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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This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from the 1990s. (Remove this filter)
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For fifteen years I had this album pegged as a top five. Maynard's anger and pain needed an outlet. I identified. Millions agreed. I don't feel they've improved on the formula. This is before Tool wanted to grow up and become King Crimson. They were already fully realized.
[First added to this chart: 09/16/2011]
Year of Release:
1993
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,473
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14
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1991 is where I personally start with "modern" albums. Where grunge shows up and rescues the world from hair metal and the same twelve blues riffs we were stuck with since Let It Bleed. The volume turns up, the guitars distort and great songs like Cherub Rock, Today and Silverfuck just blast everything off the airwaves. This album along with Nevermind, 10, Core, Superunknown and Independent Worm Saloon make listening to new music an event again. Billy Corgan was probably the best songwriter of the bunch. Great distorted guitars. Great Lyrical Bents. Brilliant album
[First added to this chart: 03/02/2017]
Year of Release:
1993
Appears in:
Rank Score:
19,463
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Damn she's hot!
[First added to this chart: 09/16/2011]
Year of Release:
1992
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,356
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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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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:
41,990
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If I ever had a rock band...meaning I didn't have to learn to play to good, write lyrics as poetry, have a beat and could yell any old shit that just came to my little 'ol brain...that group of misfits would probably sound a lot like The Mummies "Never Been Caught". This is as much fun as the first time I heard Rocket To Russia and Fun House. Loud, obnoxious, recorded so low-fi you probably couldn't find a crappy enough tape recorder to replicate the sonic impact of this garage record. I call it that because it sounds like something that was found out in the garage. Great record. Great band!!
[First added to this chart: 03/02/2017]
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To those of you who get pissed that old shits like me don't put in more 'modern' albums, well, if they had songs, musicianship and production this good we would. Radiohead had the Bends two years earlier, but this is wear it all came together. Pink Floyd on meth instead of ludes.
[First added to this chart: 09/28/2011]
Year of Release:
1997
Appears in:
Rank Score:
76,873
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There's about a 1/2 dozen Queens of the Stone Age/Kyuss albums that could find it's way in here. Rated R would be another favorite. Stoner Metal is growing on me.
[First added to this chart: 10/12/2022]
Year of Release:
1994
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Rank Score:
1,854
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You know that episode of South Park where Chef's parents exercise the spirit of Kenny out of Cartman and it ends up in the Roast? I think that's what happened here with the spirit of 60's Ray Davies, only there was a victim child for the spirit to enter. Just a great record start to finish.
[First added to this chart: 10/24/2011]
Year of Release:
1994
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Rank Score:
7,887
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It's 1995 and I'm sitting on the back porch during our beer of the week/album nights (miss you Buschman!) and You Oughta Know hits the airwaves. I've got a thing for anger. Not made up, metal, hate my dad, the devil is the way b.s. anger. I'm talkin' you screwed up my head, I loved you, I want you dead (unless you kiss me first) anger. This is it. The whole album. It's a little over-produced but so was Nevermind. Right Through You and Ironic are probably better songs than You Oughta Know, and that's saying something. A great record for a really bad mood.
[First added to this chart: 11/11/2011]
Year of Release:
1995
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,155
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Total albums: 11. Page 1 of 2
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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 Rolling Stones | 3 | 3% | |
| The Kinks | 3 | 3% | |
| Bob Dylan | 3 | 3% | |
| The Beatles | 3 | 3% | |
| The Velvet Underground | 2 | 2% | |
| Bob Marley & The Wailers | 2 | 2% | |
| Miles Davis | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
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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.
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100/100
From 
Larcx13 10/10/2022 11:26
Larcx13 10/10/2022 11:26
Great work put on here 👏
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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.
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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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