Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by 
slatsheit 
I've tried to put this chart together the way that I believe everyone should: 1) ***no*** limitations on the number of albums by a single artist, because that would automatically make the chart a bald-faced lie (at least in my case), and 2) to rank every album meticulously in terms of desert island standards, rather than some sort of objective evaluation - with every single rank number, "hm, if I can only take this many albums with me to the desert island, would I rather have this album, or some other album I haven't included yet?" The desire to be absolutely honest with myself and others has led (and will continue to lead, until I die) to numerous revisions.
In terms of how I personally rate albums, I personally consider there to be four levels of "5 stars." The first three, I give 100 ratings to on this site; the others (more numerous) get 95s. 4.5s get 90s, 4s get 80 or 85, 3.5s get 70 or 75, 3s get 60 or 65, and so on. My ratings tend to trend higher on average than most here because if I listen to an album, something grabbed me that made me want to listen to it.
But I digress. #1-15 I would consider 5+++, #16-34 is 5++, 35-75 is 5+, and everything below (and everything contained on my "101-200" and "201-241" custom charts) is a straight 5.
I'm a self-proclaimed Gen X curmudgeon. I hate hip-hop and everything significantly influenced by it on principle - too meta and too non-musical, and I can't stand the non-stop foul language and degradation. That said, it's absolutely not a racial thing - I love and esteem plenty of r 'n' b, soul, and jazz. The first two of those three genres tend to be underrepresented here compared to my actual tastes because those genres are more singles-oriented. Jazz will probably grow in representation in time - up to this point, I generally haven't evaluated the jazz I like vs. the pop/rock because they're so apples and oranges. I do have to cop to having heard far fewer jazz albums than pop/rock albums (hundreds vs. thousands). I like classical more than jazz, and love certain pieces more than some of the pop/rock albums included here. However, classical is virtually impossible to rate in terms of albums, because classical albums are about performances, whereas I approach classical by finding a performance I like and listening to that, whereas my sense of classical favorites is a matter of pieces, not performances. If pop/rock vs. jazz, is apples and oranges, pop/rock vs. classical is apples and sweet potatoes. In terms of the album-oriented stuff I do like, I strongly believe that there was a precipitous drop-off in music in general after about 1988. Shoegaze and Radiohead's OK Computer are the only developments since which are both 1) original and 2) worthwhile. Everything else that is good is synthetic of prior styles. That's not necessarily a bad thing - there are many very good albums in such veins.
- Chart updated: 04/12/2025 01:45
- (Created: 11/08/2024 01:17).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
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This has been my fave since 1987. At least I'm consistent. It defines the rest of my taste. Why is it my favorite? Well, some of it is just deeply personal – it contains a few songs that I remember hearing on the radio in my early childhood in the mid-‘70s, which certainly contributes to my allegiance to it. I also find it to be my single favorite “moment” of The Beatles. Let’s be frank; they’re like four different bands: a) the early period super-synthetic creation of “rock” (as opposed to rock ‘n’ roll) in ’63-’64 (note: they’d still be the greatest of all time because of what they achieved in that period alone if they died in a plane crash on New Year’s Day of ’65, which is uproariously virtually never acknowledged), b) the song-focused, guitar-centered development stage of ’65-’66, c) the high-concept psychedelic period (’67), and d) their final mature phase (India up to the end). I find “b” to be the most timeless, to contain their greatest songwriting, and to have the greatest influence on other music that I love (non-blues-based guitar music, including power pop, in the ‘70s and ‘80s). Rubber Soul is great, but Revolver, with its higher ambitions and boundary-pushing, is the best. I always include the “Paperback Writer”/”Rain” single in my consideration of Revolver (although it would still absolutely be my #1 without them), because they would have been included in any era other than the wacky British mid-'60s. I love that overdriven Casinos guitar sound they used on those single sides, “And Your Bird Can Sing,” “Taxman,” and “I’m Only Sleeping.” George of course goes somewhat off the deep end with his hairiest attempt at the incorporation of Indian music with “Love You To” (love you to what?), but even that fits the overall sound and feel of the album with the grinding tamboura sounding like a heavily distorted guitar. “Yellow Submarine” annoys a lot of folks with its “children’s song” approach, but it’s more of a frat song, with the gang vocals and musique concrete elements. “Dr. Robert” is not my favorite – they really didn’t need to take a last dip into Bakersfield at this point, way too late in the game – but at least the great guitar sound and Lennon’s impishness are there. So those three tracks are a little weaker than the rest, but they don’t drag the album down, because they contribute to the edifice. Everything else – 11 tracks, plus the single sides, which would have been there in any other era – is phenomenal. George, of course, gives us the start-stop rhythmic groove of “Taxman,” but Paul co-opts it with his virtuoso bass lines and absolutely wired guitar solo. “I Want to Tell You,” with its dissonant piano clomping, is