Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s
by buzzdainer

The nineties were an adventure-filled, geographically complicated decade for me. I began the decade in college, where I hosted a weekly alternative rock show on the campus radio station and worked part-time at an independent record store. After that I worked in various jobs--high school social studies teacher, naturalist, ESL instructor, food service flunkie, wilderness trip leader, outdoor program director, and (believe it or not) children's television game show host. During the nineties I lived in places as far-flung as Maine, Vermont, New York, Western Australia, Alaska, North Carolina, and South Korea. Songs about travel and displacement were especially meaningful to me.

My musical tastes from the nineties reflect what I was doing at the time. Toward the beginning of the decade I can see the way my involvement in disc jockeying and selling records affected my taste, as there's a lot of alternative rock and underground rock in my collection from that period. Once I moved to North Carolina, I started listening a lot to WNCW, a great community station out of Spindale, which plays a ton of folk, bluegrass, and Americana. A lot of the music I listened to then, and since, is a product of my love for WNCW. As a result, I didn't pay very much attention to developments in boom bap, gangsta rap, shoegaze, post-rock, math rock, metal, or TV soundtracks. I'm retrospectively expanding my tastes into some of those areas. As always, I'd love to receive your feedback on this chart, and I'd appreciate any musical recommendations you might have.

• Chart updated: 07/07/2024 03:45
• (Created: 02/16/2016 18:46).
• Chart size: 100 albums.

• Summary
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65. (=)

4 Nights At The Palais Royale 
Live

 Sloan

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I saw Sloan play live in Burlington, Vermont, in the spring of 1993, and at the time they didn't make much of an impression on me. I wish I'd paid more attention, since this live album is probably my favorite of the entire decade. Sloan developed a cult following of sorts by the late nineties, and you can hear by the enthusiastic screams on this album how much their fans loved their live shows. I think the appeal is how much of a straightforward rock and roll show they put on, despite their somewhat nerdy Canadian aesthetic (they're from Halifax, which has had a pretty great music scene for decades despite the city's small size). For just a solid rock performance, it's tough to go wrong with this record. [First added to this chart: 02/17/2016]

Year of Release:

1999

Appears in:

2 charts

Rank Score:

12

Rank in 1999:

934

Rank in 1990s:

8,083

Overall Rank:

52,913

Average Rating:

 74 (1 vote)

Comments:

1

86. (=)

Spyboy 
Live

 Emmylou Harris

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[First added to this chart: 02/17/2016]

Year of Release:

1998

Appears in:

9 charts

Rank Score:

20

Rank in 1998:

620

Rank in 1990s:

5,912

Overall Rank:

38,343

Average Rating:

 72 (11 votes)

Comments:

0

Total albums: 2. Page 1 of 1

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s composition

Country	Albums	%
	89	89%
	4	4%
	4	4%
	2	2%
	1	1%

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s chart changes

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s similarity to your chart(s)

Other decade charts by buzzdainer

buzzdainer has shared 6 more 1990s decade charts with the community. Browse them all here.

Title	Source	Type	Published	Country
Top 100 Music Albums of the 2020s	buzzdainer	2020s decade chart	2025
Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s	buzzdainer	2010s decade chart	2024
Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s	buzzdainer	2000s decade chart	2024

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s ratings

Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 18 ratings for this chart.

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
95/100  !	05/26/2023 09:09	Johnnyo	2,566	80/100
95/100  !	10/17/2020 06:48	leniad	673	85/100
95/100  !	08/29/2020 03:28	areminder	52	79/100
100/100  !	08/28/2020 23:52	Lgk21	141	95/100
100/100  !	08/28/2020 13:25	LedZep	1,105	84/100

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 1% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 92.5/100, a mean average of 96.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 96.1/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 5.4.

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s comments

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Rating:  

95/100

From Johnnyo 05/26/2023 09:09 | #297234

Outstanding chart. One of the best ‘90’s charts on the site

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

Rating:  

100/100

From Larcx13 12/05/2020 15:41 | #262058

Nice to see Digable Planets all the way up there, though I prefer Blowout Comb. Of course A Tribe Called Quest! Id say check out more releases from Tribe in the 90s as well The Pharcyde, maybe even The Roots. There's also Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Guru from Gang Starr's Jazzmatazz vol. 1, as well as De La Soul for similar music.

Cheers!

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

Rating:  

95/100

From areminder 08/29/2020 03:31 | #257555

What a interesting journey you had. Great chart and wonderful taste, really enjoyed the genuine stories and comments on the albums. Look forward to revisiting some of these albums.

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

Rating:  

100/100

From Lgk21 08/28/2020 23:52 | #257554

This is a killer chart.

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Rating:  

100/100

From Larcx13 08/28/2020 11:17 | #257524

Great effort on here.

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Rating:  

90/100

From CharlieBarley 11/25/2016 23:07 | #179124

Good 90s chart. Like you said 11 in common. Loads of albums for me to check out. Good notes too.

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

Rating:  

100/100

From RoundTheBend 09/09/2016 04:43 | #174587

Your love of music shows well in your memories with it. Fantastic chart and thanks for letting us peak into your experiences with these albums. Oh and The Carnival- skip the skits your first listen - just get into the music.

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

Rating:  

95/100

From Tamthebam 08/13/2016 13:27 | #172844

Once again we have a lot in common and yet enough differences to make it interesting ! I must check out Son Volt,Built To Spill & Blue Mountain. Bjork's albums in the 90's are a must and I think you will like Blur's 13 & k.d. Lang's Ingenue. Brilliant Chart.

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

Rating:  

100/100

From pa 07/26/2016 08:29 | #171833

Thank u so much for your beautiful review on my chart :)
Wow there are plenty of recs here, I love Red House, Emmylou and Yo La Tengo, the albums that u chose from their discographies are quite interesting.
I will get them for sure ;)

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

Rating:  

80/100

From garycottier 07/24/2016 16:24 | #171742

Thank you for kind comments, as always, on my 90's chart. Your chart is again filled with lots of Americana, with again, quite a few albums I'm not familiar with. More to check out I suppose, does it ever end? Anyway, thanks again for your continuing interest in my charts, and for continuing to keep me aware of a lot of other music out there.

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

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