Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
by 
meruizh 
I ask myself every now and then why I love music so much? Why has it become some sort of an addiction? To listen to new albums every chance I get, with every minute of my spare time trying to get my hands on my favorite records. I have come to realize that I am submerged in this crazy world of music, in which the last thing I am thinking off before going to bed is: “What album am I going to play tomorrow?”
I once read an article that mentioned that obsessive music listeners tend to be depressive people. At first it had me questioning me if this was really true. Am I just listening to stuff in order to give some sort of meaning to life? But music is not meant to give definition to your life; music is just part of it. When you play a specific album that creates a scenery in your head of a romantic night, or when you play some “depressive” album when you are in a down mood, music will always give you a hand.
In my case, music has something special I cannot find in anything else. I often find myself in the desperate need for it. It is a sort of “click” a song or an album can have in you. It is something I cannot describe with words. This “click” comes in rare occasions, but when it happens, it is like magic. It is an incredible feeling.
Music wakes me up and accompanies me throughout my day. Every single album, song or lyric are part of me. However, at the end, I think nothing gives me more pleasure than to share this passion, this small treasure I get from music, with the people I care about the most.
I am trying to give a comment on each album, not an album review, but a reflection, which tells you a bit of my experience with the album, or why I like it so much.
- Chart updated: 12/12/2018 18:45
- (Created: 12/30/2010 22:51).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 75 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 90 out of 100 (from 108 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
View the complete list of 57,000 charts on BestEverAlbums.com from The Charts page.
This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from The National. (Remove this filter)
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The National was the last great band that has had a transcendental impact in my life. It was during the summer of 2010, I bought a ticket to see Vampire Weekend, the concert was a double headliner along with The National. I didn’t know the National at all. I gave a listen to Boxer and High Violet, just to see what the band was about. I gave them a single listen, and just as background music. The day of the concert came, and the National played first. After and hour and a half I just couldn’t believe what I was experiencing. I really didn’t get why I was so amazed with songs I’ve never heard in my life.
“It’s a terrible love and I’m walking with spiders. It’s quiet company”
“Terrible Love” it’s the opener, and I cant decide what I love most the high school poetry in the lyrics or the music around it. They both build themselves around each other to finally reach the epic climax in the last minute of the song.
“Sorrow” strikes me as a very tragic song but beautiful in many ways. It’s like falling in love with you own sadness. The sadness that has been part your whole life and just cant get behind. You immerse yourself in this feeling, you cant get over it.
"Sorrow's the girl inside my cake"
“Anyone’s Ghost” it’s impressive, you find yourself trapped in you own exile. Floating in and out of life, in the shadow of your own depression. This line sums up every feeling in the song. “Say, you stay at home. Alone with the flu. Find out from friends that wasn't true. Go out at night with your headphones on, again. And walk through the Manhattan valleys of the dead”
“Little Faith” can strike you as one of the weakest songs, but then again it’s so emotional. Like being trapped in an ongoing crisis with no apparent solution, you drift with no direction.
In “Afraid of Everyone” we struggle to find a way to make sense of it all, to find ourselves. Feeling the emptiness of our current lives with the repetitive routine of our daily lives. The days go on, over and over, one day indistinguishable from the next. A long continuous chain. Then suddenly there is a change.
“Bloodbuzz Ohio”. I still cant find peace. You go back to the home that took care of you for so many years. The home you can remember perfectly. Only when you arrive you feel alienated.
“Lemonworld”. You are tired everything, you’re done with your issues. “I'm too tired to drive anyway, anyway right now”. You find yourself in this imaginary place where for a split second everything just seems fine. You want to sit in and forget about life for a while.
“Runaway”. …. “what makes you think I'm enjoying being led to the flood?”
“Conversation 16” throws one of the most brilliant lines in the album, “I was afraid, I'd eat your brains 'Cause I'm evil”. And in my personal opinion is one of the crudest songs ever, but you cant take it literally or it’ll eat you alive. The whole band creates an atmosphere of ominous, swirling mist.
“England” comes on and we're hit completely unexpectedly with the sudden realization that it's the penultimate on the record. And it’s one that will uplift you no matter what state you are in. You’ll end up screaming “Afraid of the house, stay the night with the sinners” for the rest of the night.
