Best Albums of the 1960s

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Listed below are the best albums of the 1960s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 59,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 1 hour ago).

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1960s decade summaryThe best artists of the 1960s were The Beatles, The Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Beach Boys, The Velvet Underground & Nico, The Doors, Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones.

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461.

Presents Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus

Share your opinion and help others discover this album. The top-voted comments are showcased in our aggregate charts!

Year of Release:

1960

Appears in:

52 charts

Rank Score:

223

Rank in 1960:

Rank in 1960s:

461

Overall Rank:

6,014

Average Rating:

71 (78 votes)

Comments:

462.

Drums Of Passion

Olatunji

"It feels strange to be starting off what is ostensibly a list about the Western canon of music from the 1960s with an album that is unashamedly not Western. Olatunji hails from Nigeria and through signing with Columbia, brought traditional African music to the masses in 1960, something that proba..." [+] Reply

- BurndenAce | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1960

Appears in:

51 charts

Rank Score:

222

Rank in 1960:

Rank in 1960s:

462

Overall Rank:

6,020

Average Rating:

73 (56 votes)

Comments:

463.

Jack Orion

Bert Jansch

"Recorded before his stint in Pentangle this is a folk album. Most of the cuts are not written by Mr. Jansch but traditional in origin. A nice record when your in the mood for such music." Reply

- Coconut | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1966

Appears in:

65 charts

Rank Score:

222

Rank in 1966:

Rank in 1960s:

463

Overall Rank:

6,033

Average Rating:

75 (59 votes)

Comments:

464.

Coltrane

John Coltrane Quartet

"Master at work, one the great modern jazz albums." Reply

Jboy56 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1962

Appears in:

74 charts

Rank Score:

220

Rank in 1962:

Rank in 1960s:

464

Overall Rank:

6,053

Average Rating:

76 (82 votes)

Comments:

465.

Eight Miles High

Golden Earring

"One of their best LP's, and certainly better than anything they did from the late 70's onwards. A brilliant and very underrated LP." Reply

- Steppenwolf666 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1969

Appears in:

27 charts

Rank Score:

220

Rank in 1969:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

466.

Move

The Move

"The Move were one of the most talented bands of the British pop-psych-era in the late 1960's. The original line-up only recorded one album along with a string of catchy and inventive singles during 1966-69. The original album which was originally delayed several times contains their two big hits ...""The Move were one of the most talented bands of the British pop-psych-era in the late 1960's. The original line-up only recorded one album along with a string of catchy and inventive singles during 1966-69. The original album which was originally delayed several times contains their two big hits "Flowers in the Rain" and "Fire Brigade" along with at least 4 other potential hit-recordings; "Walk Upon the Water", "Yellow Rainbow", "The Lemon Tree" and "Useless Information" - all great orignal songs from guitarist and songwriter Roy Wood. Moreover it has three slower melodic; almost folky, tracks in "Kilroy Was Here", "Mist on a Monday Morning" and "The Girl Outside" - the first two really outstanding. There is also the controversal "Cherry Blossom Clinic", was at a certain point was planned as their fourth single - but was dropped due to scandals in connections in the promotion of "Flowers in the Rain" - the band could not afford more scandals. The B-side "Vote for Me" was not even included on the album - fortunately it has now found its place on the album. The least interesting tracks on the album are the three covers - "Hey Grandma", "Zing Went the String" and "Weekend" - though none of them are bad at all. The two early singles "Night of Fear" and "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" along with their B-sides are also found among the bonus-tracks - both great of course, as is the weird "Disturbance". The extended remastered version of the 1968 album contains some of the most interesting music of that era. Besides the the original 13 tracks of the album 22 extra tracks have been added - the early pre-album singles, and handful of outtakes, and newly created stereo mixes of most of the album tracks. To my ears they have never sounded better than on these newly remastered tracks. On the 2 cd deluxe version there are also alternate stereo mixes, along with the never before released outtake "Don't Throw Stones" - all great stuff in some cases markedly different from the mono-mixes. Later incarnations of the Move recorded 3 more albums and though they were all good in their own rights, none of them has the excitement of their debut. This is really a "Classic Improved" " [+] Reply

- Rovers | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1968

Appears in:

62 charts

Rank Score:

220

Rank in 1968:

Rank in 1960s:

466

Overall Rank:

6,074

Average Rating:

73 (68 votes)

Comments:

467.

