Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by 
AAL2014 
Thanks for checking out my chart! BEA is a godsend of a website for me and has been for close to a decade now. I’ve spent countless hours of my free time here organizing my thoughts and checking out music that’s new to me. Very much in the same way listening to albums is respite for me, ranking them and arranging my thoughts is just the same.
Here you'll find some of that taking shape. My Top 100 will always be a work in progress, as I imagine anyone's would. But here's a couple things you'll find with my chart in particular:
---- My favorite (or thereabouts) lyric from each non-instrumental album.
----Being a drummer for going on 15 years, here you'll find the drummer(s) who played on each of my top 100 records to give a some due credit or to shoutout a hero.
—— As of 7/9/22, I am no longer enforcing 1 entry per artist in the top 25. I want the albums I love the most to be represented the way that accurately depicts what they’ve meant in my life.
Hope you enjoy. Let me know of any thoughts or if you have any recommendations for me in the comments. I’d love to hear them!
CHART OF THE DAY- 8/9/18, 5/10/21, 3/1/22, 10/13/22, 5/1/23, 10/15/24, 6/11/25
- Chart updated: 06/18/2025 05:45
- (Created: 03/18/2014 17:15).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 49 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 90 out of 100 (from 86 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
View the complete list of 56,000 charts on BestEverAlbums.com from The Charts page.
This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from Metallica. (Remove this filter)
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"Circle of destruction, hammer comes crushing, powerhouse of energy. Whipping up a fury, dominating flurry, we create the Battery."
I don't remember the first time I listened to many of the albums I like, but I remember, IN VIVID DETAIL, putting my burned copy of Master of Puppets from a good friend in my CD player for the first time and being blown away by the lightning quick guitar, pounding drums, and huge and terrifying vocals. It scared me to death... and I couldn't stop listening to it. A Masterpiece. Pun intended this time.
This album changed my life. I would not have continued to be as passionate about playing drums without this record. Master of Puppets opened so many doors for me musically, and changed my perception of what "heavy" music was and what it could be. I finally realized heavy metal could be as beautiful, constructed, and genuine, if not more, than any other genre.
Is there a better album opener than Battery? The acoustic intro tricked me into thinking this was not what I was expecting and was an astounding intro to the blazingly fast and viscous guitar bass and drums that were to follow for the next 54 or so minutes. Lars Ulrich's drumming was as ferocious and pummeling as Hetfield's guitar and vocals were, fuck what you think.
This is Metallica at their otherworldly apex. This is heavy music at its pinnacle. This is the record I hold all other metal records up to in standard to this day some 10 (wow) years later.
Master of Puppets is a classic. Metallica were firing on cylinders, a lot of them, all of them and they were a band set on world domination and they fucking got it. For better or for worse. A genius album and such a deserving choice for our Top 100 albums on this beautiful site.
Favorite tracks: Battery, Master of Puppets, Disposable Heroes
Drummer: Lars Ulrich [First added to this chart: 03/21/2014]
I don't remember the first time I listened to many of the albums I like, but I remember, IN VIVID DETAIL, putting my burned copy of Master of Puppets from a good friend in my CD player for the first time and being blown away by the lightning quick guitar, pounding drums, and huge and terrifying vocals. It scared me to death... and I couldn't stop listening to it. A Masterpiece. Pun intended this time.
This album changed my life. I would not have continued to be as passionate about playing drums without this record. Master of Puppets opened so many doors for me musically, and changed my perception of what "heavy" music was and what it could be. I finally realized heavy metal could be as beautiful, constructed, and genuine, if not more, than any other genre.
Is there a better album opener than Battery? The acoustic intro tricked me into thinking this was not what I was expecting and was an astounding intro to the blazingly fast and viscous guitar bass and drums that were to follow for the next 54 or so minutes. Lars Ulrich's drumming was as ferocious and pummeling as Hetfield's guitar and vocals were, fuck what you think.
This is Metallica at their otherworldly apex. This is heavy music at its pinnacle. This is the record I hold all other metal records up to in standard to this day some 10 (wow) years later.
Master of Puppets is a classic. Metallica were firing on cylinders, a lot of them, all of them and they were a band set on world domination and they fucking got it. For better or for worse. A genius album and such a deserving choice for our Top 100 albums on this beautiful site.
Favorite tracks: Battery, Master of Puppets, Disposable Heroes
Drummer: Lars Ulrich [First added to this chart: 03/21/2014]
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
12,879
Rank in 1986:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
120
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“Darkness. Imprisoning me. All that I see, absolute horror. I cannot live, I cannot die. Trapped in myself, body my holding cell.”
The first 5 Metallica albums changed my life, but as a musician no album more so than this one. I was into playing challenging shit, and at the time this album was a mountain of a challenge for me, a lot of which still is as I revisit it on drums from time to time. This is Metallica's proggiest effort and I love that. Despite that fact, it does not lose much aggression even though there is literally no low end in the mix. For some reason though, that gives this record a lot of character.. sorry bass players.
But yeah, you could certainly say Lars has been a huge influence on me.
