Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
by mianfei 
This is a rough guide to the 100 greatest albums I have listened to.
Two albums only per artist – with artists related by personnel counted as one – and with the classical recordings one recording per composition.
Especially the lower-ranked albums on the list will be subject to revision as I have a very large backlog of recordings to listen (and re-listen) to.
- Chart updated: 01/13/2026 13:15
- (Created: 05/13/2019 10:35).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 25 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 87 out of 100 (from 45 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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An unparalleled sound and mood piece, which flows along with no effort at all thanks to the simple combination of Mitchell’s acoustic, Larry Carlton’s electric and Pastorius’ fretless bass. ‘Coyote’, ‘A Strange Boy’ and ‘Song for Sharon’ tell simple and beautiful stories with a sound no one, including Joni herself, has approached before or since. The unusual, low-pitched tunings add further by allowing the trio to dispense with a drummer on many tracks, creating a sense of mood quite unlike anything before or almost anything since. Whilst its predecessor ‘The Hissing of Summer Lawns’ showed Joni as an exceptional lyricist and capable of crafting a beautifully dark atmosphere, that album was nothing compared to the weightless, soft melodies she creates on ‘Hejira’. The songs are long but do not feel so because they move with such a continuous yet easily memorable flow, whereby every note sinks in with amazing ease and consonance.
[First added to this chart: 05/13/2019]
Year of Release:
1976
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,853
Rank in 1976:
Rank in 1970s:
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Although artists like Carol Kleyn had used a harp as a folk/rock instrument, ‘The Milk-Eyed Mender’ is a totally unrivalled piece of work. Newsom’s childlike energy and wondrous lyrics may have been done before but the sound of ‘The Milk-Eyed Mender’, anchored by a unique mix of harp, piano and harpsichord, is wholly unparalleled, and Newsom’s voice has an innocence it does not on her later albums (all masterpieces and would have been included if I had no two-album limit). The songs meld with Newsom’s sound perfectly: ‘The Milk-Eyed Mender’ is not folk, nor rock, but a quite unique art form that forges an astounding succession of songs in the second half, highlighted by the piercing fairy voice of ‘Peach, Plum, Pear’ and ‘Three Little Babes’ alongside the unearthly beauty of ‘Swansea’, ‘Cassiopeia’ and ‘Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie’. As an impression of nature from the wondrous eyes of a child, there is quite simply no record like this, nor any record so indescribable in its simplicity and power.
[First added to this chart: 05/13/2019]
Year of Release:
2004
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,565
Rank in 2004:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
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The greatest classical recording of all time, and the most singular. Dominique takes on Messiaen’s unique piano pieces from European bird songs and sculpts them into something truly wild in a way Hill, Austbø and Muraro (all brilliant in themselves) cannot. The amazing thing is that one can be enchanted by ‘Complete Bird Music for Piano Solo’ without listening all the way through it, and the startling mood changes mean it never get boring for a second even when one is familiar. The degree to which Messiaen’s piano tones actually recreate the sounds of nature is quite extraordinary even after hearing a small piece of ‘Complete Bird Music for Piano Solo’ and a small section of the songs of the species on which the compositions are based is equally remarkable, yet the pieces are so spontaneous that they take little patience to appreciate as the works of wonder that they are.
[First added to this chart: 05/13/2019]
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The purest and greatest “soul” album ever made, taking the simple funk rhythms of James Brown and Sly Stone into something completely un-earthbound and mysterious. The nocturnal beauty and autumnal lyrics of the title tune never loses anything with any number of listens, whilst ‘Caravan’, ‘And It Stoned Me’ and ‘Crazy Love’ are unrivalled testaments to the power of mystical passion. Then on ‘Into the Mystic’, Van perfects the folk/jazz/soul fusion into a completely acoustic chill-out beat, and the delightful and joyful harpsichord-based ‘Everyone’ expresses the theme of rebirth with more joy than any soul or gospel song before or since. A funk record so joyful that one immerses in the beats rather than dance to them, a white soul album expressing redemption better than any of the original gospel masters – either way or any other, ‘Moondance’ is a complete masterpiece.
