Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
by BraddlesHendo

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Time for a new chart

1 album per artist but vary to change as some artists are so good and deserve more entries my mind may change as to which album is their best or favourite.

Lots of changes as I got bored of my list updated 03/09/2020

Chart updated: 08/24/2026 11:15
(Created: 05/05/2016 12:52).
Chart size: 100 albums.

There are 16 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 90 out of 100 (from 42 votes). Please log in or create an account to leave a comment or assign a rating.

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1. (=)

Low

David Bowie

Really love the Berlin Trilogy the most Low/Heroes/Lodger

Hunky Dory

Blackstar [First added to this chart: 05/05/2016]

Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

1,544 charts

Rank Score:

15,907

Rank in 1977:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

86 (2,102 votes)

Comments:

169

2. NEW

Strangeways, Here We Come

The Smiths

Once my fave album. Lost my love of Morrissey over the years [First added to this chart: 05/06/2016]

Year of Release:

1987

Appears in:

752 charts

Rank Score:

5,517

Rank in 1987:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

296

Average Rating:

81 (1,145 votes)

Comments:

3. (4) 1

Horses

Patti Smith

[First added to this chart: 05/05/2016]

Year of Release:

1975

Appears in:

1,031 charts

Rank Score:

7,564

Rank in 1975:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

197

Average Rating:

81 (1,217 votes)

Comments:

4. (2) 2

Born Sandy Devotional

The Triffids

.My summertime album. Generally only gets played on a hot day. Everything about this album reminds me of the good times I had in my youth over Summer. [First added to this chart: 05/05/2016]

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

137 charts

Rank Score:

746

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

335

Overall Rank:

2,211

Average Rating:

75 (135 votes)

Comments:

5. (12) 7

Lifes Rich Pageant

R.E.M.

Green

Monster [First added to this chart: 05/06/2016]

Year of Release:

1986

Appears in:

526 charts

Rank Score:

3,441

Rank in 1986:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

497

Average Rating:

80 (770 votes)

Comments:

6. (7) 1

Unknown Pleasures

Joy Division

[First added to this chart: 05/06/2016]

Year of Release:

1979

Appears in:

2,001 charts

Rank Score:

20,551

Rank in 1979:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

86 (2,358 votes)

Comments:

191

7. (9) 2

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Beatles

[First added to this chart: 05/05/2016]

Year of Release:

1967

Appears in:

3,521 charts

Rank Score:

40,508

Rank in 1967:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

8. (5) 3

Other fave albums

Three Imaginary Boys

The Head on The Door

Trilogy : Seventeen Seconds, Faith , Pornography [First added to this chart: 08/24/2026]

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

1,864 charts

Rank Score:

25,549

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

9. (6) 3

[First added to this chart: 09/04/2020]

Year of Release:

1989

Appears in:

380 charts

Rank Score:

2,344

Rank in 1989:

Rank in 1980s:

109

Overall Rank:

733

Average Rating:

78 (516 votes)

Comments:

10. (88) 78

Diamond Life

Sade

[First added to this chart: 09/14/2020]

Year of Release:

1984

Appears in:

417 charts

Rank Score:

2,809

Rank in 1984:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

596

Average Rating:

79 (377 votes)

Comments:

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Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition

Decade	Albums	%

1930s	0	0%
1940s	0	0%
1950s	1	1%
1960s	7	7%
1970s	29	29%
1980s	44	44%
1990s	11	11%
2000s	5	5%
2010s	3	3%
2020s	0	0%

Artist	Albums	%

The Cure	1	1%
Fleet Foxes	1	1%
Midnight Oil	1	1%
Neil Young	1	1%
The Flaming Lips	1	1%
Powderfinger	1	1%
Cold Chisel	1	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	40	40%
	38	38%
	10	10%
	4	4%
	4	4%
	2	2%
	1	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	98	98%
Yes	2	2%

Live?	Albums	%
No	99	99%
Yes	1	1%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	99	99%
Yes	1	1%

Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes

Biggest climbers
Up 78 from 88th to 10th Diamond Life by Sade
Up 7 from 12th to 5th Lifes Rich Pageant by R.E.M.
Up 2 from 9th to 7th Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles

Biggest fallers
Down 3 from 5th to 8th Disintegration by The Cure
Down 3 from 6th to 9th Technique by New Order
Down 3 from 8th to 11th The Unforgettable Fire by U2

New entries
Strangeways, Here We Come by The Smiths

Leavers
Meat Is Murder by The Smiths

Title	Source	Type	Published
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	BraddlesHendo	1980s decade chart	2014
Ranking Rolling Stone Magazine’s Top 500- An Exploration	AAL2014	Custom chart	2024
Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums	Virgin	Overall chart	2000
The Times - Nov - Dec 1993 The Vultures Best Albums Of All Time	Steppenwolf666	Custom chart	2021
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums	RFNAPLES	Overall chart	2013
NME Readers' All-Time Top 100 Albums	New Music Express	Overall chart	1988
Top 101-200 Greatest Music Albums	matterhornrider	Custom chart	2026
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums	mv3k	Overall chart	2024
Most Acclaimed Music Albums	Imaybeparanoid	Custom chart	2015
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	Tidus1997	1980s decade chart	2019

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings

Average Rating:

90/100 (from 42 votes)

Showing latest 3 ratings for this chart. | Show all 42 ratings for this chart.

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
90/100 !	02/12/2026 14:50	Bach	971	78/100
100/100 !	08/18/2025 06:07	LadyGodiva	96	97/100
90/100 !	03/13/2025 08:33	MadhattanJack	345	86/100

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 90.1/100, a mean average of 91.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 91.1/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 5.3.

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums favourites

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Forum mentions

This chart has been referenced 4 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.

From

BestEverAlbums 11/22/2020 09:00 in Chart of the day (#3317): By BraddlesHendo

“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by BraddlesHendo () 1. Meat Is Murder by The Smiths (1985) 2. The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars by David Bowie (1972) 3. Rain Dogs by Tom Waits (1985) 4. Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin (1975) 5. Low-Life by New…”

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From

BestEverAlbums 04/24/2020 08:00 in Chart of the day (#3106): By BraddlesHendo

“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by BraddlesHendo () 1. Meat Is Murder by The Smiths (1985) 2. Low by David Bowie (1977) 3. Rain Dogs by Tom Waits (1985) 4. Soul Mining by The The (1983) 5. Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes (2011) 6. So Tonight That I Might See by Mazzy Star…”

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From

BestEverAlbums 09/29/2019 08:00 in Chart of the day (#2898): By BraddlesHendo

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments

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From

LadyGodiva 08/18/2025 06:10 | #310549

What a treasure - love it. So many great albums and a few that I think I need to have another listen to. Great chart x (Edited)