The Beatles - ranked & reviewed by emptysquares

For me, choosing a favourite Beatles album is pretty futile as the top 5 or so will change each time I think about it and in truth, all of this catalogue is important to me as it was the Beatles who first fired up my love of music. Worryingly, these days I increasingly come across those who utter the dreaded words... "I really don't like the Beatles" which occasionally makes me wonder if I'm listening to this stuff through rose-tinted headphones (or something like that). But surely no-one can deny the remarkable progression contained in the seven short years of their recording careers that unquestionably changed music forever.
I felt it necessary to include some compilations in the list as so much of the Beatles' finest work never appeared on the original studio releases, but I must admit I surprised myself when I ended up putting one of those compilations at the top of my chart. After all, the Beatles probably more than any other band, made a huge contribution to the art of album composition whereas the Red and Blue albums were put together by McCartney's arch nemesis Alan Klein as a pure money making exercise. I guess it proves that at the end of the day, no matter how much focus is given over to packaging, concepts, segueing and sequencing, really it's all about the songs. The Red/Blue albums also do a magnificent job of presenting the Beatles' extraordinary musical progression as the songs are presented in chronological sequence. Finally, I also included the three Anthology albums of outtakes and oddities as they are also essential to any Beatles enthusiast and amongst all the chaff, contain some beautiful Beatle moments.

• Chart updated: 07/28/2023 12:15
• (Created: 11/05/2021 12:12).
• Chart size: 20 albums.

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1. (=)

1967-1970 
Compilation

 The Beatles

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This was the second Beatles album I owned, bought back in the early 70's about six months or so after the Red album and was unquestionably the album that truly fired up the passion for music that I still have today. Pretty much every song on this album seemed to me at the time to be a perfectly designed microcosm of a strange world that I had no experience or knowledge of. The words, melodies and instrumentation all combined to create a magic place that hooked me completely and no album would ever affect me like this one. [First added to this chart: 12/05/2021]

Year of Release:

1973

Appears in:

130 charts

Rank Score:

845

Rank in 1973:

41

Rank in 1970s:

378

Overall Rank:

1,973

Average Rating:

 87 (487 votes)

Comments:

22

2. (=)

Revolver 

 The Beatles

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The album opens with Harrison sneering a "One..two..three..four.." intro, only for the Batman inspired 'Taxman' to start at a completely different tempo. "Let me tell you how it will be" he announced as we entered the world of 'Revolver', a perfect blend of psychedelic 60's pop, ninja level song-craft and cutting-edge studio trickery. While maintaining the stylistic diversity of it predecessor 'Rubber Soul', the sound has been energised through the ground-breaking use of sound effects and loops as well as a brilliant flair for arrangement and instrumentation. Nothing less than a landmark in popular music recording history.
v,g,k&tl:Lennon; v,b,g,k&tl:McCartney; v,g,si,b,ta&tl:Harrison; v,d,p&tl:Starr; k&tl:Martin; tb:Bhagwat; fh:Civil; Produced by George Martin [First added to this chart: 12/05/2021]

Year of Release:

1966

Appears in:

3,479 charts

Rank Score:

56,992

Rank in 1966:

1

Rank in 1960s:

2

Overall Rank:

4

Average Rating:

 91 (4,474 votes)

Comments:

477

3. (=)

The Beatles (The White Album) 

 The Beatles

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Following the critical and commercial success of 'Sgt.Pepper' the creative shackles were fully discarded as the Beatles each strived to stretch the boundaries of their compositions in an almost endless variety of directions. For many, the results were an uneven mixed bag of often self-indulgent fragments whilst for others (me included) this album is a cornucopia of musical gems studded with a handful of true Beatles classics. Whichever camp you're in, there can be no doubting that from the opening airplane noise of 'Back in the USSR' to the closing bars of the deliberately corny 'Good Night' it was a quite unique journey.
v,g,b,k,p&tl:Lennon; v,b,g,k&p:McCartney; v,g,b&k:Harrison; v,d&p:Starr; g:Clapton; v&tl:Ono; vl:Fallon; k:Martin&Thomas; Produced by George Martin [First added to this chart: 12/05/2021]

