Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
by Giant2015 
These are all albums that mean a lot to me. All of these have changed my life in one way or another, and if you're just discovering some of them from this chart then I hope they bring you as much enjoyment as they did for me. Having to narrow this chart down to 100 albums was much harder than I thought it was going to be, but I ended up sticking with the ones that physically hurt me to cut out of the list. There are more than a thousand other ones I could have chosen from, and I'll probably end up doing a 101-200 chart when I have time if anyone's curious. Also writing these descriptions for each album is taking way longer than I thought so I'll update them periodically when I get around to it.
Honorable mentions:
Low - Things We Lost in the Fire
Adrianne Lenker - Bright Future
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
Vince Guaraldi - A Charlie Brown Christmas
AJJ - Knife Man
Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
Beach House - Teen Dream
Zach Bryan - Zach Bryan
Taylor Swift - Folklore
Ron Sexsmith - Retriever
The Mothers of Invention - Freak Out!!
Current favourite songs:
Helplessness Blues - Fleet Foxes
Never Meant - American Football
Isn't It a Pity - George Harrison
Venice Bitch - Lana Del Rey
I Know the End - Phoebe Bridgers
I Wish I Was the Moon - Neko Case
Clementine - Elliott Smith
Something to Believe - Weyes Blood
Cow - Sparklehorse
Fall on Me - R.E.M.
Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales - Car Seat Headrest
- Chart updated: 07/27/2025 18:15
- (Created: 06/29/2015 21:52).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 22 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 90 out of 100 (from 50 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 2020s. (Remove this filter)
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Indie pop; shoegaze; noise pop; jangle pop; neo-psychedelia
"I dropped out / College education's a dull knife"
Favourite songs: "Pharmacist", "Easy On Your Own?", "Tile By Tile", "Belinda Says"
"I dropped out / College education's a dull knife"
Favourite songs: "Pharmacist", "Easy On Your Own?", "Tile By Tile", "Belinda Says"
Year of Release:
2022
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,908
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Indie folk; indie rock; Americana; singer-songwriter
"What's it gonna take? To free the celestial body"
Favourite songs: "Change", "Spud Infinity", "Little Things", "Blurred View", "Dried Roses", "No Reason", "12,000 Lines", "Simulation Swarm"
"What's it gonna take? To free the celestial body"
Favourite songs: "Change", "Spud Infinity", "Little Things", "Blurred View", "Dried Roses", "No Reason", "12,000 Lines", "Simulation Swarm"
Year of Release:
2022
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,158
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Dance-pop; synthpop; pop rock; singer-songwriter
"Baby, do you like this beat? I made it so you'd dance with me"
Favourite songs: "Femininomenon", "Casual", "Pink Pony Club", "Naked in Manhattan"
"Baby, do you like this beat? I made it so you'd dance with me"
Favourite songs: "Femininomenon", "Casual", "Pink Pony Club", "Naked in Manhattan"
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Neo-psychedelia; art rock; glam rock; hypnagogic pop; psychedelic soul
"Tell me, is this confidential love?"
Favourite songs: "Gospel for a New Century", "Kerosene", "Romanticist", "Dream Palette"
"Tell me, is this confidential love?"
Favourite songs: "Gospel for a New Century", "Kerosene", "Romanticist", "Dream Palette"
Year of Release:
2020
Appears in:
Rank Score:
853
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Dance-pop; R&B; alt-pop; alternative rock
"Excuse my ego, can't go incognito / Every time you see me it's like winning big in Reno"
Favourite songs: "STFU", "Comme des Garçons (Like the Boys)", "Bad Friend", "Tokyo Love Hotel"
"Excuse my ego, can't go incognito / Every time you see me it's like winning big in Reno"
Favourite songs: "STFU", "Comme des Garçons (Like the Boys)", "Bad Friend", "Tokyo Love Hotel"
Year of Release:
2020
Appears in:
Rank Score:
698
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Dance-pop; EDM; bubblegum bass
"She's a radiant mother and he's a beautiful father / And now they both know these things that I don't"
Favourite songs: "360", "Club Classics", "Talk Talk", "Rewind"
"She's a radiant mother and he's a beautiful father / And now they both know these things that I don't"
Favourite songs: "360", "Club Classics", "Talk Talk", "Rewind"
Year of Release:
2024
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,964
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Total albums: 6. Page 1 of 1
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 5 | 5% | |
| 1970s | 25 | 25% | |
| 1980s | 9 | 9% | |
| 1990s | 13 | 13% | |
| 2000s | 24 | 24% | |
| 2010s | 18 | 18% | |
| 2020s | 6 | 6% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Joanna Newsom | 2 | 2% | |
| Elliott Smith | 2 | 2% | |
| Kate Bush | 1 | 1% | |
| Tyler, The Creator | 1 | 1% | |
| Billy Joel | 1 | 1% | |
| Belle And Sebastian | 1 | 1% | |
| Big Thief | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| |
52 | 52% | |
 |
27 | 27% | |
| |
9 | 9% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 47 from 66th to 19th Clube Da Esquina by Milton Nascimento / Lô Borges |
