Top 98 Greatest Music Albums by DriftingOrpheus

Subject to change (often). These are my personal favorite records...not necessarily a reflection of an objective musical hierarchy. (Wow. These write-ups have grown like weeds, particularly as you descend through the list. Only the slightest bit proud. ?)

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I've never found the old saying "Less is more" to be notably applicable when it came to appreciating music. Often, I've been drawn to a sonic strategy that incorporates a great deal of moving parts, riddled with crushing crescendos and soul-shaking moments of softness. After OK Computer, a sector of Radiohead fans were left a bit perplexed with mouths agape, palms firmly upturned to the sky as they found far "less" with 2000's Kid A. They were wrong.

It's true there are a startling lack of traditional instrumentation here, but the band has never upped the ante like this before or since. While the group had previously made stellar, conscious efforts to avoid being pigeonholed, Kid A marked the planting of a flag which flew colors of musical experimentation and encased Radiohead in the annals of music history as they stared down the barrel of studio pressures for a 'conventional' LP. What the band hand-delivered towards the end of 2000, as the shadow of an unfulfilled Y2K dissipated, was their vision of an approaching apocalypse that would be patient in temperament and self-inflicted.

A dystopian, shivering piece of art, depicting a future that has completely gone metallic, Kid A is the brain's answer to OK Computer's heart. It was here where the marriage of the band and synthesizer incorporation was fused as they devised chemical processes like crazed alchemists in order to weld tracks which could survive both boiling heat and glacial cold. The opening tones of Everything in its Right Place encapsulate a sound which would soon serve as an idiosyncratic anthem as Radiohead firmly shook the hand of the 21st century. The skittering, emergency siren of Idioteque snags a snapshot of a world on the brink of collapse, too preoccupied to sense impending armageddon. Finally, the faux comfort of better times evaporates during the final moments of Motion Picture Soundtrack, ending the album with metaphorical hands full of ash.

Radiohead didn't redefine the rock record with Kid A, for there is no all-encompassing definition. What the band truly managed, was the elusive task of redefining themselves, synchronously altering expectations for their subsequent work and thrusting headlong into an unbroken cycle of phoenix-like reincarnation and reinvention bedizened with staggering success.

"Stop sending letters
Letters always get burned
It's not like the movies
They fed us on little white lies"

-Motion Picture Soundtrack


Standout Tracks:

1. Idioteque
2. How to Disappear Completely
3. Everything in its Right Place

102.2
[First added to this chart: 04/26/2020]
Year of Release:
2000
Appears in:
Rank Score:
44,841
Rank in 2000:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Where is the appropriate point of origin? How does one begin eloquently without bellowing out praise like a music-snobbed elitist hell-bent on hard-headedness of musical appreciation. OK Computer's coronation may send shivers down the spines of readers who watch it litter charts all across the platform, a sentiment felt by frontman Thom Yorke, who tries to downplay the record's place in music history in an effort of self-conscious humility. Never one to be put in a creative box, Yorke refuses to be defined by one album and he's surely not. This list is not one of objective knighting, but rather a reflection of the records that reside the deepest in my heart, regardless if many minds consider this to be the greatest album ever constructed. To this point, this listener wouldn't argue, but still, in the context of this chart, such clearly-defined praise would only cheapen the work. In most instances, I derive satisfaction from dissecting each of my favorite albums down to the bone marrow and the negative space between each line of prose. However, OK Computer escapes classification and remains without a need for any sort of justification. The record declares more than any aficionado could hope to. In many ways, OK Computer warns against the monotony of modern times and times to come, but still the album comes home every night, reliable as ever.

Plastered upon its face, an illustration of intersecting pavement in Hartford, Connecticut, far from the homes of the boys who formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. For many, OK Computer is a road map, a canal en route to lovely musical landmarks that both influenced and took inspiration from the seminal album. For me, it's not OK Computer's futuristic motifs, slick guitar lines or harmonic prowess that take the cake. It's the intangible wonder of an album so meticulously crafted to the note and the product of a quintet so acutely dialed in to the very limit of human feasibility. The emotional response that wells up from within during each and every listening experience is paramount and the philosophical resonances never cease to astonish. In an age where resistance to a popular opinion is so prevalent, I'd have every reason in the world to dismiss OK Computer, to liken its listeners to a brand of entry-level beginners to the world of critically acclaimed music, and yet, the album dazzles each and every time. It's adorned in a luster than cannot be eroded by the years or a position on a slapdash, 'Buzzfeed' hot-take list. Despite its warnings that ring truer by the day, the album no longer "stands" for anything and concurrently "represents" nothing. Some like to erroneously place it within a gift-wrapped package labeled "1990's time capsule". They fail to realize that the album belongs to no period of history as its resonance would be seismic during any era. It isn't the champion of any aristocratic sub-culture, as masses of people from all walks of life can be heard singing Karma Police's chorus in physical and spiritual unison. OK Computer is native only to the air it occupies and to the millions it continually enchants. It sounds just as alien today as it did in 1997 while simultaneously swelling, softening and transmitting from some distant, undiscovered galaxy.

