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
Appears in:
Rank Score:
50,875
Rank in 1966:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
486
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"Oh, they were just bubblegum back then." If you can listen to this without hearing the songwriting and performance mastery and the gorgeous resonance of production and arrangement, then you, sir or madam, have a tin ear.
In my review of Revolver, I talked about the 4 eras of The Beatles, and how they would have still had a huge case for Greatest of All-Time in the pop/rock genre even if they had died in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve of 1964. They were the artists who created the new genre of rock as opposed to rock-n-roll, the amalgamation of the various prior musics of the prior 10 years under a driving beat, using brilliant and sophisticated chord progressions based on pure unstudied instinct, with powerfully dynamic singing. The single track that did the most to encapsulate their achievement was “She Loves You,” (yes, I know it isn’t on this album; I’m setting the table) the song that took them from being a nice chart sensation in the UK to being the reason to get out of bed in the morning. Hard driving, springing in with a thunderous drum roll and the blasting of the breathlessly desperate chorus that was so great it couldn’t wait, full of energy, enthusiasm, and hooks, and ending with a vocal harmony chord that made the hair on your arm stand up on end. The most important song in the rock genre, and also certainly one of its greatest (and unacknowledged on this site – average rating of 84? Anyone who voted it lower than 95 ought to be slapped mercilessly in the face until the demons leave them). There was zero need whatsoever for The Beatles to improve on that record (attribution: Greil Marcus said this years before I did, but he hit the nail on the head, and I agree with his take precisely), and to be honest, even though With the Beatles is a great album by most standards, it should have been a huge, crushing letdown for the UK record-buying public after that single. But then they put out the UK album A Hard Day’s Night. This LP stands out from the other four before Rubber Soul by virtue of having 1) zero covers – all Lennon McCartney material, and 2) no duff tracks whatsoever. Moreover, there is a polished richness to the performance, sound, and production which is a quantum leap over everything they had done before (although “Twist and Shout” and “She Loves You” were better than any single song here, they’re also a lot more raw). This is absolutely the first rock – or even rock-n-roll, or anything associated with the rock-n-roll to rock progression – album to contain excellent, four-star-and-above tracks from beginning to end. Lennon and McCartney’s songwriting was better and more sophisticated as well, growing by leaps and bounds. Another huge advance for the band was the gift to George by the US Rickenbacker guitar company of a 12-string semi-acoustic guitar. Its fat, ringing tone announced itself with the very first famous chord of the album at the opening of the title track. It enriched their sound and made it even more exciting and euphonious. John and Paul gave George a track to sing, “I’m Happy Just to Dance with You.” Had Lennon sung it instead, or even Paul, I think people would appreciate that it’s an excellent pop-rock gem, well-written, catchy, propulsive, great harmonies. But there are a ton of better songs here – the breathless title track, which is like “She Loves You” grown up, gone to college, more self-confident, and fit for posh society and fame; “I Should Have Known Better,” with that glorious “that when I tell you that I love you” hook; the gorgeous harmonizing of “If I Fell,” and the moonlight on the canal in a gondola romantic beauty of Paul’s “And I Love Her,” the first sign that he really might be almost as talented as John. Paul does almost as well on the cocky Bakersfieldish “Can’t Buy Me Love” and the swell “Things We Did Today,” with its great transitions from minor to major keys. But on nine of these songs, Lennon takes the lead – and that’s a damn good thing, because from 1963-65, he was the best white male pop/rock singer that there has ever been (note: don’t get me wrong – the John of 1966-69 was a towering genius of vision and songwriting, but his best era of singing was behind him. The comparison that comes to mind is Eddie Van Halen setting aside the guitar to put synths on his band’s albums, although even that analogy limps. Lennon was a genius at everything, but the soulful singing wasn’t his focus anymore by Revolver, to these ears). His passion, his sensitivity in expressing emotion, the beautiful tone of his, that catch it had when he leaned into it, his commitment, the soulfulness – no one’s ever done it better. Among white male folks, anyway. It takes the likes of Aretha and Stevie to beat him. And the rest of those John-led songs range from borderline masterpiece – the sober major/minor “I’ll Be Back,” the exciting girl-groupy pop of “Tell Me Why,” the