Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by daftpunter 
When I was five my mom bought me a 45 of Pleasant Valley Sunday that I played on my little multi-disk player with my Peter Pan 45's. In the fifth grade my buddy Owen turned me on to Kiss and Queen. Some guy at a record store recommended to my Mom Sweet's Desolation Boulevard and K.C. and the Sunshine Band. My high school buddy's dad owned an AOR station so we had access to a ton of music (though half the albums were worthless because Dad would put finger nail polish on the album cuts to control the dj's). That's also where I developed my nervous twitch when I hear the Beatles too often. We discovered the Rolling Stone Record Guide, The Trouser Press Record Guide, and Robert Christgau (the 1001 albums/songs books have been added to the reference of late). For my freshman year in college Grandmom gave me $1000 for spending money for the year that I blew in about three weeks at the local record store(ooh, that reminds me, I've GOT to listen to Damn the Torpedoes soon!). Over the past thirty years I've put together a collection of music reflecting the eclectic and clasic, usually without ever having heard the music I'd purchased. But the collection is diverse, consisting of about 2500 pieces of vinyl and 1500 cd's. I've discovered the Public library system that has given me access to inumerable albums. And you'll notice that the list doesn't have a bunch of surprises, accepting maybe the order. Because great is still great. The top 20 have been pretty consistant over the years. The next 80 are an incomplete and ever changing array. As far as the more recent albums not making the charts, I direct you to the decade (and soon yearly) charts. Albums that supplant truly classic works have a truly high standard to achieve. It's taken decades for some albums to click.
I'm beginning to warm to Cage The Elephant, The Black Keys, King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard ...some other similar bands so there's still hope for some 2000's to make it to the list. Thanks to my boys for their recommendations.
Alright...it's time. 10 year anniversary of this list and it's a bit stale. Maybe not a great word...how about dated. Commenters are right...there IS great music made in this century. Great albums? I'm going to start working through the year album charts and find some gems I've recently discovered. Probably 1500 albums....maybe more since...and note...I won't subscribe to a music service. I have to OWN an album before I rate it. Are YOU that into albums? Damn that was pretentious. New list coming! Midway through another year and I STILL can't touch my top ten...
- Chart updated: 10/12/2022 05:45
- (Created: 09/16/2011 08:34).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 74 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 88 out of 100 (from 97 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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The album that proved they were still viable. The album before they became the bloated behemoth they've morphed into.
[First added to this chart: 09/17/2011]
Year of Release:
1991
Appears in:
Rank Score:
12,937
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Comments:
142
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The story goes that Brian Wilson was driven to create Pet Sounds by this album in a game of can you top this with the Mop Tops. 'nuf said.
[First added to this chart: 09/17/2011]
Year of Release:
1965
Appears in:
Rank Score:
30,611
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The Ramones as pissed off, unemployed, zipper pierced losers (with a very skilled, non-punk lead guitarist). They scared the HELL out of the Royal Family. God Save The Queen indeed!
[First added to this chart: 09/17/2011]
Year of Release:
1977
Appears in:
Rank Score:
11,814
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The savior of rock? In 1992 we all thought so. It didn't come out of my disc player for about 6 months. A Boston rip off as a hit single and enough pissed off energy to qualify as the "Never Mind The Bullocks" of the 90's. But don't blame grunge on this album. Cobain KNOWS how to play the guitar.
[First added to this chart: 09/17/2011]
Year of Release:
1991
Appears in:
Rank Score:
41,986
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I'd put Citizen Steely Dan in the top ten if I believed in putting in box sets into the list. So instead of a package with EVERY song off the first seven albums, I just listed the best of the lot.
[First added to this chart: 09/17/2011]
Year of Release:
1972
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,760
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Pete scraps Lighthouse, leaves us with one of the best albums of all time, and leaves 'The Relay', 'Pure and Easy'(they're best song ever), 'Let's See Action' and 'Join Together' as well as a half dozen other great tracks that would have made Who's Next BETTER than Quadrophenia. Still, this is they're third best album, behind Meaty Beaty and the Quad. On any given day it's the best album ever. I just don't have that day as much as I use to.
[First added to this chart: 09/17/2011]
Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
24,164
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With the exception of The Cars this is probably the best album cut for cut...basically a greatest hits album on its own. A terrific first album, a VERY spotty sophomore effort...then this shot across the bow to round out the 70's.
