Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s by CharlieBarley

I took a long time with this because when I did a poll of my 100 greatest albums I found out that the 1970s was my favourite decade for albums. So after hours of deliberation and making lists here is my top 100 albums of the 1970s, the decade I was born in will always be a special one for me.

• Chart updated: 10/01/2023 20:15
• (Created: 11/13/2016 17:43).
• Chart size: 100 albums.

There are 12 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s has an average rating of 91 out of 100 (from 16 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

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1. (=)

Wish You Were Here 

 Pink Floyd

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[First added to this chart: 12/07/2016]

Year of Release:

1975

Appears in:

2,913 charts

Rank Score:

50,779

Rank in 1975:

1

Rank in 1970s:

2

Overall Rank:

8

Average Rating:

 91 (3,945 votes)

Comments:

308

2. (=)

Lionheart 

 Kate Bush

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[First added to this chart: 12/07/2016]

Year of Release:

1978

Appears in:

152 charts

Rank Score:

612

Rank in 1978:

50

Rank in 1970s:

480

Overall Rank:

2,549

Average Rating:

 74 (251 votes)

Comments:

13

3. (5) 2

Hunky Dory 

 David Bowie

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[First added to this chart: 12/07/2016]

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,800 charts

Rank Score:

22,095

Rank in 1971:

3

Rank in 1970s:

13

Overall Rank:

46

Average Rating:

 87 (2,376 votes)

Comments:

159

4. (=)

Parallel Lines 

 Blondie

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[First added to this chart: 12/07/2016]

Year of Release:

1978

Appears in:

804 charts

Rank Score:

6,284

Rank in 1978:

2

Rank in 1970s:

69

Overall Rank:

281

Average Rating:

 81 (940 votes)

Comments:

60

5. (6) 1

The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars 

 David Bowie

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[First added to this chart: 12/07/2016]

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

2,934 charts

Rank Score:

50,120

Rank in 1972:

1

Rank in 1970s:

3

Overall Rank:

9

Average Rating:

 90 (3,446 votes)

Comments:

299

6. (7) 1

The Dark Side Of The Moon 

 Pink Floyd

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[First added to this chart: 12/07/2016]

Year of Release:

1973

Appears in:

4,043 charts

Rank Score:

71,191

Rank in 1973:

1

Rank in 1970s:

1

Overall Rank:

2

Average Rating:

 92 (5,203 votes)

Comments:

581

7. (8) 1

Darkness On The Edge Of Town 

 Bruce Springsteen

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[First added to this chart: 05/20/2017]

Year of Release:

1978

Appears in:

867 charts

Rank Score:

8,159

Rank in 1978:

1

Rank in 1970s:

49

Overall Rank:

202

Average Rating:

 82 (1,133 votes)

Comments:

79

8. (9) 1

What's Going On 

 Marvin Gaye

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[First added to this chart: 09/04/2017]

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,567 charts

Rank Score:

19,696

Rank in 1971:

4

Rank in 1970s:

16

Overall Rank:

53

Average Rating:

 85 (1,884 votes)

Comments:

143

9. (10) 1

If I Could Only Remember My Name 

 David Crosby

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[First added to this chart: 11/26/2020]

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

222 charts

Rank Score:

1,074

Rank in 1971:

41

Rank in 1970s:

316

Overall Rank:

1,604

Average Rating:

 78 (220 votes)

Comments:

22

10. (11) 1

Blood On The Tracks 

 Bob Dylan

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[First added to this chart: 12/07/2016]

Year of Release:

1975

Appears in:

1,812 charts

Rank Score:

23,577

Rank in 1975:

2

Rank in 1970s:

11

Overall Rank:

41

Average Rating:

 87 (2,133 votes)

Comments:

165

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Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s composition

Year	Albums	%
1970	12	12%
1971	14	14%
1972	10	10%
1973	10	10%
1974	2	2%
1975	9	9%
1976	9	9%
1977	15	15%
1978	8	8%
1979	11	11%

Artist	Albums	%
Pink Floyd	6	6%
David Bowie	6	6%
Neil Young	3	3%
The Rolling Stones	3	3%
Stevie Wonder	3	3%
Bruce Springsteen	3	3%
Lou Reed	2	2%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	43	43%
	42	42%
	6	6%
	3	3%
	2	2%
	1	1%
	1	1%
Show all

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s chart changes

Biggest climbers
Up 33 from 66th to 33rd Harvest by Neil Young
Up 7 from 19th to 12th After The Gold Rush by Neil Young
Up 2 from 5th to 3rd Hunky Dory by David Bowie

Biggest fallers
Down 8 from 3rd to 11th Aladdin Sane by David Bowie
Down 2 from 34th to 36th Raw Power by Iggy And The Stooges
Down 1 from 12th to 13th Innervisions by Stevie Wonder

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s similarity to your chart(s)

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s ratings

Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 16 ratings for this chart.

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
95/100	06/17/2023 14:30	Tamthebam	552	85/100
95/100	03/11/2023 11:46	KineticEchoes02	111	88/100
95/100	03/11/2023 09:57	Moondance	455	84/100
95/100	09/08/2022 14:54	Johnnyo	2,014	80/100
100/100	09/08/2022 10:25	Larcx13	1,092	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 90.9/100, a mean average of 94.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 94.1/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 4.0.

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s favourites

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Larcx13

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s comments

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From CharlieBarley 09/09/2022 11:52

Thanks Moondance. Good to hear.
Yes I like CSNY but I prefer that solo David Crosby album.
Good to see we have so many albums in common

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Rating:  

95/100

From Moondance 09/08/2022 22:34

Yes, Charlie ~ the 70's are also my favourite decade by a long shot ~ and in that decade I have '70 & '71 as the standout years of my lifetime musical journey. You have a terrific chart and I enjoyed looking at our common albums (28); common artists (30), but also where are tastes go down different pathways. I was surprised to see that CSNY 'Deja Vu' is not on the list but equally delighted to see Crosby's 'If Only I Could Remember My Name'.

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

From CharlieBarley 09/08/2022 16:56

thanks Larcx

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

From CharlieBarley 09/08/2022 15:57

Thanks Johnny!

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

Rating:  

95/100

From Johnnyo 09/08/2022 14:54

A great chart for a great decade. Love it

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

From CharlieBarley 11/03/2020 23:37

47 is a lot!
cool
it's healthy to disagree
Get Stoned (the Rolling Stones comp you mentioned) means a great deal to me.
I'm surprised you heard of it. It's not very well known and it's deleted/never issued on CD or re-issued, I believe.

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

Rating:  

90/100

From leniad 11/03/2020 23:04

47 albums in common!!
but i disagree with that rlling stones compilation :(

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

Rating:  

85/100

From cabvo 03/16/2020 14:30

Great to see how many people like Animals ! Such a great underrated album

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

Rating:  

95/100

From Goliath 07/16/2018 16:02

Great list, I have 48 of these albums. 70's is my favorite decade.

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Rating:  

100/100

From buzzdainer 05/20/2017 19:43

I was born in the seventies too, so it will always be a special musical decade for me. Turns out we had a similar take on the decade--I'm especially happy to see London Calling (I know everybody loves that one, but it's for good reason), Innversions, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Exodus, and Big Star's 3rd represented here. I appreciate the depth and breadth you've offered here; obviously a lot of thought went into this chart. Well done.

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