Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s
by 
Romanelli 
- Chart updated: 3 days ago
- (Created: 12/04/2011 20:35).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 29 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s has an average rating of 89 out of 100 (from 67 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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Produced by Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, James Guthrie and Roger Waters. I went through a long period where I couldn't stand this album...probably because of the sound of Waters' ego growing with each song. But I can't deny that this is a great sounding and amazing piece of work. A real concept album, a trip down the road of madness and loaded with incredible moments. It isn't sprawling like Dark Side or Wish You Were Here, but that's part of it...they show that they could do it even in quick, short bursts as well. Well played!
[First added to this chart: 01/24/2012]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
25,628
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
267
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[First added to this chart: 12/11/2011]
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Produced by Jimmy Iovine and Tom Petty. Tom Petty has made a career out of albums with a great track or two and a bunch of filler. The closest he ever got to making a truly great album from start to finish was Damn The Torpedoes. In fact, this album IS great. Petty and the band have the requisite hits in "Refugee", "Here Comes My Girl", "Even The Losers" and "Don't Do Me Like That"...but there's also great lesser known songs like "Louisiana Rain" and "Century City". TP&THB at their very best.
[First added to this chart: 12/04/2011]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,301
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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1979-EPIC
Produced By GUY STEVENS
1. London Calling
2. Brand New Cadillac
3. Jimmy Jazz
4. Hateful
5. Rudie Can't Fail
6. Spanish Bombs
7. The Right Profile
8. Lost In The Supermarket
9. Clampdown
10. The Guns Of Brixton
11. Wrong 'Em Boyo
12. Death Or Glory
13. Koka Kola
14. The Card Cheat
15. Lover's Rock
16. Four Horsemen
17. I'm Not Down
18. Revolution Rock
19. Train In Vain
The Clash were one of the leading lights of punk, thanks to their self titled debut album. What they had on the others (The Sex Pistols, The Ramones) was a keen political sense. And, it turned out, much more talent than their contemporaries. London Calling is a masterpiece. Diving head first into not only punk, but reggae, rock, and blues, The Clash makes this set of exceptional songs an album that still sounds great today, and that earned them (for a short time) the label of the Best Rock Band In The World. Punk would never be the same, as The Clash expanded the sound and made smart music. The title track remains a hit today, as does "Train In Vain"...a song the band disliked enough to not list on the album credits.
After this, the decline was slow, but they never reached this height again. But London Calling is their masterwork, a true classic album, and maybe the best punk album of all time. [First added to this chart: 09/21/2012]
Produced By GUY STEVENS
1. London Calling
2. Brand New Cadillac
3. Jimmy Jazz
4. Hateful
5. Rudie Can't Fail
6. Spanish Bombs
7. The Right Profile
8. Lost In The Supermarket
9. Clampdown
10. The Guns Of Brixton
11. Wrong 'Em Boyo
12. Death Or Glory
13. Koka Kola
14. The Card Cheat
15. Lover's Rock
16. Four Horsemen
17. I'm Not Down
18. Revolution Rock
19. Train In Vain
The Clash were one of the leading lights of punk, thanks to their self titled debut album. What they had on the others (The Sex Pistols, The Ramones) was a keen political sense. And, it turned out, much more talent than their contemporaries. London Calling is a masterpiece. Diving head first into not only punk, but reggae, rock, and blues, The Clash makes this set of exceptional songs an album that still sounds great today, and that earned them (for a short time) the label of the Best Rock Band In The World. Punk would never be the same, as The Clash expanded the sound and made smart music. The title track remains a hit today, as does "Train In Vain"...a song the band disliked enough to not list on the album credits.
