisingly shares his position.
The greatest of the great songs of this masterpiece must be "Kangaroo", a pseudo-religious description of a gamechanging encounter and the openness of heart it creates and demands, a theme gorgeously represented by the blissful mess of the instrumentation. When what appears to be contigent failures that can be overcome in another try, like the distribution and booking problems that the band faced, finally show themselves as an unescapable necessity, this end-of-the-line experience may result either in immobility and incapability to reinvent life or coming against it and doing a cool jerk. [First added to this chart: 11/11/2014]

Year of Release:

1978

Appears in:

370 charts

Rank Score:

2,333

Rank in 1978:

14

Rank in 1970s:

167

Overall Rank:

742

Average Rating:

 80 (443 votes)

Comments:

32

9. (=)

Electric Warrior 

 T. Rex

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[First added to this chart: 06/07/2014]

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

770 charts

Rank Score:

4,783

Rank in 1971:

16

Rank in 1970s:

88

Overall Rank:

353

Average Rating:

 82 (843 votes)

Comments:

44

10. (=)

L.A. Woman 

 The Doors

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[First added to this chart: 01/05/2014]

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,036 charts

Rank Score:

7,932

Rank in 1971:

9

Rank in 1970s:

47

Overall Rank:

192

Average Rating:

 83 (1,421 votes)

Comments:

75

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Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s composition

Country	Albums	%
	32	32%
	31	31%
	20	20%
	4	4%
	3	3%
	2	2%
	2	2%
Show all

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s ratings

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
90/100  !	08/28/2018 02:10	Jbalbinolr	39	81/100
100/100  !	09/30/2016 02:53	Bristoc	18	89/100
85/100  !	06/12/2015 12:36	ribeiro85	104	91/100
90/100  !	02/06/2015 14:42	pa	458	91/100
80/100  !	12/23/2014 08:02	sssvnnn	2,866	83/100

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s comments

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90/100

From Jbalbinolr 08/28/2018 02:10 | #220183

I can´t believe someone else knows Simon Diaz!!!

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

80/100

From Decurso 10/22/2014 16:53 | #125012

Great source of recomendations for older Brazilian music!

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

85/100

From tgarritsen 01/06/2014 00:19 | #99966

I really like the inclusion of Blank Generation, especially because this chart has a lot of punk in general on it.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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