Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by 
Onater 
I've been listening to music as albums rather than individual songs since July 2015, and every album on this list is one I have discovered in that time. I previously had 3 favourite tracks from each album in chronological order. I changed that to 2-5 favourite tracks from each in order from best to worst, but now I've decided that I don't need any limit on how many favourite tracks.
I've pretty much moved this over to Rateyourmusic at https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Onater/onaters-top-however-many-albums-2/ because they allow more than 100 there.
Just updated this for the first time in a while and good god was it out of date. The comments and favourite tracks probably still are but whatever. I may have cheated a bit and snuck in a compilation or two.
My Top 20 songs of all time:
20. Tim Buckley - Song To The Siren (Starsailor, 1970)
19. Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come (Ain't That Good News, 1964)
18. Kermit - The Rainbow Connection (The Muppet Movie, 1979)
17. Television - Marquee Moon (Marquee Moon, 1977)
16. Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road (Born To Run, 1975)
15. Joanna Newsom - Peach, Plum, Pear (The Milk-Eyed Mender, 2004)
14. LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends (Sound Of Silver, 2007)
13. Animal Collective - Fireworks (Strawberry Jam, 2007)
12. Sonic Youth - The Diamond Sea (Washing Machine, 1995)
11. Gordon Lightfoot - If You Could Read My Mind (If You Could Read My Mind, 1970)
10. Car Seat Headrest - Beach Life-In-Death (Twin Fantasy, 2018)
9. Joanna Newsom - Cosmia (Ys, 2006)
8. R.E.M. - Nightswimming (Automatic For The People, 1992)
7. Joanna Newsom - Sawdust & Diamonds (Ys, 2006)
6. The Tragically Hip - Escape Is At Hand For The Travellin' Man (Phantom Power, 1998)
5. David Bowie - "Heroes" ("Heroes", 1977)
4. Talking Heads - This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) (Speaking In Tongues, 1983)
3. The Tragically Hip - Bobcaygeon (Phantom Power, 1998)
2. Joanna Newsom - Only Skin (Ys, 2006)
1. The Tragically Hip - Ahead By A Century (Trouble At The Henhouse, 1996)
- Chart updated: 07/26/2019 07:15
- (Created: 04/30/2016 05:27).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 31 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 92 out of 100 (from 86 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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"And now we rise, and we are everywhere."
First listen August 2016
Favourite Tracks: From The Morning, Pink Moon, Place To Be, Road, Which Will, Things Behind The Sun [First added to this chart: 08/01/2017]
First listen August 2016
Favourite Tracks: From The Morning, Pink Moon, Place To Be, Road, Which Will, Things Behind The Sun [First added to this chart: 08/01/2017]
Year of Release:
1972
Appears in:
Rank Score:
20,139
Rank in 1972:
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
142
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"Why can't we all just walk away."
I'm considering this as the entire Inmost Light trilogy 'cause you just can't separate them from each other.
Favourite Tracks: The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home, The Blood Bells Chime, Calling For Vanished Faces II, The Frolic, Patripassian, The Inmost Light Itself [First added to this chart: 04/15/2019]
I'm considering this as the entire Inmost Light trilogy 'cause you just can't separate them from each other.
Favourite Tracks: The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home, The Blood Bells Chime, Calling For Vanished Faces II, The Frolic, Patripassian, The Inmost Light Itself [First added to this chart: 04/15/2019]
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"I may make you feel, but I can't make you think. Your sperm's in the gutter, your love's in the sink."
"I may make you feel, but I can't make you think. Your sperm's in the gutter, your love's in the sink."
In an attempt to make fun of the genre of prog rock, Jethro Tull ended up accidentally making the greatest prog rock album of all time. It's like what I imagine it would sound like if Monty Python wrote a progressive rock album. As for my track ranking, I'm using the named sections from the 40th anniversary edition.
First listen July 2016
Favourite Tracks: Really Don't Mind/See There a Son Is Born, You Curl Your Toes in Fun/Childhood Heroes/Stabs Instrumental, Tales Of Your Life [First added to this chart: 07/19/2016]
"I may make you feel, but I can't make you think. Your sperm's in the gutter, your love's in the sink."
In an attempt to make fun of the genre of prog rock, Jethro Tull ended up accidentally making the greatest prog rock album of all time. It's like what I imagine it would sound like if Monty Python wrote a progressive rock album. As for my track ranking, I'm using the named sections from the 40th anniversary edition.
First listen July 2016
Favourite Tracks: Really Don't Mind/See There a Son Is Born, You Curl Your Toes in Fun/Childhood Heroes/Stabs Instrumental, Tales Of Your Life [First added to this chart: 07/19/2016]
Year of Release:
1972
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,166
Rank in 1972:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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"One day, I am going to grow wings, a chemical reaction, hysterical and useless, hysterical and..."
