Top 20 Greatest Music Albums
by RedBlackGreen

Hi, I have been a big music fan for over 30 years with a record collection that numbers about 3,000 LPs. My favourite album list has changed a bit over the years. Ten years ago only the Beatles, Joy Division, Love and Kate Bush would have been in the Top 10.
Singles have been just as important as albums in the development of modern popular music so here is my top 20 (in no paricular order): The Beatles -'Paperback Writer/Rain'(1966); Stevie Wonder - 'Superstition'(1972); The Smiths - 'This Charming Man' (1983); Joy Division - 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' (1980); Spiritualized - 'I Think I'm in Love' (1998); Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 'Maps' (2004); The Clash - 'White Man in Hammersmith Palais'(1978); The Rolling Stones - 'Paint it Black'(1966); Chumawamba - 'Revolution EP'(1985); Keith LeBlanc - 'Malcolm X: No Sell Out'(1983); The Beatles - 'Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane'(1967); Massive Attack - 'Protection'(1994); The Sex Pistols - 'God Save the Queen'(1978); The Kinks - 'Waterloo Sunset'(1967); MGMT - 'Time to Pretend'(2008); The Specials - 'Ghost Town'(1981); The Byrds - 'Eight Miles high'(1966); Chic - 'Good Times'(1979); Primal Scream - 'Loaded'(1990); Radiohead - 'Bodysnatchers'(2008); New Order - 'Blue Monday'(1983.

• Chart updated: 04/14/2012 12:15
• (Created: 11/22/2010 22:10).
• Chart size: 20 albums.

There is 1 comment for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 20 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 85 out of 100 (from 3 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

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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).

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1. (=)

The Beatles (The White Album) 

 The Beatles

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An encyclopaedia of modern music. Everything is here and done better than before or since. Yer Blues to Blackbird, Rocky Racoon to Revolution, this is a treasure chest from the Fab Four. And don't believe anyone who says there are only enough great tracks for a single album. Favourite track: all of them! [First added to this chart: 05/10/2011]

Year of Release:

1968

Appears in:

2,943 charts

Rank Score:

38,034

Rank in 1968:

1

Rank in 1960s:

6

Overall Rank:

14

Average Rating:

 89 (3,822 votes)

Comments:

342

2. (=)

Unknown Pleasures 

 Joy Division

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By far the best debut album in rock music. Sounds as mysterious and unsettling today as it did 30 years ago and serves as a blueprint for much of British indie rock since (though nothing else quite matches it). Favourite track: New Dawn Fades [First added to this chart: 05/10/2011]

Year of Release:

1979

Appears in:

1,986 charts

Rank Score:

22,448

Rank in 1979:

3

Rank in 1970s:

9

Overall Rank:

38

Average Rating:

 86 (2,332 votes)

Comments:

190

3. (=)

In Rainbows 

 Radiohead

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The band of the decade deliver their magnum opus for the 21st century. All the songs are at least excellent and some - Bodysnatchers, Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, All I Need, Reckoner, Videotape - are as accomplished as anything they have ever recorded. Favourite track: Bodysnatchers [First added to this chart: 05/10/2011]

Year of Release:

2007

Appears in:

2,912 charts

Rank Score:

44,832

Rank in 2007:

1

Rank in 2000s:

1

Overall Rank:

6

Average Rating:

 90 (3,935 votes)

Comments:

395

4. (=)

Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space 

 Spiritualized®

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The most brilliant heartbreak record ever released. Never even bought it when it came out but it wowed me several years later. Best album of 1997 (not Ok Computer!) and of its decade. Favourite song: I think I'm in Love [First added to this chart: 05/10/2011]

Year of Release:

1997

Appears in:

754 charts

Rank Score:

6,525

Rank in 1997:

5

Rank in 1990s:

51

Overall Rank:

249

Average Rating:

 82 (947 votes)

Comments:

65

5. (=)

Revolver 

 The Beatles

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Hard to believe that the Beatles made this just three years after 'Please please me'. This is the sound of the coolest, smartest, most innovative and influential band in history leaving their rivals for dead as they surge towards their peak. Favourite song: Tomorrow Never Knows [First added to this chart: 05/10/2011]