a fantastic left-field pop song, George’s best offering here, and absolutely the peer of John and Paul’s tracks – huge contribution to the greatness of the album. Lennon may have hated “And Your Bird Can Sing,” but it’s one of the best things the band ever did with one of his songs, an absolute guitar nirvana with Paul and George’s overdriven harmonic lines driving the song. This is of course the album where John (who was already a demigod by virtue of establishing himself as the best white male singer in pop/rock history from ’63-’65) really stretched out and warped the boundaries of rock, with the herky-jerky rhythms and acid testimony of “She Said, She Said,” the backwards guitar and psychedelic languor of “I’m Only Sleeping,” and of course the visionary Tibetan romp that is “Tomorrow Never Knows,” which is of course a psychedelic masterpiece, but also works as ecstatic dance music (try it!). An achievement that put the whole rest of the world on notice. “Rain,” of course, is one of the band’s very best songs, in terms of lyrics and hooks, but especially in terms of Paul’s great bass work, the so-euphonious-it-hurts blizzarding guitars, and the best drumming performance of Ringo’s life, and the vari-speed slowdown which gives it that perfect psycho-pop feel. However, when all is said and done, this album is Paul’s triumph, the only time in the band’s career that he really outdid John. “Got to Get You Into My Life” is catchy as hell, a pop-soul number that greatly expands the character, feel, and influence of the album (and which fits very well alongside “I Want to Tell You”); “Eleanor Rigby” of course furthers the avant-pop excursions of the band with its relentless string octet and Paul’s pensive lyrics; “Good Day Sunshine” injects a little bit of the nostalgic music hall character that was such a big part of British pop at the time (and one of the best examples of Paul doing so) (it's also one of those tracks I heard on the radio as a kid, fwiw); while “For No One” and “Here, There and Everywhere” are sublime, absolutely timeless pop masterpieces and standards. “Paperback Writer” features an absolutely jet-propelled version of that guitar sound that contributed so much to the greatness of the album, plus those delay-treated vocals and kinetic hookiness. The Fab Four’s fabbest, and the greatest album of all time.
[First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1966
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Rank Score:
50,916
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486
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"Oh, Joy Division. They couldn't play their instruments. And that guy couldn't sing. Not to mention New Order's better anyway." Yeah, in a parallel universe in which everyone has a tin ear. Sure, Albrecht and Hook were limited musicians (note: I hesitate to call Stephen Morris, the human drum machine, limited), but their ambitions combined with Martin Hannett's visionary production and Ian Curtiss's power as the greatest self-expressionist that the pop/rock genre has ever produced resulted in a brief but simply monumental catalog of towering greatness. This album resonantly tells Ian's truth - one which is universal from an erroneous but majority-held perspective. He simply faced the darkness whose existence the majority who are in his boat blithely deny, and told the truth about it with an artistic prowess which was and remains unmatched. If someone doesn't like this album, that generally means I don't need to hear a syllable more about the rest of their bubonically fecal musical opinions, but some have successfully fooled me until I found that out. Note: in an effort to be more honest with myself and the world about my personal preferences, I recently moved this up from #11 to #2.
[First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1980
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Rank Score:
15,537
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Obviously not a lot of variety on this album, but the production and arrangement idiom are incandescent. So much that is great about this album – the great use of reverb, the strings, the soprano saw, the angelic backing vocals, Marvin’s great gospel vocals and falsetto scatting, his spoken-word monologues, the wise, almost shamanistic or preacherly “when I look at the world” lyrics, the deep emotion of the songs – just such a towering masterpiece. “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)” certainly stands out for the greater dominance of the bass and Marvin’s smoldering anger. It has a special place in my heart. Even more of a divergence is the conga-and-flute-driven “Right On,” which provides a positive change-up in the middle of the album. The whole world doesn’t need me to tell it how great of a transcendent masterpiece the title track is, nor the somewhat lesser but still fantastic “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology),” even though it’s hard to hear the latter without thinking of Robert Palmer’s cover. So many other gems, though. “Save the Children” is incandescent in its message and music and gives me goosebumps in the best way. “What’s Happening Brother” somewhat recycles the title track on some levels while being almost more beautiful. “God is Love” and “Wholy Holy” are beautiful expressions of Marvin’s faith. I love how the side one tracks flow into one another. Just a transcendent, toweringly gorgeous album. Marvin’s breaking-heart consoling embrace of the entire world, and especially of the African American community. As powerful as the greatest classical music pieces. Love love love it – in fact, so much I have to raise it a spot or two in order to be honest. In fact, given the heart that’s here, it’s going above Pet Sounds and DSOTM.
