Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
by 19loveless91 
October 2020 update. Gave another listen to most of these + other contenders. Surprised at what held up for me more. Not many changes or new albums near the top - those albums all meant a lot to me at some point in my life, they are few and far between.
Can't do 1 album per artist, but I did throw off Merriweather Post Pavilion, Post (Björk), Revolver, and The Wall, because those artists are well represented, and because they'd be somewhere in the last third of this list anyway.
Others that just missed out:
- Our World Died Yesterday by Nikki Louder, an excellent noisy/post-hardcore record from Slovenia. Ball of energy.
- Real Estate self titled - summery, beachy, fuzzy, warm, slightly melancholic and bittersweet "wrapped under covers" album.
- Good Health by Pretty Girls Make Graves - their best songs are on A New Romance, while this album is more consistent. J. Clark is a guitarist that nobody knows, but he puts in excellent work. Kill Sadie is another project he was involved with, also excellent.
- Angel's Breath - Serbian band's Ekatarina Velika frontman goes to Brazil to team up with his colleague Suba and some local Brazilian musicians, and the result is an excellent spin on the usual EKV sound.
- some classics like Unknown Pleasures (as well as Closer), The Velvet Underground self titled, The Black Saint & Sinner Lady.
My favourite songs that are not represented by an album on this list:
Talking Heads – This Must Be The Place
Women - Shaking Hand
The Go-Betweens - Cattle and Cane
The Dismemberment Plan - The City
Robert Wilkins - That's No Way to Get Along
Wilco – At Least That's What You Said
Stereolab - Rainbow Conversation
Cat Power - What Would the Community Think
Sugarcubes – Ammaeli (icelandic version of Birthday)
Nico – These Days
U2 – A Sort of Homecoming
Crystal Castles - Kept
- Chart updated: 11/03/2020 22:15
- (Created: 09/29/2011 22:23).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 61 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 90 out of 100 (from 94 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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There was a time on BEA when most forum regulars weren't actually familiar with this + Spirit of Eden, and it was a whole thing when people got into later day Talk Talk. I preferred SoE for a long time, but this, a lot more sparse, quiet and slow-burning record eventually grew to the point of becoming what I can comfortably call my favourite album of all time - I wrote this sentence in 2016, it's still true 4 years later.
Track pick: After the Flood
on top since 01/02/2013 (d,m,y) [First added to this chart: 09/29/2011]
Track pick: After the Flood
on top since 01/02/2013 (d,m,y) [First added to this chart: 09/29/2011]
Year of Release:
1991
Appears in:
Rank Score:
8,746
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It sounds like the album cover looks and that is awesome. Gave me a username.
Track pick: What You Want [First added to this chart: 09/29/2011]
Track pick: What You Want [First added to this chart: 09/29/2011]
Year of Release:
1991
Appears in:
Rank Score:
28,494
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Another one that genuinely sounds like its cover (at least it gives me a haunted house feel). These songs all have incredible structure, just slowly building and building to a climax, getting there, hanging around, adding another layer or two... You'll see another Grizzly Bear album on this chart, but they haven't really come close to this...
Track pick: On a Neck, On a Spit [First added to this chart: 10/20/2012]
Track pick: On a Neck, On a Spit [First added to this chart: 10/20/2012]
Year of Release:
2006
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,149
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I'll be a bit hyperbolic. Animal Collective 2003-2009 years are, to me, like what The Beatles career progression must be for some people. Constantly reinventing themselves and trying to enrich their sound around what is essentially still pop music. Ok they have gone towards more user-friendly sound as the years went by, but still. I'm kicking myself not to know about them in '08 when they actually visited Slovenia. Their live shows from that era are as much of a standout as anything. The way they would revisit some of the older tracks and put a new spin on them.
Feels has everything I like about their music, and it might be their most emotional. To me it represents the rush of falling in love, the anxiety of what the future holds for us, the grief of relationships falling apart. At the end, it's still quite optimistic I think.
Track pick: The Purple Bottle [First added to this chart: 10/31/2012]
Feels has everything I like about their music, and it might be their most emotional. To me it represents the rush of falling in love, the anxiety of what the future holds for us, the grief of relationships falling apart. At the end, it's still quite optimistic I think.
Track pick: The Purple Bottle [First added to this chart: 10/31/2012]
Year of Release:
2005
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,939
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I suppose the one album that got me into the band. Avey/Panda songwriting at their peak. Nobody can capture the bittersweet nostalgic feelings better than these guys can.
Track pick: Cuckoo Cuckoo [First added to this chart: 11/10/2012]
Track pick: Cuckoo Cuckoo [First added to this chart: 11/10/2012]
Year of Release:
2007
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,854
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There are four Radiohead albums that I adore, but at some point In Rainbows just became the one that does the most for me. Relatively subdued, with some of the best work Jonny has done when it comes to his string arrangements.
Track pick: House of Cards [First added to this chart: 09/29/2011]
Track pick: House of Cards [First added to this chart: 09/29/2011]
Year of Release:
2007
Appears in:
Rank Score:
43,867
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Everybody has their "game-changer", and this was mine. This was in 2005, just laying in my bed in a dark room, and it seemed like my whole idea of what music is and can be had changed. It resulted in what was a 3-4 year long obsession with Pink Floyd, which is kind of regrettable (since I barely listened to anything else), and while I obviously don't get excited by them anymore in the way I used to, I still think this is a masterpiece.