[First added to this chart: 10/12/2022]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,532
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Victoria makes you want to BE British. I will argue until I'm blue in the face that the Kinks during their classic period, were the greatest British rock act of their time. This is their best album on the night I'm listening to it. Same can be said for Lola vs.... Ray stopped being Ray around the turn of the decade. He's been channeled since, most notably through Blur (see Parklife which can be switched with this album if you NEED to have a more modern insert in this area of the list).
[First added to this chart: 09/17/2011]
Year of Release:
1969
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,065
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How could Prince ever top this incredibly diverse double album set of songs? Good question. I'm glad he keeps trying.
[First added to this chart: 09/17/2011]
Year of Release:
1987
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,265
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It Came Out of the Sky wasn't a hit single? Really? And it's the 6th best song on the album.
[First added to this chart: 09/18/2011]
Year of Release:
1969
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,463
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Total albums: 100. Page 6 of 10
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
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|
|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 3 | 3% | |
| 1960s | 15 | 15% | |
| 1970s | 52 | 52% | |
| 1980s | 19 | 19% | |
| 1990s | 11 | 11% | |
| 2000s | 0 | 0% | |
| 2010s | 0 | 0% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| The Beatles | 3 | 3% | |
| The Rolling Stones | 3 | 3% | |
| The Kinks | 3 | 3% | |
| Bob Dylan | 3 | 3% | |
| Miles Davis | 2 | 2% | |
| Ramones | 2 | 2% | |
| The Who | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
There have been no changes to this chart.Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similar charts
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
88/100 (from 97 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 97 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
80/100  | 06/19/2023 20:06 |  MadhattanJack | | 84/100 |
90/100 | 06/19/2023 10:40 |  Tamthebam | | 85/100 |
 95/100 | 10/11/2022 05:20 | leniad | | 85/100 |
| 85/100 | 10/10/2022 21:26 | Moondance | | 84/100 |
| 100/100 | 10/10/2022 21:19 | iannicolson | | 90/100 |
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 7% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 88.4/100, a mean average of 86.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 88.6/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 17.0.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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95/100
From leniad 10/11/2022 05:20
great picks
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
85/100
From Moondance 10/10/2022 21:29
Loved the commentary on the soundtrack of your life + music. I can appreciate the joy and wonder of your journey. Good to see Aztec Camera among the usual suspects.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
Larcx13 10/10/2022 11:26
Larcx13 10/10/2022 11:26
Great work put on here 👏
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From stuartdurrant 10/22/2020 18:28
Best List I've seen
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From BraddlesHendo 10/22/2020 18:05
Great commentary and one of the better lists here
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
DommeDamian 10/22/2020 09:12
DommeDamian 10/22/2020 09:12
better than last time.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From DommeDamian 05/10/2018 20:26
DommeDamian 05/10/2018 20:26
Small amount in common, but still a fair bunch of great albums. Very good descriptions too, sir.
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85/100
From 
LedZep 01/15/2018 15:58
LedZep 01/15/2018 15:58
So nice and diverse. Loveit
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100/100
From 
Arthurknight 01/07/2018 10:51
Arthurknight 01/07/2018 10:51
Ah thank you for the very kind words! The descriptions are in progress, the other 90 will be eventually covered; I’m very gradual with these things, I’m sure you’d be the one to understand.
I very much like your chart too. Your opening description I find very eloquent, and I much adore anyone who takes the time to tell the stories about their experiences of music because it is so vital in the sharing of ones love and appreciation of an artform that carries as much value in when, where and how we listen to it as the songs themselves. Many of the albums you have here were once on my chart since supplanted - to use your words. Shoot out the Lights, for instance, is a long favourite of mine. Thank you for sharing what only years and years of dedicate listening could produce.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From 
bobbyb5 09/08/2017 12:45
bobbyb5 09/08/2017 12:45
10 bonus points for Psychedelic Furs.
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| Best Artists of 1976 | |
|---|---|
| 1. Stevie Wonder | |
| 2. David Bowie | |
| 3. Ramones | |
| 4. Eagles | |
| 5. Boston | |
| 6. Genesis | |
| 7. Rush | |
| 8. Bob Dylan | |
| 9. The Modern Lovers | |
| 10. Joni Mitchell | |
| 11. Thin Lizzy | |
| 12. Electric Light Orchestra | |
| 13. Rainbow | |
| 14. AC/DC | |
| 15. Steely Dan | |
| 16. Led Zeppelin | |
| 17. Queen | |
| 18. Jean Michel Jarre | |
| 19. Jorge Ben | |
| 20. Aerosmith |