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 58,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 2 hours 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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521.

Underground

Thelonious Monk

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

Year of Release:

1968

Appears in:

49 charts

Rank Score:

186

Rank in 1968:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

522.

Seven Steps To Heaven

Miles Davis

"#1 for the magnificent quintet. Cool and groundbreaking. FIne collection of modern jazz" Reply

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

Year of Release:

1963

Appears in:

66 charts

Rank Score:

186

Rank in 1963:

Rank in 1960s:

522

Overall Rank:

6,908

Average Rating:

76 (72 votes)

Comments:

523.

Twistin' The Night Away

Sam Cooke

"This is the pop/soul I love. His voice is just great and full of life. He makes even the bad/weak songs worth listening to." Reply

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

Year of Release:

1962

Appears in:

46 charts

Rank Score:

185

Rank in 1962:

Rank in 1960s:

523

Overall Rank:

6,941

Average Rating:

72 (48 votes)

Comments:

524.

Joan Baez Vol.2

Joan Baez

"Her voice..." Reply

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

Year of Release:

1961

Appears in:

51 charts

Rank Score:

184

Rank in 1961:

Rank in 1960s:

524

Overall Rank:

6,952

Average Rating:

73 (49 votes)

Comments:

525.

A Web Of Sound

The Seeds (1960s)

"One of the best albums of the era and the best the genre has to offer. A more focused and consistent effort than their debut with even more risks, experimentation and psychedelia. Sky Saxon's vocals are fantastic and his writing is noticeably improved. The extended instrumentals are creative and ..." [+] Reply

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

Year of Release:

1966

Appears in:

63 charts

Rank Score:

184

Rank in 1966:

Rank in 1960s:

525

Overall Rank:

6,958

Average Rating:

72 (55 votes)

Comments:

526.

Adiós Nonino

Astor Piazzolla

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

Year of Release:

1969

Appears in:

23 charts

Rank Score:

184

Rank in 1969:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

527.

Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits
Compilation

Bob Dylan

"Agreed Romanelli... This is a perfect Dylan album minus opening track (however I did like that song when I was a young kid)... too bad it isn't a real album... Positively 4th Street is probably one of my favorite songs from him lyrically. All of these song not only have his great poetry, but the ..." [+] Reply

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

Year of Release:

1967

Appears in:

64 charts

Rank Score:

184

Rank in 1967:

Rank in 1960s:

527

Overall Rank:

6,973

Average Rating:

81 (181 votes)

Comments:

528.