Year of Release:

1968

Appears in:

2,867 charts

Rank Score:

43,269

Rank in 1968:

1

Rank in 1960s:

6

Overall Rank:

13

Average Rating:

 89 (3,732 votes)

Comments:

337

4. (=)

Abbey Road 

 The Beatles

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The Beatles' final recorded album seemed to find the band determined to sign-off on a high note, although side one with its two whimsical numbers as well as McCartney's 'not quite convincing' attempt to deliver a Lennon-style screamed vocal on 'Oh Darling' was patchy despite excellent contributions from Lennon and Harrison. The flip side however, was probably the best side of music the Beatles ever produced. All four members are at their best during this final act for the band and even McCartneys semi-accidental fragment 'Her Majesty' seem to provide the perfect 'cheeky mop-top' final flourish to round things off.
v,g&k:Lennon; v,b,g&k:McCartney; v,g,b,k&p:Harrison; v,d&p:Starr; k:Martin; k:Preston; Produced by George Martin [First added to this chart: 12/05/2021]

Year of Release:

1969

Appears in:

3,629 charts

Rank Score:

65,476

Rank in 1969:

1

Rank in 1960s:

1

Overall Rank:

3

Average Rating:

 92 (4,509 votes)

Comments:

466

5. (6) 1

Let It Be 

 The Beatles

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The troubled back stories behind 'Let it Be' are now well documented in part thanks to Peter Jacksons efforts, but for the listener, if anything things are more confusing with multiple versions available (not including a wealth of 'bonus material') - so which is best... the original Phil Spector version, the McCartney sponsored stripped-down 'Naked' release or the Giles Martin remixed 50th anniversary edition? Pre 2021, my preference was 'Naked' which for me had transformed a mediocre album into essential listening. But when it arrived I was impressed with Giles Martins efforts which tastefully struck a happy compromise between Spector and 'Naked' and maybe deserves to become the predominant version.
v,g,b&k:Lennon; v,b,g&k:McCartney; v,g,k&ta:Harrison; d&p:Starr; k:Martin; k:Preston; Produced by Phil Spector; George Martin, Paul Hicks, Guy Massey, Allan Rouse & Giles Martin [First added to this chart: 12/05/2021]

Year of Release:

1970

Appears in:

1,043 charts

Rank Score:

7,710

Rank in 1970:

11

Rank in 1970s:

53

Overall Rank:

219

Average Rating:

 80 (2,097 votes)

Comments:

127

6. (7) 1

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 

 The Beatles

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By '67 the Beatles had quit touring enabling them to fully focus on creating their elaborate studio creations, increasingly centred on albums rather than hit-singles - although ironically, the first recordings ('Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane') were released as singles prompting George Martin to exclude them from the album. For me, the album never fully recovered from being robbed of two of the bands finest songs which enabled a number of lesser tracks to make the cut. But it still contained some timeless compositions many of which pushed the envelope of recording techniques and things close with the magnificent 'A Day In The Life'.
v,g,k&tl:Lennon; v,b,g&k:McCartney; v,g,si&ta:Harrison; v,d,p&k:Starr; k&tl:Martin; tb:Soni; bra:Sounds Inc; Produced by George Martin [First added to this chart: 12/05/2021]

Year of Release:

1967

Appears in:

3,416 charts

Rank Score:

50,842

Rank in 1967:

1

Rank in 1960s:

3

Overall Rank:

7

Average Rating:

 90 (4,486 votes)

Comments:

