Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s
by Jimmy Dread

Ahhh the 70s - my favourite musical decade by far, and so much so there's at least another 50 albums/artists that could easily be in here without a moment's hesitation. Born on the day before the year that punk broke, you could argue that I was destined to fall in love with the decade of my birth. But look at the variety - folk, funk, MPB, soul, punk, jazz, disco, post-punk, and critically the emergence of Jamaica as a bona fide musical contender. All find a home here, and rightly so. Forever finding nuggets to shoehorn into this chart so likely to be pretty fluid - if you'd told me I'd have a smattering of jazz LPs in here a couple of years ago I'd have scoffed. Repetitions with my overall 100 generally ignored, and more comments to follow (in addition to those that have probably been here since the earth cooled). Feedback, criticisms, recommendations all welcome (unless it's anything to do with listening to The Wall, Springsteen or ELP - there's a whole slew of boring dad-rockers on BEA if that's your bag). Jimmy, January 2021

• Chart updated: 01/22/2021 15:15
• (Created: 01/24/2012 18:55).
• Chart size: 100 albums.

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1. (=)

Heart Of The Congos 

 The Congos

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PICK - Ark Of The Covenant. Hands-down the finest album to come out of Jamaica. Scratch's production is peerless. Roots Reggae's finest half-hour-and-a-bit. [First added to this chart: 01/24/2012]

Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

267 charts

Rank Score:

1,750

Rank in 1977:

23

Rank in 1970s:

205

Overall Rank:

994

Average Rating:

 79 (266 votes)

Comments:

10

2. (=)

Hunky Dory 

 David Bowie

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PICK - Fill Your Heart. It was via my favourite Welshcake Eilir that I discovered Bowie, admittedly far too late. Deep in his dungeon/bunker in halls at Uni he was busy making odd noises with a battered microphone and a Tascam 4-track. I was intrigued and upon burying my nose in his record collection found an LP I really should have listened to before attempting to digest the likes of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and Datblygu... [First added to this chart: 05/31/2012]

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,867 charts

Rank Score:

19,089

Rank in 1971:

3

Rank in 1970s:

14

Overall Rank:

47

Average Rating:

 87 (2,453 votes)

Comments:

159

3. (=)

Truths And Rights 

 Johnny Osbourne

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PICK - Jah Promise. University saw me fall in love with Studio One, primarily through the essential compilations Soul Jazz Records puts out on a regular basis. Johnny Osbourne has a voice that could melt the hardest of hearts, the riddims are immense, and the album is a peach. Respect is indeed overdue. [First added to this chart: 01/24/2012]

Year of Release:

1979

Appears in:

39 charts

Rank Score:

156

Rank in 1979:

119

Rank in 1970s:

1,206

Overall Rank:

7,987

Average Rating:

 76 (39 votes)

Comments:

3

4. (5) 1

Songs In The Key Of Life 

 Stevie Wonder

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PICK - Black Man. One of a handful of LPs I own in 3 formats (CD, vinyl, MP3), and one album that my ex will not taint my adoration of. I picked this up in a charity shop for a quid (all intact, with inner booklet and bonus 7") and played it incessantly, even ending my sets with Another Star when I used to DJ in the early 2000s. Jamiroquai's hijacking of half this LP and attempting to pass it off as his own still doesn't taint its appeal. Probably owned 3 copies on vinyl over the years (keeps turning up in collections I acquire). [First added to this chart: 01/24/2012]

Year of Release:

1976

Appears in:

1,318 charts

Rank Score:

15,731

Rank in 1976:

1

Rank in 1970s:

21

Overall Rank:

73

Average Rating:

 85 (1,374 votes)

Comments:

91

5.

Sorrow Tears And Blood 

 Fela Kuti & Africa 70

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Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

85 charts

Rank Score:

567

Rank in 1977:

50

Rank in 1970s:

493

Overall Rank:

2,733

Average Rating:

 80 (93 votes)

Comments:

0

6. (7) 1

The Modern Lovers 

 The Modern Lovers

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PICK - Old World. Discovered on same CD as Television and Nick Drake (as well as the New York Dolls, Husker Du and Sonic Youth - quite some compy!), it took me an age to get round to laying hands on a copy of The Modern Lovers, and about twice as long to fall head-over-heels in love with it. Chuck this and the 3rd Velvets album together and you've got two records that could pretty much be proto-twee pop. That's assuming anyone's looking for such a thing. [First added to this chart: 01/24/2012]

Year of Release:

1976

Appears in:

536 charts

Rank Score:

3,585

Rank in 1976:

9

Rank in 1970s:

108

Overall Rank:

475

Average Rating:

 82 (611 votes)

Comments:

34

7. (8) 1

King Tubby's Prophesy Of Dub 

 Yabby U

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PICK - Conquering Dub. Regular visitors to the House of Dread are more than likely acutely aware of my love of Yabby's stuff, but this Tubby dub (plucked out of obscurity by the good folk at Blood and Fire in the mid-90s) is outside of ...Meets Rockers Uptown his finest work, taking cuts from Conquering Lion and blasting them through a tube so that they come out dripping with bass and echo. A top-drawer set from the dub organizer himself. [First added to this chart: 10/19/2017]

