Top 50 Greatest Music Albums
by rubysmith 
A love letter.
- Chart updated: 11/08/2022 02:15
- (Created: 04/02/2021 11:16).
- Chart size: 50 albums.
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I'm in my room with the headphones on
Deep in the dream chamber
And then I'm awake and I'm guarding my face
Hoping you don't break my stereo
Because it's the one thing that I couldn't live without
And so I think about that and then I sorta blackout
--
Is it cliched to say that an album “saved your life” now? Perhaps, but that doesn’t change the truth of the statement. Cringe is dead and I am not, or something along those lines. Unpacking how I feel about The Sunset Tree is as complicated as unpacking how I feel about my life. It’s an album that feels too intimate to critique; reviewing it feels insulting. Maybe this isn’t a musically perfect album, or maybe it’s only musically perfect if you have been the tetrapod, if you have experienced “And then I'm awake and I'm guarding my face / Hoping you don't break my stereo” yourself and then experienced hearing Darnielle apparently reach into your own memories. (Are alcoholic fathers really that universal?) Hearing the sunset tree for the first time at age 16, deep in the thicket, was absolution. “Oh,” you think, “someone else has survived this! Someone else has lived through this and come out the other side, and been able to explain the truth of it.” Life-changing! So many times in my life have I been tempted to simply hand this album to people with a sticky note attached that just says “so that you can understand”. (I also have to give credit for one of the most important survival anthems of all time, even though it’s standard NYE fare nowadays.) [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
Deep in the dream chamber
And then I'm awake and I'm guarding my face
Hoping you don't break my stereo
Because it's the one thing that I couldn't live without
And so I think about that and then I sorta blackout
--
Is it cliched to say that an album “saved your life” now? Perhaps, but that doesn’t change the truth of the statement. Cringe is dead and I am not, or something along those lines. Unpacking how I feel about The Sunset Tree is as complicated as unpacking how I feel about my life. It’s an album that feels too intimate to critique; reviewing it feels insulting. Maybe this isn’t a musically perfect album, or maybe it’s only musically perfect if you have been the tetrapod, if you have experienced “And then I'm awake and I'm guarding my face / Hoping you don't break my stereo” yourself and then experienced hearing Darnielle apparently reach into your own memories. (Are alcoholic fathers really that universal?) Hearing the sunset tree for the first time at age 16, deep in the thicket, was absolution. “Oh,” you think, “someone else has survived this! Someone else has lived through this and come out the other side, and been able to explain the truth of it.” Life-changing! So many times in my life have I been tempted to simply hand this album to people with a sticky note attached that just says “so that you can understand”. (I also have to give credit for one of the most important survival anthems of all time, even though it’s standard NYE fare nowadays.) [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
Year of Release:
2005
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,184
Rank in 2005:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Let me tell you a secret
I've been secretly banging your homeboy
Why you in Vegas all up on Valentine's Day?
Why am I so easy to forget like that?
It can't be that easy for you to get like that
--
GOD she just gets it! One of, if not the, most brilliant statements on modern 20-something womanhood. 0 skips. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
I've been secretly banging your homeboy
Why you in Vegas all up on Valentine's Day?
Why am I so easy to forget like that?
It can't be that easy for you to get like that
--
GOD she just gets it! One of, if not the, most brilliant statements on modern 20-something womanhood. 0 skips. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
Year of Release:
2017
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,957
Rank in 2017:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
I wanna hurry home to you
Put on a slow, dumb show for you
And crack you up
--
No other lyric makes me want to go lie facedown in the middle of the road more. Are you kidding me. [First added to this chart: 07/14/2021]
Put on a slow, dumb show for you
And crack you up
--
No other lyric makes me want to go lie facedown in the middle of the road more. Are you kidding me. [First added to this chart: 07/14/2021]
Year of Release:
2007
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,225
Rank in 2007:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
These walls are paper thin
And everyone hears every little sound
Everyone's a voyeur
As they're watching me watch them watch me right now [First added to this chart: 11/07/2022]
And everyone hears every little sound
Everyone's a voyeur
As they're watching me watch them watch me right now [First added to this chart: 11/07/2022]
Year of Release:
2000
Appears in:
Rank Score:
8,605
Rank in 2000:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Well I see my demise
I feel it coming
I've got one sick plan to save me from it [First added to this chart: 07/21/2022]
I feel it coming
I've got one sick plan to save me from it [First added to this chart: 07/21/2022]
Don't fall in love with me yet, we've only recently met
True I'm in love with you but you might decide I'm a nut
Give me a week or two to go absolutely cuckoo
Then, when you see your error, then, you can flee in terror
Like everybody else does
I only tell you this 'cause
I'm easy to get rid of, but not if you fall in love
--
At this point I should just play "Absolutely Cuckoo" on first dates and let them figure it out for themselves. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
True I'm in love with you but you might decide I'm a nut
Give me a week or two to go absolutely cuckoo
Then, when you see your error, then, you can flee in terror
Like everybody else does
I only tell you this 'cause
I'm easy to get rid of, but not if you fall in love
--
At this point I should just play "Absolutely Cuckoo" on first dates and let them figure it out for themselves. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
Year of Release:
1999
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,402
Rank in 1999:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
I am secretly in love with
Everyone that I grew up with
I do my crying underwater
I can't get down any farther [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
Everyone that I grew up with
I do my crying underwater
I can't get down any farther [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
Year of Release:
2013
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,616
Rank in 2013:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Fuck, marry, kill!
