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)
There are 14 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 500 Albums of All Time has an average rating of 65 out of 100 (from 61 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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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Year of Release:
1976
Appears in:
Rank Score:
497
Rank in 1976:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Year of Release:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
557
Rank in 1982:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Year of Release:
1990
Appears in:
Rank Score:
531
Rank in 1990:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Year of Release:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,403
Rank in 1984:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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Total albums: 12. Page 1 of 2
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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% | |
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 3 | 3% | |
| The Who | 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 |  |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums |  RFNAPLES | Overall chart | 2013 | |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 Best Albums - 2024 Edition | Apple Music | Overall chart | 2024 | |
| The 300 Greatest Albums of All Time (1-100) | Paste | Overall chart | 2024 | |
| The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time | Consequence of Sound | Overall chart | 2022 | |
Other charts by Rolling Stone
| 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 | |
| The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time | Rolling Stone | Overall chart | 2020 | |
View all 31 charts here from Rolling Stone.
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 5 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 |
| ! | 09/30/2020 02:16 | wordnat | 10 | 93/100 |
| ! | 09/25/2020 03:31 | ChadMiles | 29 | 64/100 |
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
Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 14 comments |
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From Guigou 04/20/2021 12:55 | #268781
Similaire au 2003
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 0129114 06/30/2020 15:58 | #254814
Too many compilations, as well as a strong focus on 60s and 70s. Otherwise, these are all excellent choices.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
tgarritsen 02/11/2014 17:16 | #102880
tgarritsen 02/11/2014 17:16 | #102880
Pretty nice overview of music even though it's perhaps to focused on 60's and 70's music.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From nutso42 06/10/2013 22:05 | #78545
Slight improvement over the other one.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Fedfan 10/16/2012 18:51 | #52450
list is ok, nothing spectacular
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Kleinfall 04/23/2012 01:28 | #40724
A little better than the 2003 list.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
cannychub1 04/19/2012 11:22 | #40513
cannychub1 04/19/2012 11:22 | #40513
RS have definitely got a hard on for the Beatles.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
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) | +2 votes (4 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
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| Best Artists of 1982 | |
|---|---|
| 1. Michael Jackson | |
| 2. Kate Bush | |
| 3. Iron Maiden | |
| 4. The Cure | |
| 5. Bruce Springsteen | |
| 6. Prince | |
| 7. Roxy Music | |
| 8. Duran Duran | |
| 9. Dire Straits | |
| 10. Donald Fagen | |
| 11. Simple Minds | |
| 12. The Clash | |
| 13. Elvis Costello | |
| 14. Elvis Costello And The Attractions | |
| 15. Peter Gabriel | |
| 16. Laurie Anderson | |
| 17. XTC | |
| 18. The Fall | |
| 19. Judas Priest | |
| 20. Bad Brains |