Finally, my favorite song on the album “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks”. It’s also the song the band plays a-cappella in their concerts. It’s that type of song you want to hold your love from behind, slow dancing throughout the lovely melody, singing your heart out and kissing the girl in the last chords. [First added to this chart: 12/30/2010]
“It’s a terrible love and I’m walking with spiders. It’s quiet company”
“Terrible Love” it’s the opener, and I cant decide what I love most the high school poetry in the lyrics or the music around it. They both build themselves around each other to finally reach the epic climax in the last minute of the song.
“Sorrow” strikes me as a very tragic song but beautiful in many ways. It’s like falling in love with you own sadness. The sadness that has been part your whole life and just cant get behind. You immerse yourself in this feeling, you cant get over it.
"Sorrow's the girl inside my cake"
“Anyone’s Ghost” it’s impressive, you find yourself trapped in you own exile. Floating in and out of life, in the shadow of your own depression. This line sums up every feeling in the song. “Say, you stay at home. Alone with the flu. Find out from friends that wasn't true. Go out at night with your headphones on, again. And walk through the Manhattan valleys of the dead”
“Little Faith” can strike you as one of the weakest songs, but then again it’s so emotional. Like being trapped in an ongoing crisis with no apparent solution, you drift with no direction.
In “Afraid of Everyone” we struggle to find a way to make sense of it all, to find ourselves. Feeling the emptiness of our current lives with the repetitive routine of our daily lives. The days go on, over and over, one day indistinguishable from the next. A long continuous chain. Then suddenly there is a change.
“Bloodbuzz Ohio”. I still cant find peace. You go back to the home that took care of you for so many years. The home you can remember perfectly. Only when you arrive you feel alienated.
“Lemonworld”. You are tired everything, you’re done with your issues. “I'm too tired to drive anyway, anyway right now”. You find yourself in this imaginary place where for a split second everything just seems fine. You want to sit in and forget about life for a while.
“Runaway”. …. “what makes you think I'm enjoying being led to the flood?”
“Conversation 16” throws one of the most brilliant lines in the album, “I was afraid, I'd eat your brains 'Cause I'm evil”. And in my personal opinion is one of the crudest songs ever, but you cant take it literally or it’ll eat you alive. The whole band creates an atmosphere of ominous, swirling mist.
“England” comes on and we're hit completely unexpectedly with the sudden realization that it's the penultimate on the record. And it’s one that will uplift you no matter what state you are in. You’ll end up screaming “Afraid of the house, stay the night with the sinners” for the rest of the night.
Finally, my favorite song on the album “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks”. It’s also the song the band plays a-cappella in their concerts. It’s that type of song you want to hold your love from behind, slow dancing throughout the lovely melody, singing your heart out and kissing the girl in the last chords. [First added to this chart: 12/30/2010]
Year of Release:
2010
Appears in:
Rank Score:
10,606
Rank in 2010:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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The National is one of those bands that work perfectly for me. Their songs are filled with middle life crisis and depressing lyrics about life. The constant melancholy that's a huge part of the band's sound has always been the stand-out emotion for me in them and, as horridly cringy and clichéd as this sounds, the music acted as an emotional channeling point whenever I happened to feel low in spirit. The National is one of very few bands that make music I can connect instantly, it makes me feel a kind of rush you can only describe as a drug. I may spend hours listening to music trying to find this feeling, this crazy feeling I could never describe, and very few times I would be able to reach it. “Boxer” gives me this short moment where everything is clear, just a split of a second where I forget about life for a while. I feel at ease. They act as a sonic pillow to calm me down whenever my thoughts are rushing to my head. Berninger's half-awake mumbling is one of those voices that could soothe anything immediately.
This fairly explains my attachment to this album. It's a calm, even somewhat soothing album. Of the band's children it's the characteristically quiet one, leaving the big rock songs and faster moments to the other albums. When I refer this album as relaxing or calm it’s because the “Boxer” has accompanied me in very long nights, were anxious waiting moments were killing me, a lot of moments where nothing else works.
