Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by BorderFreeAndrew 
Over the years I've listened to about 20,000 albums. These are the ones that I'm most likely to keep coming back to, i.e. - the 100 that I'd take to a desert island. Sorry for the lack of reviews/descriptions for each listing. For me, music is a visceral experience, so I try not to intellectualize it too much.
Some have asked why I don't have more from the 2010's and 2020's. Well, if BEA allowed a Top 300 list, you would see several from the last 10 years, as I do still enjoy discovering newer music. There just hasn't been anything recent that I love enough to take the place of these 100. When there is, I will edit the list to reflect that.
- Chart updated: 04/19/2025 20:45
- (Created: 06/07/2016 00:46).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 17 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 87 out of 100 (from 31 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from the 1980s. (Remove this filter)
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 25 | 25% | |
| 1970s | 39 | 39% | |
| 1980s | 8 | 8% | |
| 1990s | 15 | 15% | |
| 2000s | 12 | 12% | |
| 2010s | 1 | 1% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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| Roxy Music | 2 | 2% | |
| Big Star | 2 | 2% | |
| Gene Clark | 2 | 2% | |
| Super Furry Animals | 2 | 2% | |
| Julian Cope | 2 | 2% | |
| Lisa Germano | 2 | 2% | |
| Sinéad O'Connor | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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57 | 57% | |
 |
31 | 31% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 4 from 73rd to 69th No More Shall We Part by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds |
| Up 2 from 61st to 59th Fuzzy Logic by Super Furry Animals |
| Up 2 from 60th to 58th Up In Flames by Manitoba |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 44 from 49th to 93rd Marjory Razorblade by Kevin Coyne |
| Down 3 from 57th to 60th Walk Away Renée / Pretty Ballerina by The Left Banke |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similar charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | BorderFreeAndrew | 1970s decade chart | 2020 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s | BorderFreeAndrew | 1960s decade chart | 2025 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s |  Norman Bates | 1960s decade chart | 2025 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | BorderFreeAndrew | 1990s decade chart | 2025 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Artists |  flamingyesdept | Custom chart | 2025 | |
| Greatest Albums of All Time (2000) | flamingyesdept | Custom chart | 2023 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | badger | 1970s decade chart | 2021 |  |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | davidhuret | Overall chart | 2017 | |
| One Album Per Artist | flamingyesdept | Custom chart | 2022 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | flamingyesdept | Overall chart | 2025 | |
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
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Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 31 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 85/100  | 03/05/2025 15:46 |  slatsheit | | 88/100 |
| 85/100 | 02/08/2025 18:08 |  DeusExMackia | | 82/100 |
| 85/100 | 02/08/2025 11:03 | SomethingSpecial | | 85/100 |
| 90/100 | 02/07/2025 10:15 | lisalisa | | 85/100 |
| 80/100 | 07/11/2024 13:32 | Johnnyo | | 80/100 |
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 14% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 87.4/100, a mean average of 83.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 87.9/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 20.8.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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slatsheit 03/05/2025 15:46
Excellent! Love the high Nick Drake and Laura Nyro inclusions.
DeusExMackia 02/08/2025 18:09
Your taste is very hard to love, and yet love it I do. This list is so out of character for this site and therefore all the more better. 85/100 is an arbitrary way of saying "I don't agree with you but I support your every decision". Kate Bush forever.
baystateoftheart 12/15/2024 20:33
Excellent desert island chart! Love to see The Harder They Come at #10 in particular. For what it's worth, if mine were a desert island chart instead of simply the albums I enjoy most, there wouldn't be more than two Fela albums.
If anyone wants to see my reply to my dear friend and #1 fan AvalancheGrips' comment, it's available at his Top 100 chart (as long as it's remained published).
AvalancheGrips 05/13/2024 00:21
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
AvalancheGrips 05/12/2024 21:42
old man chart
CellarDoor 04/30/2024 22:30
Cognitive dissonance
Although we both favour the 70's & 60's above every other decade - and rightfully so - we have no albums in common & only 6 artists in common. Despite that, I really liked your chart - it just goes to show what a remarkably diverse world we enter when we journey through modern music and how music & lyrics impact on us in mysterious ways!
DommeDamian 05/30/2022 03:57
Oh hey AlRog, I didn't know it was you =)
gidgidi 09/05/2019 18:18
Nice chart!
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