[First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1971
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Rank Score:
19,486
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There is a contrarian chic that denies the stature of this album - whether through hatred of the rest of The Beach Boys' image and collective persona, or resentment of Wilson being held up as a genius when the full bloom only lasted for one full album. Too bad. Obviously "I'm Waiting for the Day" and especially "Pet Sounds" are the weakest tracks here, and they're better than the best songs on 98% of the albums ever recorded. Pet Sounds is a monumental album on two levels. Most strikingly is the rich complexity of the arrangements, the full flowering of Wilson’s visionary production vision. It’s founded, of course, on the techniques and approach of Phil Spector, but with many differences: whereas Spector would pile up many doublings of instruments that weren’t usually doubled in pursuit of his Wall of Sound, Brian is more about rich depth and novel combinations of instruments. The complexity of all of the parts on many of the tracks is like the arrangement of a Mahler symphony or something like that. And of course Brian has recourse to The Beach Boys’ vocals and the sonic beauty and power he had become an expert at drawing out of them (but here, particularly his own voice). The other important aspect of Pet Sounds is its vulnerable lyrical expression of Brian’s perspective and state of mind, channeled with help from Tony Asher, which helped to revolutionize what pop music could and should convey lyrically. When you hear Charli XCX sing about herself and her state of mind, that’s a legacy of Pet Sounds. This album is of course the fullest flowering of baroque pop. Some rock critics didn’t like it because it doesn’t rock; while in musical dialogue with the edgy rock giants of ’65 and ’66, it is just as much a culmination of the non-rock pop ruling AM radio since ’60 or so. And that’s worthwhile. “God Only Knows,” with its heartbreaking melody, Carl Wilson’s intimate vocals, and the lovely French horn intro, is naturally the centerpiece and crown jewel here. The other usually highlighted pillar is “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” with its similarly grabbing melody and its dazzlingly-complex harp-centered arrangement. I remember when I heard it on the radio as a teenager (in ’87, not ’66) and was just blown away by this ornate introduction to a magical musical world. The cover of the Caribbean folk tune “Sloop John B” harkens back to earlier Beach Boy times, but with a far lusher arrangement than even their recent hits. The guitar sound Brian achieved here is simply epically grand, and the harmonies are incandescent. “Caroline, No” expresses heartbreak and loss, featuring a subdued arrangement and Brian singing solo. Those are the most well-known songs on the album, but the others are great as well, especially in their pop-philosophy expression. “That’s Not Me” expresses Brian’s sense of being an isolated and misunderstood genius (whether or not he actually was a genius may be a topic of debate for some; that he needed to stay the hell away from the guy he had sing the song should not be). Great fat bass work here. I love the percussive drama of “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” – certainly one of the most cinematic tracks here. “Here Today” is one of the other rock-tempoed tracks here, and again features that fat bass. While I could do without the bike horn and bell on “You Still Believe in Me,” the rest of the song and arrangement is gorgeous. “Let’s Get Away for A While” doesn’t necessarily fit on a rock record, but it is a sweet escapist pop fantasia from Brian. “I Know There’s an Answer” is certainly solid enough. “I’m Waiting for the Day” struck me as a little awkward back in the day, but it’s grown on me. “Pet Sounds” is in the quality caboose here, but it does have its charms, and certainly that dazzling arrangement. This album had a huge influence upon The Beatles and some of the baroque pop artists of the late ‘60s, essentially created the template for the confessional singer-songwriters in the ‘70s, and really started to take off as a bit influence on indie rock and neo-baroque pop in the ‘90s and since.
