Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
by KineticEchoes02 
So, creating a Greatest 100 Albums chart is never an easy task. It is so hard to choose just 100. I honestly want to do 500. For this chart, the difficulty I had was differentiating between albums that personally clicked for whatever reason, and those which I was plain gobsmacked with or just deserve undivided respect and attention. I am a guitarist and bassist and have played in a few bands over the years. I learned piano as a kid. For me these albums were hugely influential in relation to my music instrument learning progression, stood out in landmark moments of my life, were the perfect escape and launched me on indescribable journeys, gave me energy, or have been purely inspiring and emotionally uplifting (or the opposite, but perfect in darker times).
You may notice I have a bias towards rock. I also especially love blues, folk, jazz, funk, metal, soul, world music and electronica. However, it would be extremely boring without cross-over into other genres. So, we have for instance blues rock, country rock, folk rock, art rock, experimental rock, progressive rock, funk rock, progressive metal, funk metal, jazz fusion, psychedelic rock/jazz/soul/funk, and so on. Even talking about genres isn’t necessary in music, but for me, the best artists are those that are genre defining/pioneering, genre bending or groundbreaking. In order to pull this off these artists need to be extremely creative, not just virtuosos with their instruments. And for the most part that is consistent for all the artists or albums in this chart. That’s what impresses me, but sometimes you can’t describe why you love an artist or an album so much – it just fits with you for whatever reason, and that is the beauty and mystery of music.
I must say, the great thing about members creating charts on this site is that we get to appreciate everyone’s tastes in music – it is awesome when discovering someone with very similar tastes, but even when they are polar opposites, man it is amazing how diverse and unique people can be, and insights are passed on for new music to be heard. That’s why I love this site.
Apologies if I have chosen too many albums per artist – but if I want to be honest, these artists have created nothing but bangers and deserve this recognition, and it is very difficult to choose which is their best. Having said that, this chart is absolutely a work in progress…
- Chart updated: 10/11/2025 01:45
- (Created: 01/17/2022 07:23).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
View the complete list of 57,000 charts on BestEverAlbums.com from The Charts page.
The album features 15 tracks, some brilliant, the rest very good. I could be here a fair while describing all 15 of them, so I’ll try and condense it. It had five commercially successful hit songs. The opening song “Let Me Drown” sets the scene nicely, but the following two songs “My Wave” and “Fell on Black Days” are absolute belters. It goes up another level with “Black Hole Sun”. This song is my favourite off the album, and it was the biggest hit. For starters, when breaking down the guitar chord progression (done in drop D tuning) it had something unconventional and unique about it. Brooding and dark, there is a strong sense of Armageddon about this song but surrounding it awaits a strange melancholic beauty. Lyrically, Cornell might have been speaking of flushing the world of all the sick, corrupt and fake aspects of society. It appeared he wouldn’t properly open up about it when he was questioned about it by various media, and you wouldn’t blame him. It remains open for interpretation and a bit of a mystery, but sometimes it is best that way. “Spoonman” is another cracker, a rhythmically very tight piece that’s mainly played in the unusual 7/4 time signature (similar to Pink Floyd’s “Money” and Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android”). I can remember being blown away by how awesome the spoons sounded in the middle part of the song when I first heard it - one of the great moments. There are plenty more highlights – songs that spring to mind are “Limo Wreck”, “Head Down”, “The Day I Tried to Live”, and “4th of July”. There is much more to be said about this great album so I probably haven’t done it justice.
RIP Chris [First added to this chart: 01/17/2022]
“Soul Kitchen” has a strong blues approach and a rocking beat. It was a staple of The Doors live sets.
“The Crystal Ship” is one of the standouts off the album. It’s a song Morrison wrote about his first girlfriend during a breakup. His romantic poetry (quite mysterious and not easily interpreted) had an ability to get you thinking pretty deeply, whilst setting off a strong imagination and dreamscape to go with it. Manzarek’s work on the keys is superb here and really takes you places.
“Twentieth Century Fox” has got a bit of swagger to it – of note, some nice walking bass lines by Manzerek whilst working the high notes nicely. Lyrically, Morrison sings about a very attractive girl who is glamorous but also fake in personality.
“Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)” is a very catchy tune, and a bit intriguing to say the least. For a long time I had no idea what this song was about, but decided to read up on it. This is actually not a Doors original, it is extracted from a German poem re-written in English in 1925 and published by Berlot Brecht and Kurt Weill in 1927 for the opera “Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny”. The Doors kind of make it their own though. A little whacky to be honest, but what makes it compelling is Manzarek’s use of the Marxophone (a fretless zither not dissimilar in sound to mandolin or hammer dulcimers – the instrument is played like a miniature piano).
“Light My Fire” was one of The Doors biggest hits, which was written by Krieger. Morrison paints a romantic picture (as does the music) – and overall a very poignant impression of falling in love, maybe also of getting “high” with this girl. In fact, the band were approached prior to a live performance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1967, and were asked not to include the lyrics “girl we couldn’t get much higher”. Morrison sung those lyrics anyway (to the disgust of Ed Sullivan) and the band were never allowed on the show again. The middle instrumental soloing (or duelling) between Manzarek and Krieger is the stuff of sheer brilliance, simply magic. It still pains me to this day why they would release a version that cuts out this middle section (which goes for more than 4 minutes). It totally kills the song in my opinion.