assertive, self-confident, “Anytime at All,” and the gruff Bakersfield of the underrated “I’ll Cry Instead” – down to the merely great “You Can’t Do That,” and the worst-of-the-lot-but-still-better-than-almost-anyone-else “When I Get Home.” Just listen to the man blow, and blow, and blow. He absolutely rules, and this is a freaking great album. Take the weakest 8 songs here and line them up against the 8 Lennon McCartney songs from With the Beatles or Beatles for Sale. Whoops, those two albums each just got crushed like an overripe grape. Now do the 8 LMs from Please Please Me – closer, but the weaker tracks from AHDN still win. Help’s greatest tracks certainly measure up to the best stuff here, but about half that album is the weakest stuff the band did in the pre-Rubber Soul period. I consider AHDN to feature 4 outright masterpiece tracks, 7 borderline-masterpiece tracks, a great one, and a still decent one. That’s a more solid track record than later albums which are more highly rated here and elsewhere can boast. Justice for A Hard Day’s Night! [First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
In my review of Revolver, I talked about the 4 eras of The Beatles, and how they would have still had a huge case for Greatest of All-Time in the pop/rock genre even if they had died in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve of 1964. They were the artists who created the new genre of rock as opposed to rock-n-roll, the amalgamation of the various prior musics of the prior 10 years under a driving beat, using brilliant and sophisticated chord progressions based on pure unstudied instinct, with powerfully dynamic singing. The single track that did the most to encapsulate their achievement was “She Loves You,” (yes, I know it isn’t on this album; I’m setting the table) the song that took them from being a nice chart sensation in the UK to being the reason to get out of bed in the morning. Hard driving, springing in with a thunderous drum roll and the blasting of the breathlessly desperate chorus that was so great it couldn’t wait, full of energy, enthusiasm, and hooks, and ending with a vocal harmony chord that made the hair on your arm stand up on end. The most important song in the rock genre, and also certainly one of its greatest (and unacknowledged on this site – average rating of 84? Anyone who voted it lower than 95 ought to be slapped mercilessly in the face until the demons leave them). There was zero need whatsoever for The Beatles to improve on that record (attribution: Greil Marcus said this years before I did, but he hit the nail on the head, and I agree with his take precisely), and to be honest, even though With the Beatles is a great album by most standards, it should have been a huge, crushing letdown for the UK record-buying public after that single. But then they put out the UK album A Hard Day’s Night. This LP stands out from the other four before Rubber Soul by virtue of having 1) zero covers – all Lennon McCartney material, and 2) no duff tracks whatsoever. Moreover, there is a polished richness to the performance, sound, and production which is a quantum leap over everything they had done before (although “Twist and Shout” and “She Loves You” were better than any single song here, they’re also a lot more raw). This is absolutely the first rock – or even rock-n-roll, or anything associated with the rock-n-roll to rock progression – album to contain excellent, four-star-and-above tracks from beginning to end. Lennon and McCartney’s songwriting was better and more sophisticated as well, growing by leaps and bounds. Another huge advance for the band was the gift to George by the US Rickenbacker guitar company of a 12-string semi-acoustic guitar. Its fat, ringing tone announced itself with the very first famous chord of the album at the opening of the title track. It enriched their sound and made it even more exciting and euphonious. John and Paul gave George a track to sing, “I’m Happy Just to Dance with You.” Had Lennon sung it instead, or even Paul, I think people would appreciate that it’s an excellent pop-rock gem, well-written, catchy, propulsive, great harmonies. But there are a ton of better songs here – the breathless title track, which is like “She Loves You” grown up, gone to college, more self-confident, and fit for posh society and fame; “I Should Have Known Better,” with that glorious “that when I tell you that I love you” hook; the gorgeous harmonizing of “If I Fell,” and the moonlight on the canal in a gondola romantic beauty of Paul’s “And I Love Her,” the first sign that he really might be almost as talented as John. Paul does almost as well on the cocky Bakersfieldish “Can’t Buy Me Love” and the swell “Things We Did Today,” with its great transitions from minor to major keys. But on nine of these songs, Lennon takes the lead – and that’s a damn good thing, because from 1963-65, he was the best white male pop/rock singer that there has ever been (note: don’t get me wrong – the John of 1966-69 was a towering genius of vision and songwriting, but his best era of singing was