[First added to this chart: 05/13/2019]
Year of Release:
1970
Appears in:
Rank Score:
8,769
Rank in 1970:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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A startling fusion of disparate elements — rock, tribal, sampling — ‘This Timeless Turning’ is a work of oceanic and otherworldly depth from a city more known for its angry, materialistic and tuneless grunge. Anisa Romero’s ability to maintain perfect melody without a trace of anger even amidst high amplification is unrivalled by any other singer, as seen on ‘Scapegoat’, ‘Deep Sunless Sea’ and the last part of ‘Vuh’. On the softer ‘Don’t Forget the Sky’, Anisa projects a vocal tone with a depth of breath that no other singer can, and on ‘These Old Bones’ the band updates Roxy Music’s ‘Avalon’ into a tale of reincarnation so sweet that the careful listener will always be entwined. The incantory power of the whole record far surpasses any antecedents from the 1960s, even Amon Düül II. No other record portrays the dark depths of nature with such power as ‘This Timeless Turning’ and its also-brilliant successor ‘Moonbathing on Sleeping Leaves’.
[First added to this chart: 05/13/2019]
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Overlooked for over three decades, and dismissed by Scaruffi, this is actually a remarkable work of acoustic proto-ambient texture that avoids the pitfalls of later works of that genre via poetry of the most perfect rhythm. ‘Paper Mountain Man’ is the most exact poetic tone matched to the most cutting satire of the “hippie” lifestyle, ‘Moons and Cattails’ visualises the dark landscapes of the Pacific coast like no other song, ‘Call of the River’ really feels like being drenched by the continuous rain of the Pacific forest, ‘Parallelograms’ remains after five decades the greatest ambient song ever made, and ‘Delicious’ stands as the most sensual love song ever made. Standing between two worlds, ‘Parallelograms’ also stands completely apart from them.
[First added to this chart: 05/13/2019]
Year of Release:
1970
Appears in:
Rank Score:
929
Rank in 1970:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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A transcendent work of communal worship, synthesising varied ethnic folk traditions with medieval plainchant to render traditional hymns and psalms, ‘The Christ Tree’ may be incomprehensible on first listen, but the way it links music and social work is utterly unique and beautiful in both its consonant and dissonant moments. The soothing beauty and beautiful bells of opener ‘Psalm 42’ melds with the despairing “where is now your God/how shall you save yourself”, whilst the medieval chant and tribal rhythm of ‘Chant for Pentecost’ fuse in a manner one would never expect, and the discordant notes on ‘The Parable of the Mustard Seed’ express moments of joy that words cannot. The various women sing so beautifully as to make Sandy Denny and Maddy Prior look ugly. A milestone in countercultural folk, and an undoubted touchstone for the “freak folk” of the 2000s.
[First added to this chart: 05/13/2019]
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An album with the emotional intensity of a deeply crying heart and the mysterious beauty of medieval spirituality. Whilst Henry Cow and the Art Bears are often viewed as doctrinaire leftists, the mystical elements of ‘Winter Songs’ and its predecessor ‘Hopes and Fears’, expressed through the concept around Amiens Cathedral taken through the spiritual cycles of rural High Middle Ages Europe, firmly betray that stereotype. The ferocity with which Frith and Cutler back up Krause’s finest vocal performance makes for a uniquely tight matching of bleakness and compassion.
[First added to this chart: 05/13/2019]
9. (=)
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This album’s importance can be seen in the way it re-uses traditional songs in a unique manner — to tell the story of Britain’s population during World War One, without so much as changing their lyrics. Dolly Collins’ flute-like pipe organ and Shirley’s dark, deep voice are never seen to the same effect as they are here, not merely on ‘A Song-Story’ itself but also on the second side, with the authentic imagery of ‘Ca the Yowes’, ‘Nellie the Milkman’, ‘Rambleaway’ and Robin Williamson’s ‘God Dog’. More than that, the other traditional instruments – viol, sackbutt – blend in so well as to make a record that is both ancient and timeless like nothing else.
[First added to this chart: 05/13/2019]
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An album to which I am a latecomer, but with a unique concept of combining traditional folksong with classical arrangements, ‘Night in Galicia’ loses nothing of either tradition and manages to show the power of Eastern European traditional singing better even than the much more famous ‘Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares’, in part because the chants are so much more epic. ‘A-A-A O-O-O Eh-Eh-Eh EE-EE-EE OO-OO-OO’, ‘The Meadow's Lowing Now Is Sinking’ entrance the listener in a repetitive “drone” frequently aimed at but seldom captured, because the vocals make a trance that drums cannot. This re-imagining of traditional music is why this album makes the Top Ten.