[First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1966
Appears in:
Rank Score:
40,245
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Not a hip choice, but its obsidian grandeur is simply undeniable. Of course, DSOTM is rooted in Roger Waters’ desire to depict as many major themes as possible – money, war, death, insanity, but it’s the execution that makes it so special – the rich perfection of production, the sense of space, the enveloping gorgeousness. Like Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions, which came out the same year, it segues from track to track, but far more smoothly and musically (not just cross-fading). The languid tempos on most of the tracks bely the urgency of the topics, suggesting a soporific denial in most of us of their importance. While the synthesizers and 3D production suggest a space-aged futurism, the female soul singers, the gorgeous sax, and Gilmour’s virtuosic eruptions root it in bluesyness – once again, the sense of totality, of drawing in the entire world. Very few albums have the unified sense of a immersive and cohesive experience that this one does. It’s beautiful, it’s dark, it’s profoundly impressive. Post-Syd Pink Floyd is extravagantly overrated on this site, but this album is not.
[First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1973
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Rank Score:
62,338
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This album has grown and grown on me in the 33-odd years I've been listening to it. A dramatic rock 'n' roll masterpiece, and forever cool. Bowie didn't need to grow beyond something this great, and yet he did, which is why he's number two in my book after only The Beatles. Of course Mick Ronson is huge to the triumph of this record, with his absolutely ripping-for-’72 guitar tone and playing and his orchestrations – very much a collaborative effort. My favorite here is the soaring “Moonage Daydream,” with its fantastic Ronson guitar work; shortly after it, the rampaging “Suffragette City,” and the myth-making rock glory of “Ziggy Stardust.” Then the super-cool “Soul Love,” of course elevated by concrete-ripping guitar from Ronson, then the dramatic rock masterpiece which is “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide.” “Five Years” is a brilliantly-written song, carried off by Bowie with striking commitment for a sci-fi scenario. “Starman” took a while to grow on me, as I didn’t realize it was a huge hit in the UK, but it’s a tremendous anthem, with the cool Bowie acoustic and Bolder bass verses as well. “Hang on to Yourself” is tremendously fun glam-boogie, the balladry of “Lady Stardust” solidifies the album’s glam bonafides, and “It Ain’t Easy,” while usually cited as the weakest track, is actually quite well-performed, with great guitar work from Ronson. I dig it. “Star” is the weakest track for me, and it *still* has that ripping (sorry for using that word so much) guitar work from Ronson, and Lennon-esque melodic singing choices from Bowie. In short, a masterpiece from beginning to end, and one of the rock era’s most important albums for sure.
[First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1972
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Rank Score:
44,924
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There was this YouTuber from Britain (edit: Andy Edwards) who made hay eviscerating this album around a year or so ago, but his claims were rather undercut by pretty much every argument he made being an objective mischaracterization. This remains one of the two or three most emotionally powerful albums ever made, and one of the most transcendently beautiful as well. Of course, the album featured a central grouping of jazz musicians, with additional musicians on strings and horns. The end combination blends folk, blues, jazz, and r & b into Van’s musical and vocal pursuit and expression of transcendence. The methodology of having the musicians “follow the vocalist” where he leads adds to the loose, tentative, free-form character of the music. My favorite track here is definitely “Ballerina,” whose surging buildups never quite come to a climax but find a goosebumps-inspiring ecstasy in the journey. Great work from Connie Kay on brushed drums and Warren Smith Jr. on vibes. Also fantastic is “Cypress Avenue,” with its expression of confounded longing (if you can get past the perhaps-unsettling lyrics) and cyclic harpsichord and strings backing. I also love the sometimes-maligned “The Way Young Lovers Do,” with its uncharacteristic uptempo jazz-r & b romp. Love Van’s ecstatic vocals, which certainly aren’t any worse than his wonderful performance on the rest of the album, and the horn charts and rhythmic backing are fantastic. “Sweet Thing” has a frolicsome energy and joy just as appropriate to “young lovers,” “Astral Weeks” opens up the album’s mystical world beautifully with the repetitive bass line and string quivers, and “Beside You” has a more contemplative character. “Slim Slow Slider” takes the album out on a tragic note of loss, with John Payne’s soprano sax dancing sadly with Davis and Kay and fading out with a sudden change of pulse. To me, “Madame George” is the least musically-interesting track. I like Davis’s bass work for sure, and the lyrics are quite good, but it just doesn’t seem to go on much of a musical journey. But the album as a whole takes the listener on a gorgeous musical and mystical trip.
