Top 100 Music Albums of 1979
by 
MadhattanJack 
- Chart updated: 11/11/2025 02:45
- (Created: 08/31/2022 04:23).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
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XTC was one of the first bands ever to adopt a logo that could be used to draw a human face, almost two years before Toto did the same thing on their "Turn Back" LP. Unfortunately, many buyers complained that they couldn't "unsee" the face while record-shopping, and XTC was forced to abandon it. For a while, copies of this album were fetching prices of over $1,000,000, but then the internet came along and ruined everything.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,319
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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The title "154" refers to the number of live shows Wire had played prior to recording the album. Wikipedia (currently) says "at the time of the album's release," but there's always a few weeks between artwork finalization and initial stock date, during which they could have played at least a dozen gigs, so I call shenanigans on that. Some people thought it was an oblique reference to Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451," only with the numbers in reverse order, but then the title would have actually been "154 Tiehnerhaf," which sounds more like a Lithuanian street address. Also, I'm not a big fan of Ray Bradbury.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,731
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Science would suggest that there's only one form of tension, which is exemplified by applying energy to expand (or "load") a spring. But that's science - for everything else, the sky's the limit! There are many forms of *dramatic* tension in particular, including psychological, sexual, and comedic tension, and of course, suspense. There's also hypertension, which is what most of us who were around when this album was released have now.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
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The debut album from one of the most underrated bands of the early "New Wave," and maybe one of the most underrated bands ever. I've always wondered how much better things might have turned out for them if they'd chosen "The Very Doog" as the title instead of what they ended up going with.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
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Though it's overshadowed by their second album, "Underwater Moonlight," this one shouldn't be overlooked, since it has bees in it.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
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These guys were better than the Clash and the Sex Pistols, maybe even the Ramones and the Buzzcocks too, but their lead singer died of a drug overdose before they could even record a follow-up to this album. So this is almost all we have... What is it about drugs, anyway? I don't like them.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
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For a couple of weeks, the UK critics tried to label Magazine an "art punk" band, but nobody was buying it, so they started calling them a "post punk" band, and... hey, they bought it! We win again! Yay!
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
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Most people probably know that Bill Nelson was the singer-guitarist who led Be Bop Deluxe, a fairly successful UK progressive-rock band with heavy glam overtones. My theory is that he heard some of the early XTC stuff and decided "this is the future!" and then dropped everything to form a new band and record this album. He's never been confronted with this theory though, but that's only because nobody respects me as a theoretician.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
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Since this is a compilation album (of all their singles, as of the date of release), normally I'd rank this a bit lower. But of all the singles compilations ever compiled, by anyone before or since, this one is the best ever, in my opinion. Unfortunately, after this came out, everyone else wanted to do the same thing because this one was so great, but since none of theirs were as great as this one, there were accusations of fan-exploitation along with record-label greed and corruption. "Why buy all those singles when they're just going to compile them into one of these albums," all of the single-buyers asked. Nobody had an answer. At one point I said, "Maybe the singles will be collectible someday anyway," but everyone just laughed.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,628
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Some people will tell you this was the best album of both 1979 and 1980, because it was released in the UK in 1979 and in the USA in 1980, meaning it could actually be the best album of both the 1970s and the 1980s. Of course, I personally would never tell you (or anyone else) such a thing, since I still aspire to having an active social life.
[First added to this chart: 08/31/2022]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
31,115
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 64. Page 1 of 7
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Top 100 Music Albums of 1979 composition
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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| Joe Jackson | 2 | 2% | |
| Skids | 2 | 2% | |
| Simple Minds | 2 | 2% | |
| Buzzcocks | 2 | 2% | |
| The Dickies | 2 | 2% | |
| The Fall | 2 | 2% | |
| The B-52's | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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64 | 64% | |
| |
26 | 26% | |
 |
4 | 4% | |
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1 | 1% | |
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1 | 1% | |
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1 | 1% | |
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1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Music Albums of 1979 chart changes
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 95th to 96th Chance Meeting On A Dissecting Table Of A Sewing Machine And An Umbrella by Nurse With Wound |
| Down 1 from 96th to 97th Teenage Jesus And The Jerks by Teenage Jesus & The Jerks |
| New entries |
|---|
| Nosferatu by Hugh Cornwell & Robert Williams |
| Leavers |
|---|
| Soldier Talk by The Red Crayola |
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MadhattanJack has created 71 other 1979 year charts - click here to explore them all.
Top 100 Music Albums of 1979 ratings
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Showing all 3 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 04/11/2023 21:05 |  Rhyner | 1,454 | 99/100 |
| ! | 03/25/2023 02:51 |  mickilennial | 715 | 77/100 |
| ! | 03/24/2023 10:09 |  Larcx13 | 1,144 | 86/100 |
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