behind him. The comparison that comes to mind is Eddie Van Halen setting aside the guitar to put synths on his band’s albums, although even that analogy limps. Lennon was a genius at everything, but the soulful singing wasn’t his focus anymore by Revolver, to these ears). His passion, his sensitivity in expressing emotion, the beautiful tone of his, that catch it had when he leaned into it, his commitment, the soulfulness – no one’s ever done it better. Among white male folks, anyway. It takes the likes of Aretha and Stevie to beat him. And the rest of those John-led songs range from borderline masterpiece – the sober major/minor “I’ll Be Back,” the exciting girl-groupy pop of “Tell Me Why,” the assertive, self-confident, “Anytime at All,” and the gruff Bakersfield of the underrated “I’ll Cry Instead” – down to the merely great “You Can’t Do That,” and the worst-of-the-lot-but-still-better-than-almost-anyone-else “When I Get Home.” Just listen to the man blow, and blow, and blow. He absolutely rules, and this is a freaking great album. Take the weakest 8 songs here and line them up against the 8 Lennon McCartney songs from With the Beatles or Beatles for Sale. Whoops, those two albums each just got crushed like an overripe grape. Now do the 8 LMs from Please Please Me – closer, but the weaker tracks from AHDN still win. Help’s greatest tracks certainly measure up to the best stuff here, but about half that album is the weakest stuff the band did in the pre-Rubber Soul period. I consider AHDN to feature 4 outright masterpiece tracks, 7 borderline-masterpiece tracks, a great one, and a still decent one. That’s a more solid track record than later albums which are more highly rated here and elsewhere can boast. Justice for A Hard Day’s Night! [First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1964
Appears in:
Rank Score:
7,296
Rank in 1964:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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"Oh, there's so much filler..." No, there isn't. People have tried to pare it down to a single album without success - because there's at least three sides' worth of top-level late era Beatles' tracks here, and the remaining handful of tracks are essential connective tissue to the listening experience of what the band were presenting artistically.
So much that could be said about this, beginning with the obvious – fragmentary, centrifugal, full of genre exercises. Definitely a mix of George Martin studio gloss and the ragged, rough-hewn character of the band at that time. It is absolutely a 1968 album in terms of the back-to-roots approach brought about by Dylan’s John Wesley Harding and The Band’s Music from Big Pink which inspired nearly everyone except Jimi Hendrix – no more fun, I mean day-glo psychedelia, and much fewer studio effects. In The Beatles’ case, this had less to do with bandwagon-jumping, and more to do with the fact that many of the songs were written in India, where all they had to play were acoustic guitars. Love “Hey Jude” and the single version of “Revolution,” but the former, especially, would have never fit on here (and not just in terms of time constraints – it would have overwhelmed all of the rest of the tracks). While “Revolution 9” annoys nearly everyone, I think it fits in the context of everything else here, the embrace of vast musical worlds. Besides, how is not the logical conclusion of the musical development from “Tomorrow Never Knows” up until then? John’s songs, ranked (in general, I’m ambivalent about 4th period John in the context of the band – he had largely checked out, was Yoko-whipped, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the heroin was starting to be a problem by this point, not to mention I don’t think he washed his hair at any point between India and before the shoot for The Abbey Road cover, ha-ha – little of the growing auteur stuff he had dazzled the world with from Help! up to “I am the Walrus,” but the fact is that he’s such a musical genius and demigod that enervated John still rules): the wonderful “Dear Prudence,” to which Paul and George make magnificent contributions on bass and electric guitar, but the basis is the luminous arpeggiated pattern that he learned from Donovan; the gorgeous “Julia;” the hard-rockin’ “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide (Except Me and My Monkey);” the brilliant and menacing patchwork mini-opera of “Happiness is a Warm Gun;” the bracing self-expression of the underrated “Yer Blues;” the even-more-underrated Ringo-sung lullaby “Good Night,” which was a masterstroke ending to the album; the fan-trolling, rocking “Glass Onion,” with great guitar from George and mock-serious string arrangements; the languid-yet-intense “I’m So Tired;” the nursery rhyme of “Cry Baby Cry;” the lumbering acoustic romp of “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill;” the piano-driven and saved-by-decent-singing calumny of “Sexy Sadie;” the doo-wop-y shuffle of “Revolution I,” which stands in contrast the fast, blasting, and far-superior single version; and of course “Revolution 9” in