Looks Like Rain

Mickey Newbury

"And here it is. My number 1 album on this limited list. Also my number 1 fave singer songwriter album, 1969 album, and number one of 1960s. Hell, it may very well be my favorite album period. Its incredibly intense, the feelings I have for the record. I will explain some of what makes this album ...""And here it is. My number 1 album on this limited list. Also my number 1 fave singer songwriter album, 1969 album, and number one of 1960s. Hell, it may very well be my favorite album period. Its incredibly intense, the feelings I have for the record. I will explain some of what makes this album so special here. I could write a book, a short and probably quite bad book about this album. Mickey Newbury released this, his second solo album, in 1969. There were no clear cut hits on it, no catchy tunes, no songs under 6 minutes and which have clear cut beginnings and endings (there are a few shorter songs but they segue right into other parts of a song cycle of sorts) , the songs were almost all interlocked with the previous songs on the album. It's genre is hard to place my finger on. I suppose its country, yet there is very little twang here. Its folk, but there are elements of full choirs and little details all over the album which seem to fly in the face of the idea I have of a bare bones Folk album. There are no moments which really rock, or get stuck in your head. Instead this album is one 40 minute piece of interconnected stories of love and leaving, being left and looking for someone. The album starts off and you seem to be in a room with Mickey. You're in his head and seeing and feeling what he is seeing and feeling and thinking. He is struggling with the decision before him of stayting or going. His mate is laying in bed asleep next to you. The album within a minute has fully in Mickey's headpsace. The opening track is a series of distinct musical segments. And you hear how all these parts logically go from one to the next, until the inevitable conclusion comes. And the fact that you are following along with this story and know in your heart where it must end doesn't make it any less sobering or heartbreaking. Then the thunder claps, the rains fall, and you are ushered into the next song. This song "She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye" is the reverse angle of what you just heard in the previous song. You are now hearing and feeling the other end of the leaving. I am not doing great describing how stunning this all is. But it sure is stunning. The first half of the album is distinctly connected by the sound of rain, its very clearly a theme and it is suitably dreary and sad and introspective. The lyrics are full of deeper meanings, and metaphors and similes to die for. Newbury conveys all the small details of loss without using too many words. He just gets you there and fully immersed in this world of contradictions and indecisions, and its all so seamlessly executed. Another peerless aspect of this album is how much it uses the studio. For many of these country or folk albums people will use the oft repeated idea of "You know, its like you're right next to this person and he's there playing these songs from his heart and its like you're there in the same room or around the fire with him just listening." I often say that as well. But the thing with this album is that is not at all the idea I get. Instead Mickey Newbury uses the studio to put you in his head, he uses the far off sounds to convey where he is at exactly. The brilliantly recorded choirs which seem to come from the far off distance, the sound of rain and thunder to accentuate some low down feeling, the way the bass lines don't sound like they are next to you or even in the "room" but instead sound like they are raining down on the whole world around you, the way the orchestra flourishes and the sounds drop out at perfect moments, the way Mickey whistles at some points here and how that goes along with the far off train whistle, the whole sonic world is so clear and unique, its really unlike any album I've heard. Now that is all about how the structure of the album amazes me. The themes, the landscape, the flow. This is the base of the album, but it would be merely really cool and ambitious if it wasn't for the songwriting. Mickey Newbury was one of the greatest songwriters of his generation. His long narrative about the star crossed lovers in "San Francisco Mabel Joy" is perhaps the best example of this. That song has to be heard to be understoof how cool it is. And the songs which make up the first half are full of stunning insights and turns of phrase. Newbury was clicking on all cylinders here. And as far as Mickey's vocals, wow. He didn't have some rangey pitch perfect voice like Joni, some otherworldly voice like Buckley or Morrison. His voice is most similar to John Prine at times, and Guy Clark at other times, and there is a bit of Cash at times, etc. But that was the thing, he switched up his voice from matter of fact country boy, to that of a moaning, pain-ridden lost soul, to that of a deadened soul, back and forth all over, depending on where the song took him. He gets so much emotion out of every line. Yeah, I love his vocals here. As far as a break up album, sure this is the best ever. But it goes above that. It hits at some themes which transcend breakups or love lost. Or maybe it doesn't. Maybe it just depends on from where you are coming to this album. I don't know. All I know is there is not a false note here in my opinion. The album is seamless studio masterpiece. Its also a poetic singer/songwriter album which will make TVZ fans swoon. It is many things. One of the most fully realized long players I have ever heard. And I think its the greatest thing I've heard in a long long time. "Lord, his daddy was an honest man, just a red dirt Georgia farmer His momma lived her short life having kids and baling hay He had fifteen years and an ache inside to wander So he hopped a freight at Waycross and wound up in L.A. Well the cold nights had no pity on that Waycross Georgia farm boy Most days he went hungry, then the summer came He met a girl known on the strip as San Francisco's Mabel Joy Destitution's child, born on an L.A. street called 'Shame'" Rating: 10/10" [+] Reply

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

Year of Release:

1969

Appears in:

50 charts

Rank Score:

183

Rank in 1969:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

529.

Animalism

The Animals

"Not the best Animals LP" Reply

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

Year of Release:

1966

Appears in:

64 charts

Rank Score:

182

Rank in 1966:

Rank in 1960s:

529

Overall Rank:

7,005

Average Rating:

75 (73 votes)

Comments:

530.

Groovin'

The Young Rascals

"Boy does this stand up well despite its age. "A Place In the Sun" is my favorite cover ever. I spent an hour or so once, forget why, trying to decide if there was any album likely to be in both my, and Daryl Hall's collections. I decided this was the best bet." Reply

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

Year of Release:

1967

Appears in:

64 charts

Rank Score:

182

Rank in 1967:

Rank in 1960s:

530

Overall Rank:

7,018

Average Rating:

76 (80 votes)

Comments:

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Total albums: 1,000. Page 53 of 100

Best Albums of the 1960s composition

Year	Albums	%

1960	57	6%
1961	64	6%
1962	50	5%
1963	52	5%
1964	70	7%
1965	89	9%
1966	98	10%
1967	140	14%
1968	188	19%
1969	192	19%

Artist	Albums	%

The Beatles	17	2%
The Beach Boys	15	2%
The Rolling Stones	14	1%
John Coltrane	13	1%
Miles Davis	12	1%
Bob Dylan	10	1%
Nina Simone	10	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	634	63%
	201	20%
	38	4%
	24	2%
	23	2%
	17	2%
	11	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	971	97%
Yes	29	3%

Live?	Albums	%
No	961	96%
Yes	39	4%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	979	98%
Yes	21	2%

« View best albums of the 1950sView best albums of the 1970s »

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