Top 40 Greatest Music Albums
by caveman

Work in progress. This is really a chart of my personal taste, so it probably won't interest everyone. I'm not trying to give my opinion of what should "officially" be called the best albums, or what have been the most influential albums. We're striving for a list of what the best albums really are, which should be based on what people really like, not on what people think everyone else really likes. Not that I mind if people want to write a chart full of classics.

Feel free to make suggestions or comments.

• Chart updated: 01/19/2012 14:15
• (Created: 01/11/2012 14:20).
• Chart size: 40 albums.

There are 5 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 40 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 83 out of 100 (from 6 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

• Summary
• Composition
• Ratings
• Favourites
• Comments
• Your feedback

The entries in this chart have a zero rank score because the chart has not been updated within the last ten years (points from overall charts are decayed over a ten year period).

View the complete list of 57,000 charts on BestEverAlbums.com from The Charts page.

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• Num. Ratings
• Release Date
• Title
• Artist
• Date Added

1. (=)

Uncle Meat 

 The Mothers Of Invention

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Zappa's take on classical music and free jazz, thinly disguised with and mixed with pop and rock. All done with a wonderful whimsical charm. This album is a monster that will take some a while to digest and turn others off completely. [First added to this chart: 01/11/2012]

Year of Release:

1969

Appears in:

167 charts

Rank Score:

1,142

Rank in 1969:

44

Rank in 1960s:

154

Overall Rank:

1,496

Average Rating:

 78 (250 votes)

Comments:

11

2. (=)

We're Only In It For The Money 

 The Mothers Of Invention

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Usually noted as a parody of the beatles's sgt pepper, but also a very honest and called for satire of both the hippie movement and the establishment in general. Musically speaking, its a dense, facinating collage of conventional songs, music concrete (voices, sound effects, sped up tapes etc) and snippets of classical music. [First added to this chart: 01/11/2012]

Year of Release:

1968

Appears in:

413 charts

Rank Score:

2,649

Rank in 1968:

14

Rank in 1960s:

77

Overall Rank:

653

Average Rating:

 78 (634 votes)

Comments:

43

3. (=)

Pink Moon 

 Nick Drake

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[First added to this chart: 01/11/2012]

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

1,555 charts

Rank Score:

18,045

Rank in 1972:

3

Rank in 1970s:

17

Overall Rank:

55

Average Rating:

 86 (1,852 votes)

Comments:

144

4. (=)

Blackwater Park 

 Opeth

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Perhaps the last opeth album that was recorded with minimal preparation (the lyrics and a fair bit of the music was written during the recording sessions). As a result it is a little inconsistent but it all sounds very fresh and like they put all their energy into it. 'The leper affinity' and 'the drapery falls' are unbelievable. [First added to this chart: 01/11/2012]

Year of Release:

2001

Appears in:

327 charts

Rank Score:

2,372

Rank in 2001:

13

Rank in 2000s:

115

Overall Rank:

734

Average Rating:

 79 (438 votes)

Comments:

35

5. (=)

Amnesiac 

 Radiohead

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Quite an experimental-sounding and varied album, but also very polished. I find there's more depth to the songs on this album than to its partner 'kid a' which is also fantastic. [First added to this chart: 01/11/2012]

Year of Release:

2001

Appears in:

1,341 charts

Rank Score:

10,275

Rank in 2001:

2

Rank in 2000s:

18

Overall Rank:

134

Average Rating:

 82 (2,583 votes)

Comments:

190

6. (=)

Morningrise 

 Opeth

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In this album opeth perfected their 'old' sound. Its also in my opinion the logical conclusion and pinacle of the 'old' gothenburg style swedish metal, with the dual guitars, folk, classical and nwobhm influences. There are also some less obvious progressive rock (camel) influences here as well. Not for everyone but very beautiful album. [First added to this chart: 01/11/2012]

Year of Release:

1996

Appears in:

59 charts

Rank Score:

559

Rank in 1996:

53

Rank in 1990s:

478

Overall Rank:

2,766

Average Rating:

 77 (110 votes)

Comments:

2

7. (=)

Moonmadness 

 Camel

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[First added to this chart: 01/11/2012]

Year of Release:

1976

Appears in:

200 charts

Rank Score:

1,531

Rank in 1976:

18

Rank in 1970s:

235

Overall Rank:

1,136

Average Rating:

 80 (273 votes)

Comments:

21

8. (=)