the caboose. Varied in quality, but I like, if not love, every bit of it. The Paul tracks ranked: the proto-metal basher “Helter Skelter,” which should have been many times more shocking to fans when they first heard it than “Revolution 9” ever was, especially because it’s a Paul song – great bass from John; the lovely (by contrast) “Mother Nature’s Son;” the wonderful brass-adorned pop of “Martha My Dear;” the classic “Blackbird;” the Beach Boys-y romp of “Back in the U.S.S.R.;” the acoustic prettiness of “I Will,” whose charms are best unfolded by Alison Krauss’s heavenly cover; “Rocky Raccoon,” which is so often slammed as weak parody but is actually the most Band-influenced track here; the underrated ‘20s pastiche of “Honey Pie,” which he actually does quite well and contributes to the all-encompassing nature of the album; the goofy but rocking and celebratory “Birthday;” the terrible-as-ska-but-not-as-awful-as-John-and-the-Mars-poll-say-it-is “Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da,” which is largely saved by John’s barreling piano work and the brass; the jokey, but at least well-sung “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road,” and, at the bottom, the goofy but mercifully brief “Wild Honey Pie.” Much more hit-and-miss than John’s stuff, but certainly equal at the top. George’s tracks ranked: “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” which is considerably overrated, perhaps because they obviously gave it attention and care and due to Eric Clapton’s lead work, but still shows George’s compositional growth; “Savoy Truffle,” with its great wall-o’-saxes and hairy guitar; the underrated “Piggies,” with its great string arrangement; and the acoustic “Long Long Long,” with Paul’s interesting organ work at the end. I don’t think any of it holds a candle to John and Paul’s best stuff here, but it’s a nice selection, and doesn’t hurt the album. Wish I could say the same for “Don’t Pass Me By.” I like the fiddle, and Ringo’s voice, per se, is always welcome, but that’s about it. The White Album: an all-encompassing tour-de-force for sure. [First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
So much that could be said about this, beginning with the obvious – fragmentary, centrifugal, full of genre exercises. Definitely a mix of George Martin studio gloss and the ragged, rough-hewn character of the band at that time. It is absolutely a 1968 album in terms of the back-to-roots approach brought about by Dylan’s John Wesley Harding and The Band’s Music from Big Pink which inspired nearly everyone except Jimi Hendrix – no more fun, I mean day-glo psychedelia, and much fewer studio effects. In The Beatles’ case, this had less to do with bandwagon-jumping, and more to do with the fact that many of the songs were written in India, where all they had to play were acoustic guitars. Love “Hey Jude” and the single version of “Revolution,” but the former, especially, would have never fit on here (and not just in terms of time constraints – it would have overwhelmed all of the rest of the tracks). While “Revolution 9” annoys nearly everyone, I think it fits in the context of everything else here, the embrace of vast musical worlds. Besides, how is not the logical conclusion of the musical development from “Tomorrow Never Knows” up until then? John’s songs, ranked (in general, I’m ambivalent about 4th period John in the context of the band – he had largely checked out, was Yoko-whipped, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the heroin was starting to be a problem by this point, not to mention I don’t think he washed his hair at any point between India and before the shoot for The Abbey Road cover, ha-ha – little of the growing auteur stuff he had dazzled the world with from Help! up to “I am the Walrus,” but the fact is that he’s such a musical genius and demigod that enervated John still rules): the wonderful “Dear Prudence,” to which Paul and George make magnificent contributions on bass and electric guitar, but the basis is the luminous arpeggiated pattern that he learned from Donovan; the gorgeous “Julia;” the hard-rockin’ “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide (Except Me and My Monkey);” the brilliant and menacing patchwork mini-opera of “Happiness is a Warm Gun;” the bracing self-expression of the underrated “Yer Blues;” the even-more-underrated Ringo-sung lullaby “Good Night,” which was a masterstroke ending to the album; the fan-trolling, rocking “Glass Onion,” with great guitar from George and mock-serious string arrangements; the languid-yet-intense “I’m So Tired;” the nursery rhyme of “Cry Baby Cry;” the lumbering acoustic romp of “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill;” the piano-driven and saved-by-decent-singing calumny of “Sexy Sadie;” the doo-wop-y shuffle of “Revolution I,” which stands in contrast the fast, blasting, and far-superior single version; and of course “Revolution 9” in the caboose. Varied in quality, but I like, if not love, every bit of it. The Paul tracks ranked: the proto-metal basher “Helter Skelter,” which should