Year of Release:

1976

Appears in:

5 charts

Rank Score:

19

Rank in 1976:

371

Rank in 1970s:

3,986

Overall Rank:

38,759

Average Rating:

 73 (8 votes)

Comments:

1

8. (6) 2

Stargazer 

 Shelagh McDonald

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[First added to this chart: 05/01/2015]

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

32 charts

Rank Score:

125

Rank in 1971:

144

Rank in 1970s:

1,407

Overall Rank:

9,607

Average Rating:

 74 (29 votes)

Comments:

2

9. (=)

Pink Moon 

 Nick Drake

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PICK - From The Morning. First heard Nick Drake on same compilation that spawned my love of Television (the band, not the medium). I vividly remember my mum coming up to my room one day and hearing me play this, remarking on how different it was to the 'usual rubbish' (my Dad's favourite phrase) that normally eminated from my boombox. I used to lead a one-man crusade at Uni to persuade more people to get into Nick. Those who listened got invited to my wedding. I haven't spoken to the rest in over 10 years. [First added to this chart: 03/07/2014]

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

1,560 charts

Rank Score:

17,378

Rank in 1972:

3

Rank in 1970s:

17

Overall Rank:

58

Average Rating:

 86 (1,863 votes)

Comments:

144

10. (=)

War Ina Babylon 

 Max Romeo & The Upsetters

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PICK - Tan and See. I borrowed my parents' MX-5 one day to drive my dear friend Hayley and I over to her place in the gorgeous Surrey of Albury. A singer by profession (and a bloody good one at that), she was immediately taken with not only a spot of (roof)topless driving, but also some rather natty roots reggae I had pumping out of the particularly crude stereo with speakers in the headrests. After Heart of The Congos, Scratch's best production job. [First added to this chart: 01/24/2012]

Year of Release:

1976

Appears in:

94 charts

Rank Score:

490

Rank in 1976:

49

Rank in 1970s:

543

Overall Rank:

3,069

Average Rating:

 78 (83 votes)

Comments:

6

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Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s composition

Country	Albums	%
	38	38%
	28	28%
	15	15%
	6	6%
	3	3%
	3	3%
	2	2%
Show all

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s chart changes

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s similarity to your chart(s)

Other decade charts by Jimmy Dread

Jimmy Dread has shared 6 more 1970s decade charts with the community. Browse them all here.

Title	Source	Type	Published	Country
Top 80 Music Albums of the 2010s	Jimmy Dread	2010s decade chart	2021
Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s	Jimmy Dread	2000s decade chart	2015

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s ratings

Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 18 ratings for this chart.

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
90/100  !	09/23/2020 07:14	Purplepash	1,714	88/100
100/100  !	09/22/2020 17:19	DommeDamian	1,003	89/100
95/100  !	09/22/2020 08:55	BraddlesHendo	497	91/100
100/100  !	09/22/2020 08:29	desh79	1,275	93/100
90/100  !	02/06/2020 22:37	Rhyner	1,454	99/100

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 4% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 89.3/100, a mean average of 92.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 91.1/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 8.4.

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s comments

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Rating:  

100/100

From ForegroundNoise 02/06/2020 10:00 | #247535

Your charts are always a joy to behold Jimmy, but this one happens to shine particularly bright. For a list that's limited to 1970-1979, you delicately interweave decades of memories so that your relationship with a time you experienced mostly second hand somehow transcends the limits its releases are bound to, the 70s' shockwaves rippling through your life long after 1980 came rolling around. A pleasure to thumb through- though should I really be surprised at this point?

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

Rating:  

90/100

From WayneMC 10/20/2016 19:32 | #177227

I've invested in 3 or 4 in your list....thanks. All Brazilian albums. Now I'll check some of the reggae albums I don't know. I would have rated this 95/100 with a bit more soul.

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

Rating:  

100/100

From meccalecca 06/27/2016 16:17 | #169997

Amazing chart. Still needs more funky stuff from Africa, especially William Onyeabor

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

Rating:  

100/100

From baystateoftheart 06/26/2016 21:33 | #169948

Amazing chart and great comments! So much to add to my wishlist!

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

Rating:  

90/100

From WayneMC 05/15/2016 01:02 | #165986

A few I don't know, however I'll be checking some out, certainly the Brazilian albums.

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

Rating:  

90/100

From neilgee 09/25/2015 17:18 | #150446

Interesting 100 Jim. There's certainly a few I've missed there, which is embarrassing because I was buying records in that era (I bought my first single in 1973 when you weren't yet born), but I'll mention Sugar Minott because I only first heard him in 1980 (on the John Peel show). In fact it's mostly the raggae stuff I've missed because 80 was when I went through my raggae phase and most of my collection is from 80 and after. Didn't know much about it before then (outside of Bob Marley) so it's good to find someone who has listened to what I missed and has rated it for me!

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

Rating:  

80/100

From daveybaker 04/26/2013 15:56 | #74496

Great chart, I shall dig out my copy of "Heart of the Congos" tonight and give it a spin. Have to agree about Chic too.

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