Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by 
JulianR 
Hey!
I am quite excited to discuss literally anything about music ("literal" used in the literal, not figurative sense). I don't really know anyone that listens to the breadth and depth of music that I do. So if you disagree with something I say, or just want to talk about music, totally message me. Also if you want recommendations, or have some for me, totally message me or comment. Thank you!
Just as a heads up, the descriptions for these albums could have been written yesterday, or 18 months ago. They may not be totally reflective of my opinions on them now, though they were at one point at least.
Chart of the Day: 2/21/18, 4/23/19
Questions, comments, concerns, and especially recommendations are all heavily encouraged
Thanks
- Julian
- Chart updated: 02/07/2020 06:45
- (Created: 12/14/2016 01:31).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 72 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 92 out of 100 (from 106 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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90/100
[First added to this chart: 09/12/2019]
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,920
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
47
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90/100
[First added to this chart: 10/22/2017]
Year of Release:
1963
Appears in:
Rank Score:
14,033
Rank in 1963:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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90/100
[First added to this chart: 07/27/2018]
Year of Release:
2015
Appears in:
Rank Score:
37,203
Rank in 2015:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Lo-Fi • Folk-Rock • Indie
90/100
CA: 6/10
"You think you'd be better to get rid of me
But I really don't want you to do that to me"
This album is wild, intense, and gloriously lo-fi. Some albums hide in their low fidelity, others wear it like a medal to be proud of. This album swings it like a battle-axe. Everything is raw and has a supremely youthful feel to it. Phil Elverum, the main guy behind the band, was only 21, so it makes sense.
BM:
The little Beach Boys sample/cover or whatever in the middle of Florida Beach
The intro to "What happened to you" [First added to this chart: 08/05/2017]
90/100
CA: 6/10
"You think you'd be better to get rid of me
But I really don't want you to do that to me"
This album is wild, intense, and gloriously lo-fi. Some albums hide in their low fidelity, others wear it like a medal to be proud of. This album swings it like a battle-axe. Everything is raw and has a supremely youthful feel to it. Phil Elverum, the main guy behind the band, was only 21, so it makes sense.
BM:
The little Beach Boys sample/cover or whatever in the middle of Florida Beach
The intro to "What happened to you" [First added to this chart: 08/05/2017]
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90/100
[First added to this chart: 07/02/2019]
Year of Release:
1998
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,126
Rank in 1998:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Hip-Hop • Soul-Rap
90/100
CA: 5/10
IYLT: Common - Be
This album is just a blast to listen to. Even though I tend to like moody/sad music more (just look at my chart!), I can't help but have fun with Late Registration. Literally every song aside from skits 1-4 is just so urgent and invigorating. It does get a little moodier with Drive Slow, Roses and Addiction in the middle, but that's not to say they aren't excellent songs as well. But it's really the from and back where this album shines. Heard Em Say to Touch The Sky to Gold Digger is of couse one of the best album openings there is. And then Diamonds, Gone, and the highlight Hey Mama in the back, along with a couple other fun tracks really make this album what it is. Which would be absolutely fun.
This is one of the few long form rap albums that I really love. It seems like for a long time, and maybe still, hour-long plus albums were the norm in hip-hop, greatly to the detriment of the music in my opinion. Music has to have a lot of variety in sound in order to be effective for that long, and for hip-hop, especially the stripped down beat-heavy style that dominated early hip hop, it tended to get tiresome. Kanye, in the process of saving hip-hop of course, went along and saved the long form hip-hop album format as well. College Dropout, while not a personal favorite of mine (it just has too many really weak or even problematic songs to enjoy the whole album), was able to provide enough variety because of it's sample-based sound. Late Registration is essentially just an extension of that, but soooo much better. This will be the standard to which I compare all of Kanye's future works, as well as most any hip hop album that attempts to be a long-form artistic and conceptual statement.
BM:
"She take my mo-neyyyy!" [First added to this chart: 05/10/2018]
90/100
CA: 5/10
IYLT: Common - Be
This album is just a blast to listen to. Even though I tend to like moody/sad music more (just look at my chart!), I can't help but have fun with Late Registration. Literally every song aside from skits 1-4 is just so urgent and invigorating. It does get a little moodier with Drive Slow, Roses and Addiction in the middle, but that's not to say they aren't excellent songs as well. But it's really the from and back where this album shines. Heard Em Say to Touch The Sky to Gold Digger is of couse one of the best album openings there is. And then Diamonds, Gone, and the highlight Hey Mama in the back, along with a couple other fun tracks really make this album what it is. Which would be absolutely fun.
This is one of the few long form rap albums that I really love. It seems like for a long time, and maybe still, hour-long plus albums were the norm in hip-hop, greatly to the detriment of the music in my opinion. Music has to have a lot of variety in sound in order to be effective for that long, and for hip-hop, especially the stripped down beat-heavy style that dominated early hip hop, it tended to get tiresome. Kanye, in the process of saving hip-hop of course, went along and saved the long form hip-hop album format as well. College Dropout, while not a personal favorite of mine (it just has too many really weak or even problematic songs to enjoy the whole album), was able to provide enough variety because of it's sample-based sound. Late Registration is essentially just an extension of that, but soooo much better. This will be the standard to which I compare all of Kanye's future works, as well as most any hip hop album that attempts to be a long-form artistic and conceptual statement.
