Top 64 Greatest Music Albums by 
ForegroundNoise 
My old tutor sits opposite me, the wrinkled contours of his face and erratic white wisps of hair blurring the boundaries between him and the old mahogany office surrounding us. Before he speaks, he seems for a moment to be no less a part of the furniture than the armchair he sits in. He starts suddenly, a thought occurring to him.
“Do you remember that first classics society meeting, right when you first got here? Where you had to bring a poem or painting or something and talk to us all about it?” The words break the silence in a flurry, as if he’s afraid someone is about to catch him in the act.
“Yes.” My tone betrays my anticipation.
“Well, I bet no-one ever told you what that whole thing was really all about did they?” He is leaning in now, the smile plastered across his face so infectious it starts to illuminate the dark room.
“You see the problem is, is that everyone is looking the art. There, ha!” he nods to himself; a finger points upwards. “That’s your first mistake.” I raise an eyebrow in response, but he is submerged in thought, eyes cast down to the carpet.
“Some people are worried about the art. They want the right bit of art not the wrong bit; they want to show off how clever they are that they know this bit of art and you don’t. Some aren’t so fussed about it; they just pick whatever they like. Some even take a look at it all and think ‘No not for me, I don’t think so’, and try and take the whole thing apart. Show us a scrap of paper with a scribble on it. ‘I’m not playing your game’ - oh yes you are! See what they don’t know, is that as soon as they were invited to play they were playing it. All of us were. The art was never the important bit, I was never looking at the art, I was looking at YOU.”
With the final word his eyes move back to me. The finger points forward.
“Yes, you, there! Whatever you picked, whatever you did, you can't help but give us a reflection of yourself. That's what I was looking for. Not the art. I wasn’t looking at what you were saying about it. I was looking at what it was saying about you.”
***
I've fallen out of love with this chart in recent times, probably because there's something a little too overwhelming in having to represent my favourites out of every album ever. The problem that arises with these colossal, era-spanning anthologies is that they find it hard to strike a balance between acknowledging the cultural context and subsequent limitations of some of these records, and just eulogising the past.
Lately I've found it much more rewarding to focus on my decade and year charts so this one might be left to gather dust for a while. As of 2021/05/13 I've given up trying to order these from best to bestest, and instead have decided to list out some favourites ordered (roughly) by genre; this is NOT in order of favourite to 64th favourite. More extensive decade lists to follow as soon as I can.
Much love,
FN xx
- Chart updated: 08/11/2024 11:15
- (Created: 09/28/2017 14:21).
- Chart size: 64 albums.
There are 47 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 64 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 93 out of 100 (from 87 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
View the complete list of 56,000 charts on BestEverAlbums.com from The Charts page.
This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from the 2000s. (Remove this filter)
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____________________________________________________________________________
chamber folk • progressive folk
(Drag City, 55:38)
"In bodies that don't keep
Dumbstruck with the sweetness of being
Until we don't be"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 10/28/2017]
chamber folk • progressive folk
(Drag City, 55:38)
"In bodies that don't keep
Dumbstruck with the sweetness of being
Until we don't be"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 10/28/2017]
Year of Release:
2006
Appears in:
Rank Score:
8,807
Rank in 2006:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
87
Buy album
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____________________________________________________________________________
drone • psychedelic folk • avant-folk
(n/a, 157:12)
"And she sat down into the room,
Then cry, cry, then fell asleep"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 05/19/2021]
drone • psychedelic folk • avant-folk
(n/a, 157:12)
"And she sat down into the room,
Then cry, cry, then fell asleep"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 05/19/2021]
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____________________________________________________________________________
neo-psychedelia
(Animal, 60:38)
"I told the baker's daughter that I didn't want the water
She only likes it when I beg, so I expect she's waiting"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 05/19/2021]
neo-psychedelia
(Animal, 60:38)
"I told the baker's daughter that I didn't want the water
She only likes it when I beg, so I expect she's waiting"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 05/19/2021]
Year of Release:
2000
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,376
Rank in 2000:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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____________________________________________________________________________
indie folk • psychedelic folk • lo-fi / slacker rock
(K, 66:10)
"I faced death
I went in with my arms swinging
But I heard my own breath
And I had to face that I'm still living"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 10/01/2017]
indie folk • psychedelic folk • lo-fi / slacker rock
(K, 66:10)
"I faced death
I went in with my arms swinging
But I heard my own breath
And I had to face that I'm still living"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 10/01/2017]
Year of Release:
2001
Appears in:
Rank Score:
7,978
