Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by baystateoftheart

How I Stopped Worrying And Learned To Love The Chart (Sort Of)

It would be fair to label me a perfectionist. So naturally, making this chart has been a time-consuming process. Since creating it in 2015, I’ve tested out dozens of different rating criteria, inclusion criteria, note styles, and so on. None of this experimentation has been satisfying, because a chart that represents one’s personal taste is not something that can be perfected unless that taste is static. I guarantee I couldn’t listen to all 100 albums in this chart without my preferences changing in the process, let alone assess recorded music more broadly without radical turnover. So here we are: as a perfectionist, I have come to terms with the fact that this chart will never approach perfection. It will remain a laggy approximation of the music I love. And truthfully, that is all it needs to be. BEA has given me a valuable nudge to let a project be simply good enough.

This introductory reflection serves in place of written notes describing what I love about each of these records. Because while musical preferences ebb and flow, insights and thoughts generated by a piece of music feel more ephemeral still, and that is perhaps as it should be.

Edits to the chart I'm working on:

1. Scoring more of my favorite albums to add them
2. Creating a further listening section for each artist

Now for our regularly-scheduled programming.

• Chart updated: 11/19/2023 15:45
• (Created: 10/09/2015 21:56).
• Chart size: 100 albums.

There are 26 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 91 out of 100 (from 49 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

• Summary
• Composition
• Ratings
• Favourites
• Comments
• Your feedback

View the complete list of 53,000 charts on BestEverAlbums.com from The Charts page.

This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from the 2000s. (Remove this filter)

Sort by

• Overall Rank
• Num. Charts
• Avg. Rating
• Num. Ratings
• Release Date
• Title
• Artist
• Date Added

16. (=)

Boxer 

 The National

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

Indie Rock • Post-Punk Revival

Score: 93.0

Further Listening:

2. Trouble Will Find Me 92.4
3. Alligator TBD 4/5
4. High Violet 81.0
5. Cherry Tree TBD 4/5
6. Sleep Well Beast TBD 3.5/5
7. I Am Easy To Find TBD 3.5/5
8. Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers TBD 3.5/5

~ [First added to this chart: 02/21/2016]

Year of Release:

2007

Appears in:

972 charts

Rank Score:

10,647

Rank in 2007:

4

Rank in 2000s:

22

Overall Rank:

142

Average Rating:

 82 (1,185 votes)

Comments:

91

23. (=)

Donuts 

 J Dilla

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

Instrumental Hip Hop

Score: 92.4

Further Listening:

1a. Jay Deelicious 95-98: The Delicious Vinyl Years TBD 4/5

~ [First added to this chart: 02/21/2016]

Year of Release:

2006

Appears in:

439 charts

Rank Score:

4,516

Rank in 2006:

7

Rank in 2000s:

65

Overall Rank:

396

Average Rating:

 81 (509 votes)

Comments:

23

26. (=)

Untrue 

 Burial

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

Future Garage • Dubstep

Score: 91.8

Further Listening:

1. Rival Dealer TBD 4.5/5
2. Truant / Rough Sleeper TBD 4/5
3. Street Halo TBD 4/5
4. Kindred TBD 3.5/5

~ [First added to this chart: 11/07/2018]

Year of Release:

2007

Appears in:

493 charts

Rank Score:

5,160

Rank in 2007:

8

Rank in 2000s:

55

Overall Rank:

349

Average Rating:

 81 (600 votes)

Comments:

38

48. (=)

Safe Mode: On Certain images on this site may contain adult content and are flagged as 'unsafe'. BestEverAlbums.com does not display these images by default, but you may choose to show or hide these images from your profile page. If you choose to hide these images, you'll see an image with a warning message instead of the actual image. If you choose to show them, you'll see these images no differently than regular (safe) images.

Is This It 

 The Strokes

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

Garage Rock Revival • Indie Rock

Score: 90.0 (US Version)

~ [First added to this chart: 09/24/2017]

Year of Release:

2001

Appears in:

2,401 charts

Rank Score:

33,181

Rank in 2001:

1

Rank in 2000s:

4

Overall Rank:

24

Average Rating:

 86 (2,957 votes)

Comments:

273

66. (=)

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 

 Wilco

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

Indie Rock • Art Rock

Score: 88.4

~ [First added to this chart: 10/09/2015]

Year of Release:

2002

Appears in:

1,637 charts

Rank Score:

20,567

Rank in 2002:

1

Rank in 2000s:

6

Overall Rank:

48

Average Rating:

 85 (1,914 votes)

Comments:

172

70. (=)

Let's Get Out Of This Country 

 Camera Obscura (UK)

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

Twee Pop

Score: 88.4

~ [First added to this chart: 10/09/2015]

Year of Release:

2006

Appears in:

155 charts

Rank Score:

944

Rank in 2006:

24

Rank in 2000s:

290

Overall Rank:

1,788

Average Rating:

 79 (165 votes)

Comments:

7

76. (=)

The Life Pursuit 

 Belle And Sebastian

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

Indie Pop • Chamber Pop • Indie Rock

Score: 88.2

~ [First added to this chart: 11/05/2017]

Year of Release:

2006

Appears in:

260 charts

Rank Score:

1,474

Rank in 2006:

16

Rank in 2000s:

190

Overall Rank:

1,199

Average Rating:

 79 (318 votes)

Comments:

18

90. (=)

Devotion 

 Beach House

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

Dream Pop • Indie Pop

Score: 87.4

~ [First added to this chart: 02/28/2016]

Year of Release:

