The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever
by The Guardian (1997) 
The Guardian is a British daily newspaper. These are their best albums of all time. In 1997, The Guardian, a UK daily broadsheet newspaper, published a list of the greatest albums of all time. The list was chosen by a panel of judges including artists, critics and DJ's from around the world.
(Official website: https://www.guardian.co.uk)
There are 22 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever has an average rating of 73 out of 100 (from 63 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
The entries in this chart have a zero rank score because the chart has not been updated within the last ten years (points from overall charts are decayed over a ten year period).
View the complete list of 57,000 charts on BestEverAlbums.com from The Charts page.
Buy album 
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Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
18,961
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Buy album
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Year of Release:
1966
Appears in:
Rank Score:
49,850
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Buy album
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Year of Release:
1977
Appears in:
Rank Score:
10,698
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Average Rating:
Comments:
4.
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Year of Release:
1991
Appears in:
Rank Score:
37,990
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Buy album
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Year of Release:
1989
Appears in:
Rank Score:
23,181
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Buy album
- #Sponsored
Year of Release:
1966
Appears in:
Rank Score:
39,241
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Buy album
- #Sponsored
Year of Release:
1972
Appears in:
Rank Score:
43,759
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Buy album
- #Sponsored
Year of Release:
1967
Appears in:
Rank Score:
40,117
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Buy album
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Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
37,470
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Buy album
- #Sponsored
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
16,456
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Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10
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The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 2 | 2% | |
| 1960s | 19 | 19% | |
| 1970s | 40 | 40% | |
| 1980s | 18 | 18% | |
| 1990s | 21 | 21% | |
| 2000s | 0 | 0% | |
| 2010s | 0 | 0% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| The Beatles | 5 | 5% | |
| David Bowie | 4 | 4% | |
| Bob Marley & The Wailers | 4 | 4% | |
| The Rolling Stones | 3 | 3% | |
| Bob Dylan | 3 | 3% | |
| Stevie Wonder | 2 | 2% | |
| R.E.M. | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever similar charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Guardian: 100 Best Albums Ever (1997) | WayneMC | Custom chart | 2019 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums |  RFNAPLES | Overall chart | 2013 | |
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| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | P H Dias | Overall chart | 2012 |  |
| Top 500 Albums of All Time | Rolling Stone | Overall chart | 2003 | |
| The Top 100 Albums | VH1 | Overall chart | 2001 | |
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Other overall charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 Best Albums - 2024 Edition | Apple Music | Overall chart | 2024 | |
| The 300 Greatest Albums of All Time (1-100) | Paste | Overall chart | 2024 | |
| Los 48 mejores discos de la historia | Esquire España | Overall chart | 2022 |  |
Other charts by The Guardian
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever | The Guardian | Overall chart | 1997 | |
View all 19 charts here from The Guardian.
The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever 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 63 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 12/11/2020 07:56 |  pjohnsongolf | 272 | 89/100 |
| ! | 09/25/2020 03:33 | ChadMiles | 29 | 64/100 |
| ! | 08/25/2020 11:29 |  Larcx13 | 1,144 | 86/100 |
| ! | 08/13/2020 20:27 |  desh79 | 1,278 | 93/100 |
| ! | 07/30/2020 17:21 |  Goliath | 351 | 86/100 |
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 73.2/100, a mean average of 70.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 71.3/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 20.0.
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The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever comments
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From 
Boltzmann 03/15/2020 18:38 | #248767
Boltzmann 03/15/2020 18:38 | #248767
Actually not as mad at this one as I thought I would be. Still no clue what Oasis is doing on any greatest albums list, but can't have everything.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From TorkilSkorgen 05/06/2017 11:37 | #190387
Interesting chart. I agree with some of it, but there are quite a few odd choices (especially for a big magazine) like putting What's Going On at number one, and Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols at number three. It's good to see some diversity, but it's completely overlooked metal. They should also have been more careful with putting (at the time) recent albums so high up. Not that they are bad albums, but they definitely wouldn't be that high up nowadays.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From mianfei 05/11/2016 11:37 | #165734
Not that bad – there is a good diversity of selections (though metal is conspicuously absent). It’s notable to see some reggae, a lot of very good soul and a good selection of most pop and rock genres.
There is though the problem of datedness of numerous selections which have proven to constitute much more popular fads than timeless classics that either had long-term impacts on the music industry or stand out as something totally unique that nobody could emulate. Examples are artists like the Verve, Oasis, Garbage and even Alanis Morrisette. If the ‘Guardian’ could have been more careful about then-recent records this could have been a good list for its type.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From JasonZaia 01/29/2015 01:40 | #132861
Very interesting list...different order.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
thedistantship 08/22/2014 03:49 | #120064
thedistantship 08/22/2014 03:49 | #120064
Can't argue with too much. Predictable selections but interesting order
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Graeme2 06/22/2014 21:42 | #115031
Graeme2 06/22/2014 21:42 | #115031
Pretty good. Predictable for a reason. If they did one now a few from the 90s would bite the dust like garbage, urban hymns and jagged little pill I would guess. Not a predictable no1 but a good one.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
GandalfORiley345 03/27/2014 03:33 | #107721
GandalfORiley345 03/27/2014 03:33 | #107721
Well, this chart add´s The Stone Roses in a top 10
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From 
Anti 02/02/2014 02:17 | #102027
Anti 02/02/2014 02:17 | #102027
Interesting to see "What's Going On?" at the top of the list!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From 
tgarritsen 10/13/2013 17:23 | #88370
tgarritsen 10/13/2013 17:23 | #88370
Good list, really diverse
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From nutso42 09/10/2013 15:14 | #85644
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -3 votes (0 helpful | 3 unhelpful)
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