Bowie Albums Ranked
by emptysquares

Chart updated: 07/28/2023 12:15
(Created: 12/06/2019 16:23).
Chart size: 28 albums.

There is 1 comment for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Bowie Albums Ranked has an average rating of 87 out of 100 (from 1 vote). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

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1. (=)

Hunky Dory

David Bowie

In 1971 Bowie's career was going nowhere fast and very few bought this on it's release. Luckily, he released Ziggy Stardust 6 months later when the penny finally dropped with the record buying public.
v,g,k&s:Bowie; g&k:Ronson; k:Wakeman; b:Bolder; d:Woodmansey; Produced by Ken Scott & Bowie [First added to this chart: 12/06/2019]

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,860 charts

Rank Score:

19,339

Rank in 1971:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

87 (2,446 votes)

Comments:

159

2. (=)

The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars

David Bowie

His first successful album, even if the songs are not quite as great is it's predecessor Hunky Dory, this is more than compensated for by the swagger provided by the Spiders.
v,g&s:Bowie; g&k:Ronson; k:Wakeman; b:Bolder; d:Woodmansey; Produced by Ken Scott & Bowie [First added to this chart: 12/06/2019]

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

3,018 charts

Rank Score:

43,391

Rank in 1972:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

3. (=)

A return to conventional song format, but retaining some of the experimental approach pioneered in Low/Heroes/Lodger by harnessing the dissonance of Robert Fripps guitar. Once again Bowie demonstrates that artistic originality and commercialism are not necessarily incompatible.
v,k&s:Bowie; g:Alomar/Fripp/Hammer/Townshend/Visconti; k:Bittan/Clark; b:Murray; d:Davis; Produced by Tony Visconti & Bowie [First added to this chart: 12/06/2019]

Year of Release:

1980

Appears in:

776 charts

Rank Score:

5,710

Rank in 1980:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

290

Average Rating:

81 (1,124 votes)

Comments:

4. (=)

Station To Station

David Bowie

Bowie's chemical usage was out of control at this point and later claimed to have no memory of recording this album, although maybe this was Bowie's way of avoiding awkward questions about his 'Thin White Duke' alter-ego - a nasty piece of work with nihalistic and fascist tendancies. Stylisticly, it is a curious blend of funky danceable grooves mixed with some more progressive sounds and musically at least, this is Bowie at his best.
v,g,s&k:Bowie; g:Alomar/Slick; k:Bittan/Maslin; b:Murray; d:Davis; Produced by Harry Maslin & Bowie [First added to this chart: 12/06/2019]

Year of Release:

1976

Appears in:

1,101 charts

Rank Score:

11,973

Rank in 1976:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

106

Average Rating:

85 (1,550 votes)

Comments:

5. (=)

"Heroes"

David Bowie

The follow up to Low and another collaboration with Brian Eno & Visconti - this time around with added Fripp and it sounds as if they knew exactly what they were aiming for. Proceedings have a touch more confidence than its predecessor although the overall format and feel is the same and they could easily be seen as a matching pair.
v,g,s,k&p:Bowie; g:Alomar/Fripp; k:Eno; b:Murray; d:Davis; Produced by Tony Visconti & Bowie [First added to this chart: 12/06/2019]

Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

879 charts

Rank Score:

6,202

Rank in 1977:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

266

Average Rating:

83 (1,484 votes)

Comments:

6. (=)

Low

David Bowie

The first of the 'Berlin trilogy' (actually recorded in France), the icy electronic sounds almost created a whole new genre of its own. Eno helped give it a minimalist quality, but it is still clearly a Bowie album and not enough credit is given to Tony Visconti's production who stated that upon completion they had no idea if what they had was any good.
v,g,s,k&p:Bowie; g:Alomar/Gardiner; k:Eno/Young; b:Murray; d:Davis; Produced by Tony Visconti & Bowie [First added to this chart: 12/06/2019]

Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

1,542 charts

Rank Score:

16,988

Rank in 1977:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

7. (=)

By introducing elements of different musical genres (this time drum & bass) and combining them with his own songwriting style, Bowie was only doing what he had done many times before. But this time around he struggled to find an audience as the younger listeners were sceptical whilst some traditional followers thought he should "act his age".
v,g,k&s:Bowie; g:Gabrels; k:Garson/Plati; b:Dorsey; d:Alford; Produced by Reeves Gabrels, Mark Plati & Bowie [First added to this chart: 12/06/2019]