Rank in 2001:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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____________________________________________________________________________
indie rock
(Epic, 58:48)
"And it's our lives
It's hard to remember, it's hard to remember
We're alive for the first time
It's hard to remember, it's hard to remember
We're alive for the last time
It's hard to remember, it's hard to remember
To live before you die
It's hard to remember, it's hard to remember
That our lives are such a short time
It's hard to remember, it's hard to remember
When it takes such a long time
It's hard to remember, it's hard to remember"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 10/01/2017]
indie rock
(Epic, 58:48)
"And it's our lives
It's hard to remember, it's hard to remember
We're alive for the first time
It's hard to remember, it's hard to remember
We're alive for the last time
It's hard to remember, it's hard to remember
To live before you die
It's hard to remember, it's hard to remember
That our lives are such a short time
It's hard to remember, it's hard to remember
When it takes such a long time
It's hard to remember, it's hard to remember"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 10/01/2017]
Year of Release:
2000
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,024
Rank in 2000:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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____________________________________________________________________________
indie pop
(Sub Pop, 33:31)
"You were no ordinary drain on her defenses
And she was no ordinary girl
Oh, Inverted World!"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 10/01/2017]
indie pop
(Sub Pop, 33:31)
"You were no ordinary drain on her defenses
And she was no ordinary girl
Oh, Inverted World!"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 10/01/2017]
Year of Release:
2001
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,903
Rank in 2001:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
____________________________________________________________________________
chamber pop
(Asthmatic Kitty, 73:59)
"Tuesday night at the Bible study
We lift our hands and pray over your body
But nothing ever happens"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 10/01/2017]
chamber pop
(Asthmatic Kitty, 73:59)
"Tuesday night at the Bible study
We lift our hands and pray over your body
But nothing ever happens"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 10/01/2017]
Year of Release:
2005
Appears in:
Rank Score:
21,166
Rank in 2005:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
____________________________________________________________________________
art pop • electronic
(One Little Indian, 55:39)
9/10
"We faint back
Into sleephood
When I wake up
The second time
In his arms
Gorgeousness
He's still inside me"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 03/19/2024]
art pop • electronic
(One Little Indian, 55:39)
9/10
"We faint back
Into sleephood
When I wake up
The second time
In his arms
Gorgeousness
He's still inside me"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 03/19/2024]
Year of Release:
2001
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,439
Rank in 2001:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
____________________________________________________________________________
art rock • experimental rock • electronic
(Parlophone, 49:56)
"Stop sending letters
Letters always get burned
It's not like the movies
They fed us on little white lies"
OK Computer might do conventional 'songwriting' better (beautiful verse - beautiful chorus - beautiful verse - beautiful chorus) but Kid A is my favourite Radiohead album because instead of trying to beat its predecessor at its own game like so many bands that would follow (Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the Head or Travis' The Man Who for example) it chose to rip up the rule book entirely and write a new one. The shades of genre influence on this thing is astonishing; IDM, Jazz, & Folk all twist and writhe through a record that hardly seems to fit 'rock' at all. Not until Kendrick Lamar has anyone come close to marrying so many disparate styles of music and making it sound monumental.
You'd think the constant nods to different styles would obscure the emotional impact of this album, but it's in this skill that Radiohead cement their place as the greatest art rock band of all time. "The National Anthem"'s infectious bassline and clattering drums holds together a track that disintegrates towards chaos with every passing second and demands your own throbbing response, whilst the title track's first refrain of "standing in the shadows at the end of my bed" lets slip a moment of forlorn human pain in an otherwise icy robotic landscape. And not to mention the fact that "Motion Picture Soundtrack" is quite possibly one of the saddest pieces of music ever written. This record is always talked about in the context of 'best of the 2000s' or 'best of the 21st century'; I think really we should be holding up the classics to this.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 10/01/2017]
art rock • experimental rock • electronic
(Parlophone, 49:56)
"Stop sending letters
Letters always get burned
It's not like the movies
They fed us on little white lies"
OK Computer might do conventional 'songwriting' better (beautiful verse - beautiful chorus - beautiful verse - beautiful chorus) but Kid A is my favourite Radiohead album because instead of trying to beat its predecessor at its own game like so many bands that would follow (Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the Head or Travis' The Man Who for example) it chose to rip up the rule book entirely and write a new one. The shades of genre influence on this thing is astonishing; IDM, Jazz, & Folk all twist and writhe through a record that hardly seems to fit 'rock' at all. Not until Kendrick Lamar has anyone come close to marrying so many disparate styles of music and making it sound monumental.
