Top 42 Greatest Music Albums
by grohly

Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man - El Grohlerino

Slimmed down list to include only my absolute favourites.

• Chart updated: 03/07/2025 21:15
• (Created: 06/16/2015 16:14).
• Chart size: 42 albums.

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1. (=)

The Dark Side Of The Moon 

 Pink Floyd

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A perfect cosmic odyssey. There's not much I can say about this without being derivative so I'll tell a short story. I was in Boston with my Dad when we decided to check out a laser show to Dark Side at the planetarium. After a long time of not listening to the album in its entirety, my Dad enthusiastically told me of his experience of listening to it again. He told me that each song was better than the last. After settling on Time as his favourite, Great Gig would start and that would be his favourite. This just goes to show that Dark Side really is astonishing in its ability to create wonderment time and time again. I was a touch skeptical at first but the laser show really captured the character of each song and sitting in a huge dark room with many other Floyd fans reminded me of the beauty of the shared musical experience. [First added to this chart: 08/17/2015]

Year of Release:

1973

Appears in:

4,139 charts

Rank Score:

59,955

Rank in 1973:

1

Rank in 1970s:

1

Overall Rank:

2

Average Rating:

 92 (5,333 votes)

Comments:

592

2. (=)

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My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy 

 Kanye West

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The devil got a lush new outfit and went on to slay his enemies. Kanye went for maximalism (later going for the opposite on Yeezus) and really brought it home. After 808s and the Swift debacle, Ye could have gone down the safe road and retreated back to the sounds that made him. Instead he played up to the egotistic douchebag image that had been slapped on him by the media. It could so easily have turned sour but it didn't because he went it Dark Fantasy with both feet - there were no half measures. The people turning on Ye seemed to actually literate him. He no longer restricted himself to what his audience wanted or expected from him. Runaway is the epitome of this and is in my opinion Kanye's greatest song. It is a juxtaposition - the operatic and the robotic, the beauty and the beast. And this album, more than any other, perfectly demonstrates the ability of Ye to get the most out of every single one of his featured artists. [First added to this chart: 08/17/2015]

Year of Release:

2010

Appears in:

1,750 charts

Rank Score:

22,769

Rank in 2010:

1

Rank in 2010s:

2

Overall Rank:

34

Average Rating:

 85 (2,363 votes)

Comments:

283

3. (=)

Let It Bleed 

 The Rolling Stones

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Gimme Shelter and You Can't Always Get What You Want are my favourite opening and closing tracks of all time, so that's the main ingredients for a masterpiece right there. Add it the underrated Live With Me, Let I Bleed, Monkey Man and You Got The Silver, mix well and bake. Let it rest before piping on the many flavourings of Midnight Rambler and sprinkle the sublime rendition of Love In Vain on top. That's the recipe for the Let It Bleed cake. Country Honk is the after dinner coffee. [First added to this chart: 01/06/2016]

Year of Release:

1969

Appears in:

1,783 charts

Rank Score:

17,082

Rank in 1969:

4

Rank in 1960s:

15

Overall Rank:

61

Average Rating:

 85 (2,102 votes)

Comments:

140

4. (=)

Untitled (Led Zeppelin IV) 

 Led Zeppelin

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At times as soft as the wings of the bands symbolic angel. At other times as heavy as the footfalls of a giant stomping through the Midlands. As cliched as this probably sounds, Stairway To Heaven was the first song to show me how much scope a song could really reach for. It starts off tender and transforms into something incredibly powerful and uplifting. It is the angel and the giant. On any other album, Stairway would threaten to eclipse the other songs but not on IV. In fact, one could argue that Stairway isn't even the most influential song on IV. That honour would go to When The Levee Breaks, with Bonzo's drumming being sampled by a long list of artists. IV laid the groundwork for songwriting in hard rock and heavy metal, even more so than the rawer early Zeppelin records and the slightly bloated later ones. [First added to this chart: 08/17/2015]

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

3,160 charts

Rank Score:

38,578

Rank in 1971:

1

Rank in 1970s:

4

Overall Rank:

12

Average Rating:

 90 (4,001 votes)

Comments:

306

5. (=)

Exile On Main St. 

 The Rolling Stones

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Firing the fucking feed on the French rivera. This is a compilation of everything I love about music. Rock and roll, blues, country, soul, psychedelia and more rock. The perfect pick-me-up after a hard days grind. Songs to inspire kings and queens, labourers and wanderers. Mick brings the aristocratic attitude and Keef brings the workingman's spice. The two reach their songwriting zenith after a string of three brilliant albums. On Exile, the Glimmer Twins complement each other so well that they're almost one being. Hell, the entire band and motley crew of musicians who created this album are so together, they talk telepathically with their instruments. Anywho, enough rambling. I will say something about some cherrypicked songs.

