Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
by 
Medelsvensson 
3-time chart of the day champion!
This album chart began its lifespan in 2017 and has been an indulgence of mine since. It keeps me pushing my musical horizon and has advanced the level at which I reflect upon what I'm listening to. The chart was overhauled during early 2018 and is now a "one album per artist"* chart for increased diversity.
*Exceptions:
Pink Floyd’s Piper At The Gates of Dawn (Because of Syd Barrett) and David Bowie’s Blackstar (Because how could you not?)
::::: Currently writing the text for the top 10 of this list. Not trying to force it.
- Chart updated: 04/16/2020 12:15
- (Created: 11/29/2017 23:35).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 19 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 91 out of 100 (from 31 votes). Please log in or create an account to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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Neutral Milk Hotel is the TV show that ended prematurely. The show, which upon further reflection is realized to have its short lifespan forever ingrained in its beauty. They are the Freaks and Geeks of music.
The first place of any list is always hard to pin down. Every album nerd has a multitude of potential top-spot occupants readily in mind, and they are all likely to be a well-motivated choice. In my experience of reading lists like mine, the choice tends to fall along the lines of either the conventional pick — or whichever album carries the most emotional weight for the listmaker. Oftentimes one that came along during a transitional period of their life.
When we're searching we tend to listen the most intently.
If you're already aware of this album, I couldn't argue if you catalog me as an individual of the latter persuasion. But truthfully, in whatever way I twist and turn this issue, I will always fall in line behind In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. It's the only album I know of which is conventionally brilliant while remaining one of the most singular achievements in music. Jeff Mangum speaks the story of Anne Frank with such breathtaking lyricism and while doing so he touches on some seriously universal stuff. If you've ever been in love with anything you'd have to be dead inside not to have this record make you feel.
Honorable Mentions: On Avery Island [First added to this chart: 01/14/2018]
The first place of any list is always hard to pin down. Every album nerd has a multitude of potential top-spot occupants readily in mind, and they are all likely to be a well-motivated choice. In my experience of reading lists like mine, the choice tends to fall along the lines of either the conventional pick — or whichever album carries the most emotional weight for the listmaker. Oftentimes one that came along during a transitional period of their life.
When we're searching we tend to listen the most intently.
If you're already aware of this album, I couldn't argue if you catalog me as an individual of the latter persuasion. But truthfully, in whatever way I twist and turn this issue, I will always fall in line behind In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. It's the only album I know of which is conventionally brilliant while remaining one of the most singular achievements in music. Jeff Mangum speaks the story of Anne Frank with such breathtaking lyricism and while doing so he touches on some seriously universal stuff. If you've ever been in love with anything you'd have to be dead inside not to have this record make you feel.
Honorable Mentions: On Avery Island [First added to this chart: 01/14/2018]
Year of Release:
1998
Appears in:
Rank Score:
29,804
Rank in 1998:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
There are many an album on this list, the authors of which deserve more than one album in any top 100. I could task myself to write a list of the greatest gardenhoses of all time, and I'd be hard pressed not to include Pink Floyd somewhere. This, eventhough I was a late commer to the fruits of their labor. Some music just fell through my cracks before I had humbled myself to the point where I was ready to give anything its proper due. Once I did give into Floyd's cosmic pull I immersed myself in it to the point where I had to completely change genres for months just to get back to business as usual. This lead to my discovery of hip-hop music, which I just like Floyd, had been opposed to prior.
"The big four" of Pink Floyd albums are of course Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, The Wall, and Animals - with The Wall being my personal favorite - possibly due to my appreciation of musicals. Honorable mentions for The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Saucerful of Secrets, which both are groundbreaking, brilliant albums in their own right, but just can't compete with the otherworldly standard the band's body of work establishes. In an unprescedented exception to my own rule, Piper is included further down this list because of the glaring omission of Syd Barret had this list not included him.
Picking a single Pink Floyd album and lifiting it into superiority is a task I hadn't envied even before I got into this one-album-per-artist nonsense, and I can confidently report that after putting myself in said position I couldn't recommend it any less. My conclusion is however that Dark Side of the Moon, as an album, is slightly better than Wish You Were Here. It is more of a conventionally structured album than the other, with shorter songs and tighter patterns. Also, I would say, it is the uttermost realized vision ever concieved in music, with every note chiming in concurrence with the others in a way I have never heard before or since. Turn up Any Colour You Like and you'll know it.
Strange as it might sound, there are infact detractors of this album lurking in the shadows, whose main gripes are consistenyly the synthezised proto-electronic masterpiece On The Run, and The Great Gig in the Sky. And I'll give the classic rock people On The Run, I get that they dont' get it. Too soundscapey for some. How you don't like Gig in the Sky on the other hand, is beyond all fathomable reality.
Some Pink Floyd diehards are strange in that way, I've even seen comments dissing Another Brick in the Wall. [First added to this chart: 11/30/2017]
"The big four" of Pink Floyd albums are of course Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, The Wall, and Animals - with The Wall being my personal favorite - possibly due to my appreciation of musicals. Honorable mentions for The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Saucerful of Secrets, which both are groundbreaking, brilliant albums in their own right, but just can't compete with the otherworldly standard the band's body of work establishes. In an unprescedented exception to my own rule, Piper is included further down this list because of the glaring omission of Syd Barret had this list not included him.
