Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
by Arthurknight

This chart has evolved a lot over the decade its existed. I think in the past I used to try a lot harder at curating what was more a "recommendations" list, where I'd show off my esoteric finds and scatter in my favourite underrated greats . Other times I told myself the function of a good list was to be in contention with the Overall chart on this site; to be anti conventional music journalism and resist milquetoast taste. Nowadays I'm less ideological about it. To me, this chart is my music-hobbyist refuge where I delight in organising my own personal world of sounds. In short, it may well be the 100 greatest albums of all time (I certainly think so), but that's secondary to it being an outlet for creative expression. I've curated a display that says more about me than the music, to be glanced over by the few fellow BEA users who peruse it and friends at a bar who don't know what they're getting into when they ask me what I listen to.

~~ One Album per Artist. ~~

Notes:
Should you consider it a great injustice that there is very little emphasis on more recent music here, feel free to check out my 21st century decade charts. I'm also very active in making end of year charts which is really where all my heart and soul is poured into with BEA these days.

No Jazz, Hip-Hop, or Electronic albums feature in this chart simply because if they did 100 albums would barely suffice. I find it particularly difficult to compare these genres with other forms of popular music broadly or with each-other (I've similarly exempted classical recordings I especially enjoy for the same reason, but am too lazy to make a classical chart, for now...). In the past I have included these genres, but I've come to dislike it because the limits of 100 albums begins to feel too claustrophobic (Consequently, it'd be better to adjust your thinking of this chart as rather the Top 100 Greatest Rock and Pop Albums). Instead, I have made each their own respective custom chart, which you can find here:

Greatest 100 Jazz Albums: https://www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?c=32925
Greatest 100 Hip-Hop Albums: https://www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?c=32704
Greatest 100 Electronic/IDM Albums: https://www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?c=42751
There are 69 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 93 out of 100 (from 126 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

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Buy album United States
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Rather than spend much time delving into any internal debate about which album is better - it's arbitrary in the end, they sound and feel so differently - It might be a better opportunity to mention how this reveals the limitations of the "1 Album per Artist" chart. One could very easily just say "Well to you they're all 10s so why not just include them all?" That's fine and all - not to be too hypercritical as I can't stand charts with half a dozen albums from one artist - but I think it's been quite enriching to compare Cave's (or anyone's for that matter) discography with a fine tooth comb and with stakes set. The challenge of picking a favourite is one that invites me to really intently listen to his music.

Whether Tender Prey remains here for long is a question for tomorrow, but this profound difficulty picking a favourite makes me all the more sure of my love for Nick Cave, and how he is most definitely my musical icon. I watch Wings of Desire regularly to try and vicariously experience being present in the mythic underground-Berlin wonder that 80s Bad Seeds inhabited. Cave's albums, and the early ones in particular, take me places, all dark, all sinister, and I love it - I want it.

_
[First added to this chart: 02/14/2015]
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,134
Rank in 1986:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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"The captain is a one-armed dwarf
He's throwing dice along the wharf."

Actual genius, ugly and erotic, but mesmerising. When I listen to Waits I almost find the music wrong. There's an interview of Waits in Australia on the Don Lane Show where he, opening the interview after moving over to the chair half saunter swagger half drunken stumble – he looked like a shell of a man – says he feels "better than nothing." He was, just barely. He seemed to me a near parody of a music artist in the interview. Lane didn't take him seriously at all, he was obviously high as a kite. However, he later stepped over to the piano, touched fingers to keys, and the mood changed immediately. When asked, Waits said that his songs are all sort of travel logs, and that he "can't say really where they come from." It was then I experienced his music, it was them I fell for his music, in a way. Wait's songs straddle the ugly, but they’re also, at their core, beautiful. Other artists that disregard convention tend to never achieve this bizarre and moving duality; Waits most assuredly does. He is certainly no parody.

_
[First added to this chart: 10/10/2014]
Year of Release:
1985
Appears in:
Rank Score:
11,719
Rank in 1985:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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"And if I only could,
I'd make a deal with God,
And I'd get him to swap our places."

My mum listened to Kate Bush growing up. It was maybe one of the only teenage music finds where when I brought her name up at the dinner table I got a "oh, she's great!" Neither of my parents really listened to music in the strictest sense. They both had a radio station of choice pre-set in their cars, but outside of that my family never spoke about music. The same goes for really any art but music was maybe strongest felt by me as embodying a cultural void. I'd get iTunes gift cards and just not know what to do with them. In short, growing up I had no music recommended to me, introduced to me, or otherwise occurring around me.

Anyway at a certain point you inevitably learn that having a "taste in music" is a personality trait, and thus began that journey to find mine with really no guidance other than the internet. Kate Bush is an early find, an obvious one, but nonetheless it was a nice moment to have a conversation with my mum at that dinner table about how she loved Wuthering Heights and grew up listening to Kate Bush – I hadn't really had that before.

