Best Albums of the 1970s

Listed below are the best albums of the 1970s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 58,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 28 minutes ago).
Best albums by year or decade
Decade:
Year:
1970s decade summaryThe best artists of the 1970s were Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, The Clash, Black Sabbath, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder and The Who.
View chart at point in time
 Show this chart as it was on the following date
Share this chart
Collector's summary (top 1,000) Help The maximum rank used by the Collector's Summary is configurable from your profile (top 1,000 is currently selected). Log in or register to discover the great albums that are missing from your music collection!
Sort Sort by
Year of Release:
1978
Appears in:
Rank Score:
896
Rank in 1978:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"i love paul's storytelling ability. A lot of the tales he sings going back to his time in simon & garfunkel sound like they're happening down the block or on his way cross-town to the park. i guess this is his break-up album, but it doesn't sound like it. His higher-pitched vocals carry a breezy ..."  [+]  Reply
- paladisiac | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
1975
Appears in:
Rank Score:
894
Rank in 1975:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Styx was the "gateway drug" that got me into classic rock. Sure, they were poppy and heck, and, in retrospect, not that good; But that's what got me to latch onto the genre. I've always considered this to be their best album, and after all these years, "Miss America" is still a masterpiece."  Reply
- Applerill | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
1977
Appears in:
Rank Score:
881
Rank in 1977:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Now this one is also really good. The opening song is a real burst of energy that fits the subject-matter really well. You really feel like you can get up and do whatever the fuck you want, right now. The ending of the song is such a heavy groove, just lovely. Through the album, the bass-playing ..."  [+]  Reply
- Medelsvensson | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
868
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"This eerie, dark and macabre sound experiment is gargantuan in scope. This is a form of avantgarde music that has no precedent. Part symphonic primitivism and part cacophonous world-music, the sound of 'Not Available' is a strangely disconcerting and disorientating hybrid of postmodern film noir,..."  [+]  Reply
- hairymarx1 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (5 helpful | 1 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
1978
Appears in:
Rank Score:
868
Rank in 1978:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Year of Release:
1973
Appears in:
Rank Score:
866
Rank in 1973:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Year of Release:
1975
Appears in:
Rank Score:
859
Rank in 1975:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"This is probably the most maligned, bashed and dismissed album in Progressive Rock. All the well-known prog haters (Rolling Stone, Robert Christgau, etc) had a field day with this album, but if you really LISTEN to all the 4 pieces is such astounding musical experience. My favourites are 'Ritual'..."  [+]  Reply
- ponkine | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +8 votes (8 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
1973
Appears in:
Rank Score:
855
Rank in 1973:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"How is this not rated higher on BEA!? This band has a very unique brand of melodic, almost psychedelic sounding punk and I love it! Definitely more mature than their debut, which was a little more generic in terms of style for the time (although I like that one as well). This album hits hard too...."  [+]  Reply
- louisjwyatt | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +7 votes (7 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
854
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"The Isley Brothers have had hits in every decade since the 1950's, and have scored 20 top 10 albums. 3+3, which finds the band as a sextet, opens with "That Lady"...worth having the album for alone. It's funky, and Ernie Isley tears it up on guitar. The album is also notable for its choice in cov..."  [+]  Reply
- Romanelli | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
1973
Appears in:
Rank Score:
852
Rank in 1973:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 1,000. Page 36 of 100

Best Albums of the 1970s composition

Email  Address
Forgotten passwords and other site notifications are sent to the email address saved on your profile.

If you've changed your email address recently, please remember to update it on your profile page.

(If you can't remember your password, and your email address is out of date, please contact us for assistance getting back into your account).