You'd think the constant nods to different styles would obscure the emotional impact of this album, but it's in this skill that Radiohead cement their place as the greatest art rock band of all time. "The National Anthem"'s infectious bassline and clattering drums holds together a track that disintegrates towards chaos with every passing second and demands your own throbbing response, whilst the title track's first refrain of "standing in the shadows at the end of my bed" lets slip a moment of forlorn human pain in an otherwise icy robotic landscape. And not to mention the fact that "Motion Picture Soundtrack" is quite possibly one of the saddest pieces of music ever written. This record is always talked about in the context of 'best of the 2000s' or 'best of the 21st century'; I think really we should be holding up the classics to this.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 10/01/2017]
Year of Release:
2000
Appears in:
Rank Score:
44,781
Rank in 2000:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
____________________________________________________________________________
abstract hip hop • experimental hip hop • conscious hip hop
(Definitive Jux, 73:48)
"My mother said, 'You sucked my pussy when you came out
Don't ever talk back
I handed you life and I'll snatch it back'"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 12/29/2017]
abstract hip hop • experimental hip hop • conscious hip hop
(Definitive Jux, 73:48)
"My mother said, 'You sucked my pussy when you came out
Don't ever talk back
I handed you life and I'll snatch it back'"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 12/29/2017]
Year of Release:
2001
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,409
Rank in 2001:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 13. Page 1 of 2
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Top 64 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 5 | 8% | |
| 1970s | 19 | 30% | |
| 1980s | 8 | 13% | |
| 1990s | 15 | 23% | |
| 2000s | 13 | 20% | |
| 2010s | 4 | 6% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Linda Perhacs | 1 | 2% | |
| Joy Division | 1 | 2% | |
| Blur | 1 | 2% | |
| Earl Sweatshirt | 1 | 2% | |
| Can | 1 | 2% | |
| Carla Bley / Paul Haines | 1 | 2% | |
| Nico | 1 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
32 | 50% | |
| |
19 | 30% | |
 |
3 | 5% | |
 |
3 | 5% | |
 |
2 | 3% | |
 |
2 | 3% | |
 |
1 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 64 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
There have been no changes to this chart.Top 64 Greatest Music Albums similar charts
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albums From Another Dimension |  Onater | Custom chart | 2018 | |
| Top 40 Greatest Music Albums | juro00134 | Overall chart | 2016 | |
| Top 50 Greatest Music Albums | EldoradoJack | Overall chart | 2015 |  |
| Top 50 Greatest Music Albums | simlavoie | Overall chart | 2021 | |
| Top 50 Greatest Music Albums |  Dingerbell | Overall chart | 2020 | |
| AOTYs ranked | Onater | Custom chart | 2018 | |
| Top 50 Greatest Music Albums |  gbass | Overall chart | 2018 | |
| Top 50 Greatest Music Albums | luis | Overall chart | 2014 |  |
| Top 50 Greatest Music Albums | The Tourist | Overall chart | 2010 | |
| Top 40 Greatest Music Albums | 112806 | Overall chart | 2023 | |
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Top 64 Greatest Music Albums ratings
93/100 (from 87 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 87 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
100/100  | 12/25/2024 18:33 | Exist-en-ciel | | 99/100 |
 85/100 | 01/06/2023 08:58 | Johnnyo | | 80/100 |
| 95/100 | 07/09/2022 03:54 | leniad | | 85/100 |
| 85/100 | 04/09/2022 08:31 |  Applerill | | 75/100 |
| 100/100 | 11/09/2021 18:39 |  seb7 | | 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 1% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 93.4/100, a mean average of 93.6/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 94.3/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 7.7.
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Top 64 Greatest Music Albums favourites
Showing latest 20 members who have added this chart as a favourite | Show all 22 members
Top 64 Greatest Music Albums comments
Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 47 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Maximum Rated First |
Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)
From 
Hayden 02/17/2023 15:37
Hayden 02/17/2023 15:37
Thanks— hoping you find a couple gems in there (a lot suit your chart's taste— I think you'll find at least 4-5 records you'll really enjoy). I've been meaning to update that chart for quite some time. Needs a bit of a new coat of paint— maybe in a month or two. One of the main concepts for that chart was originally 'uniquely/weirdly made albums', but I like what it turned into. Bit of a different world going on with those cuts.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
85/100
From Johnnyo 01/06/2023 08:58
Really good chart
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From leniad 07/09/2022 03:55
love your chart, some albums i like that never swa so high in others list
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From seb7 11/09/2021 18:39
seb7 11/09/2021 18:39
Man, I love this chart.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
80/100
From sirps 05/29/2021 02:00
Very nice, lots of interesting stuff!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From 
Jbalbinolr 05/02/2021 15:46
Jbalbinolr 05/02/2021 15:46
Amazing chart, I love the presentation and short descriptions
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From HotZappsBoogaloo 04/26/2020 18:48
I could instantly tell I was going to give this chart 100
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From 
urmom22 02/13/2020 10:08
urmom22 02/13/2020 10:08
Thanks for the chart comment. Love all the album notes too!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From 
AMEIER 01/12/2020 22:16
AMEIER 01/12/2020 22:16
First of all, thank you so much for your comment in my page! I really was touched by your words.
About your chart here, I have to admit that I don't know 80% of this. The ones I do I know the value and know that they are great! Also, I feel like you are a powerhouse of music knowledge and would love to keep trading more information and passion for this! Last but not least, wish you to complete this with 100 albums. cheers!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
pa 10/30/2019 17:30
pa 10/30/2019 17:30
thanx mate :)
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
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We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.