Hounds of Love is a classic and I don't really need to go into why, but I don't think I even could objectively if I tried. This album is just so utterly tangled up with my entering the music world and with those fleetingly nice moments at home during those first years of my parent's divorce. From the ethereal peaks of The Big Sky and Cloudbusting, to the visceral loving Britannic Jig Of Life, Hounds of Love sings to me of home; its truly liberating to listen to.

_
[First added to this chart: 10/23/2014]
Year of Release:
1985
Appears in:
Rank Score:
18,106
Rank in 1985:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Top rated album (85/100 - 1410 votes)  85 (1,410 votes)
Comments:
Buy album United States
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"I still have my memory.
I still have my gold ring... beautiful, I love it, I love it!
I still have my allergies.
I still have my philosophy."

One of a small handful of compositions that move me to tears on virtually every listen. There are some others, notably: Steve Reich's Different Trains, Arvo Pärt's Tabula Rasa, Olivier Messiaen's Quatour Pour La Fin Du Temps, Philip Glass' Einstein on the Beach (and Glassworks), La Monte Young's The Well Tuned Piano, or Gavin Bryars' The Sinking of the Titanic. All of which I feel would be a bit uncomfortable in this list as they are principally classical compositions, with multiple recorded studio/live album versions. Dolmen Music, however, feels right in this chart, it's "contemporary classical" in lieu of anything else – in reality it's more a prelude to NY performance art, such as the audiovisual work of the Wooster Group. Musically her influences can be seen everywhere, but especially in the work of Laurie Anderson and Diamanda Galás in the 80s.

I remember once in a university lecture for theatre, a recording of a Singaporean play was presented and over the top of the clips the title track was playing. I imagine to any who didn't know Monk would have just presumed the song was Singaporean. Apart from nearly – from an almost knee-jerk memorised reaction – crying, I realised that Monk achieved in Dolmen Music a sound that feels totally foreign and incomprehensible, like she is sort of out of reach of my understanding. Yet the same also feels attuned to some sort of inward emotional universality. I feel closer to something when I listen to this work, I'm just never sure what, and I'm totally fine with that.

_
[First added to this chart: 07/15/2016]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
652
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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"I'm banging on your door
Up in the big blue sky."

_
[First added to this chart: 07/10/2015]
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
880
Rank in 1986:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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"Мой порядковый номер - на рукаве,
Пожелай мне удачи в бою, пожелай мне."

"My serial number - on the sleeve,
Wish me luck in battle, wish for me."

I have a vinyl copy of this record printed in LA, California of all places by Gold Castle Records as part of their "Red Wave" series, intended to distribute new Eastern Bloc music to American audiences. Ironically, I bought it in Kiev, which makes the phonetic anglicism of the title written to us as Groupa Kroovy all the funnier (which isn't correct in even the slightest capacity whatsoever; if we're going to be charitable here perhaps Joanna Stingray was trying some kind of onomatopoeia). For additional context, this record is the masterpiece of Viktor Tsoi, the Soviet Union's indisputable most attractive man (prison Stalin included), and to try some black comedy: the East's solution to Albert Camus. If you find you really like this record, I'd highly recommend seeking out Artemy Troitsky's music criticsm. He served as my guide through 1980's Soviet Music, and all the political implications of pre and post glasnost/perestroikian Soviet culture. To return though to the vinyl, and to quote its back-cover:

"Since the release of Red Wave – 4 Underground Bands from the USSR, in 1986, The Soviet system has changed immensely for rock bands. The line between unofficial and official has disappeared [Arthur: they're referring here to state endorsed VIAs or Vocal Music Ensembles; they were quite silly little boy band troupes]. Bands like the ones on Red Wave can still be independent but now they can make a living from their music. Viktor Tsoi no longer shovels coal. He and his group, Kino, have immerged (sic) as the most popular rock group in Russia. Of course there are still problems, but fewer every day. LONG LIVE CHANCE! Peace through art and music!"
-Joanna Stingray, 1991
_
[First added to this chart: 11/06/2014]
Year of Release:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
299
Rank in 1988:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
40. (41) Up 1
Buy album United States
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"Can I go on with this train of events?
Disturbing and purging my mind,
Back out of my duties, when all's said and done,
I know that I'll lose every time."

_
[First added to this chart: 10/22/2015]
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
15,176
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Top rated album (85/100 - 1925 votes)  85 (1,925 votes)
Comments:
45. (=)
Buy album United States
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"Keep me out of country and the word
Wheel of fortune's leading us absurd."

_
[First added to this chart: 10/15/2014]
Year of Release:
1983
Appears in:
Rank Score:
10,041
Rank in 1983:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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"All those whose mind entitles themselves,
And whose main entitle is themselves,
Shall feel the wrath of my bombast!"

_
[First added to this chart: 11/26/2014]
Year of Release:
1985
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,916
Rank in 1985:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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"Сколько тысяч слов - всё впустую,
Или кража огня у слепых богов."