Sweet Virginia is the perfect post night out sing-along song. If everyone knows the chorus, it's a brilliant song for a group of drunks to belt out. Tumbling Dice needs no introduction. It IS blues rock. The live version from Ladies & Gentlemen in Texas is as cool as the Stones ever were and Keef telling off Mick Taylor for noodling is amusing. In Let It Loose, Jagger commits (imo) his finest vocal performance, cut with raw emotion and heartbreaking vulnerability. The ladies who provide gospel backing vocals on the song elevate it to the heavens. Shine A Light is just poetry, especially the first verse. All Down the Line is the most ferocious song the Stones have produced and one of my absolute favourites. It's fast, uncomplicated and drenched in sweat.

Exile didn’t so much as teach me how to listen to a song but rather how to enjoy it. Sometimes music is just made to rock, and that’s a good thing. You don't need to read too much into something to appreciate it. There really is no substitute for a thoroughbred rock n roll song with the late great Bobby Keys blasting his sax in your ears. Yet further proof that cocaine (and brown sugar if you’re Keef) is a helluva drug! [First added to this chart: 08/17/2015]

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

1,968 charts

Rank Score:

19,641

Rank in 1972:

2

Rank in 1970s:

13

Overall Rank:

45

Average Rating:

 85 (2,355 votes)

Comments:

211

6. (=)

The Midnight Organ Fight 

 Frightened Rabbit

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After the traditional trio that tops this chart, we get personal. Frightened Rabbit built their church with this album. Well, a church by day but a horror show by night. The play almost like a hard rock hymn because there is always an undertone of searching for the soul. But as the title suggests, this is also an album about sex and Scott Hutchinson delivers some deeply disturbing imagery of cold sex and lust, once you start digging into the lyrics. There's the tale of shagging strangers without love that is portrayed as both heavenly and hellish. There are so many moments in the first half of this album where the band build to explosive crescendos where you can feel every ounce of emotion being poured into the music. The album is then capped by a string of four dreamlike songs, the calm after the storm or the thoughtfulness after a fuck. [First added to this chart: 08/17/2015]

Year of Release:

2008

Appears in:

132 charts

Rank Score:

885

Rank in 2008:

21

Rank in 2000s:

296

Overall Rank:

1,879

Average Rating:

 77 (150 votes)

Comments:

9

7. (=)

In Rainbows 

 Radiohead

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One summer, I saw an orchestra perform a selection of Radiohead songs at an English festival. They played Weird Fishes/Arpeggi with the music video in the background and it was incredibly awesome. When I got back from the festival I played In Rainbows again because I hadn't properly listened to it before. After a proper listen all the way through it instantly became one of my all time favourite albums. All Radiohead's tracks from other albums are obviously well constructed but not so many of them emotionally connect with me all that much (Airbag, Let Down, Fake Plastic Trees are notable exceptions). In Rainbows was the first time that every single song struck a chord, literally and figuratively, leaving me in awe of a legendary band. [First added to this chart: 10/26/2015]

Year of Release:

2007

Appears in:

2,926 charts

Rank Score:

43,734

Rank in 2007:

1

Rank in 2000s:

1

Overall Rank:

6

Average Rating:

 90 (3,953 votes)

Comments:

396

8. (=)

Sticky Fingers 

 The Rolling Stones

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If Exile is beer and cigarettes, Sticky Fingers is bourbon, apple pie and whipped cream. Less strung out and European that Exile but just as soulful and a tad more bluesy. A huge slice of southern American rock done the English way. Fuck, I love the Stones. On Sticky Fingers they gave me my favourite song of all time in Wild Horses. The best combination of Keef's guitar riff and Jagger's lyrics. The best portrayal of longing for where you want to be. There are also some real underrated gems on this album too. The string orchestra that comes in at the end of Sway gives gravitas to an already great blues song. Similarly, the horns on Bitch add thunder to an insanely catchy rock and roll number. Then there's Dead Flowers, a sweet song with not so sweet lyrics that exudes the Stones passion for country music. The whole album foreshadows the hard rock music that the seventies would be known for and not many albums in the genre would come close to capturing its spirit. I mean how many rock songs are as iconic as Brown Sugar? Considering that 1971 is considered one of the greatest years for music, Sticky Fingers is one of the best of the best. [First added to this chart: 08/17/2015]

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,646 charts

Rank Score:

16,891

Rank in 1971:

5

Rank in 1970s:

19

Overall Rank:

