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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81. (82) 1

The Life Pursuit 

 Belle And Sebastian

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Indie Rock / Folk
First heard this in 2021 but started to listen to their albums in recent years - they have a throw back sound to the 60's and 70's I feel. [First added to this chart: 12/28/2021]

Year of Release:

2006

Appears in:

260 charts

Rank Score:

1,472

Rank in 2006:

16

Rank in 2000s:

190

Overall Rank:

1,201

Average Rating:

 79 (318 votes)

Comments:

18

82. (83) 1

Discovery 

 Daft Punk

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Dance & House
Only gave this a first listen in 2019 although I knew I would be liking them as I had the excellent "Alive" and knew the singles from this album. Great dancing beats from the Crash Helmet Duo. [First added to this chart: 05/02/2020]

Year of Release:

2001

Appears in:

1,005 charts

Rank Score:

10,691

Rank in 2001:

3

Rank in 2000s:

21

Overall Rank:

140

Average Rating:

 83 (1,387 votes)

Comments:

87

83. (84) 1

Let It Bleed 

 The Rolling Stones

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Blues Rock
Knew the excellent "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Gimme Shelter" - also knew "Honky Tonk Woman" exposed here with a cute country vide as "Country Honk". Love the title track and "Love In Vain" - giving this album 5 out of 9 top, top tunes.
But as is the way with Stones - there are a few tracks that I just about manage to enjoy - "Midnight Rambler" and "Monkey Man"!! [First added to this chart: 05/06/2019]

Year of Release:

1969

Appears in:

1,721 charts

Rank Score:

18,819

Rank in 1969:

4

Rank in 1960s:

14

Overall Rank:

62

Average Rating:

 85 (2,044 votes)

Comments:

138

84. (85) 1

Ágætis Byrjun 

 Sigur Rós

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Only just heard this album in May 18 and it is beautiful and delicate mix of songs with Svefn-G-Englar straight into my all time favourite songs. Picked up album through positive comments on this site [First added to this chart: 05/27/2018]

Year of Release:

1999

Appears in:

1,363 charts

Rank Score:

17,244

Rank in 1999:

1

Rank in 1990s:

13

Overall Rank:

71

Average Rating:

 86 (1,671 votes)

Comments:

138

85. (86) 1

Dummy 

 Portishead

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Only got to hearing this in March 2018 although I vaguely recognised the singles and Mysterons (which is excellent). Electronic and ethereal with a bit of scratch and hip hop = "trip hop" is how I've heard it described and that's a good shout.
Roads is the stand out track for me amongst a great collection of songs [First added to this chart: 05/01/2018]

Year of Release:

1994

Appears in:

1,493 charts

Rank Score:

17,119

Rank in 1994:

3

Rank in 1990s:

14

Overall Rank:

74

Average Rating:

 84 (1,659 votes)

Comments:

102

86. (87) 1

Moon Safari 

 Air

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Indie Rock
Loved the single Sexy Boy and recall liking Kelly Watch The Stars. Only gave this a listen in Sept 18 and thought I would like it off the back of those singles. I was right. It is interesting and somewhat dreamy with nice splattering of guest vocals.
Really like Ce Matin La, New Start In The Sky and Le Voyage De La Penelope [First added to this chart: 10/07/2018]

Year of Release:

1998

Appears in:

805 charts

Rank Score:

7,020

Rank in 1998:

3

Rank in 1990s:

49

Overall Rank:

247

Average Rating:

 81 (982 votes)

Comments:

63

87. (88) 1

At Last! 

 Etta James

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R&B - Soul Blues
In an attempt to better familiarise myself with the 60's music I decided to give Etta here a listen in 2020 - wow - what a voice and delivery. I had actually heard before a few of the big numbers with no knowledge of who it was nor that it was the same person. Quality. [First added to this chart: 08/13/2020]

Year of Release:

1960

Appears in:

316 charts

Rank Score:

2,067

Rank in 1960:

3

Rank in 1960s:

93

Overall Rank:

865

Average Rating:

 78 (299 votes)

Comments:

21

88. (89) 1

Tempest 

 Bob Dylan

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Folk Rock
Heard this in 2020 and really surprised it is the only Bob Dylan album in my top 100 and my favourite! I've had others for so long but it has one of my all time favourite Dylan songs - about another of my favourite artists (John Lennon) - with Roll On John, the album close [First added to this chart: 12/28/2021]

Year of Release:

2012

Appears in:

152 charts

Rank Score:

584

Rank in 2012:

46

Rank in 2010s:

439

Overall Rank:

2,654

Average Rating:

 73 (256 votes)

Comments:

9

89. (90) 1

Songs In The Key Of Life 

 Stevie Wonder

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Soul R&B
I gave this a listen in 2020 after enjoying his Innervision album. Wonder has always been on my periphery - enjoying his singles throughout the years but never enough to get an album. But when I heard this I discovered that I had heard many of the songs but never always knew they were Wonder nor that they were all from this one majestic album. Too many great songs to list out. If you haven't heard this album yet and have any form of soul in you then get it. [First added to this chart: 08/13/2020]

Year of Release:

1976

Appears in:

1,223 charts

Rank Score:

15,480

Rank in 1976:

1

Rank in 1970s:

23

Overall Rank:

86

Average Rating:

 85 (1,307 votes)

Comments:

86

90. (91) 1

Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness 

 The Smashing Pumpkins

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Grunge?
What a great and interesting album. First listen in Sept 18 and I found it a bit chaotic and schizophrenic. But pretty quickly I have grown to like and then love this album although still struggle with the metal sounding tracks such as Tales Of A Scorched Earth.

My fav track over this double album is "To Forgive".
So many great tracks here with 28 tracks to choose from and they left half the tracks off the album! First or Second disc? Not certain but at the moment the second disc is shading it. [First added to this chart: 01/01/2019]

Year of Release:

1995

Appears in:

1,449 charts

Rank Score:

15,968

Rank in 1995:

3

Rank in 1990s:

16

Overall Rank:

85

Average Rating:

 83 (1,809 votes)

Comments:

161

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Total albums: 100. Page 9 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%
Queen	2	2%
Stevie Wonder	2	2%
Neutral Milk Hotel	2	2%
David Bowie	2	2%
The Beatles	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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