It took a fair while for Boxer to reach the position it is now. A grower as many other The National albums, filled with gems that can only be discovered with several listens. When I first listened to this album, back in 2010 it was less of a five-star experience and more general confusion over the praise over it. At first the album sounds nothing special, even ordinary. You don't really think much about it. But each listen you find something new there - a particular musical detail that sounds too good to have ever been missed out on, a piece of lyrics that hits fast and hard all of a sudden, the revelation that Matt Berninger’s mumbly voice is an incredible weapon, and so forth. Each listen a different song opens up in a way that one doesn't even realize some of this stuff was there on the previous listens. The final result becomes a hypnotic curve of looking for a reward - you feel compelled towards the album because you begin to realize that each and every listen you’ll find something new and you desire to hear that new experience. It becomes impossible to stop playing the album and by the time things begin to rationalize again, you're already deep in the album's world. From an album that started out as one incredible song and 11 not so impressive follow-ups, it's become an incredible 12-song journey.
“Boxer” is the perfect capsulation of worn and bittersweet loneliness, the sort of music you listen to while you gaze out of the window at night, look at the world outside and think about the moment and life around you. The lyrics, the textual capsulations of wasted moments, crushed hopes, realizations that things aren't as good as they used to be, mid-life apathy in incredibly strong words with a strong helping of desert-dry dark sense of humor to them.
"Boxer" becomes a personal love for you despite so many others who are fawning over the album elsewhere. It sounds close to your soul and the music seems like it was written for you, about you even when the lyrics are nowhere near your life. Despite all the melancholy and moments of defeat throughout the album, still reaches the feeling of relaxation, feeling at ease with yourself. It's like falling asleep in the arms of someone you love. [First added to this chart: 12/30/2010]
This fairly explains my attachment to this album. It's a calm, even somewhat soothing album. Of the band's children it's the characteristically quiet one, leaving the big rock songs and faster moments to the other albums. When I refer this album as relaxing or calm it’s because the “Boxer” has accompanied me in very long nights, were anxious waiting moments were killing me, a lot of moments where nothing else works.
It took a fair while for Boxer to reach the position it is now. A grower as many other The National albums, filled with gems that can only be discovered with several listens. When I first listened to this album, back in 2010 it was less of a five-star experience and more general confusion over the praise over it. At first the album sounds nothing special, even ordinary. You don't really think much about it. But each listen you find something new there - a particular musical detail that sounds too good to have ever been missed out on, a piece of lyrics that hits fast and hard all of a sudden, the revelation that Matt Berninger’s mumbly voice is an incredible weapon, and so forth. Each listen a different song opens up in a way that one doesn't even realize some of this stuff was there on the previous listens. The final result becomes a hypnotic curve of looking for a reward - you feel compelled towards the album because you begin to realize that each and every listen you’ll find something new and you desire to hear that new experience. It becomes impossible to stop playing the album and by the time things begin to rationalize again, you're already deep in the album's world. From an album that started out as one incredible song and 11 not so impressive follow-ups, it's become an incredible 12-song journey.
“Boxer” is the perfect capsulation of worn and bittersweet loneliness, the sort of music you listen to while you gaze out of the window at night, look at the world outside and think about the moment and life around you. The lyrics, the textual capsulations of wasted moments, crushed hopes, realizations that things aren't as good as they used to be, mid-life apathy in incredibly strong words with a strong helping of desert-dry dark sense of humor to them.
"Boxer" becomes a personal love for you despite so many others who are fawning over the album elsewhere. It sounds close to your soul and the music seems like it was written for you, about you even when the lyrics are nowhere near your life. Despite all the melancholy and moments of defeat throughout the album, still reaches the feeling of relaxation, feeling at ease with yourself. It's like falling asleep in the arms of someone you love. [First added to this chart: 12/30/2010]
Year of Release:
2007
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,501
Rank in 2007:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
This album hasn't even come out officially and I can say this is their 4th masterpiece in a row. I don't know if you've noticed every The National album comes with a pair. "The National-Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers", "Alligator-Boxer", and finally "High Violet-Trouble Will Find Me" make a perfect match. This album is as good as their predecessor, I can't say better, because well High Violet is in my top 5. People were expecting more huge-cliche chorus or endings of the songs, but The National surprised us by looking to their own roots. This is not a album that will hit the mainstream, this a classic The National album, which needs at least 4 or 5 listens to discover the gems its has in it. I feel so identified with the lyrics and the music, it's just crazy I can't stop listening to it. LONG LIVE THE NATIONAL!!! "This Is The Last Time", "Sea of Love", "Graceless", "I Should Live in Salt" and "Pink Rabbit" best tracks