[First added to this chart: 05/13/2019]
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 | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 12 | 12% | |
| 1970s | 30 | 30% | |
| 1980s | 17 | 17% | |
| 1990s | 21 | 21% | |
| 2000s | 10 | 10% | |
| 2010s | 9 | 9% | |
| 2020s | 1 | 1% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Van Morrison | 2 | 2% | |
| Steely Dan | 2 | 2% | |
| Sky Cries Mary | 2 | 2% | |
| Talk Talk | 2 | 2% | |
| Roxy Music | 2 | 2% | |
| Julia Holter | 2 | 2% | |
| Joanna Newsom | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| |
54 | 54% | |
 |
27 | 27% | |
 |
5 | 5% | |
 |
4 | 4% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 4 from 43rd to 39thLa Grande Folie by San Salvador |
| Up 3 from 88th to 85thIntegrale Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Vol. 1: 1938-1943 by Sister Rosetta Tharpe |
| Up 2 from 35th to 33rdHe Is My Story: The Sanctified Soul Of Arizona Dranes by Arizona Dranes |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 2 from 15th to 17thHounds Of Love by Kate Bush |
| Down 2 from 86th to 88thThe Power Of The True Love Knot by Shirley Collins |
| Down 1 from 33rd to 34thLiege & Lief by Fairport Convention |
| New entries |
|---|
| Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similar charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | mianfei | 1970s decade chart | 2023 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | hairymarx1 | Overall chart | 2016 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums |  The Gollux | Overall chart | 2024 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | boyd94 | Overall chart | 2026 |  |
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| PPV Overall Ranking | bea | Custom chart | 2021 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums |  AfterHours | Overall chart | 2026 | |
| Mojo 100 Greatest Albums of All Time (1995) | WayneMC | Custom chart | 2019 | |
| RYM Average Rating | Imaybeparanoid | Custom chart | 2016 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums |  Kalos | Overall chart | 2020 | |
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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 45 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 01/13/2026 11:49 | Exist-en-ciel | 153 | 97/100 |
| ! | 03/06/2025 20:34 |  SomethingSpecial | 1,097 | 85/100 |
| ! | 11/29/2024 21:59 | oilnoilnoilnoil | 3 | 95/100 |
| ! | 01/14/2024 06:23 | shanelovesyou111 | 29 | 82/100 |
| ! | 10/25/2023 17:49 |  sageamagoo | 236 | 92/100 |
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 has a Bayesian average rating of 86.5/100, a mean average of 85.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 86.7/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 19.9.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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From oilnoilnoilnoil 11/29/2024 22:00 | #306328
Awesome chart! Love the comments! I'm coming here for my next music recommendation.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From sageamagoo 01/15/2024 19:59 | #301209
sageamagoo 01/15/2024 19:59 | #301209
Hejira blew my mind, clearly a landmark work of fusion and poetry! This is exactly the kind of music I've spent my life searching for. Hearing the essential contributions women have made to music could not be more important to me, and your chart is full of exactly that.
Not hard to tell when someone's true passion lies in exploring the depths of this world's music. Your chart is learned with a lifetime of research and I will happily reference it for my own pursuits.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From zrommeke 03/25/2023 11:41 | #295413
Impressive, interesting, inspiring!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From uphill 01/05/2023 15:26 | #292520
Laika, Linda Perhacs, Joanna Newsom... lots of stuff that i would also rate high...
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Santiago 08/26/2021 04:57 | #272856
I have discovered some artists that seem interesting and I am looking forward to listen to their records. On the other hand there are some artists that I know, but I think they are just OK and not good enough to be considered for the top positions of a "Greatest Music Album" chart. Thanks for posting this chart!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Moondance 07/06/2021 00:28 | #271383
A thought provoking chart and your commentary on the first 50 albums reveals the deepest reflection in your music journey and should be applauded. I was a little disappointed not to see a single Australian artist/album make the top 100 grade.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
seb7 07/05/2021 21:34 | #271380
seb7 07/05/2021 21:34 | #271380
Not my picks, but a diverse chart nonetheless. Love seeing Hejira getting love.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
DommeDamian 07/05/2021 21:23 | #271379
DommeDamian 07/05/2021 21:23 | #271379
Oh my god this is great work buddy!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Johnnyo 07/05/2021 15:54 | #271371
Really nice and unique chart. I like it a lot
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Amirkhosro 04/04/2021 15:58 | #268203
Amirkhosro 04/04/2021 15:58 | #268203
Genuine and lovely. Keep up the good work!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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