I've listened to this album at least a hundred times, and I swear, it just gets better every time. Every single track from it has been my favourite at some point (yes, even Fitter Happier).
First listen February 2016
Favourite Tracks: Let Down, No Surprises, Exit Music (For A Film), Paranoid Android, Airbag, The Tourist [First added to this chart: 05/17/2016]
I've listened to this album at least a hundred times, and I swear, it just gets better every time. Every single track from it has been my favourite at some point (yes, even Fitter Happier).
First listen February 2016
Favourite Tracks: Let Down, No Surprises, Exit Music (For A Film), Paranoid Android, Airbag, The Tourist [First added to this chart: 05/17/2016]
Year of Release:
1997
Appears in:
Rank Score:
76,857
Rank in 1997:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
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Comments:
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"Everybody needs someone to live by. Everybody will need someone."
This is what I think it would sound like if the earth itself were to release an album. Also I don't understand a word that he's saying, and looking up the lyrics just makes them even more incomprehensible.
Favourite Tracks: The Rainbow, Wealth, Eden, I Believe In You [First added to this chart: 12/19/2016]
This is what I think it would sound like if the earth itself were to release an album. Also I don't understand a word that he's saying, and looking up the lyrics just makes them even more incomprehensible.
Favourite Tracks: The Rainbow, Wealth, Eden, I Believe In You [First added to this chart: 12/19/2016]
Year of Release:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
11,263
Rank in 1988:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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"I've kissed your mother twice, and now I'm working on your dad."
Jarvis Cocker has got to be one the horniest guys in rock history. There's maybe one song on the album that doesn't mention sex in some way or another. He also happens to be a master a putting a climax to a song. There isn't a chorus here that can't be belted out like a lunatic.
Favourite Tracks: Disco 2000, Common People, I Spy, Bar Italia, Mis-Shapes [First added to this chart: 10/22/2017]
Jarvis Cocker has got to be one the horniest guys in rock history. There's maybe one song on the album that doesn't mention sex in some way or another. He also happens to be a master a putting a climax to a song. There isn't a chorus here that can't be belted out like a lunatic.
Favourite Tracks: Disco 2000, Common People, I Spy, Bar Italia, Mis-Shapes [First added to this chart: 10/22/2017]
Year of Release:
1995
Appears in:
Rank Score:
8,838
Rank in 1995:
Rank in 1990s:
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Average Rating:
Comments:
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"A loaded gun won't set you free. So you say."
Favourite Tracks: Disorder, New Dawn Fades, Shadowplay, Day Of The Lords [First added to this chart: 10/14/2016]
Favourite Tracks: Disorder, New Dawn Fades, Shadowplay, Day Of The Lords [First added to this chart: 10/14/2016]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
24,935
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Average Rating:
Comments:
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"She was into S&M and Bible studies, not everyone's cup of tea she would admit to me."
Favourite Tracks: Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying, The Stars Of Track And Field, Like Dylan In The Movies, Me And The Major, Seeing Other People, If You're Feeling Sinister [First added to this chart: 10/22/2017]
Favourite Tracks: Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying, The Stars Of Track And Field, Like Dylan In The Movies, Me And The Major, Seeing Other People, If You're Feeling Sinister [First added to this chart: 10/22/2017]
Year of Release:
1996
Appears in:
Rank Score:
11,994
Rank in 1996:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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[First added to this chart: 07/26/2019]
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"We're not scaremongering, this is really happening."
The thing that I love the most about Kid A is the cryptic, fractured story that it hints at among the nonsense that makes up most of the album. The way I see it, it's as if the protagonist is in denial about something, trying to convince himself that "everything is in its right place", he's "not here, this isn't happening," or faking optimism "the best you can is good enough." Throughout the album, these attempts to evade whatever he's trying to escape grow more and more desperate, until he can't take it anymore, and begins to tell himself he's "living in a fantasy world." With Idioteque, he finally snaps in the frantic, anxious climax of the album, "we're not scaremongering, this is really happening." After that comes Morning Bell and Motion Picture Soundtrack, neither of which have I figured out yet. Maybe I will someday. For now, it just adds to the mystique of the album.
First listen February 2016
Favourite Tracks: How To Disappear Completely, Motion Picture Soundtrack, Idioteque, The National Anthem [First added to this chart: 05/17/2016]
The thing that I love the most about Kid A is the cryptic, fractured story that it hints at among the nonsense that makes up most of the album. The way I see it, it's as if the protagonist is in denial about something, trying to convince himself that "everything is in its right place", he's "not here, this isn't happening," or faking optimism "the best you can is good enough." Throughout the album, these attempts to evade whatever he's trying to escape grow more and more desperate, until he can't take it anymore, and begins to tell himself he's "living in a fantasy world." With Idioteque, he finally snaps in the frantic, anxious climax of the album, "we're not scaremongering, this is really happening." After that comes Morning Bell and Motion Picture Soundtrack, neither of which have I figured out yet. Maybe I will someday. For now, it just adds to the mystique of the album.