[First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1968
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Rank Score:
16,921
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The combined US/UK version, thank you very much. Or just the US version. Plus the single b-sides. Don't like it? Too bad. That's how we CD listeners have been enjoying this album since the early '90s. But the US version is one of the best track-for-track, great-from-beginning-to-end albums of all time even without the other six tracks.
First of all, I like Jon Landau due to the positive impact he had on Bruce Springsteen’s life and career, but that said, he revealed himself as the wuss to rule all wusses among rock listeners when he griped about the “unrelenting violence” of Hendrix’s vision. Ever listened to blues music, Mr. Landau? It’s by its nature lyrically and often musically violent. Hendrix is at root a blues, r & b, and soul guy, and he never forgets those roots, but he also embraced – and then dominated – the new sounds in British music in late ’66. He was obviously a visionary who dramatically expanded the possibilities of the electric guitar (on a Strat! That in an of itself should make him the greatest guitarist of all time. Strats sound like horrendous crap in the hands of almost anyone else), while sketching, in this music, the outer limits of psychedelia. My favorite tracks on this masterpiece are the ones where he does just that – the backwards rhythm section and guitar solo (plus the VU-like droning piano) on the title track, the tritone announcement of the new era on “Purple Haze,” the brimstone-filled atmosphere of “Love or Confusion,” the lurching violence (which is a good thing, Landau) of “Manic Depression,” and the ambient futuristic jazz-blues of “Third Stone from the Sun.” Shortly after come the gorgeous ballad-tempo tracks, “May This Be Love” and “The Wind Cries Mary,” which show Hendrix’s broad range.
Next is the groovy soul-funk of “Fire,” then “Foxy Lady” with its jazz-chord come-on, then the cowbell-fueled statement of purpose of “Stone Free.” Then come the blues tunes – “Highway Chile,” Jimi’s version of “Hey Joe” (I’ve always preferred the final Leaves version), and “Red House.” In the caboose for me are the more lightweight pop tunes – “51st Anniversary,” “Can You See Me,” and “Remember.” They’re okay. But know what? They aren’t on the US version. They’re bonus tracks. When the Jimi “Hey Joe” is the weakest thing on an album (in my opinion), you know it’s a masterpiece. Thanks, Jimi, for giving us what is still the hugest positive revolution in rock since “She Loves You.” [First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
First of all, I like Jon Landau due to the positive impact he had on Bruce Springsteen’s life and career, but that said, he revealed himself as the wuss to rule all wusses among rock listeners when he griped about the “unrelenting violence” of Hendrix’s vision. Ever listened to blues music, Mr. Landau? It’s by its nature lyrically and often musically violent. Hendrix is at root a blues, r & b, and soul guy, and he never forgets those roots, but he also embraced – and then dominated – the new sounds in British music in late ’66. He was obviously a visionary who dramatically expanded the possibilities of the electric guitar (on a Strat! That in an of itself should make him the greatest guitarist of all time. Strats sound like horrendous crap in the hands of almost anyone else), while sketching, in this music, the outer limits of psychedelia. My favorite tracks on this masterpiece are the ones where he does just that – the backwards rhythm section and guitar solo (plus the VU-like droning piano) on the title track, the tritone announcement of the new era on “Purple Haze,” the brimstone-filled atmosphere of “Love or Confusion,” the lurching violence (which is a good thing, Landau) of “Manic Depression,” and the ambient futuristic jazz-blues of “Third Stone from the Sun.” Shortly after come the gorgeous ballad-tempo tracks, “May This Be Love” and “The Wind Cries Mary,” which show Hendrix’s broad range.