have been many times more shocking to fans when they first heard it than “Revolution 9” ever was, especially because it’s a Paul song – great bass from John; the lovely (by contrast) “Mother Nature’s Son;” the wonderful brass-adorned pop of “Martha My Dear;” the classic “Blackbird;” the Beach Boys-y romp of “Back in the U.S.S.R.;” the acoustic prettiness of “I Will,” whose charms are best unfolded by Alison Krauss’s heavenly cover; “Rocky Raccoon,” which is so often slammed as weak parody but is actually the most Band-influenced track here; the underrated ‘20s pastiche of “Honey Pie,” which he actually does quite well and contributes to the all-encompassing nature of the album; the goofy but rocking and celebratory “Birthday;” the terrible-as-ska-but-not-as-awful-as-John-and-the-Mars-poll-say-it-is “Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da,” which is largely saved by John’s barreling piano work and the brass; the jokey, but at least well-sung “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road,” and, at the bottom, the goofy but mercifully brief “Wild Honey Pie.” Much more hit-and-miss than John’s stuff, but certainly equal at the top. George’s tracks ranked: “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” which is considerably overrated, perhaps because they obviously gave it attention and care and due to Eric Clapton’s lead work, but still shows George’s compositional growth; “Savoy Truffle,” with its great wall-o’-saxes and hairy guitar; the underrated “Piggies,” with its great string arrangement; and the acoustic “Long Long Long,” with Paul’s interesting organ work at the end. I don’t think any of it holds a candle to John and Paul’s best stuff here, but it’s a nice selection, and doesn’t hurt the album. Wish I could say the same for “Don’t Pass Me By.” I like the fiddle, and Ringo’s voice, per se, is always welcome, but that’s about it. The White Album: an all-encompassing tour-de-force for sure. [First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
38,339
Rank in 1968:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Why so low? I don't know, I think #18 on a list of the best albums of all-time is pretty freaking high. I love this album - but "Octopus's Garden" and "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" are good, but clearly way below the standard of the rest of the album. Certainly the best-produced and engineered album of The Beatles’ career, but definitely colored by the camaraderie of the band (as another user here pointed out, the most harmonies ever on a Beatles album) in tension with the acrimony that had built up between them (especially between Paul and the others). So lush, with the early synth work adding to the magic. The sonics of this album, all the way down to guitar tones, were a huge influence on the album rock of the early ‘70s. The highs are pretty obvious to me – George’s two tracks, John’s “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” with its grinding groove and bracing Lennon scream, and the entirety of the side two suite (“Because” onward). “Oh! Darling” isn’t far behind. I find “Come Together” to be greatly overrated, but it’s so overrated that my (in my opinion) more reasonable view isn’t to think it’s one of their worst tracks, but just about smack dab in the middle of a ranking of all of their tracks (if you have any comprehension of the band’s catalog at all, you know that I’m staying it’s still great). Unfortunately, that means it’s one of the three weakest tracks here (to me, “Octopus’s Garden” and “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” are hardly the worst things they ever did, but probably toward the top of the bottom quarter of a ranked list of their tracks) but that’s a testimony to how monumentally great the bulk of the material here is. “Something” is, of course, gorgeous, the masterpiece of George’s career, and the band obviously put a lot of time into it polishing it up to really gleam. Beautiful song, ever more beautiful record, sung with tremulously wondering passion by George. So strange that George so detested what is, to me, so obviously the very best thing about this masterpiece of a record – Paul’s brilliant bass line underneath his guitar solo. Yeah, right, and someone oughta cut down all those dang oak trees on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans; they block out the sun (Inside joke – basically, be grateful for the greatest blessings in life. Stop sniveling, George; Paul made your song even greater, period.). Love the bloom of harmonies and instrumental marvels underneath them in “Because,” the Broadway musical-like brilliance of the closing “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End” portion of the suite, the grinding guitars and crescendoing white noise of “I Want You,” the Lennon aggression of “Polythene Pam,” the mini-suite-within-a-suite of “You Never Give Me Your Money,” and the singing and playing throughout the album. Not a perfect record, but still a phenomenally great one, and a magnificent masterpiece cherry on top of The Beatles’ artistic sundae.
