Top 96 Greatest Music Albums
by bobnickmad

The longer this chart becomes the harder it is to find a mix between personal favorites and those records in each genre that I would recommend to someone else.
Also, I find metal quite hard to properly rate among other rock and pop albums because what metal tries to convey is a bit different, going more toward a sense of large scale over the personal. It's even harder with jazz.
There are 3 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 96 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 89 out of 100 (from 8 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

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#1 metal album
Metallica got everything right here: a sound thats both clean and raw, agreesive yet majestic; amazing song-writting, great sense of diversity, and ordering of tracks.
[First added to this chart: 07/27/2020]
Year of Release:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,118
Rank in 1984:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
#1 jazz album
Like a culmination of everything that was great about bebop and hardbop.
[First added to this chart: 08/05/2025]
Year of Release:
1959
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,950
Rank in 1959:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
#2 jazz album
Music as its most engaging. The way the four pieces are arranged create an overall narrative structure that compensate for the lack of words.
[First added to this chart: 12/19/2021]
Year of Release:
1965
Appears in:
Rank Score:
15,484
Rank in 1965:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Top rated album (87/100 - 1513 votes)  87 (1,513 votes)
Comments:
#1 rock album
#1 double album
Simply the best collection of songs rock and pop music has ever produced.
[First added to this chart: 07/27/2020]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
30,392
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Top rated album (87/100 - 3169 votes)  87 (3,169 votes)
Comments:
#1 folk-rock album
#1 blues-rock album
It`s like each lyric is cut in marble and written with an impressionistic brush.
[First added to this chart: 07/27/2020]
Year of Release:
1965
Appears in:
Rank Score:
26,730
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Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Top rated album (89/100 - 2825 votes)  89 (2,825 votes)
Comments:
#1 pop-rock album
The experimentalism here seems more genuine than on Sgt.Peppers and more groundbreaking then V.U. and Nico, but those are merely the icing on the cake; the substance lies in their perfect sense of melody and harmony that they had already mastered.
[First added to this chart: 07/27/2020]
Year of Release:
1966
Appears in:
Rank Score:
48,899
Rank in 1966:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Top rated album (91/100 - 4602 votes)  91 (4,602 votes)
Comments:
#1 hard-rock album
#2 psychedelic rock album
#3 double album
#3 blues rock album
The Beatles, Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan and the likes pushed rock music from something fun but very basic to further potential, but Jimmi Hendrix had more ambition than all the 60s greats, pushing his music further instrumentally and production wise, but without loosing what made rock fun and relatable in the first place.
[First added to this chart: 08/23/2022]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
17,307
Rank in 1968:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Top rated album (86/100 - 1995 votes)  86 (1,995 votes)
Comments:
#1 hip-hop album
9 rappers each with their own unique style, each giving their best as if their lives depend on it, displayed over beats that seem an exercise in minimalism and atmosphere. Its this or Illmatic, but while Illmatic has the superior lyricism, I think this one pushes rap a bit further creativity wise, while keeping it direct.
[First added to this chart: 07/27/2020]
Year of Release:
1993
Appears in:
Rank Score:
12,395
Rank in 1993:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
#1 art-pop album
Here Kate looses some of her quirkiness, but delivers a pop album with the ambition and experimentation prog rock often only aspires to.
[First added to this chart: 07/27/2020]
Year of Release:
1985
Appears in:
Rank Score:
18,055
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Rank in 1980s:
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Average Rating:
Top rated album (85/100 - 1419 votes)  85 (1,419 votes)
Comments:
#2 metal album
Death-metal that manages to convey the atmosphere that many classic horror movies tried to achieve but did not quite reached. Phenomenal song-writting, effortless guitar work, impeccable drumming and death-metal vocals that sound like they are delivered by a cool demon-lord. The only flaw is the production that lacks the brutality of other death and thrash releases.
[First added to this chart: 07/27/2020]
Year of Release:
1989
Appears in:
Rank Score:
443
Rank in 1989:
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Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 96. Page 1 of 10
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Top 96 Greatest Music Albums composition

Top 96 Greatest Music Albums chart changes

Biggest climbers
Climber Up 1 from 13th to 12thIllmatic
by Nas
Biggest fallers
Faller Down 1 from 12th to 13thUnknown Pleasures
by Joy Division
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Top 96 Greatest Music Albums ratings

Average Rating: 
89/100 (from 8 votes)
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90/100
 
03/27/2025 14:55 DrewHamster  Ratings distribution  31579/100
The chart has been updated since this rating was assigned   
85/100
 
02/21/2025 17:09 SomethingSpecial  Ratings distribution  1,09485/100
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100/100
 
03/06/2023 05:22 AAL2014  Ratings distribution  16392/100
The chart has been updated since this rating was assigned   
100/100
 
02/12/2023 05:54 urmom22  Ratings distribution  6593/100
The chart has been updated since this rating was assigned   
95/100
 
04/13/2022 02:46 mrmcrook  Ratings distribution  79293/100
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Top 96 Greatest Music Albums comments

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Rating:  
100/100
From 02/21/2023 07:45 | #294277
Hell yea brother
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 04/13/2022 02:46 | #284135
I like your added notes. Good taste.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 03/25/2022 21:25 | #283397
Thats one gnarly top 10
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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