Next is the groovy soul-funk of “Fire,” then “Foxy Lady” with its jazz-chord come-on, then the cowbell-fueled statement of purpose of “Stone Free.” Then come the blues tunes – “Highway Chile,” Jimi’s version of “Hey Joe” (I’ve always preferred the final Leaves version), and “Red House.” In the caboose for me are the more lightweight pop tunes – “51st Anniversary,” “Can You See Me,” and “Remember.” They’re okay. But know what? They aren’t on the US version. They’re bonus tracks. When the Jimi “Hey Joe” is the weakest thing on an album (in my opinion), you know it’s a masterpiece. Thanks, Jimi, for giving us what is still the hugest positive revolution in rock since “She Loves You.” [First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1967
Appears in:
Rank Score:
22,311
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Overall Rank:
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I love The Stones' catalog prior to this album as well - my top five is The Beatles, Bowie, Nick Drake, The Stones, and Joy Division, with Slowdive peeking in just outside - but this album is on an even higher level of lived-in resonance than what they had done before. The album rocks throughout atop Keith’s omnipresent open-tuned Tele rhythm work. And it’s all about rhythm. The band touches on hard rock (“Rocks Off,” “Happy,” “All Down the Line,” “Soul Survivor”), blues (Slim Harpo’s “Shake Your Hips,” Robert Johnson’s “Stop Breaking Down,” “Turd on the Run,” “Ventilator Blues”), gospel (“Sweet Black Angel,” “I Just Want to See His Face”), country (“Sweet Virginia,” “Torn and Frayed,” “Loving Cup”), and full-band r & b (“Let It Loose,” “Shine a Light”), but many of those examples involve the cross-blending of several genres. As I said, what most makes the album is that The Stones establish on every track that they are ***masters*** of everything they touch – every single style they do here, they make their own, and convey resonantly that, on some level, they have lived this music. It’s a mastery even more profound than what they had achieved on their three prior masterpiece studio albums. The ’63 Stones would have been absolutely elated if they heard this album then and learned how good they would end up at what they were doing (and Brian would have been jealous as hell that he didn’t live to play on it) then, and at everything else as well. Some have complained about the use of horns being too pervasive on the album, which is like complaining that the Sistine Chapel ceiling has too much of the color blue or some such nonsense. Fantastic female backing vocals ornament many of the tracks. Much is made of the lo-fi, grimy character of the production (especially after the gleaming polish of Sticky Fingers) and Jagger’s vocals being overwhelmed in the mix, but that’s part of its character and its roots in older forms, and a huge part of the greatness of the album. Of course, the masterpiece among many masterpieces is the absurdly great laid back rhythm groove of “Tumbling Dice,” but “Shine a Light” absolutely gives it a run for the money as the best track. But this is the best double album of all time in that every single track is a gem. No exceptions.
A word about the subsequent Goats Head Soup – that album was so disappointing to so many critics and fans because it was supposedly so much less ambitious and “lazy.” It is universally considered the end of their winning streak. Well, naturally, it’s not the masterpiece its four predecessors were, but it’s still a fantastic, 4.5-star album, their last album aside from Some Girls to approach being a masterpiece. Yes, it’s a musical expression of world-weariness, but that character is hard-won, and in its often-non-rocking character and mix of stylistic explorations, is best seen as a return to the style of an album like Between the Buttons, through the lens of what they’d been through, and how they’d grown, musically in the intervening years. Some critics thought It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll was better, which shows that some critics were abject idiots. [First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
A word about the subsequent Goats Head Soup – that album was so disappointing to so many critics and fans because it was supposedly so much less ambitious and “lazy.” It is universally considered the end of their winning streak. Well, naturally, it’s not the masterpiece its four predecessors were, but it’s still a fantastic, 4.5-star album, their last album aside from Some Girls to approach being a masterpiece. Yes, it’s a musical expression of world-weariness, but that character is hard-won, and in its often-non-rocking character and mix of stylistic explorations, is best seen as a return to the style of an album like Between the Buttons, through the lens of what they’d been through, and how they’d grown, musically in the intervening years. Some critics thought It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll was better, which shows that some critics were abject idiots. [First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1972
Appears in:
Rank Score:
20,291
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The soundtrack from my last two years of high school. Oh how I love this. And there are 9 better albums out there? What a wonderful world. Rolling Stone magazine was dead in the water by the late ‘70s, but they got one thing right – giving this debut album a 4-star review at a time when they were extremely stingy at giving 4 or more stars to anything. R.E.M. was a synthesis of personalities and musical styles – somewhat rootsy and Southern, but also post-punk and left-of-center, especially Michael Stipe. Peter Buck, a huge scholar and fan of the entire history of rock, was a limited but savvy musician, focusing strongly on the sounds of Rickenbacker 6- and 12-string guitars with minimal distortion to produce ringing and endlessly catchy arpeggiated lines modeled heavily on Robyn Hitchcock and Kimberly Rew’s work with the latter-day Soft Boys. Mike Mills was the musician, with far more musical training than the others, contributing melodically-inventive