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.
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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This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from the 1970s. (Remove this filter)
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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:
Rank Score:
22,430
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Comments:
190
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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:
Rank Score:
3,145
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Now over 40 years old, this sets the standard for weird, dissonant, complex music and has been part of the sonic architecture of alternative music ever since. PIL, Joy Division, Talk Talk, Radiohead, all owe it a huge debt. Obviously not an easy album to get into but it rewards repeated listening. Favourite track: Oh Yeah.
[First added to this chart: 06/06/2011]
Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,572
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Comments:
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Recorded months after Wyatt fell out of window and was paralysed from the waist down, the music on this album is both haunting and harrowing at times, deeply personal and intense, but also very funny, even including a song from Ivor Cutler. Wyatt had been the drummer with Soft machine, and the music here is jazzy and improvisational yet totally unpretentious. Favourite track: Alifib
[First added to this chart: 06/06/2011]
Year of Release:
1974
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,130
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Total albums: 4. Page 1 of 1
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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 | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Joy Division | 2 | 10% | |
| Radiohead | 2 | 10% | |
| Talk Talk | 2 | 10% | |
| The Beatles | 2 | 10% | |
| Robert Wyatt | 1 | 5% | |
| Young Marble Giants | 1 | 5% | |
| Spiritualized® | 1 | 5% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 20 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
There have been no changes to this chart.Top 20 Greatest Music Albums similar charts
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Top 20 Greatest Music Albums ratings
85/100 (from 3 votes)
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Showing all 3 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 85/100  | 06/07/2011 00:17 |  The Gollux | | 67/100 |
| 85/100 | 11/22/2010 23:07 |  Juan Schwartz | | 86/100 |
| 80/100 | 11/22/2010 18:24 |  cartoken | | 75/100 |
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CellarDoor 06/07/2011 16:51
CellarDoor 06/07/2011 16:51
Very good picks ! Love seeing YMG in a top 20 - and obvious JD.
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