Track pick: The Great Gig in the Sky [First added to this chart: 09/29/2011]
Track pick: The Great Gig in the Sky [First added to this chart: 09/29/2011]
Year of Release:
1973
Appears in:
Rank Score:
60,051
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Comments:
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I was a fan of The Beatles since I was 9, or whenever it was that "1" compilation came out. But I think it was around the time of my "Pink Floyd era" that I became a fan of their later albums as well. I have very pleasant memories of discovering music on my dad's old vinyls through a crappy old record player. I played Side B to death. This album is a huge mess, but I never had a problem with that. It's each of the Beatles playing their own thing, and put together it just kind of all makes sense in the end. It helps that it features the best work that Harrison had ever done (Long, Long, Long, While My Guitar Gently Weeps), some of the best of Mccartney's silly love ballads (Martha My Dear), and some of the best Lennon's contributions (Happiness is a Warm Gun, Sexy Sadie, Julia). The sound of a band breaking up and still sounding the best as they ever had.
Track pick: While My Guitar Gently Weeps [First added to this chart: 09/29/2011]
Track pick: While My Guitar Gently Weeps [First added to this chart: 09/29/2011]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
37,264
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If I'm entirely honest, this whole New wave "~intellectual~ non-conformist", whatever you wanna call it -scene from Belgrade at the time, is starting to annoy me ever so slightly. But it's influence is undeniable, and it yielded some undeniable classics. And this album is the best example. Nervous, frantic energy throughout. Production is very DIY, which sets it apart from their other stuff, and it's why its legacy is what it is. They were always great melodicists, which is evident throughout the album.
Track pick: Rusija [First added to this chart: 09/29/2011]
Track pick: Rusija [First added to this chart: 09/29/2011]
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Lately I'm more into their earlier stuff (Interstate 8 in particular), but this album meant a lot to me at a fairly depressing time in my life.
Track pick: The Stars are Projectors [First added to this chart: 01/23/2012]
Track pick: The Stars are Projectors [First added to this chart: 01/23/2012]
Year of Release:
2000
Appears in:
Rank Score:
8,841
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Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 3 | 3% | |
| 1970s | 13 | 13% | |
| 1980s | 12 | 12% | |
| 1990s | 23 | 23% | |
| 2000s | 31 | 31% | |
| 2010s | 18 | 18% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Radiohead | 4 | 4% | |
| Animal Collective | 3 | 3% | |
| My Bloody Valentine | 2 | 2% | |
| Grizzly Bear | 2 | 2% | |
| Björk | 2 | 2% | |
| U2 | 2 | 2% | |
| Pink Floyd | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| |
47 | 47% | |
 |
20 | 20% | |
 |
7 | 7% | |
 |
4 | 4% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 68 from 95th to 27th Repetition by Unwound |
| Up 24 from 68th to 44th Bitte Orca by Dirty Projectors |
| Up 15 from 100th to 85th Nukkuu by Lau Nau |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 46 from 33rd to 79th Untitled (Led Zeppelin IV) by Led Zeppelin |
| Down 34 from 56th to 90th Забранета Планета [Zabraneta Planeta] by Bernays Propaganda |
| Down 27 from 37th to 64th Loud City Song by Julia Holter |
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
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 94 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 12/11/2025 10:48 |  ForegroundNoise | 473 | 87/100 |
| ! | 03/20/2025 14:53 |  SomethingSpecial | 1,104 | 85/100 |
| ! | 10/21/2021 18:10 |  seb7 | 115 | 91/100 |
| ! | 10/21/2021 12:50 | bonnequestion | 37 | 98/100 |
| ! | 05/01/2021 16:19 |  CA Dreamin | 134 | 88/100 |
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 90.0/100, a mean average of 90.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 90.4/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 8.7.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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From ForegroundNoise 12/11/2025 11:49 | #312096
ForegroundNoise 12/11/2025 11:49 | #312096
Found your chart via the album pages of your countrymen Širom (who I adore!). My partner is Croatian, and so I'm grateful for more gems from the Balkans from someone who knows the music culture there well. Loving the personality that comes through in your write-ups too -- will have to pour over these in detail!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From seb7 10/21/2021 18:10 | #275242
seb7 10/21/2021 18:10 | #275242
Very interesting!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From bonnequestion 10/21/2021 12:52 | #275237
Very nice chart, well-balanced between the classics and the very personal choices. I like that! Keep it up!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From leniad 11/03/2020 23:19 | #260154
good choices
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Paule 02/27/2019 12:55 | #232734
Paule 02/27/2019 12:55 | #232734
Awesome
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From 
cestuneblague 12/30/2017 18:48 | #204135
cestuneblague 12/30/2017 18:48 | #204135
Uh, in terms of EMERGING artists, I guess go with the Regrettes FYFF!, def something we would've been fawning over if it came out back in '12-'13
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
JulianR 09/17/2017 06:37 | #198110
JulianR 09/17/2017 06:37 | #198110
good stuff!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From cestuneblague 06/19/2017 01:45 | #192872
cestuneblague 06/19/2017 01:45 | #192872
Did you know Lorde has a song on Melodrama (partially) called Loveless?
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
LedZep 04/06/2017 22:13 | #188806
LedZep 04/06/2017 22:13 | #188806
Haustor, Idoli, At the Drive-In, U2, Nick Cave... So many brilliant choices! Almost perfect chart
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Mattdup279 10/26/2016 17:51 | #177495
Mattdup279 10/26/2016 17:51 | #177495
Awesome chart, love both your taste and the notes. I think mixing in the few albums from the former Yugoslavia is a refreshing and very personal touch.
Funny, I had a pretty similar experience with Dark Side of the Moon and an ensuing Pink Floyd-phase, but I think half this site probably has.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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