Umm, an army of Furbies that won't stop chanting the Lord's prayer
A can of rigatoni on the street
Umm, going over to a friend's house for a sleepover for the first time
And their Dad wants them to pop a cyst on his back
But they're really squeamish and faint
But he's in a lot of pain so you have to do it
--
Perfectly tongue in cheek and gleefully furious, the album for smashing plates in your parents' basement while wearing a Michael Meyers mask. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
Umm, an army of Furbies that won't stop chanting the Lord's prayer
A can of rigatoni on the street
Umm, going over to a friend's house for a sleepover for the first time
And their Dad wants them to pop a cyst on his back
But they're really squeamish and faint
But he's in a lot of pain so you have to do it
--
Perfectly tongue in cheek and gleefully furious, the album for smashing plates in your parents' basement while wearing a Michael Meyers mask. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
It's in the way that she walks
Her heaven is never enough
She puts the weights in my heart
She puts, oh, she puts the weights into my little heart
--
God they're just the most annoying personas to come out of 2000s NYC. They did the damn thing though. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
Her heaven is never enough
She puts the weights in my heart
She puts, oh, she puts the weights into my little heart
--
God they're just the most annoying personas to come out of 2000s NYC. They did the damn thing though. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
Year of Release:
2002
Appears in:
Rank Score:
12,927
Rank in 2002:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Take the mask off
When you speak to me
And I'm alright to go on
It's the little things
--
I listen to this any time I feel I'm losing my accent or my ability to ride a horse. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
When you speak to me
And I'm alright to go on
It's the little things
--
I listen to this any time I feel I'm losing my accent or my ability to ride a horse. [First added to this chart: 04/11/2021]
Year of Release:
2010
Appears in:
Rank Score:
584
Rank in 2010:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 22. Page 1 of 3
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Top 50 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 1 | 2% | |
| 1970s | 1 | 2% | |
| 1980s | 3 | 6% | |
| 1990s | 8 | 16% | |
| 2000s | 24 | 48% | |
| 2010s | 12 | 24% | |
| 2020s | 1 | 2% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Band Of Horses | 2 | 4% | |
| Mitski | 2 | 4% | |
| The National | 2 | 4% | |
| The Stone Roses | 1 | 2% | |
| Joni Mitchell | 1 | 2% | |
| Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet | 1 | 2% | |
| The New Pornographers | 1 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 50 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| New entries |
|---|
| Impeccable Blahs by Say Hi To Your Mom |
| Leavers |
|---|
| Oohs & Aahs by Say Hi |
Top 50 Greatest Music Albums similar charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 50 Music Albums of the 2000s |  Komorebi-D | 2000s decade chart | 2018 |  |
| Top 50 Greatest Music Albums | amin67 | Overall chart | 2011 | |
| Top 50 Greatest Music Albums | Lagunin | Overall chart | 2023 | |
| Top 50 Greatest Music Albums |  Jjjoniee | Overall chart | 2015 |  |
| Top 50 Greatest Music Albums | Conker | Overall chart | 2013 |  |
| Top 50 Music Albums of the 2000s | rnanderson8 | 2000s decade chart | 2019 | |
| Top 50 Greatest Music Albums |  pecan3141 | Overall chart | 2016 | |
| Top 50 Music Albums of the 2000s | ZTAS | 2000s decade chart | 2014 | |
| Top 45 Greatest Music Albums | willett25 | Overall chart | 2010 | |
| Top 50 Music Albums of the 2000s | Greendonut227 | 2000s decade chart | 2018 |  |
Top 50 Greatest Music Albums similarity to your chart(s)
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Top 50 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.
N.B. The average rating for this chart will not be reliable as it has been rated very few times.
Showing all 2 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10/27/2021 02:19 |  seb7 | 114 | 91/100 | |
| 04/17/2021 09:50 |  Arthurknight | 381 | 89/100 |
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Top 50 Greatest Music Albums comments
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From seb7 10/27/2021 02:20 | #275429
seb7 10/27/2021 02:20 | #275429
Damn what a cool and interesting list. I love your little diddles about each album. Righteous!!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Arthurknight 04/17/2021 09:50 | #268649
Arthurknight 04/17/2021 09:50 | #268649
Great list Ruby!
There's a really good attention to some of the really under-appreciated works of the 2000s here. The Dears and Stars are super underrated, and then the esoteric A.A. Bondy pick makes sense in the context of Frightened Rabbit/Mountain Goats being in the top 10, themselves also being great choices. Ride are a personal favourite of mine too, In a Different Place and Vapour Trail are just incredible tracks off that record (to name only a couple). Some things I'm totally unfamiliar with like Dazey And the Scouts, and then there's a couple weird choices like a pretty contrarian New Pornographers pick, and then the odd Laurie Anderson pick (both still good records, just not the ones by them I'd expect). I look forward to hopefully seeing it grow to 100!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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