Best Albums of the 1950s

« View best albums of the 1940sView best albums of the 1960s »

Listed below are the best albums of the 1950s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 54,000 greatest album charts.

Best albums by year or decade

Decade:

Year:

1950s 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.
1950	125	5,249	Voice Of The Xtabay (2,125th)by Yma Sumac
1951	141	4,214	Genius Of Modern Music (2,784th)by Thelonious Monk
1952	153	6,990	Bird & Diz (1,953rd)by Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie
1953	195	6,736	Black Coffee With Peggy Lee (1,817th)by Peggy Lee
1954	232	11,106	Chet Baker Sings (683rd)by Chet Baker
1955	341	14,959	In The Wee Small Hours (379th)by Frank Sinatra
1956	452	32,520	Elvis Presley (353rd)by Elvis Presley
1957	579	45,640	Blue Train (295th)by John Coltrane
1958	592	41,400	Lady In Satin (559th)by Billie Holiday
1959	638	81,578	Kind Of Blue (37th)by Miles Davis
Total	3,448	250,393

The best artists of the 1950s were Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Frank Sinatra, Charles Mingus, Elvis Presley, Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk, The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Billie Holiday and John Coltrane.

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

991.

Canto De Amor À Bahia E Quatro Acalantos De "Grabriela, Cravo E Canela"

Dorival Caymmi & Jorge Amado

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

2 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1958:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

992.

Blues And Haikus

Jack Kerouac Featuring Al Cohn And Zoot Sims

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

4 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

992.

Sing A Song Of Basie

Lambert, Hendricks & Ross

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

3 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1957:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

994.

Gerry Mulligan Quartet (1953)

Gerry Mulligan Quartet

Year of Release:

1953

Appears in:

4 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1953:

Rank in 1950s:

994

Overall Rank:

35,029

Average Rating:

72 (4 votes)

Comments:

995.

Plays Pretty

Oscar Peterson

Year of Release:

1952

Appears in:

9 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1952:

Rank in 1950s:

995

Overall Rank:

35,030

Average Rating:

69 (8 votes)

Comments:

996.

The Stylings Of Silver

Horace Silver

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

11 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1957:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

997.

Carmen Jones (From The Original Sound Track)
Soundtrack

Various Artists

Year of Release:

1954

Appears in:

6 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1954:

Rank in 1950s:

997

Overall Rank:

35,110

Average Rating:

72 (6 votes)

Comments:

998.

Cowboy Ballads

Cisco Houston

Year of Release:

1952

Appears in:

8 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1952:

Rank in 1950s:

998

Overall Rank:

35,134

Average Rating:

74 (4 votes)

Comments:

999.

All Mornin' Long

The Red Garland Quintet

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

11 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1958:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

1000.

Angola Prison Spirituals
Compilation

Various Artists

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

6 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

« prev
1
2
3
...
98
99
100
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 1,000. Page 100 of 100

Best Albums of the 1950s composition

Year	Albums	%

1950	40	4%
1951	40	4%
1952	59	6%
1953	63	6%
1954	76	8%
1955	82	8%
1956	116	12%
1957	153	15%
1958	173	17%
1959	198	20%

Artist	Albums	%

Various Artists	18	2%
Billie Holiday	18	2%
Miles Davis	16	2%
Frank Sinatra	15	2%
Sonny Rollins	15	2%
Ella Fitzgerald	13	1%
Elvis Presley	11	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	776	78%
	37	4%
	34	3%
	27	3%
	19	2%
	13	1%
	11	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	942	94%
Yes	58	6%

Live?	Albums	%
No	962	96%
Yes	38	4%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	977	98%
Yes	23	2%

« View best albums of the 1940sView best albums of the 1960s »

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.

Best Albums of 1962
1. Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music by Ray Charles
2. Waltz For Debby by Bill Evans Trio
3. Howlin' Wolf by Howlin' Wolf
4. Bob Dylan by Bob Dylan
5. Green Onions by Booker T. & The M.G.'s
6. Go by Dexter Gordon
7. Tous Les Garçons Et Les Filles by Françoise Hardy
8. Tijuana Moods by Charles Mingus
9. Jazz Samba by Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd
10. The Bridge by Sonny Rollins
11. Oh Yeah by Charles Mingus
12. Takin' Off by Herbie Hancock
13. Crying by Roy Orbison
14. Coltrane "Live" At The Village Vanguard by John Coltrane
15. Mosaic by Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
16. Surfin' Safari by The Beach Boys
17. Peter, Paul And Mary by Peter, Paul And Mary
18. Coltrane by John Coltrane Quartet
19. Sentimentally Yours by Patsy Cline
20. The Original Telstar: The Sounds Of The Tornadoes by The Tornados