[First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1969
Appears in:
Rank Score:
59,015
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Love this album, but I sure as hell don't love "Run for Your Life." Ick. Famous as the occasion of The Beatles “maturing” and “becoming a real album act.” There’s certainly some truth to that, but it tends to be exaggerated by the crushing underrating of their prior material. I forgive Brian Wilson for listening to this and saying, “Wow, an album with all good stuff,” because in the US the full UK version of the A Hard Day’s Night album was only available as an import (he must not have heard Dylan’s Highway 61 either, for that matter). But this did certainly show the development of The Beatles as men and artists, with plenty of Dylan influence but with far more refinement, and well-rooted in the fantastic Swinging London guitar rock which they so dominantly exemplified at that point. Of course, the greatest masterpiece on the album is Lennon’s reflective “In My Life,” with George Martin’s sped-up neo-baroque piano solo showing their continued recording innovation – one of The Beatles’ top ten, possibly top five, songs. My second-favorite song will probably surprise a lot of folks – George’s first major contribution, “If I Needed Someone.” He capo’s a Ric 12-string high on the neck and produces a keeningly chiming tribute to The Byrds’ “Bells of Rhymney,” doing them one better because he has freaking John Lennon and Paul McCartney to sing harmony with him. My favorite sound in rock is 12-string guitar, and this is one of the best tracks in rock history to feature it. But there are so many other masterpieces. Of course, my evaluation of this one includes the concurrent single, “Day Tripper”/”We Can Work It Out,” because they would have been included in any era after ’68 or so. The former is a heaven of moebius strip guitar riffage with great dynamics (and providing one of the band’s first nods to the counterculture with its diss), while the latter showcases the advantages of the Lennon/McCartney partnership when they actually bother to work together, giving us another brilliant, reflective pop gem. John gives us another guitar-driven masterpiece with the self-flagellatingly reflective “Nowhere Man” (great harmonies from Paul and George). Then there’s “Girl,” with John’s Dylanesque negativity and the Old World weariness of the bridges with their staccato acoustic patterns. Fantastic. Paul acquits himself well with two more great pop/rock tunes, “You Won’t See Me” and “I’m Looking through You,” and his own take on the Old World thing with the standard “Michelle.” He’d come a long way since the piffle he put on the Help! album (except “I’ve Just Seen a Face” and “Yesterday,” of course). John adds the wonderful “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown),” with George providing the innovation of the sitar. “Drive My Car” is a fun, shades-wearing guitar song, but more reminiscent of their older stuff (not a bad thing! It’s just more lightweight in the light of their new heaviness). “Wait” is pretty decent, with its grim minor key verses buoyed by the happier chorus and some nice use of volume pedal. That said, there’s some weaker material here –George’s awkward “Think for Yourself,” although Paul redeems it a bit with his fuzz bass (it hurts my ears to no end when people try to argue that it’s the better of George’s two songs here – aw freak no), the overly chirpy and squawky “The Word” (although the harmonium and the chorus are cool), the Ringo showcase “What Goes On,” during which the Bakersfield thing grows mold as you listen, and especially the country-folk disaster of the domestic violence paean “Run for Your Life.” That’s not just embarrassing; it merits a freaking full-page-ad apology. In short, a huge leap forward for the band in terms of studio innovation but especially songwriting, with some absolutely deathless material, but a very flawed document. While I would want both on the desert island, A Hard Day’s Night kicks the living crap out of it.
[First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1965
Appears in:
Rank Score:
27,465
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For many years, since getting into The Beatles as a sophomore in high school in ’87, I considered this to be tremendously overrated, so much weaker song for song than Rubber Soul, Revolver, The White Album, and Abbey Road, even while acknowledging “A Day in the Life” as the best thing they ever did (still believe that). Over the years, it’s grown on me, especially the Paul tracks (he was still better on Revolver, which is, after all, his creative apex). Two things rocketed it up from sitting toward the bottom of my top 100 of all time to where it is now – falling in love with it all over again when the Giles mix came out and hearing the album with new ears, and a YouTube video postulating it as far more of an intentional concept album than it’s usually thought of (which again, made me hear it with new ears and appreciate it more as a work of art). Obviously there are still better Beatles albums, and it’s still not the better than Hendrix as the best of ’67, but it’s way up there, and an important part of The Beatles’ resume as the greatest artists of all time. Oh, and “Within You Without You” is by far the best of George’s Indian experiments, and an important part of the album’s greatness.