[First added to this chart: 05/17/2013]
Year of Release:
2013
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,791
Rank in 2013:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 3. 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 | 11 | 11% | |
| 1970s | 8 | 8% | |
| 1980s | 8 | 8% | |
| 1990s | 23 | 23% | |
| 2000s | 31 | 31% | |
| 2010s | 19 | 19% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Radiohead | 5 | 5% | |
| The Beatles | 4 | 4% | |
| Arcade Fire | 3 | 3% | |
| The National | 3 | 3% | |
| Coldplay | 3 | 3% | |
| Pink Floyd | 3 | 3% | |
| Oasis | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
 |
41 | 41% | |
| |
40 | 40% | |
 |
6 | 6% | |
 |
5 | 5% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 14 from 99th to 85th Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven by Godspeed You! Black Emperor |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 85th to 86th † [Cross] by Justice (FR) |
| Down 1 from 86th to 87th Parachutes by Coldplay |
| Down 1 from 87th to 88th Selected Ambient Works 85-92 by Aphex Twin |
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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 108 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 03/20/2025 17:25 |  SomethingSpecial | 1,105 | 85/100 |
| ! | 03/12/2019 22:17 |  ForegroundNoise | 473 | 87/100 |
| ! | 03/09/2019 03:39 | bkogz | 45 | 92/100 |
| ! | 03/08/2019 18:47 |  greatson | 906 | 80/100 |
| ! | 03/08/2019 16:20 |  Rhyner | 1,456 | 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 89.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 90.3/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 10.0.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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From ForegroundNoise 03/12/2019 22:25 | #233432
ForegroundNoise 03/12/2019 22:25 | #233432
God I am astounded by your notes, truly something to be proud of. That said you seem to be someone much more comfortable in the modern era, with many of your older pics being slanted towards the classics. The 70s and 80s (the former especially!!) I think could do with a little more love, so here's a couple from those decades I think you might enjoy:
The Stooges - Fun House
Vashti Bunyan - Just Another Diamond Day
Brian Eno - Another Green World
Hiroshi Yoshimura - Music For Nine Postcards
Dinosaur Jr - You're Living All Over Me
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From greatson 03/08/2019 18:47 | #233224
greatson 03/08/2019 18:47 | #233224
well done!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
nitomano 04/22/2017 06:31 | #189660
nitomano 04/22/2017 06:31 | #189660
Great chart!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From LedZep 04/19/2017 11:54 | #189513
LedZep 04/19/2017 11:54 | #189513
I like the descriptions very much, but it's not that diverse (not talking about Radiohead, more about the lack of pre 90s albums). It's a great chart nontheless
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Strangel 10/19/2016 11:46 | #177150
Strangel 10/19/2016 11:46 | #177150
You're obviously still young but you write like you've been a music connoisseur for 30+ years. A shit load of time and effort put into this and I really enjoyed reading your summaries on the impact each album has had on you.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Davy 05/27/2016 08:06 | #167012
Davy 05/27/2016 08:06 | #167012
I normally don't give a 100/100-rating, but your chart deserves every single point. You manage to explain what everyone on this website is feeling about music and the amount of effort you put into this chart and these comments is amazing. Chapeau, señor
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
ShadowColossi 04/02/2016 14:55 | #163150
ShadowColossi 04/02/2016 14:55 | #163150
Helllll yeah. Love this. Love the comments- Even longer than mine! Very well constructed list, can tell the music on this chart is very important to you.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
craola 07/28/2015 21:21 | #146643
craola 07/28/2015 21:21 | #146643
props on the album comments. really well put together with lots to say.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
awesomness425 06/01/2015 22:47 | #142833
awesomness425 06/01/2015 22:47 | #142833
These Notes Are On Point and the album choices are good as well (You Said a lot of Radiohead..pfft...i have the whole discography and thier live album), but also i saw a good amount of post-rock and you're right it's quite an interesting genre. I don't know if i'd put any on my list because as good as i know it is i just don't give the albums much listens...its something i listen to while lying on bed or when looking up at the cloud's or something, but Mogwai's Young Team or Sigur Ros' Agaetus Byrjun...Tied To be my favorite chart on this website...If you haven't already i reccomend Smashing Pumpkins
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (2 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From 
Laurence 03/31/2015 12:55 | #138402
Laurence 03/31/2015 12:55 | #138402
Great chart! Love your notes as well, (though I haven't read them all yet) especially those for Doolittle - they're spot on!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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