Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
by RupertRonco 
One album per artist.
Ranking my top 100, even worse, THE greatest 100 albums of all time is hopelessly futile. The word "greatest" opens a Pandora's box of ambiguity by itself. So....
I tried to define greatest as: most influential, most groundbreaking, or best quality music from a writing and musicianship standpoint. The majority of these selections fit the aforementioned criteria, with the exception of some albums I just happen to like so much, I cannot exclude them from the list. It will remain a work in progress.
Standard selections at the end. I don't like that many of the lists are so similar, but it would be blasphemous for me to not mention them among my top 100.
- Chart updated: 07/19/2013 08:32
- (Created: 09/18/2012 09:17).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
View the complete list of 57,000 charts on BestEverAlbums.com from The Charts page.
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 1 | 1% | |
| 1960s | 10 | 10% | |
| 1970s | 22 | 22% | |
| 1980s | 6 | 6% | |
| 1990s | 17 | 17% | |
| 2000s | 39 | 39% | |
| 2010s | 5 | 5% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Gentle Giant | 1 | 1% | |
| Kate Bush | 1 | 1% | |
| The Doors | 1 | 1% | |
| Riverside (PL) | 1 | 1% | |
| Beardfish | 1 | 1% | |
| Kansas | 1 | 1% | |
| Spock's Beard | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
|
44 | 44% | |
|
34 | 34% | |
|
7 | 7% | |
|
3 | 3% | |
|
3 | 3% | |
|
3 | 3% | |
|
2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| New entries |
|---|
| Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles |
| Leavers |
|---|
| Revolver by The Beatles |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similar charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best Ever Prog Rock | Custom chart | 2013 | ![]() | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | Manso | Overall chart | 2020 | ![]() |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | Overall chart | 2011 | ![]() | |
| If The BEA Overall Chart Had A One Album Per Artist Rule... | Custom chart | 2025 | ![]() | |
| BEA 100 (One Album per Artist) | Custom chart | 2020 | ![]() | |
| Best Albums(1 Per Artist) | dougcummings | Custom chart | 2022 | ![]() |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | Overall chart | 2013 | ![]() | |
| Top 99 Greatest Music Albums | encyclopediag | Overall chart | 2017 | ![]() |
| Top 90.3 Listener Voted Albums | KEXP | Overall chart | 2008 | ![]() |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | LightRay | Overall chart | 2015 | ![]() |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similarity to your chart(s)
Not a member? Registering is quick, easy and FREE!
Why register?
- Join a passionate community of over 50,000 music fans.
- Create & share your own charts.
- Have your say in the overall rankings.
- Post comments in the forums and vote on polls.
- Comment on or rate any album, artist, track or chart.
- Discover new music & improve your music collection.
- Customise the overall chart using a variety of different filters & metrics.
- Create a wishlist of albums.
- Help maintain the BEA database.
- Earn member points and gain access to increasing levels of functionality!
- ... And lots more!
Register now - it only takes a moment!
Top 100 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.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 33 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 12/20/2022 12:36 | 1,145 | 86/100 | |
| ! | 07/03/2021 11:55 | 351 | 86/100 | |
| ! | 07/18/2020 14:20 | bonnequestion | 37 | 98/100 |
| ! | 12/25/2018 20:03 | NSPE | 350 | 77/100 |
| ! | 12/10/2017 12:27 | 1,004 | 89/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some charts can have several thousand ratings)
This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 82.4/100, a mean average of 78.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 81.3/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 19.9.
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums favourites
Showing all 3 members who have added this chart as a favourite
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 27 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First |
Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)
Come back and update this chart please! It rules :)
seriously?
Your chart has some real attitude great I get a bit bored with people picking the obvious classics But every list needs some
yawn
Awesome progressive and original chart, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Rush, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree... My only disappointed is with Bowie and Sabbath positions, too low, but in general we have the same tastes. I will listen to some recommendations. Thx and congrats.
Top 5 is decent, but the rest is just wrong. The reason the albums are standard is because they are obviously popular for a reason, and should not be ranked lowly because they are common.
Very good progressive rock Chart.
Nice idea to quickly accumulate the classical albums on the last 1o positions.
An awesome, intelligent list.
Not familiar with 1/2 the list, more so with the 2nd half. I don't care about he list but more so why some of these albums I've never heard are must listens. Hopefully you'll expand to comment on 'em. Love the variety.
Original content, not original context. It was in reference to you copying material and pitching it as your own.
I appreciate the feedback. It's well articulated and adds great depth to this conversation.
Music is to be shared and enjoyed, it's here to make our lives better. Your bitterness is neither well founded, nor appreciated.
Your feedback for Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
A lot of hard work happens in the background to keep BEA running, and it's especially difficult to do this when we can't pay our hosting fees :(
We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.
| Email Address | |
|---|---|
| Forgotten passwords and other site notifications are sent to the email address saved on your profile. If you've changed your email address recently, please remember to update it on your profile page. (If you can't remember your password, and your email address is out of date, please contact us for assistance getting back into your account). |







