Top 500 Albums of All Time
by Rolling Stone (2005) 
Rolling Stone is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California. These are their best albums of all time. Rolling Stone is an American magazine devoted to music and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco in 1967. In 2003, Rolling Stone published an article describing what it considered to be the top 500 music albums of all time. In 2005, this list was updated and released as a book.
(Official website: https://www.rollingstone.com)
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There is a more recent chart by Rolling Stone in which rank scores have been awarded - The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone (2020) .
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1967
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Rank Score:
40,256
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1966
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36,296
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1966
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Rank Score:
46,171
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1965
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25,181
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1965
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24,915
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1971
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18,226
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1972
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18,206
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1979
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28,943
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1966
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23,370
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1968
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35,125
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Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10
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Top 500 Albums of All Time composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 3 | 3% | |
| 1960s | 36 | 36% | |
| 1970s | 43 | 43% | |
| 1980s | 11 | 11% | |
| 1990s | 6 | 6% | |
| 2000s | 1 | 1% | |
| 2010s | 0 | 0% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| The Beatles | 8 | 8% | |
| Bob Dylan | 5 | 5% | |
| Led Zeppelin | 4 | 4% | |
| The Rolling Stones | 4 | 4% | |
| Stevie Wonder | 3 | 3% | |
| Jimi Hendrix | 3 | 3% | |
| The Clash | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 500 Albums of All Time similar charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 500 Albums of All Time | Rolling Stone | Overall chart | 2012 | |
| Top 500 Albums of All Time | Rolling Stone | Overall chart | 2003 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | P H Dias | Overall chart | 2012 |  |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | album guru joe | Overall chart | 2013 |  |
| The Top 100 Albums | VH1 | Overall chart | 2001 | |
| If son of Scaruffi marry RS editor, this would be their... |  SingingPeasant96 | Custom chart | 2013 |  |
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| ƵnotMⅡne」Los 100 mejores discos de la historia |  II | Custom chart | 2025 | |
| Top 40 Greatest Music Albums | musicante | Overall chart | 2019 | |
| Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums | Virgin | Overall chart | 2000 |  |
Top 500 Albums of All Time similarity to your chart(s)
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Other overall charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Top 100 Albums | VH1 | Overall chart | 2001 | |
| Top 100 Albums | ABC | Overall chart | 2006 | |
| The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time | New Music Express | Overall chart | 2013 | |
Other charts by Rolling Stone
A total of 45 charts from Rolling Stone are available; the 3 most recent of this type are highlighted below.
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 500 Albums of All Time | Rolling Stone | Overall chart | 2003 | |
| Top 500 Albums of All Time | Rolling Stone | Overall chart | 2005 | |
| Top 500 Albums of All Time | Rolling Stone | Overall chart | 2012 | |
Top 500 Albums of All Time 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 3 ratings for this chart. | Show all 61 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 04/20/2021 12:55 | Guigou | 48 | 77/100 |
| ! | 12/11/2020 07:55 |  pjohnsongolf | 272 | 89/100 |
| ! | 11/24/2020 21:53 | sampins | 17 | 84/100 |
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 has a Bayesian average rating of 64.5/100, a mean average of 61.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 61.3/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 24.0.
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Top 500 Albums of All Time comments
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From
dwils0891 03/23/2012 18:58 | #38819
A little better than their previous greatest album list but this one is still bad. How can anyone truly believe that the 60s and 70s had all of the good music. That is ignorance at its finest. What about bands like Nirvana, Radiohead, Kraftwerk, Blur, The Arcade Fire, Animal Collective, Beach House, Beastie boys, Beck, Outkast, the Black Keys, Bjork, Bloc Party, Built to spill, Daft Punk, Kanye West, Jay-Z, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Elliott Smith, The Flaming Lips, Pavement, Fugazi, Black Flag, Joy Division, Meat Puppets, Gorillaz, Grizzly Bear, Interpol, The Strokes, LCD Soundsystem, M83, Public Enemy, Nas, N.W.A., A Tribe Called Quest, Modest Mouse and many many many many many many more. I'm just tired of typing now but I could go on forever with great 80s 90s and 2000s artists.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 4
From
flacoarevalo 02/24/2012 20:26 | #37355
too nostalgic and not enough compromised with the new artist
Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 3
From
Saoirse 05/15/2012 00:16 | #42349
The List was a little bet better this time around, but still too narrow in it's focus. And still too many greatest hits and compilation albums, although a few of the most un-necessary we're removed. Still, it's a very dissapointing list, especially given the hype.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 1
From
Azkushang 08/10/2015 20:51 | #147466
Jackwx you are the ofensive one, your chart is offensilevy trash.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 1
From
mag 03/15/2012 13:33 | #38371
There's a huge gap in rock after 1980.
Depression-inducing albums are overrepresented, while hard rock and heavy metal are virtually non-existent.
The inclusion of compilations is absurd!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) · 0
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