First listen February 2016
Favourite Tracks: How To Disappear Completely, Motion Picture Soundtrack, Idioteque, The National Anthem [First added to this chart: 05/17/2016]
Year of Release:
2000
Appears in:
Rank Score:
51,371
Rank in 2000:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 21. Page 1 of 3
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 4 | 4% | |
| 1960s | 9 | 9% | |
| 1970s | 16 | 16% | |
| 1980s | 11 | 11% | |
| 1990s | 24 | 24% | |
| 2000s | 23 | 23% | |
| 2010s | 13 | 13% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Joanna Newsom | 4 | 4% | |
| Tom Waits | 3 | 3% | |
| Radiohead | 3 | 3% | |
| Swans | 3 | 3% | |
| Kendrick Lamar | 2 | 2% | |
| John Coltrane | 2 | 2% | |
| Joy Division | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 14 from 19th to 5th Just Got Back From The Discomfort - We're Alright by The Brave Little Abacus |
| Up 11 from 88th to 77th Dummy by Portishead |
| Up 11 from 72nd to 61st F♯ A♯ ∞ (LP Version) by Godspeed You! Black Emperor |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 14 from 68th to 82nd The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady by Charles Mingus |
| Down 12 from 71st to 83rd Since I Left You by The Avalanches |
| Down 11 from 74th to 85th For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver |
| Leavers |
|---|
 In A Silent Wayby Miles Davis |
| Blood On The Tracks by Bob Dylan |
| Push The Sky Away by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds |
| At The Mountains Of Madness by Electric Masada |
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
92/100 (from 86 votes)
where:
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 86 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
95/100  | 03/30/2021 01:12 |  DriftingOrpheus | | 91/100 |
 100/100 | 11/29/2019 15:48 |  ForegroundNoise | | 87/100 |
90/100 | 10/04/2019 19:14 | pctrooper | | 88/100 |
100/100 | 08/12/2019 11:05 | Timooosterink | | 90/100 |
| 95/100 | 06/14/2019 13:34 |  gidgidi | | 88/100 |
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 92.0/100, a mean average of 92.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 92.7/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 6.9.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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100/100
From ForegroundNoise 11/29/2019 15:49
ForegroundNoise 11/29/2019 15:49
Not sure why I hadn't already given this 100, since your chart is obviously a brilliant labour of love. One of my faves on this site for sure!!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From Timooosterink 11/29/2019 10:27
nice
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From pctrooper 10/04/2019 19:14
Great choices. you crushed it.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From Timooosterink 08/12/2019 11:06
Nice chart! I like the effort you have put into this
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From gidgidi 06/14/2019 13:34
gidgidi 06/14/2019 13:34
Great picks!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
85/100
From mianfei 06/14/2019 07:10
It is rare to see a chart with so many as sixteen artists in common with my own (this figure includes Steven Osborne for his Messiaen works). Moreover, there are others in my large backlog of recordings to listen to , including ‘Escalator Over the Hill’.
One recording I would recommend you that it seems you haven’t heard is ‘I’m the One’ by Annette Peacock. Little-known on this site, ‘I’m the One’ is undoubtedly a masterful work of soul power that surpasses most black artists at soul music. The title track and ‘Pony’ turn funk into lush soundscapes of both beauty and personal power.
Two other recommendations are the Trees Community’s ‘The Christ Tree’ and Victoria Williams’ ‘Swing the Statue’. These in many ways predate the “freak folk” of the mid-2000s by thirty and fifteen years respectively, with the former being the most beautifully transcendent psalms as communitarian music-making and the latter a deeply personal work of wonder at the beauty of little things.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
Glitterboiii 01/26/2019 18:36
Glitterboiii 01/26/2019 18:36
Fantastic chart! So many of my favorites up here!
Please update this like in any way so Twin Fantasy gets its points.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
100/100
From ForegroundNoise 12/10/2018 09:29
ForegroundNoise 12/10/2018 09:29
Absolutely love the notes you've added and the lyrics from each album too, really great stuff :)
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Azbest2000 05/13/2018 17:54
Professionaly made list. You have an eclectic taste and it's clear to see that you are really interested in music.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
DommeDamian 11/24/2017 07:05
DommeDamian 11/24/2017 07:05
By any means one of the greatest charst, man. The descriptions really hits hard, as of how well-written and well-structured they are. Keep up the phenomenal work :)
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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