Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
by 
ExTeaSea 
Been trying to limit my chart to one album per artist. That way I can include more of my favorite artists. This rating game is fun and challenging that's for sure.
But I kinda switched back to being more honest with myself and including more albums by the same artists haha. 3 Stones albums! 3 Bjork cuz heck yeah! Etc haha.
Sometimes I look at my chart and I'm like is this really my 100 favorite albums?? Ranking is challenging but fun haha.
- Chart updated: 09/01/2025 17:45
- (Created: 08/05/2018 19:08).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 27 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 89 out of 100 (from 63 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from the 1980s. (Remove this filter)
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[First added to this chart: 08/05/2018]
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,522
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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[First added to this chart: 06/29/2021]
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,701
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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[First added to this chart: 09/06/2018]
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,254
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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[First added to this chart: 09/12/2022]
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,032
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 04/12/2019]
Year of Release:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,625
Rank in 1982:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
Favorite song: Seconds but the entire second half is new wave perfection.
[First added to this chart: 08/05/2018]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,053
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 05/03/2021]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
913
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 03/16/2024]
Year of Release:
1985
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,198
Rank in 1985:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 08/05/2018]
Year of Release:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,575
Rank in 1982:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 9. Page 1 of 1
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 6 | 6% | |
| 1970s | 22 | 22% | |
| 1980s | 9 | 9% | |
| 1990s | 28 | 28% | |
| 2000s | 21 | 21% | |
| 2010s | 8 | 8% | |
| 2020s | 6 | 6% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| The Rolling Stones | 3 | 3% | |
| Björk | 3 | 3% | |
| The Flaming Lips | 3 | 3% | |
| The Chemical Brothers | 2 | 2% | |
| Nine Inch Nails | 2 | 2% | |
| The Smashing Pumpkins | 2 | 2% | |
| Billy Joel | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| |
45 | 45% | |
 |
38 | 38% | |
 |
4 | 4% | |
 |
4 | 4% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 2 from 17th to 15thJunior by Röyksopp |
| Up 2 from 16th to 14thSoviet Kitsch by Regina Spektor |
| Up 1 from 20th to 19thThe Yes Album by Yes |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 9 from 11th to 20thThe Beatles (The White Album) by The Beatles |
| Down 1 from 15th to 16thThe Cars by The Cars |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similar charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | ExTeaSea | 1990s decade chart | 2025 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s | ExTeaSea | 2000s decade chart | 2025 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | ExTeaSea | 1970s decade chart | 2025 | |
| My Personal Ranking of Best Ever Albums' Top 100 |  Xxnu99etxX | Custom chart | 2022 |  |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | maxjtotsky | Overall chart | 2011 |  |
| Objectively Ranking BEA’s Top 100 |  AAL2014 | Custom chart | 2024 | |
| ranking the overall top 100 |  OKC1 | Custom chart | 2016 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | Dakatalbum | Overall chart | 2019 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | alert23 | Overall chart | 2025 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums |  Hattori300 | Overall chart | 2014 | |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similarity to your chart(s)
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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 63 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/02/2025 11:57 |  DommeDamian | 1,004 | 89/100 |
| ! | 02/09/2025 10:20 |  SomethingSpecial | 1,104 | 85/100 |
| ! | 01/13/2025 21:31 | DrewHamster | 317 | 79/100 |
| ! | 01/04/2025 21:00 | StreakyNuno | 131 | 82/100 |
| ! | 01/04/2025 09:02 | ThuramThugood | 106 | 90/100 |
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 3% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 89.4/100, a mean average of 89.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 89.9/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 7.1.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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From StreakyNuno 01/04/2025 21:01 | #306801
Great to see Pink Floyd and Bjork...Obviously The Dark Side of the Moon is a felt absence
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From KineticEchoes02 01/27/2023 02:12 | #293295
Great choices in your chart! Great to see the love for Bjork, Soundgarden, Tool, PF, and Smashing Pumpkins. I like that you haven't just gone for the widely accepted favourite of the artist in many cases. Hats off putting Animals above WYWH and Dark Side (not an easy call), what a masterpiece - I also have that in my top 10. Must check out some of the Norwegian and Japanese artists you've got here. Would agree that it's too hard to settle on one album per artist.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Johnnyo 11/28/2022 07:47 | #291614
Love this chart.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From StreakyNuno 10/29/2022 20:34 | #290892
thanks for recommending me this wonderful album by Royksoop... Junior
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From leniad 06/19/2022 08:28 | #286500
really liked your chart, listen to jazz?
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
C_Krug2009 06/29/2021 00:37 | #271136
C_Krug2009 06/29/2021 00:37 | #271136
Bjork and Lana are amazing :)
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
hoyquarlow 04/26/2021 14:32 | #268996
hoyquarlow 04/26/2021 14:32 | #268996
Extremely varied, love it
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From mrmcrook 04/13/2021 23:32 | #268513
Love your chart. So much variety within genres and years in which released. 5 albums in common, 19 artists. You have many more artists featured which is good to see that never made my top 100 but are on my decade or year lists. Overall, great list.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From mianfei 01/11/2021 09:02 | #264192
A very good list even with artists of no appeal to me like Queen, the Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana and Alice in Chains.
Although a child of the 1990s, I completely agree with ‘H to He Who Am the Only One’ and ‘Turn of the Cards’ – actually the only two albums here common to my own chart. Nonetheless, there are a lot of other exceptional artists like Portishead, Stevie Wonder, Björk, St. Vincent and Roxy Music, to make this all the more impressive. The Lilith Fair artists of the 1990s, and also Tori Amos, sound more like Renaissance than Joni Mitchell.
Some recommendations I might make:
— Annette Peacock’s ‘I’m the One’ – she was cited by the old ‘Rough Guide’ as a precursor to Laurie Anderson, and is in my opinion a much better artist
— Essra Mohawk’s ‘Primordial Lovers’ – gorgeously sensual vocals that should appeal if you like Renaissance and Roxy
— Lamb’s ‘Lamb’ – an intensely beautiful and dense work, the best trip-hop albums outside of Portishead I have heard
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Bloaf38 11/29/2020 02:02 | #261612
Very interesting chart. Lots of stuff you dont' see everyday. Really cool to see Feels ranked so high. I also think that's Animal Collective's best
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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