“Back Door Man” is a cover of a Willie Dixon song. It’s a piece that is predominantly blues and was another one of their live staples. The Doors played the blues very well and was probably the focal point in their music, but they were also very good at blending genres. This was a taste of what was to come, in particular in the albums “Morrison Hotel” and “L.A. Woman”. Many of the prominent rock bands of the era drew influence from the classic Chicago blues pioneers – Dixon was a major focal point, along with Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Bo Diddley.
“I Looked at You” is a cute, energetic Doors song, which is upbeat and fresh. I love Densmore’s style, especially the drum rolls in this one. Manzarek plays some great keys, locking in nicely with Densmore, including a nice walking bass line while producing a colourful atmosphere with the high notes. There’s a clever, deceiving false ending that brings back in a repeat final verse.
“End of the Night” has a classic eeriness about it that only The Doors could create. Morrison appears to be referring to psychedelic experiences in this song, possibly in conjunction with, or separately referring to, life after death. It draws from a poem by William Blake, “Auguries of Innocence” – the specific line in the song used is “Realms of bliss, realms of light, some are born to sweet delight, some are born to endless night”. Krieger’s slide guitar solo adds another layer to the dreamscape, his unusual selection of notes painting a spooky atmosphere.
“Take it as it Comes” is a very catchy tune - it has a similar feel rhythmically to “I Looked at You”, featuring a great solo by Manzarek. A short and sweet song with plenty going on in it.
“The End” in my opinion is one of The Doors best songs. It is the ultimate song to finish off an album, and at 11 minutes long it takes you on quite the journey. Morrison produces some of his best poetry here, with strong metaphors (including plenty of expletives at the finale), among it some American Indian totemic imagery. Morrison said initially that the song was probably a goodbye song to a girl, however later revealed that it could have a much broader meaning, and could be interpreted in many different ways. This song in particular has the ultimate feeling of timelessness, even if just in itself it sounds amazing half a century later. Krieger plays in a drop D tuning, bringing on the “Ravi Shankar factor” with a decent hint of Indian flavours and other interesting mixed tonalities (he and Densmore actually received personal tuition under Shankar at one stage). In the latter half of the song Morrison delivers a spoken word version of the Oedipus complex where he says “Father I want to kill you” and “Mother I want to f#%k you”. Quite confronting and bemusing to say the least, and Morrison not surprisingly got some interesting reactions from it publicly. He was apparently part of a student drama production on Oedipus around the time the song was written. Densmore said he got to the bottom of it with Morrison, and realised he was conveying that the Father is everything that’s instilled in you that’s alien and not of yourself, and should be done away with. The Mother is all that is pure and true in you - as in mother nature, getting back to essence, and that’s what we need more than anything.
Such a great band, but sadly the candle burned too fiercely for Morrison. This album is another classic work of art that has withstood the test of time. [First added to this chart: 01/17/2022]
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 1 | 1% | |
| 1960s | 18 | 18% | |
| 1970s | 33 | 33% | |
| 1980s | 14 | 14% | |
| 1990s | 23 | 23% | |
| 2000s | 5 | 5% | |
| 2010s | 6 | 6% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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|||
| Pink Floyd | 7 | 7% | |
| The Beatles | 7 | 7% | |
| Led Zeppelin | 6 | 6% | |
| The Doors | 4 | 4% | |
| Metallica | 3 | 3% | |
| Deep Purple | 3 | 3% | |
| Tool | 3 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
|
48 | 48% | |
|
34 | 34% | |
|
9 | 9% | |
|
2 | 2% | |
|
2 | 2% | |
|
2 | 2% | |
|
1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
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Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 29 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/09/2025 19:19 | timosbuecherei | 5 | 66/100 |
| ! | 03/31/2025 12:54 | 1,104 | 85/100 | |
| ! | 11/30/2024 03:04 | mianfei | 168 | 62/100 |
| ! | 11/11/2024 03:46 | Moondance | 476 | 85/100 |
| ! | 05/04/2024 21:11 | StreakyNuno | 131 | 82/100 |
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This chart is rated in the top 2% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 90.6/100, a mean average of 90.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 92.3/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 10.3.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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Congratulations.
we have so many albums in common.
Fantastic chart
The chart chooses depth over breadth without being indifferent to breadth. I appreciate the love and loyalty you show to your favorites. Nice to see someone who loves both Metallica and the Beatles. I will have to check out Tea Party.
Great seeing Midnight Oil getting great recognition.Love your list mate
Dig this chart. Would love to see more artists represented but you like what you like. Love that you have Midnight Oil! So underrated. I'll have to check out Tea Party, I've heard pretty much everything else besides them.
Hey man, I'm learning a lot from this chart; thanks so much!
Appreciate the feedback Moondance, cheers. Though I still think there's plenty of breadth here, not just "classics". Hard to beat the classics having said that, hence why they're in my greatest 100. There are plenty of good Aussie artists/albums I've listened to over the years - quite a few more are probably just missing my 100, but now you've thrown the gauntlet out there I'll try to dive a little deeper :)
A nice enough chart with lots of classic artists/albums. For me, what it lacks it breadth ~ to go beyond the classics; to discover exceptional albums that require some scratching below the surface. There are plenty more in the Australian arena if you are willing to dive a little deeper.
Nice chart.
very classical chart - fine
a bit too redundant.
Love your list. Very similar tastes. Great to see some Tea Party rated highly up there.
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