[First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1967
Appears in:
Rank Score:
44,650
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Overall Rank:
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The single “spottiest” inclusion in my top 100, by far, since I believe most of the albums here are great from beginning to end. Not on a par with the big six of Beatles albums (Revolver, The White Album, A Hard Day’s Night – yes, Abbey Road, Rubber Soul, and Sgt. Pepper) due to the presence of “Flying” and “Blue Jay Way” (“The Fool on the Hill,” “Your Mother Should Know,” and “Baby You’re a Rich Man” aren’t great shakes among Beatles tracks either), but four of the other six tracks are enough to put it in the top 100. They’re that good and important. Giles’s work on Sgt. Pepper of course included “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” as bonus tracks, but BS – this US album is their LP home. SFF is their second-greatest track of all time, a monumental achievement of eerie psychedelia (despite John’s horse puckey about Paul “sabotaging” it, which is outright calumny – listen to the masterpiece). “Penny Lane” is by far Paul’s best pure pop track from this era – the piccolo trumpet is indeed a stroke of brilliance. “All You Need is Love” has come to be an underrated extravaganza, with its rhythmic shifts, orchestrations, and references to other music. “I am the Walrus” is of course John’s psychedelic tour-de-force. “Magical Mystery Tour” is in the top half of Beatles tracks (one of the few cases of them rocking out somewhat in the ’67 era), while “Hello Goodbye” is… not, but still a nice piece of somewhat psychedelic pop.
[First added to this chart: 11/16/2024]
Year of Release:
1967
Appears in:
Rank Score:
15,116
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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As I said in the very first review/comment on this list, 1) The Beatles were really like four different bands which don’t bear a whole lot of resemblance to each other (in other words, they had four strongly-distinctive eras), and 2) the extremely-underrated first era, in 1963-64, would have been enough to establish them as the greatest of all time if it was all they had they had ever done. As I said in the A Hard Day’s Night commentary, the center of all that was “She Loves You,” as it best expresses what they accomplished, and was the musical Trojan Horse to get them into the musical conscious of the entire world. But that song appears on no UK album, having been released as a stand-alone single in 1963, and the band and George Martin succumbing to the English mid-‘60s craziness that you “preserve value” and don’t include single tracks on albums. In early ’63, they just wanted to get an album out, and this debut is one of their few albums to include the earlier-released singles, making it the strongest of their first four albums other than AHDN, which, surprise surprise, also contains all of the singles. Please Please Me, named after their breakthrough UK single, shows that they arrived fully-formed. They of course brilliantly synthesized and consolidated all of the prior rock ‘n’ roll from ’55-’62, making it their own through their energetic, soulful, and talented singing, and establishing the two guitars-bass-and-drums self-contained combo that largely wrote their own music. What would be considered filler on other albums – most of the covers they did here – is reasonably strong, with a rich pop veneer applied by Martin’s recording methods and the band’s capable live-in-the-studio performance for which years of live honing prepared them – “Anna (Go to Him),” the George-sung “Chains,” the Ringo-sung “Boys,” “Baby, It’s You,” and even Paul’s gloriously earnest and cheesy take on “A Taste of Honey.” Note that the two of those that John sang were girl group and R & B songs – The Beatles brought in the whole rock-n-roll world. The “Love Me Do” single is probably my least favorite cut here – even Paul’s b-side, “P.S. I Love You” is better. “Please Please Me” is of course the first energetic blast of The Beatles’ initial “sound,” and must have been hugely exciting at the time. Its b-side, “Ask Me Why,” is a more subdued, but solid piece of pop. As for the other four originals, “Misery” is decent, but the other three – “I Saw Her Standing There,” the underrated “There’s a Place,” and, yes, the George-sung “Do You Want to Know a Secret” – are fantastic classics. But of course the piece-de-resistance is John’s larynx-ripping take on “Twist and Shout” a rock-n-roll banger with Ringo’s assertive and rocking drumming, those chopping guitars, the driving bass line (a harbinger of greater things to come from Sir Paul), John’s immortal lead, and those building harmonies. While much of the album is a time capsule of the birth of rock before a host of developments would bring it into a much more modern sound, that track has stood the test of time as completely immortal. There’s enough great stuff here for this album to be here, not because of historical importance or influence (which is not the standard of this list) – it’s my personal preference - in the top 100 where it belongs.
[First added to this chart: 11/16/2024]
Year of Release:
1963
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,909
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Total albums: 8. Page 1 of 1
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
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|
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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% | |
| The Rolling Stones | 4 | 4% | |
| Stevie Wonder | 4 | 4% | |
| Pink Floyd | 4 | 4% | |
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 3 | 3% | |
| Genesis | 3 | 3% | |
| The Kinks | 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
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| 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
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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.
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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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We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.