bass lines, piano parts, and earnest tenor backup vocals. Bill Berry was an underrated songwriter and an understated but inventive drummer who also contributed low-toned backing vocals when a third voice was needed, while also serving as their quality control guy. Stipe, of course, sang (at that time) his arty, near spontaneous and piecemeal lyrics in a shy, euphonious baritone mumble that often served as a melodic fourth instrument. I didn’t realize prior to reading Peter James Carlin’s biography how important he was to their pop and melodic sense, as he wrote nearly all of the vocal melodies. He was the artist, absolutely the one most steeped in punk, post-punk, and the outsider perspective. None would have been a star on his own, but they added up to much greater than the sum of their parts. By the time they went into the studio to record Murmur, they had a wealth of gems written. They leaned into their rootsiness far more than they had on the more post-punky Chronic Town ep, but Mitch Easter and Don Dixon went the Martin Hannett route, including extensive studio trickery and non-musical elements to add a futuristic tone to the record that kept it forward-looking. This is a significant departure from their (absolutely fantastic) live sound, slowing things down, adding several additional instruments they didn’t use live like pianos to spruce things up. This is absolutely a studio album, a rock-album-as-a-work-of-art production, and it absolutely kills on that level. The cornucopia of brilliant songs on here – the ethereal psych-folk grandeur of “Talk about the Passion (my fave on the album),” the re-recorded “Radio Free Europe” and “Sitting Still,” Bill Berry’s moving “Perfect Circle,” “Shaking Through,” “Catapult,” “Laughing” – absolutely luminous. “Pilgrimage” has those mysterious Mills vibes and his and Berry’s great backing vocals on the chorus, with the mock stiff upper lip secondary chorus. “9-9” and the urgent “Moral Kiosk” showed more of the post-punk influence and were also a huge part of the record’s excellence. This version of “Radio Free Europe,” while to my ears clearly superior to the Hib Tone version, does lose some of the live energy that they had as a band in those early years, and the last two tracks were good-not-great (which is why, after intense deliberation, I couldn’t move this up higher despite loving it to pieces), but this album “had a weird soul to it” as Peter Buck put it, and created the modern layout (after the Velvet Underground’s third album’s original blueprint) for the college rock of the ‘80s. It’s not quite the platonic ideal of R.E.M. – that would be Chronic Town – but it’s awfully close, and certainly by far the best long-play they ever recorded. Has a sense of intimacy, mystery, and mystique that was key to the legend and eternal appeal of what was, in the beginning (until Document), the best American band of the ‘80s and one of the greatest of all time. Their initial four-LP run is the fourth-best of all time – after The Stones, Stevie Wonder, and Gabriel-Hackett-era Genesis.
[First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1983
Appears in:
Rank Score:
10,328
Rank in 1983:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 1 | 1% | |
| 1960s | 40 | 40% | |
| 1970s | 36 | 36% | |
| 1980s | 17 | 17% | |
| 1990s | 5 | 5% | |
| 2000s | 1 | 1% | |
| 2010s | 0 | 0% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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| The Beatles | 8 | 8% | |
| Pink Floyd | 4 | 4% | |
| The Rolling Stones | 4 | 4% | |
| Stevie Wonder | 4 | 4% | |
| Nick Drake | 3 | 3% | |
| David Bowie | 3 | 3% | |
| Bruce Springsteen | 3 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
There have been no changes to this chart.Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similar charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mojo Readers: The 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made | Mojo | Overall chart | 1996 |  |
| AllMusic's Greatest Albums | musicologist97 | Custom chart | 2019 |  |
| Ya joking? Should've been higher! All Time edition |  Purplepash | Custom chart | 2025 |  |
| BEA Top 100 Reorganized According To My Taste | bonnequestion | Custom chart | 2025 | |
| 200 Greatest albums of all time (1 - 100) - Uncut 2016 | Johnnyo | Custom chart | 2020 | |
| 200 Greatest Albums of All Time | Uncut | Overall chart | 2016 | |
| My Personal Ranking of Best Ever Albums' Top 100 |  Xxnu99etxX | Custom chart | 2022 | |
| Going With My Gut: The Overall Chart Top 100 Re-ranked |  CharlieBarley | Custom chart | 2024 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | album guru joe | Overall chart | 2013 | |
| BEA+RYM Overall Rank | Imaybeparanoid | Custom chart | 2017 |  |
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
89/100 (from 5 votes)
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Showing all 5 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
100/100  | 08/18/2025 04:18 |  LadyGodiva | | 97/100 |
 90/100 | 04/02/2025 10:14 |  pedro1976 | | 85/100 |
| 90/100 | 04/01/2025 00:42 |  Arthurknight | | 89/100 |
| 90/100 | 01/29/2025 12:20 |  SomethingSpecial | | 85/100 |
| 100/100 | 12/14/2024 22:44 |  Rhyner | | 99/100 |
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100/100
From LadyGodiva 08/18/2025 04:16
LadyGodiva 08/18/2025 04:16
Nice list - lost of albums that I love here :) A little Beatles heavy but hey… you love what you
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From Arthurknight 04/01/2025 00:34
Arthurknight 04/01/2025 00:34
Thanks for pointing out the Overall Chart and how it can be distorted. It's true, technically, but this would be a much more valid critique of me making custom charts for certain genres instead of placing their best in the greatest. Right now, they're hardly counting for the Overall Chart, when they could be counting a lot more. I've thought about that a little bit over the years since the website as a whole has a massive rock bias as it stands, but it doesn't outweigh how annoying it is for me to try and compare them in good faith (I, like you, have my genre preferences).