Year of Release:

1997

Appears in:

153 charts

Rank Score:

408

Rank in 1997:

Rank in 1990s:

599

Overall Rank:

3,584

Average Rating:

72 (309 votes)

Comments:

8. (=)

Let's Dance

David Bowie

Bowie embraces a classy pop commercialism by working with Nile Rodgers. Not universally admired by the Bowie faithful, the truth is that this is a world class commercial pop album that would catapult him to mainstream superstardom - but he would spend the next ten years trying to get back to where he came from.
v:Bowie; g:Rodgers/Vaughan; k:Sabino; b:Edwards/Rojas; s:Harrison/Aaran/Elson; t:Gollehon d:Hakim/Thompson; Produced by Nile Rodgers & Bowie [First added to this chart: 12/06/2019]

Year of Release:

1983

Appears in:

541 charts

Rank Score:

2,745

Rank in 1983:

Rank in 1980s:

Overall Rank:

626

Average Rating:

75 (830 votes)

Comments:

9. (=)

★ [Blackstar]

David Bowie

Released two days before his death, ★Blackstar saw Bowies apetite for experimentation restored and to everyones delight, it worked pretty well and provided a suitably enigmatic end to a truly unique and exceptional lifetimes work.
v&g:Bowie; g:Monder; k:Lindner/Visconti; b:Lefebvre; s&f:McCaslin; d:Guiliana/Murphy; Produced by Tony Visconti & Bowie [First added to this chart: 12/06/2019]

Year of Release:

2016

Appears in:

1,263 charts

Rank Score:

12,320

Rank in 2016:

Rank in 2010s:

Overall Rank:

100

Average Rating:

86 (1,665 votes)

Comments:

153

10. (=)

Lodger

David Bowie

The last in the so called 'Berlin trilogy' (it was in fact recorded in Montreux) but stylistically has little in common with Low and Heroes. "Lodger" makes more sense as pre-curser to to Scary Monsters as it is more playful and upbeat than its introspective predecessors. Some of the soundscapes are reminiscent of those Eno would later produce with David Byrne on "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts".
v,g&k:Bowie; g&b:Visconti; g:Alomar/Belew; k:Eno/Mayes/Powell; b:Murray; v:House; s:Harrison; d:Davis; Produced by Tony Visconti & Bowie [First added to this chart: 12/06/2019]

Year of Release:

1979

Appears in:

338 charts

Rank Score:

1,255

Rank in 1979:

Rank in 1970s:

268

Overall Rank:

1,358

Average Rating:

77 (632 votes)

Comments:

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Total albums: 28. Page 1 of 3

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Bowie Albums Ranked composition

Decade	Albums	%

1930s	0	0%
1940s	0	0%
1950s	0	0%
1960s	2	7%
1970s	11	39%
1980s	5	18%
1990s	6	21%
2000s	2	7%
2010s	2	7%
2020s	0	0%

Artist	Albums	%

David Bowie	26	93%
Tin Machine	2	7%

Country	Albums	%

	26	93%
	2	7%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	27	96%
Yes	1	4%

Bowie Albums Ranked chart changes

There have been no changes to this chart.

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David Bowie Ranked	mjp11	Custom chart	2024
David Bowie	Onater	Custom chart	2018
David Bowie Albums (Best To Worst)	cmoshier	Custom chart	2018
David Bowie: Albums ranked.	garycottier	Custom chart	2016
David Bowie - Original Albums from best to worst	madsnyland	Custom chart	2017
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RANKED: DAVID BOWIE	Captain_Dude	Custom chart	2017
Bowie Top 20 Albums	TheSmiths82-87	Custom chart	2016
David Bowie: Best to Worst	Nobodyisemo	Custom chart	2018
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Bowie Albums Ranked ratings

Average Rating:

87/100 (from 1 vote)

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
100/100 !	04/01/2021 14:58	callagkm	1	100/100

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Bowie Albums Ranked comments

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Rating:

100/100

From callagkm 04/01/2021 14:59 | #268059

I love the fact that you've put Earthling so high up in this chart. It got a massive panning in the music press when it came out, but I really love that album.

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

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Bowie Albums Ranked
by emptysquares