Favorite tracks: Blackened, One, Dyers Eve
Drummer: Lars Ulrich [First added to this chart: 10/03/2015]
The first 5 Metallica albums changed my life, but as a musician no album more so than this one. I was into playing challenging shit, and at the time this album was a mountain of a challenge for me, a lot of which still is as I revisit it on drums from time to time. This is Metallica's proggiest effort and I love that. Despite that fact, it does not lose much aggression even though there is literally no low end in the mix. For some reason though, that gives this record a lot of character.. sorry bass players.
But yeah, you could certainly say Lars has been a huge influence on me.
Favorite tracks: Blackened, One, Dyers Eve
Drummer: Lars Ulrich [First added to this chart: 10/03/2015]
Year of Release:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,307
Rank in 1988:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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"So let it be written, let it be done. I'm sent here by the chosen one. I'm Creeping Death."
Easily Metallica's second best record. Certainly a huge step up in songwriting, production, and performance from the debut but in my opinion not as complete as the crown jewel, Master of Puppets. My history with this album goes back to the same time as when I got Master. A friend burned me both albums (still have them) on a couple blank discs and my music world changed forever. Every note of this album is burned into my memory. Heavy and intense but very fucking beautiful.
Favorite tracks: Ride the Lightning, Creeping Death, For Whom the Bell Tolls.
Drummer: Lars Ulrich [First added to this chart: 10/03/2015]
Easily Metallica's second best record. Certainly a huge step up in songwriting, production, and performance from the debut but in my opinion not as complete as the crown jewel, Master of Puppets. My history with this album goes back to the same time as when I got Master. A friend burned me both albums (still have them) on a couple blank discs and my music world changed forever. Every note of this album is burned into my memory. Heavy and intense but very fucking beautiful.
Favorite tracks: Ride the Lightning, Creeping Death, For Whom the Bell Tolls.
Drummer: Lars Ulrich [First added to this chart: 10/03/2015]
Year of Release:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,427
Rank in 1984:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 3. Page 1 of 1
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 1 | 1% | |
| 1960s | 12 | 12% | |
| 1970s | 31 | 31% | |
| 1980s | 13 | 13% | |
| 1990s | 22 | 22% | |
| 2000s | 12 | 12% | |
| 2010s | 6 | 6% | |
| 2020s | 3 | 3% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| The Beatles | 4 | 4% | |
| Rush | 4 | 4% | |
| Stevie Wonder | 3 | 3% | |
| Genesis | 3 | 3% | |
| David Bowie | 3 | 3% | |
| Metallica | 3 | 3% | |
| Tool | 3 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
59 | 59% | |
 |
29 | 29% | |
 |
5 | 5% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 2 from 12th to 10th Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys |
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
90/100 (from 86 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 86 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 85/100  | 03/14/2025 17:39 | SomethingSpecial | | 85/100 |
| 75/100 | 03/07/2025 14:27 | DrewHamster | | 79/100 |
| 90/100 | 02/27/2025 11:02 |  zwiebel | | 86/100 |
| 95/100 | 08/31/2024 20:46 | Johnnyo | | 80/100 |
| 90/100 | 03/06/2024 20:43 | Moondance | | 85/100 |
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 90.1/100, a mean average of 90.6/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 90.6/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 7.5.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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90/100
From 
ffudnebbuh 05/02/2023 03:05
ffudnebbuh 05/02/2023 03:05
nice variety
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From BraddlesHendo 05/01/2023 12:32
5 stars just for time and effort given to your chart. Some absolute beautiful albums in your Top 100.?
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From bobnickmad 03/04/2023 19:28
Great chart both on diversity and quality.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From Johnnyo 10/13/2022 16:55
Great chart and really diggin the notes accompanying the albums. Trying to do more of this myself but failing miserably
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From Moondance 10/13/2022 09:12
Fascinating chart. Enjoyed the intro & album commentary ~ and appreciate the effort required to put the chart together. The chart is far too US-centric for my tastes - but I respect your choices, however they fall. Interestingly, you have Born To Run at #2 & I have it at #3; and the line you quote from the album is also my favourite line ~ so we have that and another 9 albums in common.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From leniad 07/10/2022 01:29
i have to give your chart a 100, excellent albums you choose, steview wonder along with prince and bowie are for me top 3 solo artists ever, if you count jazz then is bowie, miles davis, stevie and prince
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From KineticEchoes02 07/06/2022 07:43
Hey man, I've come back to your chart - somehow on a first glance I gave it a 95, but it easily deserves a 100. This is the best chart I have read. Love your work - many similar tastes to mine, and the descriptions and stories within are awesome. From a bass player to a drummer - rock on dude!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From leniad 03/01/2022 12:05
Love it!
Great taste and like your writing , keep going
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
Larcx13 11/22/2020 01:30
Larcx13 11/22/2020 01:30
You put a lot of effort on this chart and you have a lot of really good picks. Really good chart!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From AAL2014 11/02/2020 13:10
AAL2014 11/02/2020 13:10
11/2/2020
The chart is yet again in transition mode (as always, but now moreso than in a while). Been taking in a lot of music new to me, a lot of music that I'm loving and resonating with. The chart will slowly but surely show that and the specific examples of what I'm talking about.
Just wanted to reach out to everybody who has given me high scores recently, it's always cool to see that every once in a while. However, there's more additions to include, more rearranging to be done, and much better descriptions. I've been feeling very motivated recently.
And look at that.. only 435 chart versions in....
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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