Butterfly

The Hollies

""For Certain Because" marked the beginning of probably the most creative period in the career of the Hollies. It was also the album that introduced Tonys Hicks' banjo which is very prominent on the big single hit "Stop Stop Stop". "Butterfly" is often regarded the strongest album by the Hollies. ..."""For Certain Because" marked the beginning of probably the most creative period in the career of the Hollies. It was also the album that introduced Tonys Hicks' banjo which is very prominent on the big single hit "Stop Stop Stop". "Butterfly" is often regarded the strongest album by the Hollies. Released in 1967 it was to be last to feature high-pitch vocalist Graham Nash, who left in late 1968 to join David Crosby and Steve Stills. Sadly the Hollies were never quite the same after his departure - they did record some fine album later, but some of the magic somehow had gone. With the "For Certain Because" (1966) the Holles had begun to write all their material for their albums, and the this continued on the following two albums "Evolution" and "Butterfly". All 3 album contains some of the finest songwriting the Hollies ever did. Their playing and singing is impeccable like on most of their recordings - some might say that their lyrics at times tend to be a little too naive or silly. "Butterfly" is their most adventurous album and the closest the Hollies ever came to psychedelia. Apart from "Dear Eloise" which was released as a single in some countries it is very much an "album" - not just a collection of songs built up around 3 or 4 hit singles. It seems the Nash was the dominating force at this point, taking the lead vocal on more songs than usual lead-singer Clarke. Nash abilities as lead-singer are obvíous here, but it's usually a pleasure to listen to all singer, not least when they change lead-vocals or join in on harmonies. It's hard to bring forward particular tracks, because all are great. Tony Hicks cute "Pegasus" was always a favourite, but the songs like "Try it", "Would You Believe" and "Dear Eloise" with Allan Clarke up-front are all classic Hollies. Nash's laid back-songs like "Wish You a Wish" are "Postcard" are close to the sound of Simon & Garfunkel. On the instrumental side, there is a lot experimenting with various instruments like citar, different keyboards and several tracks feature string-arrangements. The Hollies actually recorded at least an album's worth of material before Nash finally left. With strong material like "Wings", "Open Up Your Eyes" , "Tomorrow When it Comes", "Man With No Expression", "Do the Best You" and the two fine singles "Listen to Me" and Jennifer Eccles" another fine Hollies album (with Nash) could have been made; insted they gave us the deeply disappointing "Hollies Sing Dylan" "Butterfly" is probably their finest moment. Here we have as bonus-tracks most of these potential final-album songs. The Nash version of "Blowing in the Wind" was another possible inclusion. A song called "Ashes to Ashes" is also said to have been recorded. https://www.angelfire.com/nv/Badfinger/BANDhollies.html" [+] Reply

- Rovers | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1967

Appears in:

75 charts

Rank Score:

219

Rank in 1967:

Rank in 1960s:

467

Overall Rank:

6,103

Average Rating:

73 (83 votes)

Comments:

468.

The Big Beat

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers

"The awesome power of the fully operational Messengers on display on this killer album. Lee Morgan had become an uncontainable monster by this point and is just ridiculously good here. The songwriting of Shorter and Timmons makes this one of the best Messengers albums to my ears; the tempos and th..." [+] Reply

- | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1960

Appears in:

62 charts

Rank Score:

218

Rank in 1960:

Rank in 1960s:

468

Overall Rank:

6,111

Average Rating:

75 (67 votes)

Comments:

469.

Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes And Brasil '66

Sérgio Mendes

"The debut album from Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 was released as "Herb Alpert Presents ... " on A & M Records (Cat#: SP-4116) in 1966, and introduced the world to the accomplished pianist and his vocal group, performing Latin pop for an audience seeking to become more worldly in the types of sou..." [+] Reply