2008

Appears in:

200 charts

Rank Score:

1,185

Rank in 2008:

16

Rank in 2000s:

235

Overall Rank:

1,456

Average Rating:

 78 (300 votes)

Comments:

7

97. (=)

Since I Left You 

 The Avalanches

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

Plunderphonics • Dance • Nu-Disco

Score: 86.8

~ [First added to this chart: 08/31/2017]

Year of Release:

2000

Appears in:

806 charts

Rank Score:

8,824

Rank in 2000:

4

Rank in 2000s:

30

Overall Rank:

185

Average Rating:

 82 (920 votes)

Comments:

67

99. (100) 1

Give Up 

 The Postal Service

Buy album

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• #Sponsored

Indietronica • Indie Pop

Score: 86.6

~ [First added to this chart: 10/09/2015]

Year of Release:

2003

Appears in:

520 charts

Rank Score:

4,149

Rank in 2003:

7

Rank in 2000s:

73

Overall Rank:

434

Average Rating:

 79 (671 votes)

Comments:

27

Total albums: 10. Page 1 of 1

Don't agree with this chart? Create your own from the My Charts page!

Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition

Decade	Albums	%
1930s	0	0%
1940s	0	0%
1950s	0	0%
1960s	15	15%
1970s	29	29%
1980s	8	8%
1990s	11	11%
2000s	10	10%
2010s	27	27%
2020s	0	0%

Artist	Albums	%
Fela Kuti & Africa 70	8	8%
Jenny Hval	3	3%
Curtis Mayfield	3	3%
Joni Mitchell	3	3%
Kendrick Lamar	2	2%
The Beach Boys	2	2%
The Magnetic Fields	2	2%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	53	53%
	17	17%
	9	9%
	8	8%
	3	3%
	2	2%
	2	2%
Show all

Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes

Biggest climbers
Up 1 from 100th to 99th Give Up by The Postal Service

New entries
The Dock Of The Bay by Otis Redding

Leavers
Outside Your Room EP by Slowdive

Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similar charts

• Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Sandinistar (2019)
• Top 86 Music Albums of the 1970s by baystateoftheart (2024)
• Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by DrewCox2 (2018)
• Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Space-Dementia (2019)
• PPV Overall Ranking by bea (2021)
• BEA 100 (One Album per Artist) by BozoTyrannus (2020)
• Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Tidus1997 (2020)
• Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Lisandro (2023)
• Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by colonelchibbers (2024)
• RYM Average Rating by Imaybeparanoid (2016)

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 49 ratings for this chart.

Sort ratings

• Rating
• Date updated
• Member

Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
95/100	11/12/2023 22:42	Johnnyo	2,014	80/100
95/100	01/09/2022 23:23	AAL2014	163	92/100
95/100	10/19/2021 04:43	seb7	105	91/100
100/100	02/17/2021 05:53	pjohnsongolf	273	89/100
100/100	12/03/2020 18:06	RoundTheBend	374	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 90.6/100, a mean average of 91.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 91.6/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 7.4.

• Related links:
• Top charts

Please log in or register if you want to be able to leave a rating

Top 100 Greatest Music Albums favourites

Showing all 6 members who have added this chart as a favourite

seb7

Thad

Cheboygan74

Rockdrigo

ERadio

travelful

Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 26 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Maximum Rated First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  

95/100

From Johnnyo 11/12/2023 22:42

Fantastic chart

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

Rating:  

95/100

From seb7 10/19/2021 04:45

Great list of a lot of awesome albums spanning basically all years and genres. Love it! Thanks for your rating on my chart 😊

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

Rating:  

95/100

From pctrooper 04/24/2020 21:44

This is an excellent chart and I like your soul and hip-hop picks. Thanks for recommending Kate Tempest to me.

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

Rating:  

95/100

From ForegroundNoise 11/22/2019 08:43

Really fascinating mix of classic and contemporary side-by-side. I love the approach you take to your chart making as well, a few written notes and this would be a top-rated chart for me!!

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

Rating:  

90/100

From mickilennial 11/16/2019 08:23

"4 artists in common"

this is a cursed image

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

Rating:  

95/100

From Jameth 09/27/2019 18:07

I had a blast surveying your chart Bay! You're genre selection is rangier than most, keep it up. Even with all of the genres on display, you obviously have an underlying predilection for the sugary, yet you do a great job of separating the good from the saccharine. I don't think I do a very good job of letting pop work its magic, but I do know where I'm coming if I'm in need of something sweet.

There are a bunch of picks from the back half of your chart that I'm gonna queue up, that I haven't already...Blowout Comb, Construção, and a few others.

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

Rating:  

90/100

From DommeDamian 10/26/2018 15:09

Your diversity's on top. Illmatic, Blood On The Tracks, SILY, etc. Check out my chart.

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

Rating:  

95/100

From Boltzmann 03/17/2018 13:55

I saw you put Here’s Little Richard at no. 1 in your ‘50s chart, so I thought your all time chart must be good. I was not wrong.
Nice to see Carly Rae Jepsen and The Ronettes unironically on a chart.
Great work!

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

Rating:  

70/100

From C_Krug2009 03/15/2018 19:15

Glad to see FlyLo!

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

Rating:  

95/100

From LedZep 02/02/2018 21:14

Love the way you rate songs on albums and rank all the albums of a certain band. Also Pet Sounds is so good!

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

Please log in or register if you want to be able to add a comment

Your feedback for Top 100 Greatest Music Albums

Let us know what you think of this chart by adding a comment or assigning a rating below!