Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by PeterSmith

I've been listening to lots of albums new to me over the last few years having grown up to late 70's and 80's soundtrack. I had foolishly chucked learning new music as we entered the 90's thinking I had my bands and albums that I would need. I missed so much excellent stuff.
I recall liking a lot of stuff I was hearing on the radio as we moved into the 2000's but didn't follow up with who they were - I have since found many of these songs on albums that I have since listened to.
Takes a wee bit to shift the albums and artists you've grown up with and loved for years, but slowly working through many classic albums and some more obscure stuff getting highlighted on this web site - loving the journey and some of it is shifting my old favourites for sure.

Grew up with Pink Floyd, Bowie, Queen, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, U2, Bob Marley.
Loving the Rap and Hip Hop of NWA, Kanye West, Public Enemy & Jay Z.
Loving the Alt Rock, Indie Rock , Space and Electronic Rock of the likes of Grandaddy, Interpol, The Killers, White Stripes, REM, MGMT, Muse, Franz Ferdinand amongst others.
Loving the more ambient and folky sound of Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Grandaddy, Sigur Ros, Air.
Loving the more punky sound of Greenday, Pixies, Jane's Addiction and Modest Mouse

And finding some old classics with The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Carole King.

Also finding that familiarity does play a big part - don't often love albums straight away and need to give them half dozen listens before I start to get it.
I have revamped the results and removed the 2 artist max and just went for my favourites. Meant it has pushed out artists like Paul Weller, Garbage, Bob Marley, Elliot Smith, The Cure, The National, Beck, Foo Fighters, Beatles, Bob Dylan, Adele, The Band, Leftfield and Akon to name but a few - sorry folks.

• Chart updated: 12/28/2021 22:15
• (Created: 11/13/2017 23:37).
• Chart size: 100 albums.

There are 24 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 88 out of 100 (from 38 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

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91. (92) 1

Buddy Holly 

 Buddy Holly

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Rock n Roll
I have heard Buddy Holly throughout my life and enjoyed his songs and style but never owned an album. I rectified that in 2021 and found I loved this album that was over 60 years old [First added to this chart: 12/28/2021]

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

292 charts

Rank Score:

2,488

Rank in 1958:

3

Rank in 1950s:

18

Overall Rank:

723

Average Rating:

 79 (260 votes)

Comments:

19

92. (93) 1

Lust For Life 

 Iggy Pop

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Punk Rock / Art Rock
Known Iggy for sooo long. Love his voice - might not go into the vocal acrobatics of some folk - but it's in eth drawl and the delivery. The Passenger - superb. Lust For Life - great beat. Success and Fall In Love With me - great. [First added to this chart: 03/17/2018]

Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

549 charts

Rank Score:

3,495

Rank in 1977:

16

Rank in 1970s:

119

Overall Rank:

516

Average Rating:

 81 (683 votes)

Comments:

52

93. (94) 1

The Red Shoes 

 Kate Bush

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Rock
I had the excellent Hounds of Hell for a few years but got this in 2021 and found that it was a surprisingly more straight forward standard rock album [First added to this chart: 12/28/2021]

Year of Release:

1993

Appears in:

126 charts

Rank Score:

490

Rank in 1993:

51

Rank in 1990s:

539

Overall Rank:

3,066

Average Rating:

 74 (206 votes)

Comments:

8

94. (95) 1

Coming Up 

 Suede

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Brit-pop
A near perfect album with only let down for me being Picnic By The Motorway. But so many killer tracks here including Trash, Filmstar, Lazy, She, Beautiful Ones and Saturday Night.
Love Brett Andersons vocals throughout - might be part of the Britpop 90's but plenty homage to glam rock. [First added to this chart: 10/07/2018]

Year of Release:

1996

Appears in:

205 charts

Rank Score:

1,302

Rank in 1996:

25

Rank in 1990s:

245

Overall Rank:

1,338

Average Rating:

 77 (276 votes)

Comments:

19

95. (96) 1

Tapestry 

 Carole King

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Soft Rock
What a great album - probably knew most of the songs from other artists. But wow to King in writing and delivering these. Advised Dec 17 by a mate to get this album and a bit surprised - finally got in in June 18 and it is an all time classic with all tunes great with the exception of the title track itself which I feel is a bit of a let down [First added to this chart: 09/16/2018]

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

810 charts

Rank Score:

7,083

Rank in 1971:

10

Rank in 1970s:

59

Overall Rank:

245

Average Rating:

 82 (913 votes)

Comments:

48

96. (97) 1

Automatic For The People 

 R.E.M.

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Alternative Rock
Knew this album from it's release and it hasn't tired over the years. Many a chill at the end of an evening listen to this [First added to this chart: 04/02/2018]

Year of Release:

1992

Appears in:

1,769 charts

Rank Score:

20,427

Rank in 1992:

1

Rank in 1990s:

6

Overall Rank:

49

Average Rating:

 84 (2,157 votes)

Comments:

174

97. (98) 1

An Awesome Wave 

 alt-J

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Folktronica
New to me in 2021 - hadn't seen nor heard anything about them - but bought into this big time [First added to this chart: 12/28/2021]

Year of Release:

2012

Appears in:

670 charts

Rank Score:

7,439

Rank in 2012:

6

Rank in 2010s:

27

Overall Rank:

225

Average Rating:

 78 (989 votes)

Comments:

73

98. (99) 1

Violator 

 Depeche Mode

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Synthpop
A return for this album into my top 100. it showed a hardening of their synth sound with edgier lyrics and sound. First hear for me back in the original times but didn't get the album until 2017 [First added to this chart: 03/17/2018]

Year of Release:

1990

Appears in:

1,142 charts

Rank Score:

12,628

Rank in 1990:

1

Rank in 1990s:

21

Overall Rank:

114

Average Rating:

 83 (1,343 votes)

Comments:

97

99. (100) 1

Bloom 

 Beach House

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Shoegaze
Always enjoyed a bit of shoegaze so delighted to hear a revival album with this duo - really androgynous vocal. Just heard this 2021 [First added to this chart: 12/28/2021]

Year of Release:

2012

Appears in:

802 charts

Rank Score:

8,308

Rank in 2012:

4

Rank in 2010s:

22

Overall Rank:

198

Average Rating:

 82 (1,142 votes)

Comments:

95

100.

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds 

 Jeff Wayne

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Prog Rock
Heard this when at school - in the class as an alternative to a reading I guess. It blew me away with the story telling and the music. Took years to get the album again and relistened 2019 and it had lost none of it's magic [First added to this chart: 05/06/2019]

Year of Release:

1978

Appears in:

106 charts

Rank Score:

747

Rank in 1978:

42

Rank in 1970s:

422

Overall Rank:

2,186

Average Rating:

 75 (123 votes)

Comments:

8

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Total albums: 100. Page 10 of 10

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition

Decade	Albums	%
1930s	0	0%
1940s	0	0%
1950s	1	1%
1960s	5	5%
1970s	25	25%
1980s	16	16%
1990s	17	17%
2000s	25	25%
2010s	11	11%
2020s	0	0%

Artist	Albums	%
Arcade Fire	3	3%
U2	3	3%
Pink Floyd	2	2%
Kanye West	2	2%
Queen	2	2%
Stevie Wonder	2	2%
Neutral Milk Hotel	2	2%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	51	51%
	34	34%
	5	5%
	3	3%
	3	3%
	2	2%
	1	1%
Show all

Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes

Biggest climbers
Up 1 from 100th to 99th Bloom by Beach House
Up 1 from 99th to 98th Violator by Depeche Mode
Up 1 from 98th to 97th An Awesome Wave by alt-J

New entries
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds by Jeff Wayne

Leavers
Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similarity to your chart(s)

Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings

Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 38 ratings for this chart.

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
90/100	04/12/2023 17:47	chavaloricardin	15	83/100
85/100	09/04/2022 11:28	Thearei30ee	18	88/100
95/100	07/03/2022 18:38	ffudnebbuh	653	91/100
85/100	06/25/2022 23:42	Rm12398	99	89/100
100/100	01/17/2022 20:46	wizardalien	31	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 12% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 87.8/100, a mean average of 88.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 88.3/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 6.8.

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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 24 comments |
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Rating:  

90/100

From chavaloricardin 04/08/2023 05:49

Siempre es bueno ver "Hopes And Fears" incluido en los charts... Tenemos 18 álbumes en común y en general, me gustaron mucho tus elecciones. Hay un par de álbumes que no he escuchado todavía pero lo haré.

English review
It's always good to see "Hopes And Fears" included in the charts... We have 18 albums in common and overall, I really liked your choices. There are a couple of albums I haven't heard yet but I will.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

95/100

From ffudnebbuh 07/03/2022 18:40

Like your chart, am familiar with most of it and the artists that I am not, I will put on Pandora or Spotify. That is the only way that I can keep up with everything going on.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

100/100

From wizardalien 01/17/2022 20:49

Very nice. It's actually very similar to mine despite us clearly being of different eras. There's still a lot of yours that I haven't even listened to, so I think I might have to listen to some of your top 100 as it seems we have similar tastes...

Got to love anyone's chart that also has Inform Educate Entertain, Seldom Seen Kid, An Awesome Wave and Sleeping with Ghosts - all four are underrated on this site overall.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

85/100

From CharlieBarley 12/29/2021 09:59

Great chart mate. I used to have Wish You Were Here as my number one for years. It is my favourite album really but I like to mix it up.
You have a broad and eclectic taste in music.
All my peeps like Amy McDonald.
Good to see War of the Worlds. We did that at school too . Back in 85.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

85/100

From Goliath 12/28/2021 10:52

Nothing wrong with having Pink Floyd at number 1 and 2. Slightly too many in the 2000's for me, otherwise interesting chart.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

90/100

From rockbluesfolkjaz 12/19/2021 20:57

Interesting list. I love seeing Floyd's Wish You Were Here at or close to the top. Having Dark Side beneath it is daring for sure. There's nothing wrong with being 2 of course, and personal taste is what individual lists are all about anyway.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

100/100

From StreakyNuno 12/19/2021 16:32

Great albuns!!! Pink Floyd in first and second?
Fantastic👌

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

From craab 11/25/2021 05:03

Great comments. I love your chart. Got some leads off it to for my own listening, e.g. Amy McDonald.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

85/100

From Larcx13 10/27/2020 08:23

Some really good picks. im not a big fan of kanye and coldplay. I really dont understand the appeal. To each their own..

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

85/100

From pctrooper 05/04/2020 00:06

Have to say, many picks are a bit too hip for myself (if maybe that is the right word). Arcade Fire, Modest Mouse, Coldplay for example I usually can't be bothered with. Nevertheless, there is a good batch of mutually respected albums between you and I, and I appreciate all your words of describing music and sharing your perspective. I really like your #1 choice a lot.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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