The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time
by New Music Express (2013) 
New Musical Express is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. These are their best albums of all time.
(Official website: https://www.nme.com | Original URL Warning: The address at the original source was valid at the time the chart was added, but may have changed afterwards. )
There are 30 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time has an average rating of 67 out of 100 (from 97 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
The entries in this chart have a zero rank score because the chart has not been updated within the last ten years (points from overall charts are decayed over a ten year period).
View the complete list of 57,000 charts on BestEverAlbums.com from The Charts page.
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Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
33,887
Rank in 1986:
Rank in 1980s:
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Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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Year of Release:
1966
Appears in:
Rank Score:
49,550
Rank in 1966:
Rank in 1960s:
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Buy album
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Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
19,339
Rank in 1971:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
4.
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Year of Release:
2001
Appears in:
Rank Score:
28,459
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Rank in 2000s:
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Buy album
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Year of Release:
1967
Appears in:
Rank Score:
39,895
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Comments:
Buy album
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Year of Release:
1995
Appears in:
Rank Score:
8,679
Rank in 1995:
Rank in 1990s:
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Buy album
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Year of Release:
1989
Appears in:
Rank Score:
23,035
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Buy album
- #Sponsored
Year of Release:
1989
Appears in:
Rank Score:
31,524
Rank in 1989:
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Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
37,249
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Buy album
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Year of Release:
1994
Appears in:
Rank Score:
11,236
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Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10
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The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 1 | 1% | |
| 1960s | 16 | 16% | |
| 1970s | 27 | 27% | |
| 1980s | 16 | 16% | |
| 1990s | 26 | 26% | |
| 2000s | 12 | 12% | |
| 2010s | 2 | 2% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| The Beatles | 5 | 5% | |
| Bob Dylan | 4 | 4% | |
| The Rolling Stones | 4 | 4% | |
| The Smiths | 4 | 4% | |
| David Bowie | 4 | 4% | |
| Radiohead | 3 | 3% | |
| R.E.M. | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time similar charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NME Best 500 Albums Of All Time (1-100) 2013 | WayneMC | Custom chart | 2016 | |
| NME: The 100 greatest albums of all time | Johnnyo | Custom chart | 2021 | |
| Most Acclaimed Music Albums | Imaybeparanoid | Custom chart | 2015 |  |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums |  RFNAPLES | Overall chart | 2013 | |
| NME Best Albums Of All Time 2003 | WayneMC | Custom chart | 2019 | |
| NME 's 100 Best Albums Of All Time | New Music Express | Overall chart | 2003 | |
| Ya joking? Should've been higher! All Time edition |  Purplepash | Custom chart | 2025 |  |
| Going With My Gut: The Overall Chart Top 100 Re-ranked |  CharlieBarley | Custom chart | 2024 | |
| My Personal Ranking of Best Ever Albums' Top 100 |  Xxnu99etxX | Custom chart | 2022 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | WayneMC | Overall chart | 2020 | |
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Other overall charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 Best Albums - 2024 Edition | Apple Music | Overall chart | 2024 | |
| The 300 Greatest Albums of All Time (1-100) | Paste | Overall chart | 2024 | |
| The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time | Consequence of Sound | Overall chart | 2022 | |
Other charts by New Music Express
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NME 's 100 Best Albums Of All Time | New Music Express | Overall chart | 2003 | |
| The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time | New Music Express | Overall chart | 2013 | |
| NME's Best Albums Of All Time | New Music Express | Overall chart | 1985 | |
| New Musical Express Writers Top 100 Albums | New Music Express | Overall chart | 1993 | |
| NME Readers' All-Time Top 100 Albums | New Music Express | Overall chart | 1988 | |
View all 61 charts here from New Music Express.
The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time 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 97 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 01/29/2025 18:10 | StreakyNuno | 131 | 82/100 |
| ! | 01/25/2025 14:09 |  SomethingSpecial | 1,104 | 85/100 |
| ! | 10/27/2022 13:19 | Skunkmunk | 2 | 95/100 |
| ! | 10/06/2022 02:26 | MattBarber | 2 | 78/100 |
| ! | 09/27/2022 21:43 | Phileas | 6 | 35/100 |
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 has a Bayesian average rating of 66.6/100, a mean average of 63.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 64.9/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 23.6.
The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time favourites
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The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time comments
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From 
Goliath 10/23/2023 10:04 | #299599
Goliath 10/23/2023 10:04 | #299599
No Pink Floyd, no Zepplin = no credibility. Random collection of decent albums, maybe they just pulled names out of a hat?
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From pinkfreud1981 10/24/2022 19:37 | #290770
88% of the albums are British or american.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From Yannick1398 09/19/2022 12:17 | #289795
I like the list, not the best but it gets the job done!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From cooldude2000 03/28/2022 19:09 | #283548
Good list, no need for the Pixies to be higher than the bottom 400 tho.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From 
AlvaroIesus 09/17/2021 02:51 | #273834
AlvaroIesus 09/17/2021 02:51 | #273834
nmzzzzzz
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From gregthealien 05/03/2021 06:40 | #269296
This list suits NME's voice a lot. Surprised at the hate
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From Guigou 04/16/2021 15:09 | #268604
Les smith n°1? Je crois pas non et pourquoi autant d'album par artiste ?
5 beatles, 4 rolling stones, 4 smith.... Pfff
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
drstuey 03/27/2021 11:46 | #267819
drstuey 03/27/2021 11:46 | #267819
Isn't this supposed to be the best 500? Why is there only 100 in the list?
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (2 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From 0129114 06/27/2020 15:28 | #254611
Not sure why all the hate, this list has some of the best picks from the 1980s and 1990s, even some classics from the 2000s. Still, I understand some of the reactions because it is a bit wack in some places.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Larcx13 06/21/2020 22:13 | #254069
Larcx13 06/21/2020 22:13 | #254069
The Smith's doesn't belong at #1
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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