| Up 44 from 77th to 33rd Karma by Pharoah Sanders |
| Up 43 from 83rd to 40th Fantasies by Metric |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 55 from 21st to 76th Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends by Coldplay |
| Down 54 from 41st to 95th Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones |
| Down 53 from 15th to 68th Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? by of Montreal |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
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| My Personal Ranking of Best Ever Albums' Top 100 |  Xxnu99etxX | Custom chart | 2022 | |
| If The BEA Overall Chart Had A One Album Per Artist Rule... |  Romanelli | Custom chart | 2025 | |
| Albums To LIsten To for One Peach Martine Pt 1 | smrtboi2120 | Custom chart | 2022 |  |
| Ya joking? Should've been higher! All Time edition |  Purplepash | Custom chart | 2025 | |
| My Most Scrobbled Artists |  Rhyner | Custom chart | 2021 | |
| Overall for yours truly |  RoundTheBend | Custom chart | 2020 | |
| Rearrange Top 100 |  Larcx13 | Custom chart | 2020 |  |
| Going With My Gut: The Overall Chart Top 100 Re-ranked |  CharlieBarley | Custom chart | 2024 | |
| My Ranking of the BEA top 100 |  sszwalbenest | Custom chart | 2021 | |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similarity to your chart(s)
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums 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 50 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/25/2025 12:55 | Johnnyo | 2,548 | 80/100 |
| ! | 03/20/2025 16:53 |  SomethingSpecial | 1,105 | 85/100 |
| ! | 01/15/2025 17:22 | Exist-en-ciel | 125 | 99/100 |
| ! | 12/11/2023 18:06 | skrapoel | 7 | 92/100 |
| ! | 03/25/2021 20:02 | Rhyner | 1,454 | 99/100 |
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 3% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 89.9/100, a mean average of 90.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 90.7/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 8.8.
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums favourites
Showing all 4 members who have added this chart as a favourite
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 22 comments |
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From Johnnyo 08/25/2025 12:56 | #310677
Very good chart. Like it a lot.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
StefanR10 06/13/2020 10:11 | #253422
StefanR10 06/13/2020 10:11 | #253422
I like your chart very good artists and some underrated musicians i give you a high rating for the collection. Good taste.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
VitorHugoP 09/11/2019 03:17 | #242443
VitorHugoP 09/11/2019 03:17 | #242443
David Bowie is not even close to being proto punk, but good chart nevertheless
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
ForegroundNoise 08/27/2019 06:59 | #241734
ForegroundNoise 08/27/2019 06:59 | #241734
I'm revisiting this chart and my comment on it since it was chart of the day again a couple of days ago.
Whatever reason I gave it an 80 before clearly doesn't hold now; the detail you've put into each note both with your rating and album score is a really nice touch. I get a strong sense of your personality and taste from this lovely chart so I have upped my score accordingly :)
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
ExTeaSea 08/23/2019 10:25 | #241580
ExTeaSea 08/23/2019 10:25 | #241580
Love this chart! Love how high you rated Feels by Animal Collective, it's excellent. Nice seeing St. Vincent on a top 100. Perhaps I shall put one of hers on my main chart.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
gidgidi 06/19/2019 22:07 | #237894
gidgidi 06/19/2019 22:07 | #237894
Great chart!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Ashmark 03/02/2019 15:49 | #232871
Fantastic list and the work you have put in to it is greatly appreciated. Thank you for your descriptions and explanations because allows others (less knowledgeable like me) to check out albums they are not familiar or intimate with. What makes your list a 100 for me is the diversity of musical genres, your interesting ranking of albums by some of the great artists (for god’s sake where is Dark Side of the Moon) and the inclusion of lower ranked albums generally that you have personally connected with. Not pretentious at all, I will be checking out your other charts. By the way, I felt the same way as you about the Stones but recently came to love Exile as a whole album. Cheers! [I love Japan- Obscure Alternatives; Gord Downie-Coke Machine Glow]
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Lukeanaderdude 01/21/2019 02:52 | #230165
Lukeanaderdude 01/21/2019 02:52 | #230165
Very nice list! Lots of great albums all varied in different genres and decades too. Nice Job!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From RoundTheBend 01/20/2019 16:19 | #230105
RoundTheBend 01/20/2019 16:19 | #230105
Solid!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From manurock 01/20/2019 12:56 | #230085
Great chart. Can't say I agree with every album you have on the top spots but, hey, it's a personal chart that I respect and I like your comments. Also, though we have not that many albums in common, some of them are ones which I don't tend to have in common with other users.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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