Best Albums of the 1970s

« View best albums of the 1960sView best albums of the 1980s »

Listed below are the best albums of the 1970s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 53,000 greatest album charts.

Best albums by year or decade

Decade:

Year:

1970s decade summary

Year	Albums The number of albums from each year featuring in the greatest album charts.	Score Total rank score for each year (made up of the total rank score from all albums in that year)	Top Ranked Album The top ranked album from each year and where it ranks in the overall chart.
1970	2,041	259,430	Paranoid (54th)by Black Sabbath
1971	2,141	328,522	Untitled (Led Zeppelin IV) (12th)by Led Zeppelin
1972	2,179	259,815	The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stard... (9th)by David Bowie
1973	2,066	266,246	The Dark Side Of The Moon (2nd)by Pink Floyd
1974	1,954	139,448	Red (143rd)by King Crimson
1975	2,109	225,644	Wish You Were Here (7th)by Pink Floyd
1976	2,102	149,962	Songs In The Key Of Life (86th)by Stevie Wonder
1977	2,118	255,767	Rumours (21st)by Fleetwood Mac
1978	2,164	145,598	Darkness On The Edge Of Town (206th)by Bruce Springsteen
1979	2,097	212,505	London Calling (20th)by The Clash
Total	20,971	2,242,938

The best artists of the 1970s were Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, The Clash, Fleetwood Mac, Black Sabbath, The Who and Genesis.

View chart at point in time

Share this chart

Collector's summary (top 1,000)Log in or register to discover the great albums that are missing from your music collection!

Sort by

The Dark Side Of The Moon

Pink Floyd

Year of Release:

1973

Appears in:

4,044 charts

Rank Score:

70,553

Rank in 1973:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

92 (5,218 votes)

Comments:

582

Wish You Were Here

Pink Floyd

Year of Release:

1975

Appears in:

2,918 charts

Rank Score:

50,716

Rank in 1975:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

91 (3,960 votes)

Comments:

308

The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars

David Bowie

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

2,936 charts

Rank Score:

49,834

Rank in 1972:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

90 (3,456 votes)

Comments:

299

Untitled (Led Zeppelin IV)

Led Zeppelin

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

3,070 charts

Rank Score:

44,115

Rank in 1971:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1979

Appears in:

2,758 charts

Rank Score:

35,928

Rank in 1979:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

87 (3,093 votes)

Comments:

256

Rumours

Fleetwood Mac

Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

2,203 charts

Rank Score:

34,052

Rank in 1977:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1979

Appears in:

2,207 charts

Rank Score:

29,963

Rank in 1979:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

87 (3,420 votes)

Comments:

261

Animals

Pink Floyd

Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

1,714 charts

Rank Score:

25,473

Rank in 1977:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1979

Appears in:

1,919 charts

Rank Score:

24,858

Rank in 1979:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

87 (2,280 votes)

Comments:

189

10.

Who's Next

The Who

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

2,130 charts

Rank Score:

23,953

Rank in 1971:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

86 (2,493 votes)

Comments:

200

« prev
1
2
3
4
...
99
100
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 1,000. Page 1 of 100

Best Albums of the 1970s composition

Year	Albums	%

1970	107	11%
1971	100	10%
1972	102	10%
1973	108	11%
1974	99	10%
1975	98	10%
1976	90	9%
1977	89	9%
1978	109	11%
1979	98	10%

Artist	Albums	%

David Bowie	12	1%
Genesis	10	1%
Jethro Tull	9	1%
Joni Mitchell	8	1%
Pink Floyd	8	1%
Electric Light Orchestra	8	1%
Yes	8	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	387	39%
	370	37%
	43	4%
	37	4%
	37	4%
	24	2%
	20	2%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	974	97%
Yes	26	3%

Live?	Albums	%
No	939	94%
Yes	61	6%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	988	99%
Yes	12	1%

« View best albums of the 1960sView best albums of the 1980s »

If you enjoy our site, please consider supporting us by sparing a few seconds to disable your ad blocker.

A lot of hard work happens in the background to keep BEA running, and it's especially difficult to do this when we can't pay our hosting fees :(

We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.

Recent Member Charts
1. Schlager Best Albums 1985 by cicadelic (2024)
2. Top 55 Music Albums of 1980 by cicadelic (2024)
3. Top 46 Music Albums of 1979 by juanr1096 (2024)
4. Top albums of all time by female artists (100 - 200) by Johnnyo (2024)
5. The Wire's Top 50 Albums of 2014 by cicadelic (2024)
6. Best Ever Comedy Albums by LosWochos (2024)
7. Top 74 Music Albums of 2023 by joathome (2024)
8. Top 52 Music Albums of 2024 by MadhattanJack (2024)
9. Top 59 Music Albums of 2000 by juanr1096 (2024)
10. Top 60 Music Albums of the 2020s by migl (2024)
11. Top 61 Music Albums of the 1970s by zsolti (2024)
12. Depeche Mode by PAPPITUFO (2024)
13. Dire Straits by PAPPITUFO (2024)
14. Top 46 Music Albums of 2022 by migl (2024)
15. El Ultimo De La Fila / Los Burros by PAPPITUFO (2024)
16. Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s by amirmishali (2024)
17. 601-700 by Rivera (2024)
18. 701-800 by Rivera (2024)
19. Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s by NoAlarms (2024)
20. Top 8 Music Albums of 1960 by NoAlarms (2024)