The Yellow Shark 
Live

 Frank Zappa

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[First added to this chart: 01/11/2012]

Year of Release:

1993

Appears in:

33 charts

Rank Score:

92

Rank in 1993:

194

Rank in 1990s:

2,043

Overall Rank:

12,560

Average Rating:

 72 (52 votes)

Comments:

1

9. (=)

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn 

 Pink Floyd

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[First added to this chart: 01/11/2012]

Year of Release:

1967

Appears in:

1,216 charts

Rank Score:

9,087

Rank in 1967:

8

Rank in 1960s:

29

Overall Rank:

163

Average Rating:

 81 (2,000 votes)

Comments:

118

10. (=)

Lateralus 

 Tool

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[First added to this chart: 01/11/2012]

Year of Release:

2001

Appears in:

808 charts

Rank Score:

8,622

Rank in 2001:

5

Rank in 2000s:

28

Overall Rank:

176

Average Rating:

 82 (1,082 votes)

Comments:

76

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Total albums: 40. Page 1 of 4

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Top 40 Greatest Music Albums composition

Decade	Albums	%
1930s	0	0%
1940s	0	0%
1950s	0	0%
1960s	10	25%
1970s	7	18%
1980s	1	3%
1990s	8	20%
2000s	13	33%
2010s	1	3%
2020s	0	0%

Artist	Albums	%
Nick Drake	3	8%
Opeth	3	8%
Porcupine Tree	2	5%
Dark Tranquillity	2	5%
The Mothers Of Invention	2	5%
Radiohead	2	5%
Camel	2	5%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	13	33%
	10	25%
	8	20%
	2	5%
	2	5%
	2	5%
	1	3%
Show all

Top 40 Greatest Music Albums chart changes

Biggest climbers
Up 5 from 27th to 22nd Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles
Up 2 from 39th to 37th Catch Thirtythree by Meshuggah
Up 1 from 29th to 28th Music Inspired By The Snow Goose by Camel

Biggest fallers
Down 1 from 37th to 38th Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins
Down 1 from 38th to 39th Natural Born Chaos by Soilwork

New entries
Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
Signify by Porcupine Tree

Leavers
Abbey Road by The Beatles

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Top 40 Greatest Music Albums	zeli9	Overall chart	2012
Top 40 Greatest Music Albums	07quinnja	Overall chart	2020
Top 31 Greatest Music Albums	Floydfan123	Overall chart	2010
Top 40 Greatest Music Albums	strep	Overall chart	2010
Top 20 Greatest Music Albums	ggrop	Overall chart	2010
Top 39 Greatest Music Albums	Asaspades	Overall chart	2010

Top 40 Greatest Music Albums similarity to your chart(s)

Top 40 Greatest Music Albums ratings

Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 6 ratings for this chart.

Sort ratings

• Rating
• Date updated
• Member

Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
80/100	04/18/2018 10:44	Ulf	186	80/100
90/100	07/14/2014 22:35	Captain_Dude	231	80/100
85/100	01/14/2012 20:31	zonrod	72	83/100
85/100	01/14/2012 16:45	Triple Seis	1,251	79/100
70/100	01/14/2012 12:07	Johnnyo	2,527	80/100

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Top 40 Greatest Music Albums comments

Showing all 5 comments |
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Rating:  

80/100

From Ulf 04/18/2018 10:44

good stuff especially piper at the gates

#213178 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

90/100

From Captain_Dude 07/14/2014 22:37

Nick Drake, Zappa, Camel, Floyd, Captain Beefheart...lots of great stuff on this chart! It also seems very individualized...I love those types of charts! I'm definitely with you on the Yellow Shark album. That WAS one of Zappa's finest and you just never hear about that piece enough. Nicely done! Definitely continue to add more of your favorites.

#116750 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

From Romanelli 01/28/2012 19:42

Couldn't help but notice that you and I are the only ones to include The Yellow Shark! Your personal taste is cool...I love seeing things I've never even heard of before! Nice chart!

#36063 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

85/100

From zonrod 01/14/2012 20:33

Hey! Thanks for your nice review.
I am just paying attention to my own taste and I really don't care about the general main stream and my charts are just the outcome of it, but still evolving as well!
I also like Zappa but I only nominate I artist per album.

#35201 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

65/100

From album guru joe 01/14/2012 00:52

average chart...love Frank Zappa but way too much of him on your chart... would be interesting to see a top 100.

#35169 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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