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).

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This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from the 1960s. (Remove this filter)

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Revolver

The Beatles

Year of Release:

1966

Appears in:

3,591 charts

Rank Score:

49,420

Rank in 1966:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1966

Appears in:

2,857 charts

Rank Score:

38,974

Rank in 1966:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

88 (3,280 votes)

Comments:

360

The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Velvet Underground & Nico

Year of Release:

1967

Appears in:

3,054 charts

Rank Score:

39,865

Rank in 1967:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

89 (3,553 votes)

Comments:

354

The Beatles (The White Album)

The Beatles

Year of Release:

1968

Appears in:

2,954 charts

Rank Score:

37,225

Rank in 1968:

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Average Rating:

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10.

Year of Release:

1968

Appears in:

1,535 charts

Rank Score:

16,291

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Overall Rank:

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11.

Year of Release:

1965

Appears in:

2,368 charts

Rank Score:

27,296

Rank in 1965:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

89 (2,818 votes)

Comments:

228

19.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Beatles

Year of Release:

1967

Appears in:

3,498 charts

Rank Score:

43,154

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Average Rating:

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22.

Year of Release:

1969

Appears in:

3,741 charts

Rank Score:

57,268

Rank in 1969:

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Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

24.

Year of Release:

1966

Appears in:

2,039 charts

Rank Score:

24,990

Rank in 1966:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

27.

Year of Release:

1969

Appears in:

1,781 charts

Rank Score:

17,096

Rank in 1969:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

85 (2,101 votes)

Comments:

140

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Total albums: 19. Page 1 of 2

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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%
Bob Marley & The Wailers	4	4%
David Bowie	4	4%
Bob Dylan	3	3%
The Rolling Stones	3	3%
The Smiths	2	2%
Joy Division	2	2%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	47	47%
	36	36%
	6	6%
	6	6%
	3	3%
	2	2%

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	96	96%
Yes	4	4%

Live?	Albums	%
No	98	98%
Yes	2	2%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	99	99%
Yes	1	1%

Title	Source	Type	Published
The Guardian: 100 Best Albums Ever (1997)	WayneMC	Custom chart	2019
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums	RFNAPLES	Overall chart	2013
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums	album guru joe	Overall chart	2013
Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums	Virgin	Overall chart	2000
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums	Channel 4	Overall chart	2005
Most Acclaimed Music Albums	Imaybeparanoid	Custom chart	2015
100 Greatest Albums Ever	Q	Overall chart	2006
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

The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever similarity to your chart(s)

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Title	Source	Type	Published
100 Best Albums - 2024 Edition	Apple Music	Overall chart	2024
NME Readers' All-Time Top 100 Albums	New Music Express	Overall chart	1988
The Top 100 Albums	VH1	Overall chart	2001

A total of 19 charts from The Guardian are available; the 3 most recent of this type are highlighted below.

Title	Source	Type	Published	Country
The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever	The Guardian	Overall chart	1997

The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever ratings

Average Rating:

73/100 (from 63 votes)

Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 63 ratings for this chart.

Sort by

Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
70/100 !	12/11/2020 07:56	pjohnsongolf	272	89/100
65/100 !	09/25/2020 03:33	ChadMiles	29	64/100
50/100 !	08/25/2020 11:29	Larcx13	1,145	86/100
90/100 !	08/13/2020 20:27	desh79	1,278	93/100
85/100 !	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 favourites

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The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 22 comments |
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Rating:

75/100

From

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)

Rating:

40/100

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)

Rating:

85/100

From JasonZaia 01/29/2015 01:40 | #132861

Very interesting list...different order.

Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:

85/100

From

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)

Rating:

95/100

From

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)

Rating:

70/100

From

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)

Rating:

80/100

From

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)

Rating:

90/100

From

tgarritsen 10/13/2013 17:23 | #88370

Good list, really diverse

Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:

70/100

From thebard73 07/15/2013 15:34 | #81487

OK list. Why is Public Enemy so high?

Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)

Rating:

80/100

From Johnnyo 07/06/2013 10:53 | #80531

Some great albums but the drawback to all of these types of charts is that they are far too predictable & I guess that's inevitable with the exception of the NME which tends to go completely the other way & do best of charts where every albums is onscure.

Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever
by The Guardian (1997)