"How many thousands of words - all in vain
Either stealing fire from the gods or the blind."

_
[First added to this chart: 10/23/2014]
Year of Release:
1983
Appears in:
Rank Score:
100
Rank in 1983:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 18. Page 1 of 2
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition

Decade Albums %


1930s 0 0%
1940s 0 0%
1950s 0 0%
1960s 13 13%
1970s 28 28%
1980s 18 18%
1990s 29 29%
2000s 10 10%
2010s 2 2%
2020s 0 0%
Country Albums %


United States 47 47%
United Kingdom 24 24%
Canada 6 6%
Germany 5 5%
Mixed Nationality 4 4%
Australia 3 3%
Russia 3 3%
Show all
Live? Albums %
No 98 98%
Yes 2 2%

Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes

Biggest climbers
Climber Up 1 from 42nd to 41stIn Rainbows
by Radiohead
Climber Up 1 from 41st to 40thCloser
by Joy Division
Climber Up 1 from 40th to 39thSuper Æ
by ボアダムス [Boredoms]
Biggest fallers
Faller Down 6 from 36th to 42ndCourt And Spark
by Joni Mitchell
TitleSourceTypePublishedCountry
Driving Albums ArthurknightCustom chart2022
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums paologabrielOverall chart2025
The BEA Friendly Chart alelsupremeCustom chart2015
PPV Overall RankingbeaCustom chart2021Unknown
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s Arthurknight1970s decade chart2022
Top 100 Greatest Music Albumsjosh333Overall chart2016
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums The GolluxOverall chart2024
BEA Forum Regulars' Top 100 (2015) HigherThanTheSunCustom chart2015
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s Arthurknight1990s decade chart2022
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums MechalodonOverall chart2017

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings

Average Rating: 
93/100 (from 126 votes)
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03/22/2025 02:21 slatsheit   2688/100
 
85/100
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01/28/2025 11:30 SomethingSpecial   1,10485/100
The chart has been updated since this rating was assigned   
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01/24/2025 00:51 ThuramThugood   10690/100
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12/24/2024 21:42 Exist-en-ciel   14598/100
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06/06/2024 02:35 areminder   5279/100

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This chart is rated in the top 1% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 93.3/100, a mean average of 93.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 93.8/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 8.1.

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 69 comments |
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Rating:  
90/100
From 03/22/2025 02:21 | #308142
Your taste is fairly divergent from mine, but I really appreciated many of your picks. Not a fan (at all) of the "one per artist" rule, because it makes a Top 100 albums list a misrepresentation of your opinion, since the list is not really your 100 favorite albums, but rather what your favorite 100 albums would be with the duplicate artist appearances removed. But I do appreciate how it allows you to *include* more artists. On the other hand, since each poster's Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart has the most significant weight for ranking, it also takes away rating points from the artists who have "earned" them in terms of how they reflect your personal taste by virtue of the removal of other albums, while perhaps having other artists' albums benefit "unfairly" from the exercise (less of a problem in the sense that those artists with albums at the end of your list wouldn't have gotten too many extra points). And of course this almost certainly did indeed happen, or you would not have had to establish that that guideline for yourself was how you made the chart to begin with. That said, I am not the boss of you, you are free to make your list as you see fit (as long as it isn't done with the intent to game the system, which sadly does happen on this site, and which I don't believe you're engaging in at all), and I did appreciate the broader cross section it revealed of your taste, so I do see why you set it up that way. Really enjoyed your personal reflections as well.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 11/10/2022 16:03 | #291200
Love the Murmur- R.E.M. placement here! Have always felt that was my favourite record of theirs, so it's nice to see my opinion validated with your chart. “La Máquina De Hacer Pájaros” is fantastic to see here as well. Massively underrated on this site in my opinion. Love the multicultural feel of the list as well. Have recently been trying to get into more international music so your chart may be a great help to do that.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 11/10/2022 09:53 | #291189
Thanks for the comment and the rating.
Great tastes as well, very heavy on classical rock but still very sold chart
Kudos for including Youth of America ?
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Rating:  
100/100
From 11/09/2022 08:36 | #291164
Fabulous chart. One of the best on the site
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 11/09/2022 02:54 | #291157
Was really hoping to see a few more exceptional Australian albums in the chart. Otherwise, cool chart and appreciate the effort in putting together your comments.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 10/05/2022 08:04 | #290182
Still my favourite chart! SMiLE Sessions really is the greatest thing in popular music ♥
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 07/21/2022 11:17 | #287667
Nice.
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Rating:  
100/100
From 12/21/2021 00:48 | #277734
Wow Great job and very good list
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 12/07/2020 19:34 | #262233
one of the best lists on the site. Creative, methodical, and just overall cool
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 09/11/2020 16:18 | #258057
I'll definitely use this for recs!
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Recognised  Decade Charts (2020s)
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