After this, the decline was slow, but they never reached this height again. But London Calling is their masterwork, a true classic album, and maybe the best punk album of all time. [First added to this chart: 09/21/2012]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
31,496
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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1979-REPRISE
Produced By NEIL YOUNG, DAVID BRIGGS & TIM MULLIGAN
1. My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)
2. Thrasher
3. Ride My Llama
4. Pocahontas
5. Sail Away
6. Powderfinger
7. Welfare Mothers
8. Sedan Delivery
9. Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)
This is a strange album, even for Neil Young. Recorded mostly live in San Francisco, the audience noise was removed and overdubs were added. Two songs are not live..."Sail Away" was a leftover from the Comes A Time album, and "Pocahontas" had been recorded 4 years earlier. The album is half acoustic and half full Crazy Horse rock. The two studio tracks are excellent, bolstered by the vocals of Nicolette Larson. The version of "Powderfinger" is great, and Crazy Horse is in full smoldering form. Another classic from Neil, a must have.
A film was released along with the album, and later in the year, Live Rust, a concert album from the tour came out. Nobody rules quite like Neil Young, and this is just another great reason why. [First added to this chart: 12/04/2011]
Produced By NEIL YOUNG, DAVID BRIGGS & TIM MULLIGAN
1. My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)
2. Thrasher
3. Ride My Llama
4. Pocahontas
5. Sail Away
6. Powderfinger
7. Welfare Mothers
8. Sedan Delivery
9. Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)
This is a strange album, even for Neil Young. Recorded mostly live in San Francisco, the audience noise was removed and overdubs were added. Two songs are not live..."Sail Away" was a leftover from the Comes A Time album, and "Pocahontas" had been recorded 4 years earlier. The album is half acoustic and half full Crazy Horse rock. The two studio tracks are excellent, bolstered by the vocals of Nicolette Larson. The version of "Powderfinger" is great, and Crazy Horse is in full smoldering form. Another classic from Neil, a must have.
A film was released along with the album, and later in the year, Live Rust, a concert album from the tour came out. Nobody rules quite like Neil Young, and this is just another great reason why. [First added to this chart: 12/04/2011]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,279
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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1979-EMERGO
Produced By ROGER ARMSTRONG & THE DAMNED
1. Love Song
2. Machine Gun Etiquette
3. I Just Can't Be Happy Today
4. Melody Lee
5. Anti-Pope
6. These Hands
7. Plan 9 Channel 7
8. Noise, Noise, Noise
9. Looking At You
10. Liar
11. Smash It Up (Part I)
12. Smash It Up (Part II)
13. Ballroom Blitz
14. Suicide
15. Rabid (Over You)
16. White Rabbit (Extended Version)
In the beginning of punk there was The Sex Pistols. And The Damned. The Damned outlasted the Pistols by one album...the Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) produced record that caused their fiery breakup (they have never played a track from that album since). The breakup was over guitarist Brian James' desire to be a dictator. It was thought that The Damned was over for good.
Which is why this album is so surprising. Regrouping without James, the remaining members,singer Dave Vanian (who just might really believe he's a vampire), drummer Rat Scabies, and guitarist Captain Sensible started writing together and came up with a classic. "Love Song" was their official comeback, and the band rocks throughout. Punks originals were back! The album is a lot of fun, and even contains 3 nice covers..."Looking At You" from the MC5, Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" and "Ballroom Blitz" from Sweet...featuring Lemmy Kilmister on bass! Overall, a punk classic. The Damned were a lot of fun. Somewhat forgotten, they do deserve to be heard. [First added to this chart: 12/04/2011]
Produced By ROGER ARMSTRONG & THE DAMNED
1. Love Song
2. Machine Gun Etiquette
3. I Just Can't Be Happy Today
4. Melody Lee
5. Anti-Pope
6. These Hands
7. Plan 9 Channel 7
8. Noise, Noise, Noise
9. Looking At You
10. Liar
11. Smash It Up (Part I)
12. Smash It Up (Part II)
13. Ballroom Blitz
14. Suicide
15. Rabid (Over You)
16. White Rabbit (Extended Version)
In the beginning of punk there was The Sex Pistols. And The Damned. The Damned outlasted the Pistols by one album...the Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) produced record that caused their fiery breakup (they have never played a track from that album since). The breakup was over guitarist Brian James' desire to be a dictator. It was thought that The Damned was over for good.