63

Average Rating:

 86 (1,923 votes)

Comments:

136

9. (=)

Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness 

 The Smashing Pumpkins

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God knows I love a massive and extravagant album and this may be the most consistent double (triple?) album of all time. It might not reach the heady heights of Exile or the tender moments of Tusk but boy, Billy Corgan's vision is dazzling. He never once wavers from the theme of love and suicide cast against sweeping sonic sounds. It instills a gravitas that runs throughout the album. Sure some songs may not be as good as others but even the "worst" songs contribute something. In reality, there's not one song that I dislike on this beast of an album and that's really something to marvel at. The Pumpkins create their own definition of epic; the benchmark from which every other epic must be judged. [First added to this chart: 06/13/2016]

Year of Release:

1995

Appears in:

1,503 charts

Rank Score:

14,753

Rank in 1995:

3

Rank in 1990s:

15

Overall Rank:

82

Average Rating:

 83 (1,866 votes)

Comments:

169

10. (=)

Yeezus 

 Kanye West

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The soundscape of this album is unbelievable, the Sgt Pepper of the digital era. I'm constantly amazed by how Kanye keeps evolving his sound and I truly think that this album is ahead of its time in a way that 808s was. Blood on the Leaves is a particular favourite of mine. Nina Simone's hauntingly dreamy voice floating over Kanye's abrasive ramblings about money and fame, reflecting the change in moral corruption between the past and the present. Maybe I'm reading to much into it and I can see how (understandingly) some people are put off by Kanye's persona both in and out of music, but no other modern artist makes me read between the lines as much as Kanye. Praise Yeezus! [First added to this chart: 01/29/2016]

Year of Release:

2013

Appears in:

782 charts

Rank Score:

7,536

Rank in 2013:

4

Rank in 2010s:

23

Overall Rank:

205

Average Rating:

 78 (1,444 votes)

Comments:

156

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Total albums: 42. Page 1 of 5

Top 42 Greatest Music Albums composition

Country	Albums	%
	20	48%
	18	43%
	2	5%
	1	2%
	1	2%

Top 42 Greatest Music Albums chart changes

Top 42 Greatest Music Albums similar charts

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Top 42 Greatest Music Albums similarity to your chart(s)

Top 42 Greatest Music Albums ratings

Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 29 ratings for this chart.

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
85/100  !	02/08/2025 07:32	SomethingSpecial	1,104	85/100
90/100  !	06/24/2021 18:44	MasterOfPuppets	174	91/100
85/100  !	10/06/2020 16:49	leniad	673	85/100
100/100  !	02/21/2020 02:01	DJENNY	4,365	100/100
100/100  !	11/08/2018 23:31	phantom1305	291	92/100

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 2% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 90.4/100, a mean average of 91.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 91.9/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 5.7.

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Top 42 Greatest Music Albums favourites

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Top 42 Greatest Music Albums comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 11 comments |
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Rating:  

90/100

From NowhereMan 01/02/2018 18:45 | #204439

I was in that Stone Roses bar recently that you talk about. A cracking dive. Love the enthusiasm for the Stones, too few out and out Stones maniacs on this site.

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

Rating:  

95/100

From LedZep 04/09/2017 10:42 | #188931

Came back, saw Biffy, saw Lebowski quote and decided to close one eye and ignore Kanye albums. Don't like his music, but that's just, like, my opinion, man

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

Rating:  

80/100

From zrommeke 01/06/2017 08:07 | #181855

Very good chart, but a bit more variation would make it even better.

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

Rating:  

85/100

From platus 01/05/2017 18:15 | #181812

flamboyant chart. I like it.

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

Rating:  

95/100

From jackharrison21 01/05/2017 16:35 | #181809

Wonderful chart, 8 albums in common and some really interesting reading in the comments

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

Rating:  

95/100

From LedZep 09/05/2016 10:54 | #174319

I'm really not a great Kanye fan, but the rest is fantastic

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

Rating:  

90/100

From Davy 08/22/2016 16:49 | #173239

pretty neat

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

Rating:  

95/100

From buzzdainer 07/12/2016 14:46 | #171169

I share your feelings about Tusk, as you know. And your putting two albums by the Stones in your top ten reminds me that I've got to find space for them in my top 100. I love this chart, and I enjoy the pithy notes you've attached to some of your entries. Would love to see more of those!

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

Rating:  

90/100

From WildHorses 05/06/2016 22:53 | #165347

Some great albums here. Hope to see the rest soon!

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

Rating:  

100/100

From martinjaa 01/25/2016 15:38 | #157644

It's great! Exile on Main Street is an incredible album

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

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