480

7. (5) 2

1962-1966 
Compilation

 The Beatles

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This was the first Beatles album I owned, bought back in the early 70's and I would play it endlessly. The 12 year old me wasn't really bothered that the band had split, I just thought that every one of these songs seemed pretty great. Today, I still feel the same and along with its Blue compatriot, is the best Beatles collection that includes the non-album single material. My only gripe is the omission of Lennon's 'Rain' which was such an important song in the development of the psychedelic pop sound, other than that it's pretty damn perfect. [First added to this chart: 12/05/2021]

Year of Release:

1973

Appears in:

109 charts

Rank Score:

486

Rank in 1973:

62

Rank in 1970s:

554

Overall Rank:

3,091

Average Rating:

 85 (422 votes)

Comments:

19

8. (=)

Magical Mystery Tour 
Soundtrack

 The Beatles

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Named after the bands dodgy 1967 TV special, the first half is the soundtrack and the second half consists of singles from '67 and the album was not released in the UK until 1976. The band were at their creative peek at this time, but while 'Sgt Pepper' has a cohesiveness that enables it to appear greater than the sum of its parts, the disparate material and a questionable running order means the opposite is true of 'Magical Mystery Tour'. But don't be fooled, this album contains some of the Beatles greatest songs.
v,g,k&bj:Lennon; v,b,g,k&re:McCartney; v,g,vl&ta:Harrison; d&p:Starr; k:Martin; Produced by George Martin [First added to this chart: 12/05/2021]

Year of Release:

1967

Appears in:

1,443 charts

Rank Score:

16,090

Rank in 1967:

6

Rank in 1960s:

20

Overall Rank:

84

Average Rating:

 86 (2,481 votes)

Comments:

177

9. (=)

Rubber Soul 

 The Beatles

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Just two months after the release of 'Help!' saw the fab four back in the studio and somehow they managed to come up with what many consider to be the first of the Beatles' classic albums. It was certainly their most consistent release at this point and whilst it lacked the psychedelic 'edginess' of what followed, 'Rubber Soul' was their first album that possessed the distinctive Beatles love of variety as they casually 'borrowed' a range of contrasting styles and sounds. Standout songs were Lennon's 'Norwegian Wood' and 'In My Life' and for the first time Harrison contributes two songs with give the album additional variation & depth.
v,g&k:Lennon; v,b,g&k:McCartney; v,g&p:Harrison; v,k,d&p:Starr; k:Martin; k:Evans; Produced by George Martin [First added to this chart: 12/05/2021]

Year of Release:

1965

Appears in:

2,287 charts

Rank Score:

30,641

Rank in 1965:

2

Rank in 1960s:

9

Overall Rank:

28

Average Rating:

 88 (3,290 votes)

Comments:

256

10. (=)

Love 

 The Beatles

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Over the years I have grown to love this 2006 Beatles 'mash-up' beautifully compiled by George Martin and his son Giles. Covering all periods of the Beatles, the Martins continually manage to combine fragments from differing tracks in a way that makes it sound like this was what the fab four originally intended. As you would expect, it's all been nicely remixed and many songs have never sounded nicer than they do here. [First added to this chart: 12/05/2021]

Year of Release:

2006

Appears in:

118 charts

Rank Score:

566

Rank in 2006:

49

Rank in 2000s:

460

Overall Rank:

2,734

Average Rating:

 79 (367 votes)

Comments:

13

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The Beatles - ranked & reviewed composition

Decade	Albums	%
1930s	0	0%
1940s	0	0%
1950s	0	0%
1960s	12	60%
1970s	3	15%
1980s	1	5%
1990s	3	15%
2000s	1	5%
2010s	0	0%
2020s	0	0%

Artist	Albums	%
The Beatles	20	100%

Country	Albums	%
	20	100%

The Beatles - ranked & reviewed chart changes

Biggest climbers
Up 1 from 7th to 6th Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles
Up 1 from 6th to 5th Let It Be by The Beatles

Biggest fallers
Down 2 from 5th to 7th 1962-1966 by The Beatles

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