Which is why this album is so surprising. Regrouping without James, the remaining members,singer Dave Vanian (who just might really believe he's a vampire), drummer Rat Scabies, and guitarist Captain Sensible started writing together and came up with a classic. "Love Song" was their official comeback, and the band rocks throughout. Punks originals were back! The album is a lot of fun, and even contains 3 nice covers..."Looking At You" from the MC5, Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" and "Ballroom Blitz" from Sweet...featuring Lemmy Kilmister on bass! Overall, a punk classic. The Damned were a lot of fun. Somewhat forgotten, they do deserve to be heard. [First added to this chart: 12/04/2011]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
789
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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[First added to this chart: 01/16/2014]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
864
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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[First added to this chart: 02/18/2015]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,074
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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1979-REPRISE
Produced By DAVID BRIGGS, TIM MULLIGAN & BERNARD SHAKEY (NEIL YOUNG)
1. Sugar Mountain
2. I Am A Child
3. Comes A Time
4. After The Gold Rush
5. My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)
6. When You Dance I Can Really Love
7. The Loner
8. The Needle And The Damage Done
9. Lotta Love
10. Sedan Delivery
11. Powderfinger
12. Cortez The Killer
13. Cinnamon Girl
14. Like A Hurricane
15. Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)
16. Tonight's The Night
Released 5 months after Rust Never Sleeps, an almost live album with studio overdubs and removed crowd noise, Young released the fully live Live Rust. Starting off with Young playing solo, he is joined by Carzy Horse and turns in a rocking performance. The song selection is key, and it's mostly great here (although "Lotta Love" sounds out of place). From "Sedan Delivery" on, it's all rock. "Powderfinger" (maybe Neil's best song) is awesome as always, and following that with "Cortez The Killer", Cinnamon Girl", and "Like A Hurricane"...how could you not enjoy this album? Even asking for the crowds help to stop a rainstorm at the end of "The Loner" is priceless.
There is a concert film of this somewhere, directed by Young under the name Bernard Shakey. Also of note...the guitar solo on "Cortez The Killer" was cut short because of time limitations for CD. [First added to this chart: 12/04/2011]
Produced By DAVID BRIGGS, TIM MULLIGAN & BERNARD SHAKEY (NEIL YOUNG)
1. Sugar Mountain
2. I Am A Child
3. Comes A Time
4. After The Gold Rush
5. My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)
6. When You Dance I Can Really Love
7. The Loner
8. The Needle And The Damage Done
9. Lotta Love
10. Sedan Delivery
11. Powderfinger
12. Cortez The Killer
13. Cinnamon Girl
14. Like A Hurricane
15. Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)
16. Tonight's The Night
Released 5 months after Rust Never Sleeps, an almost live album with studio overdubs and removed crowd noise, Young released the fully live Live Rust. Starting off with Young playing solo, he is joined by Carzy Horse and turns in a rocking performance. The song selection is key, and it's mostly great here (although "Lotta Love" sounds out of place). From "Sedan Delivery" on, it's all rock. "Powderfinger" (maybe Neil's best song) is awesome as always, and following that with "Cortez The Killer", Cinnamon Girl", and "Like A Hurricane"...how could you not enjoy this album? Even asking for the crowds help to stop a rainstorm at the end of "The Loner" is priceless.
There is a concert film of this somewhere, directed by Young under the name Bernard Shakey. Also of note...the guitar solo on "Cortez The Killer" was cut short because of time limitations for CD. [First added to this chart: 12/04/2011]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,264
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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Produced by Jimmy Page. The last Zeppelin album gets a lot of hate, but there are some really great moments on it, and it's worthy of being alongside the rest of their discography. "In The Evening", "Fool In The Rain", and "Carouselambra" are top notch songs, but it's the Robert Plant vocal on "I'm Gonna Crawl" that's the real shining moment here. It may be his best vocal. Led Zeppelin was moving into a new direct here, and that's something that I think should be embraced, not criticized.