Picking a single Pink Floyd album and lifiting it into superiority is a task I hadn't envied even before I got into this one-album-per-artist nonsense, and I can confidently report that after putting myself in said position I couldn't recommend it any less. My conclusion is however that Dark Side of the Moon, as an album, is slightly better than Wish You Were Here. It is more of a conventionally structured album than the other, with shorter songs and tighter patterns. Also, I would say, it is the uttermost realized vision ever concieved in music, with every note chiming in concurrence with the others in a way I have never heard before or since. Turn up Any Colour You Like and you'll know it.
Strange as it might sound, there are infact detractors of this album lurking in the shadows, whose main gripes are consistenyly the synthezised proto-electronic masterpiece On The Run, and The Great Gig in the Sky. And I'll give the classic rock people On The Run, I get that they dont' get it. Too soundscapey for some. How you don't like Gig in the Sky on the other hand, is beyond all fathomable reality.
Some Pink Floyd diehards are strange in that way, I've even seen comments dissing Another Brick in the Wall. [First added to this chart: 11/30/2017]
Year of Release:
1973
Appears in:
Rank Score:
56,456
Rank in 1973:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Honorable Mentions: Mingus Ah Um
[First added to this chart: 01/20/2018]
Year of Release:
1963
Appears in:
Rank Score:
12,248
Rank in 1963:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
*Extended Edition
Honorable Mentions: Remain in Light, Fear of Music, More Songs About Buildings And Food [First added to this chart: 12/13/2017]
Honorable Mentions: Remain in Light, Fear of Music, More Songs About Buildings And Food [First added to this chart: 12/13/2017]
Year of Release:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,273
Rank in 1984:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Honorable Mentions: Hunky Dory
[First added to this chart: 04/05/2018]
Year of Release:
1972
Appears in:
Rank Score:
40,806
Rank in 1972:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Honorable Mentions: Hatful of Hollow, Meat is Murder, The Smiths (Self-titled), Strangeways Here We Come
[First added to this chart: 11/30/2017]
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
31,599
Rank in 1986:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Honorable Mentions: Blue Train
[First added to this chart: 01/14/2018]
Year of Release:
1965
Appears in:
Rank Score:
14,778
Rank in 1965:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
[First added to this chart: 04/03/2018]
Year of Release:
2004
Appears in:
Rank Score:
13,238
Rank in 2004:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
[First added to this chart: 03/23/2018]
Year of Release:
1975
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,051
Rank in 1975:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
[First added to this chart: 09/11/2018]
Year of Release:
2012
Appears in:
Rank Score:
13,727
Rank in 2012:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 5 | 5% | |
| 1960s | 20 | 20% | |
| 1970s | 30 | 30% | |
| 1980s | 9 | 9% | |
| 1990s | 15 | 15% | |
| 2000s | 13 | 13% | |
| 2010s | 8 | 8% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Pink Floyd | 2 | 2% | |
| David Bowie | 2 | 2% | |
| Grateful Dead | 1 | 1% | |
| Billy Cobham | 1 | 1% | |
| RJD2 | 1 | 1% | |
| John Coltrane | 1 | 1% | |
| Neil Young | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
 |
60 | 60% | |
 |
26 | 26% | |
 |
6 | 6% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
Up 1 from 9th to 8th |
Up 1 from 7th to 6th |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
Down 1 from 6th to 7th |
Down 1 from 8th to 9th |
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums 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 31 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 01/15/2025 16:59 | Exist-en-ciel | 162 | 97/100 |
| ! | 08/30/2022 10:54 | Thearei30ee | 17 | 88/100 |
| ! | 11/11/2020 12:36 | Larcx13 | 1,139 | 86/100 |
| ! | 02/05/2020 22:15 |  Rhyner | 1,463 | 99/100 |
| ! | 02/05/2020 13:09 |  DommeDamian | 1,005 | 89/100 |
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 2% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 91.0/100, a mean average of 91.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 92.7/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 9.9.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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From
AlvaroIesus 02/24/2023 21:03 | #294411
AlvaroIesus 02/24/2023 21:03 | #294411
a bunch of safe picks.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From
Larcx13 11/11/2020 12:37 | #260621
Larcx13 11/11/2020 12:37 | #260621
Nice selections, and a couple wordy texts to boot! Great chart.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From
sssvnnn 02/05/2020 12:35 | #247512
sssvnnn 02/05/2020 12:35 | #247512
like it.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From
EyeKanFly 02/05/2020 12:14 | #247510
EyeKanFly 02/05/2020 12:14 | #247510
Nice list! Lots of variety, nothing really disagreeable, and we have quite a bit in common. I love the inclusion of Hamilton and Jesus Christ Superstar
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From
NowhereMan 11/25/2019 15:34 | #245153
NowhereMan 11/25/2019 15:34 | #245153
S.F Sorrow!!!!!!!!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From
Ledgin72 10/18/2019 21:51 | #243888
Ledgin72 10/18/2019 21:51 | #243888
Good stuff! Love the Hamilton nod!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From
RealTalk 10/13/2019 00:50 | #243682
That's a long list and I have something to listen to in the next months to come. Thanks!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From
pctrooper 10/05/2019 20:57 | #243438
This is cool. I enjoy almost everything here. I think this is the most similar chart to mine that I've seen.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From
Pretender 09/02/2019 03:13 | #242067
You seem to have a very varied taste and based on a feeling I suggest Continuo by Aviahai Cohen, Israeli jazz (modern and alive), and Cabo Verde by Cesaria Evora.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From
Medelsvensson 05/18/2019 21:43 | #236429
Medelsvensson 05/18/2019 21:43 | #236429
Thanks for all the comments of late, much appreciated! :)
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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