"This is my final fit, my final bellyache. With no alarms and no surprises..."

- No Surprises

Standout Tracks:

1. No Surprises
2. Let Down
3. Paranoid Android

98.92
[First added to this chart: 04/26/2020]
Year of Release:
1997
Appears in:
Rank Score:
67,376
Rank in 1997:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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For many, In Rainbows is the definitive record for the prodigal sons from Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It's certainly the most earthly and naturalistic of the lot. More importantly, it's the most human from a band that's consistently alien. The warm embrace that In Rainbows provides is a welcomed outlier amidst a catalogue fearful of the outside world and entrenched in emotional isolation. On the album, Radiohead don't create panic over climate change like on Kid A. They don't warn of a technology-driven future due to human complacency and they don't protest the political direction of world powers like on Hail to the Thief. They simply reflect, ponder human vanity, recall drunken evenings and most of all, have fun.

The band collectively "letting their hair down" has led to an undeniably earnest entry in the Radiohead canon. Emerging with the bouncy, yet refined 15 Step, it's easy to admire Phil Selway's percussion on the track. The 5/4 time signature creates the illusion of a mutated pop song, awash in sarcastic wit. Bodysnatchers seems to rekindle the band's love for guitar rock as Jonny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien imprint their likenesses all over the thundering track. Nude, track three, could easily take the cake for Radiohead's pinnacle of aesthetic beauty, a song that unfurls slowly and fades into the ether ever so softly. Yorke's vocals on this cut are among the finest he's ever produced. It's very apropos that a song about physical vanity ends up being so tangibly gorgeous.

Late album entries such as Reckoner, Jigsaw Falling Into Place and the heartbreaking Videotape, bookend an album submerged in consistency. Still, there is no grand memorandum, no life-lesson other than what it means to be human, whether fallible, physically self-conscious or devoid of direction. Radiohead have made a name for themselves by zigging and subsequently zagging, but In Rainbows resides on the straightest of lines. A line that is neither accessible nor challenging, existential nor nihilistic. Ten tracks of simply being, at the heights of exuberance and the base of sorrow. A full spectrum of emotion, paralleled by the spectrum of light that dons the album cover.

"No matter what happens now
You shouldn't be afraid
Because I know today has been
The most perfect day I've ever seen."

-Videotape

Standout Tracks:

1. Nude
2. Videotape
3. Jigsaw Falling Into Place

95.9
[First added to this chart: 04/26/2020]
Year of Release:
2007
Appears in:
Rank Score:
45,999
Rank in 2007:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Radiohead were an entirely different beast in 1995. Long before they were gray-bearded and critically adored, they were fresh off the heels of an introductory effort that was met with a lukewarm reception, noted only for its lead single to which the last fleeting grunge aficionados clung to with vigor. Pablo Honey has now gone on to gather a cult following in the wake of more complimentary retrospective reviews, but what they would produce next would shape the trajectory of their careers for years to come. The Bends is an easily discernible maturation for the group as the songwriting becomes more poignant and the musicianship undergoes a colossal leap forward. It was in the finest details of The Bends where the band had carved out their sound and, more importantly, their confidence.

While examining the title track, The Bends, the two-headed monster of guitar fury is let loose as Jonny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien flourish their talents all throughout a track named after a sensation caused by gas-infused bubbles in the blood. However, the concepts communicated in the song deal with fair-weather friends riding the band's coattails into stardom and knowing who the true confidants are. The conclusion is drawn by Thom Yorke himself who snarls, "We don't have any real friends". Fourth track Fake Plastic Trees goes down as an early era anthem of rejection for the band, serving as a wiser, more contemplative Creep evolution. Working both as a blistering assessment of consumerism in modern society and as Yorke's own disillusion towards the porcelain nature of his experiences of human interaction, particularly those with the opposite sex. The song delicately unfolds before crashing thunderously with guitar hits subbing for lightning. The track softly recoils as Yorke sorrowfully ponders, "If I could be who you wanted, all the time". This was, for lack of a better term, a "grown up" piece for the band and it was also the moment of discovery for Yorke's own lyrical voice. Closing cut Street Spirit (Fade Out) sculpts out a place alongside other Radiohead classics with an emotional weight not yet produced by the group. Commencing with a guitar hook that could inspire ominous dread within Satan himself, the track explores nihilistic motifs and the chilling-certainty of life's short duration. Yorke has even claimed that "it hurts like hell to play" and likened it to "staring the Devil in the eyes". The backing vocal harmony during the second half beseeches images of wandering souls lost in transit as the frontman begs those who listen to "immerse your soul in love". Street Spirit (Fade Out) serves as a proper creative zenith for the band, acting almost as a baptism into a higher consciousness of musical inspiration for the English quintet.