Year of Release:

1966

Appears in:

3,575 charts

Rank Score:

50,644

Rank in 1966:

1

Rank in 1960s:

2

Overall Rank:

4

Average Rating:

 91 (4,581 votes)

Comments:

486

6. (=)

Forever Changes 

 Love

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Sublime songs with possibly the best use of strings and horns on record. This portrays an altogether more unsettling view of 60s California than some of its contemporaries yet still sounds somewhat like Burt Bacharach on acid. No other album has achieved its texture. Favourite track: You Set the Scene [First added to this chart: 05/10/2011]

Year of Release:

1967

Appears in:

1,501 charts

Rank Score:

15,665

Rank in 1967:

5

Rank in 1960s:

19

Overall Rank:

77

Average Rating:

 85 (1,630 votes)

Comments:

150

7. (=)

Laughing Stock 

 Talk Talk

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Immensely influential yet sold few copies on release and panned by the critics (the NME called it 'pretentious rubbish'). Now widely recognised as a masterpiece. No other record uses silence - the spaces between notes - as well as this one. Favourite track: Taphead. [First added to this chart: 05/10/2011]

Year of Release:

1991

Appears in:

781 charts

Rank Score:

8,975

Rank in 1991:

7

Rank in 1990s:

35

Overall Rank:

167

Average Rating:

 84 (897 votes)

Comments:

81

8. (=)

Hounds Of Love 

 Kate Bush

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Highly regarded at the time, this has nevertheless grown in stature over the years. The mid-80s wasn't a great period for music but this is the stand out album of the decade. Favourite track: Hello Earth [First added to this chart: 05/10/2011]

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

1,408 charts

Rank Score:

18,489

Rank in 1985:

1

Rank in 1980s:

7

Overall Rank:

53

Average Rating:

 85 (1,404 votes)

Comments:

103

9. (=)

Kid A 

 Radiohead

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For some this is where Radiohead just got too weird but for me this is where they really discovered their mojo. The apotheosis of a 'grower': it doesn't make sense on first listen but over years it will weave itself into your soul. Favourite track: The National Anthem [First added to this chart: 05/10/2011]

Year of Release:

2000

Appears in:

3,211 charts

Rank Score:

43,688

Rank in 2000:

1

Rank in 2000s:

2

Overall Rank:

9

Average Rating:

 89 (4,452 votes)

Comments:

561

10. (=)

Tonight's The Night 

 Neil Young

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Perhaps the ultimate comedown album. Destroyed Young's career as a safe AOR superstar but reinvented him as a complex, troubled genius. Moody and magnificent. Favourite track: Tonight's the Night [First added to this chart: 05/10/2011]

Year of Release:

1975

Appears in:

564 charts

Rank Score:

3,148

Rank in 1975:

8

Rank in 1970s:

126

Overall Rank:

557

Average Rating:

 82 (760 votes)

Comments:

39

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Total albums: 20. Page 1 of 2

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Top 20 Greatest Music Albums composition

Decade	Albums	%
1930s	0	0%
1940s	0	0%
1950s	0	0%
1960s	5	25%
1970s	4	20%
1980s	4	20%
1990s	3	15%
2000s	4	20%
2010s	0	0%
2020s	0	0%

Artist	Albums	%
Talk Talk	2	10%
The Beatles	2	10%
Joy Division	2	10%
Radiohead	2	10%
Kate Bush	1	5%
Neil Young	1	5%
My Bloody Valentine	1	5%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	12	60%
	4	20%
	2	10%
	1	5%
	1	5%

Top 20 Greatest Music Albums chart changes

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Top 20 Music Albums of the 1960s	stryker700	1960s decade chart	2012

Top 20 Greatest Music Albums similarity to your chart(s)

Top 20 Greatest Music Albums ratings

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
85/100	06/07/2011 00:17	The Gollux	1,009	67/100
85/100	11/22/2010 23:07	Juan Schwartz	153	86/100
80/100	11/22/2010 18:24	cartoken	964	75/100

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Top 20 Greatest Music Albums comments

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From CellarDoor 06/07/2011 16:51

Very good picks ! Love seeing YMG in a top 20 - and obvious JD.

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