[First added to this chart: 12/04/2011]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,006
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 13. Page 1 of 2
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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
| 1970 | 17 | 17% | |
| 1971 | 9 | 9% | |
| 1972 | 8 | 8% | |
| 1973 | 10 | 10% | |
| 1974 | 5 | 5% | |
| 1975 | 9 | 9% | |
| 1976 | 6 | 6% | |
| 1977 | 13 | 13% | |
| 1978 | 10 | 10% | |
| 1979 | 13 | 13% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Led Zeppelin | 5 | 5% | |
| Pink Floyd | 3 | 3% | |
| Eagles | 3 | 3% | |
| Electric Light Orchestra | 3 | 3% | |
| The Allman Brothers Band | 3 | 3% | |
| Queen | 3 | 3% | |
| Neil Young | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 3 from 10th to 7th Cosmo's Factory by Creedence Clearwater Revival |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 7th to 8th (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'Nérd 'Skin-'Nérd) by Lynyrd Skynyrd |
| Down 1 from 8th to 9th Boston by Boston |
| Down 1 from 9th to 10th Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones |
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| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s |  jhuik | 1970s decade chart | 2025 | |
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| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s |  MetalMan67 | 1970s decade chart | 2025 | |
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| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | dmack | 1970s decade chart | 2016 |  |
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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s ratings
89/100 (from 67 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 67 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 100/100  | 04/24/2024 01:21 |  HoldenM | | 95/100 |
| 90/100 | 04/23/2024 09:39 | Moondance | | 85/100 |
| 90/100 | 09/20/2023 19:55 | MetalMan67 | | 90/100 |
| 75/100 | 01/23/2022 16:11 |  IlMala | | 95/100 |
| 95/100 | 04/04/2021 11:42 | MasterOfPuppets | | 91/100 |
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 4% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 89.1/100, a mean average of 88.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 89.6/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 10.9.
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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s comments
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100/100
From HoldenM 04/24/2024 01:21
HoldenM 04/24/2024 01:21
Hell yeah.
#303154 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From Moondance 04/23/2024 09:39
Very solid chart. Would have liked to have seen a bit more international diversity.
#303138 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From MetalMan67 09/20/2023 19:56
MetalMan67 09/20/2023 19:56
Very well done. I enjoyed reading the commentary and your thoughts about certain albums.
#299186 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
Larcx13 10/06/2020 10:16
Larcx13 10/06/2020 10:16
Sick top 10!
#259050 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
85/100
From 
Boltzmann 04/24/2018 22:26
Boltzmann 04/24/2018 22:26
Interesting chart with lot of personality.
#213571 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
90/100
From 
Cardboardfolder 04/24/2018 12:59
Cardboardfolder 04/24/2018 12:59
For some reason, this chart just makes me feel good. A lot of albums on here just bring back a lot of memories!
#213545 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
95/100
From Ulf 04/24/2018 08:18
Very nice chart be sure to fix the comments jazz and moondance they seem to fit the wrong album
#213537 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
80/100
From 
ForegroundNoise 04/24/2018 08:14
ForegroundNoise 04/24/2018 08:14
Too much emphasis on classic rock for a higher rating than 80 sorry. Not a single German album in a decade that was defining for the German music scene??
#213536 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
90/100
From 
bobbyb5 08/20/2017 23:32
bobbyb5 08/20/2017 23:32
Isn't it weird how you never see Allman Brothers' Brothers and Sisters and Laid Back ever?
#196430 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
95/100
From 
RoundTheBend 02/02/2017 03:58
RoundTheBend 02/02/2017 03:58
36 in common.
#184745 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
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| 6. Led Zeppelin | |
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