Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
by mjp11

Updated to only include one album per band/artist. There are some repeats between solo careers and bands. Maybe one day I'll kick out George, Paul, and John but for now I think their solo work deserves recognition. Still finalizing some of the placements and choices. Included some honorable mentions in the descriptions.

• Chart updated: 05/10/2025 17:15
• (Created: 06/11/2015 19:05).
• Chart size: 100 albums.

There are 9 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 89 out of 100 (from 31 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

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This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from the 1980s. (Remove this filter)

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7. (=)

The Dreaming 

 Kate Bush

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HMs:
- Hounds of Love
- Never for Ever
- The Kick Inside [First added to this chart: 09/29/2021]

Year of Release:

1982

Appears in:

657 charts

Rank Score:

6,334

Rank in 1982:

2

Rank in 1980s:

33

Overall Rank:

263

Average Rating:

 81 (789 votes)

Comments:

58

27. (=)

Disintegration 

 The Cure

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HMs:
- Faith
- Pornography
- Songs of a Lost World [First added to this chart: 02/19/2021]

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

1,832 charts

Rank Score:

26,419

Rank in 1989:

2

Rank in 1980s:

4

Overall Rank:

30

Average Rating:

 86 (2,050 votes)

Comments:

152

32. (34) 2

Doolittle 

 Pixies

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HM:
- Surfer Rosa [First added to this chart: 12/21/2020]

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

2,540 charts

Rank Score:

32,199

Rank in 1989:

1

Rank in 1980s:

2

Overall Rank:

18

Average Rating:

 88 (2,948 votes)

Comments:

293

39. (43) 4

The Queen Is Dead 

 The Smiths

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HMs:
- Hatful of Hollow
- The Smiths
- Meat is Murder [First added to this chart: 01/25/2021]

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

2,486 charts

Rank Score:

34,393

Rank in 1986:

1

Rank in 1980s:

1

Overall Rank:

16

Average Rating:

 88 (2,912 votes)

Comments:

265

51. (53) 2

Remain In Light 

 Talking Heads

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HM:
- Speaking in Tongues [First added to this chart: 07/31/2018]

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

2,027 charts

Rank Score:

27,990

Rank in 1980:

1

Rank in 1980s:

3

Overall Rank:

26

Average Rating:

 87 (2,294 votes)

Comments:

196

62. (63) 1

Purple Rain 
Soundtrack

 Prince And The Revolution

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[First added to this chart: 05/17/2019]

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

1,435 charts

Rank Score:

16,056

Rank in 1984:

1

Rank in 1980s:

9

Overall Rank:

72

Average Rating:

 83 (1,656 votes)

Comments:

130

88. (87) 1

The Stone Roses 

 The Stone Roses

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[First added to this chart: 01/23/2021]

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

2,014 charts

Rank Score:

23,349

Rank in 1989:

3

Rank in 1980s:

5

Overall Rank:

33

Average Rating:

 86 (2,292 votes)

Comments:

203

92. (89) 3

Rain Dogs 

 Tom Waits

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[First added to this chart: 03/09/2021]

Year of Release:

1985

Appears in:

1,139 charts

Rank Score:

11,782

Rank in 1985:

2

Rank in 1980s:

14

Overall Rank:

112

Average Rating:

 84 (1,337 votes)

Comments:

87

97. (96) 1

Paul's Boutique 

 Beastie Boys

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[First added to this chart: 02/22/2025]

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

868 charts

Rank Score:

6,651

Rank in 1989:

4

Rank in 1980s:

30

Overall Rank:

245

Average Rating:

 82 (1,040 votes)

Comments:

54

99. (98) 1

Daydream Nation 

 Sonic Youth

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[First added to this chart: 02/23/2021]

Year of Release:

1988

Appears in:

1,582 charts

Rank Score:

15,807

Rank in 1988:

1

Rank in 1980s:

10

Overall Rank:

74

Average Rating:

 84 (1,866 votes)

Comments:

147

Total albums: 10. Page 1 of 1

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition

Decade	Albums	%
1930s	0	0%
1940s	0	0%
1950s	1	1%
1960s	12	12%
1970s	20	20%
1980s	10	10%
1990s	18	18%
2000s	15	15%
2010s	14	14%
2020s	10	10%

Artist	Albums	%
The Doors	1	1%
The Jimi Hendrix Experience	1	1%
Charles Mingus	1	1%
Lauryn Hill	1	1%
OutKast	1	1%
The Roots	1	1%
Madvillain	1	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	52	52%
	29	29%
	6	6%
	4	4%
	2	2%
	2	2%
	2	2%
Show all

Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes

Biggest climbers
Up 18 from 100th to 82nd Funeral by Arcade Fire
Up 10 from 78th to 68th Norman Fucking Rockwell! by Lana Del Rey
Up 6 from 62nd to 56th Ram by Paul & Linda McCartney

Biggest fallers
Down 10 from 64th to 74th The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We by Mitski
Down 7 from 51st to 58th The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society by The Kinks
Down 6 from 22nd to 28th Flower Boy by Tyler, The Creator

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similarity to your chart(s)

Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings

Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 31 ratings for this chart.

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
85/100	07/05/2025 05:55	mikepen	57	93/100
100/100	03/29/2025 04:13	ffudnebbuh	654	91/100
85/100	01/29/2025 12:48	SomethingSpecial	1,106	85/100
90/100	09/11/2023 11:19	Johnnyo	2,529	80/100
90/100	09/05/2023 14:04	Tamthebam	633	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 4% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 89.0/100, a mean average of 90.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 90.0/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 7.8.

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments

Showing all 9 comments |
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Rating:  

100/100

From ffudnebbuh 03/29/2025 04:14

great chart. nice variety

#308246 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

90/100

From rockbluesfolkjaz 09/11/2023 16:29

Interesting chart. Enjoyable. Thanks for posting!

#299076 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

90/100

From Johnnyo 09/11/2023 11:20

Great chart

#299071 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

85/100

From Moondance 09/05/2023 09:13

Solid chart - nice overall combinations.

#298982 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

90/100

From rockbluesfolkjaz 01/03/2022 19:41

An excellent chart. It always interests me to see some unfamiliar and peculiar music mixed in with those I'm very familiar with. It brings me to realize that there's potentially a few, or even many, other albums I must give a listen to.

#278531 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

80/100

From ForegroundNoise 10/20/2019 16:27

NIce to see some hip hop albums sneaking in between your classic rock picks at the top. Some notes would be great!!

#243940 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

100/100

From gidgidi 10/20/2019 13:11

Great chart! My type of picks, great work

#243935 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

90/100

From bobbyb5 07/31/2018 06:35

Wow. Strawberry Alarm Clock.

#218985 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

70/100

From JulianR 06/25/2017 07:34

I'd recommend you listen to steven wilson. He's a modern prog artist thats pretty good

#193176 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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