In May of 1997, Radiohead would go on to release the seminal OK Computer and the rest, as they say, is history. For all of OK Computer's ingenuity and attention to detail, the seeds for the album were really sown two years earlier on The Bends. The 1995 effort often draws the short straw when most recall Radiohead's most polished discography entries. It's easy to overlook the stratospheric ascent in dynamism between the band's first and second LPs. The Bends enjoyed a mostly cordial reception by critics but few could be astute enough to cite the album as the birthing of a modern music legend. The pyramid of what we now know as Radiohead was still being built, and the blocks of stone at the foundation are just as important as the ones that sit atop them.

"Faith, you're driving me away,
You do it every day,
You don't mean it, but it hurts like hell,
My brain says I'm receiving pain,
A lack of oxygen,
From my life support, my iron lung."

-My Iron Lung

Standout Tracks:

1. Street Spirit (Fade Out)
2. Fake Plastic Trees
3. (Nice Dream)

94.8
[First added to this chart: 04/26/2020]
Year of Release:
1995
Appears in:
Rank Score:
30,477
Rank in 1995:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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90.5 [First added to this chart: 04/30/2020]
Year of Release:
2001
Appears in:
Rank Score:
10,300
Rank in 2001:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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88.7 [First added to this chart: 04/29/2020]
Year of Release:
2016
Appears in:
Rank Score:
15,699
Rank in 2016:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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88.3 [First added to this chart: 07/18/2022]
Year of Release:
2001
Appears in:
Rank Score:
650
Rank in 2001:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 7. Page 1 of 1

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Top 98 Greatest Music Albums composition

Decade Albums %


1930s 0 0%
1940s 0 0%
1950s 3 3%
1960s 17 17%
1970s 9 9%
1980s 8 8%
1990s 20 20%
2000s 19 19%
2010s 20 20%
2020s 2 2%
Country Albums %


United States 57 58%
United Kingdom 19 19%
Japan 10 10%
Mixed Nationality 5 5%
Australia 2 2%
Canada 2 2%
Brazil 1 1%
Show all
Live? Albums %
No 89 91%
Yes 9 9%

Top 98 Greatest Music Albums chart changes

There have been no changes to this chart.
TitleSourceTypePublishedCountry
Top 90 Greatest Music AlbumsTelkins4Overall chart2016
Greatest Music Albums, 1-100saacsquatchCustom chart2022
Top 92 Music Albums of the 1990s DriftingOrpheus1990s decade chart2025
Top 80 Greatest Music AlbumsOidOverall chart2019Unknown
Top 100 Albums I haven't heard 21stCenturySchizCustom chart2020
Top 80 Greatest Music AlbumsPrettyFly4ABiGuyOverall chart2022Unknown
Objectively Ranking BEA’s Top 100 AAL2014Custom chart2024
Top 50 Greatest Music AlbumsNMHohyeahOverall chart2013Unknown
Rearranging the top 100 flamingyesdeptCustom chart2022
Top 50 Greatest Music Albums gbassOverall chart2018

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Top 98 Greatest Music Albums ratings

Average Rating: 
89/100 (from 35 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
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03/27/2025 14:41 DrewHamster  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 31779/100
  
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01/25/2025 14:15 SomethingSpecial  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 1,09685/100
  
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03/27/2023 17:55 Johnnyo  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 2,45580/100

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This chart is rated in the top 4% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 88.9/100, a mean average of 88.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 89.9/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 11.1.

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Top 98 Greatest Music Albums comments

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Rating:  
85/100
From 03/27/2023 17:55
Exceeding chart and a great read.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 12/08/2022 00:11
We are 2 generations apart, so no surprise that our musical tastes/album preferences are not going to align. Totally respect your selections and appreciate your commentary - this chart is a definite labour of love. BTW - our one common album ~ Dark Side Of The Moon. BTW2 - thank you for introducing me to Night Beds' Country Sleep album - a future inclusion in my 2013 year chart.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 07/20/2021 15:00
I guess youre a fan of radiohead.

Hard work on the descriptions good stuff.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 04/27/2021 22:55
@StreakyNuno: Your statement is demeaning to every individual who's ever experienced an inkling of an original thought...
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
60/100
From 04/27/2021 19:23
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
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Rating:  
100/100
From 04/27/2021 13:50
*shocked emoji* this is ridiculously great.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 10/21/2020 23:28
Like your taste
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 06/17/2020 10:18
Saw your comments on Syro which intrigued me enough to wander over here and read a bit more. I’ve always rated charts that offer explanations for each choice. So far you have gone above and beyond, plus I tend to agree with your love for many of these albums (Smiths aside). Look forward to seeing the finished version!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
55/100
From 05/14/2020 02:18
Even with very many “stereotypical” choices, this is not that bad a list.

Although I have never heard their music, Acid Bath is a wonderful surprise, as is the Misfits. I heard of both bands in the middle 2000s from one writer on Amazon.com called “janitor-x”, whose musical taste I cannot relate to but whose virulent criticism of ‘Rolling Stone’ I have never doubted nor seen refuted.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)

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