You've made me think a little bit about that line in my description. It's been there for over a decade now and had you strolled in at the start and said what you've said it'd ring a lot more true. Back then, I enforced it on myself to get away from a list that had double ups on double ups. It was also part of an impetus to go and listen to new things. Today, all the albums in the list are -- I think -- 5/5 records, and consequently there's actually a very small cross section of possible records I could consider that this rule presently excludes, here they are:
The Beatles - The Beatles [White Album]
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
David Bowie - Station to Station
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Good Son
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour
Guided by Voices - Alien Lanes
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
The Velvet Underground - White Light / White Heat
The Wrens - Album 4.5 (bootleg wouldn't qualify)
Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
Neil Young - After the Gold Rush
Neil Young - Tonight's the Night
Would I add any of them to my list though? Maybe like 1 or 2 at any random given day, or certainly I'd be more likely right after listening to one of them, but I think they fight against my no. 100 on pretty equal footing and there's at least as many more left out that are from artists not in the list at all. This is a result of 10+ years of such a rule. I just have a very wide tastes now and I kind of like it that way. It doesn't mean anything really because I'd still defend the rule as it stands but food for thought. Interested in hearing more from you mate keep in touch.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From Arthurknight 03/26/2025 08:27
Arthurknight 03/26/2025 08:27
Thanks for your comment. I wouldn't describe our tastes as majorly divergent, at least not from where I'm sitting. There's only a handful of records in your list I don't rate at least an 8, and many more I utterly adore.
Regarding the one artist limit, I can see why you might take issue with it considering the effect it would have on your list, but I'll hazard a minor challenge to your reasoning. You -- correctly -- dismiss the premise of objectivity in the construction of your list, and instead defer to your heart. I do so too, but isn't there a tension here with how you rationalise what a list should be?
I don't have a problem with your rules per se; do your thing. However, you argue that a list with restriction is in some way a lie. You then go on to volubly articulate all the ways your own list is limited in favour of how you personally imagine and derive joy from music. My point being, we are both using the list to document and convey us and how we see our own tastes, far more so than making a claim to what is good. It seems you're aware of that but it's lost on me you'd consider my version of how to demonstrate mine somehow me lying to myself.
Simply put, I kind of figure that when someone sees I like Neil Young's On The Beach that they can also figure I like the rest of catalogue; and if they're so curious as to what extent that information is readily available on my profile. Moreover, it's compelling for me to make that commitment to a favourite by an artist that I could otherwise proliferate my list with indiscriminately, and it frees me up to self-express a modicum more and to make recommendations.
A list can do more than one thing at a time.
In any case, I enjoyed reading through your list. I appreciated picks like New York Tendaberry and the wild self-reporting of being a Gen-Xer (with that Joe Jackson live album, I promise you we can tell), however I am also left without anything new to go discover which leaves me wanting.
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| Best Ever Artists | |
|---|---|
| 1. The Beatles | |
| 2. Radiohead | |
| 3. Pink Floyd | |
| 4. David Bowie | |
| 5. Bob Dylan | |
| 6. Led Zeppelin | |
| 7. The Rolling Stones | |
| 8. Arcade Fire | |
| 9. Nirvana | |
| 10. The Velvet Underground | |
| 11. Neil Young | |
| 12. Kendrick Lamar | |
| 13. Miles Davis | |
| 14. The Smiths | |
| 15. The Beach Boys | |
| 16. Kanye West | |
| 17. R.E.M. | |
| 18. Pixies | |
| 19. Jimi Hendrix | |
| 20. Bruce Springsteen |