BM:
"She take my mo-neyyyy!" [First added to this chart: 05/10/2018]
Year of Release:
2005
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,494
Rank in 2005:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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90/100
[First added to this chart: 10/28/2018]
Year of Release:
2007
Appears in:
Rank Score:
951
Rank in 2007:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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90/100
[First added to this chart: 10/28/2018]
Year of Release:
1964
Appears in:
Rank Score:
904
Rank in 1964:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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60's Psychedelic Pop • Baroque Pop
90/100
CA: 8/10
"Maybe after he's gone
She'll come back, love me again"
Some great psychedelic. Some really genius chord progressions. Even more appreciable when you try to play them on guitar in real time, lemme tell ya. The songwriting is some of the best of not only the 60's, but all of time. The album is brilliant, upbeat, and fun, for every second. [First added to this chart: 05/29/2017]
90/100
CA: 8/10
"Maybe after he's gone
She'll come back, love me again"
Some great psychedelic. Some really genius chord progressions. Even more appreciable when you try to play them on guitar in real time, lemme tell ya. The songwriting is some of the best of not only the 60's, but all of time. The album is brilliant, upbeat, and fun, for every second. [First added to this chart: 05/29/2017]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
15,304
Rank in 1968:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
90/100
Year of Release:
2002
Appears in:
Rank Score:
14,929
Rank in 2002:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 100. Page 6 of 10
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 13 | 13% | |
| 1970s | 12 | 12% | |
| 1980s | 8 | 8% | |
| 1990s | 25 | 25% | |
| 2000s | 21 | 21% | |
| 2010s | 21 | 21% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| The Flaming Lips | 5 | 5% | |
| Pink Floyd | 4 | 4% | |
| Kendrick Lamar | 3 | 3% | |
| Kanye West | 3 | 3% | |
| Talk Talk | 3 | 3% | |
| Radiohead | 3 | 3% | |
| Bob Dylan | 3 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
58 | 58% | |
 |
26 | 26% | |
 |
5 | 5% | |
 |
5 | 5% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 60th to 61st The Glow Pt. 2 by The Microphones |
| Down 1 from 61st to 62nd Souvlaki by Slowdive |
| Down 1 from 62nd to 63rd Yank Crime by Drive Like Jehu |
| New entries |
|---|
 Turn On The Bright Lightsby Interpol |
| In The Flat Field by Bauhaus |
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
92/100 (from 106 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 106 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
100/100  | 01/22/2023 22:16 | Rm12398 | | 89/100 |
80/100 | 07/13/2022 22:08 |  Applerill | | 75/100 |
85/100 | 12/10/2020 00:38 | ars2458 | | 78/100 |
100/100 | 06/14/2020 12:47 | BraddlesHendo | | 91/100 |
90/100 | 03/30/2020 09:20 | RomanRelic | | 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 92.0/100, a mean average of 92.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 92.6/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 10.3.
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Showing latest 20 members who have added this chart as a favourite | Show all 22 members
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 72 comments |
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100/100
From Rm12398 01/22/2023 22:17
What a chart!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From Juneof44 04/29/2021 06:58
I really appreciate your effort, a solid chart and i love the rating to the cover
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Foxforce5 02/05/2021 03:26
Thanks for the hard work. I came to your chart after reading your comments about Rubber Soul and Bringing It All Back Home being ‘transitional’ albums and thought to myself ‘there’s someone with a similar pair of ears’!
Anyhow, your comments inspired me to listen to the ‘transitional’ Bon Iver album, and I’ll give Lorde another go. I mean listening is what it’s all about, right?
In answer to your question on Mezzanine, Pet Sounds is better produced, so now you know.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
85/100
From ars2458 12/10/2020 00:38
Wow, I truly love FEFEA and Age of Adz, but I don't have the depth on older stuff. I am going to give those specific albums a chance. I have listened to Bowie and Pink Floyd, but not those albums, so maybe I will hear something different this time.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From Vegetariat 02/03/2020 10:16
Great list with wonderful notes and recommendations. Your description of Loveless and Shoegaze is as touching as it is true. You're right about Touched, haha
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
80/100
From mianfei 12/16/2019 13:05
Although the list is really an odd mix of soul/hip of and progressive rock/post-rock (if I am not mistaken, I did see a similar combination somewhere else on this site on an earlier browse last autumn), there is not that much of real note in the chart.
However, the lack of really unusual albums and a grouping of genres that is merely on the “eccentric” side is certainly compensated for by some impressive notes, which substantially add to the rating.
Some albums you might not have heard that I could attempt to recommend based on your taste:
— ‘Yeti’ by Amon Düül II
— ‘H to He Who Am the Only One’ and ‘Pawn Hearts’ by Van der Graaf Generator
— ‘A Return to the Inner Experience’, ‘This Timeless Turning’ and ‘Moonbathing on Sleeping Leaves’ by Sky Cries Mary
— ‘Gala’ and ‘Spooky’ by Lush
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From bonnequestion 12/04/2019 12:41
Very nice and unique chart, very inspiring! And also, good job on all those comments.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From Timooosterink 12/04/2019 10:20
Really nice chart, maybe you like Gorillaz?
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From 
kynes 12/04/2019 09:07
kynes 12/04/2019 09:07
the final cut getting some deserved appreciation is nice to see! i will always have respect for users who take the time to write significant blurbs for many of the records in their charts
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From pctrooper 11/12/2019 23:34
Not a huge fan of all these albums, but I really like the chart with its descriptions and stuff.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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| Best Ever Artists | |
|---|---|
| 1. The Beatles | |
| 2. Radiohead | |
| 3. Pink Floyd | |
| 4. David Bowie | |
| 5. Bob Dylan | |
| 6. Led Zeppelin | |
| 7. The Rolling Stones | |
| 8. Arcade Fire | |
| 9. The Velvet Underground | |
| 10. Kendrick Lamar | |
| 11. Nirvana | |
| 12. Neil Young | |
| 13. The Smiths | |
| 14. Miles Davis | |
| 15. The Beach Boys | |
| 16. Kanye West | |
| 17. Pixies | |
| 18. R.E.M. | |
| 19. Jimi Hendrix | |
| 20. Bruce Springsteen |