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 46,000 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	121	5,064	Voice Of The Xtabay (2,177th)by Yma Sumac
1951	136	3,901	Genius Of Modern Music: Volume 1 (2,703rd)by Thelonious Monk
1952	153	7,082	Bird & Diz (1,930th)by Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie
1953	186	5,472	Black Coffee With Peggy Lee (1,927th)by Peggy Lee
1954	221	9,945	Chet Baker Sings (788th)by Chet Baker
1955	306	14,335	In The Wee Small Hours (390th)by Frank Sinatra
1956	413	30,270	Elvis Presley (377th)by Elvis Presley
1957	534	44,698	Blue Train (337th)by John Coltrane
1958	530	38,060	Lady In Satin (593rd)by Billie Holiday
1959	573	84,294	Kind Of Blue (40th)by Miles Davis
Total	3,173	243,121

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

View chart at point in time

Share this chart

Share | |

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

Sort by

Kind Of Blue

Miles Davis

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

1,547 charts

Rank Score:

28,308

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

89 (2,103 votes)

Comments:

157

Mingus Ah Um

Charles Mingus

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

618 charts

Rank Score:

7,850

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

237

Average Rating:

84 (662 votes)

Comments:

Time Out

The Dave Brubeck Quartet

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

606 charts

Rank Score:

6,771

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

539 charts

Rank Score:

5,775

Rank in 1957:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

337

Average Rating:

84 (603 votes)

Comments:

Elvis Presley

Year of Release:

1956

Appears in:

533 charts

Rank Score:

5,084

Rank in 1956:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

377

Average Rating:

79 (712 votes)

Comments:

In The Wee Small Hours

Frank Sinatra

Year of Release:

1955

Appears in:

437 charts

Rank Score:

4,924

Rank in 1955:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

390

Average Rating:

80 (596 votes)

Comments:

The Shape Of Jazz To Come

Ornette Coleman

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

396 charts

Rank Score:

4,096

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

463

Average Rating:

81 (458 votes)

Comments:

Here's Little Richard

Little Richard

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

382 charts

Rank Score:

3,904

Rank in 1957:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

480

Average Rating:

79 (453 votes)

Comments:

Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

348 charts

Rank Score:

3,435

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

545

Average Rating:

83 (320 votes)

Comments:

10.

Lady In Satin

Billie Holiday

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

338 charts

Rank Score:

3,165

Rank in 1958:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

593

Average Rating:

80 (340 votes)

Comments:

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

Total albums: 1,000. Page 1 of 100

Best Albums of the 1950s composition

Year	Albums	%

1950	44	4%
1951	44	4%
1952	56	6%
1953	60	6%
1954	75	8%
1955	86	9%
1956	113	11%
1957	158	16%
1958	177	18%
1959	189	19%

Artist	Albums	%

Various Artists	18	2%
Billie Holiday	18	2%
Frank Sinatra	17	2%
Miles Davis	15	1%
Sonny Rollins	15	1%
Ella Fitzgerald	12	1%
Sarah Vaughan	12	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	776	77%
	37	4%
	32	3%
	30	3%
	24	2%
	13	1%
	10	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	946	94%
Yes	56	6%

Live?	Albums	%
No	965	96%
Yes	37	4%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	983	98%
Yes	19	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.

Recent Member Charts
1. 1968 5th chart by Steppenwolf666 (2022)
2. Top 47 Music Albums of 2016 by srogers900 (2022)
3. Top 58 Music Albums of 2021 by Jaymantheman (2022)
4. Top 19 Music Albums of 2022 by Jaymantheman (2022)
5. Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by srogers900 (2022)
6. Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s by srogers900 (2022)
7. My Overall Chart 101- 200 (1953-2019) by Tamthebam (2022)
8. Best Albums Ever 101-200 by srogers900 (2022)
9. Best Albums Ever 201-300 by srogers900 (2022)
10. Best Albums Ever 301-400 by srogers900 (2022)
11. Best Albums Ever 401-500 by srogers900 (2022)
12. Top 65 Music Albums of 2020 by srogers900 (2022)
13. Top 96 Music Albums of the 2020s by srogers900 (2022)
14. Top 100 Music Albums of 1979 by zags7000 (2022)
15. Bob Dylan covered: top 100 by Moondance (2022)
16. Top 41 Music Albums of 2015 by srogers900 (2022)
17. Top 100 Music Albums of 1968 by Tamthebam (2022)
18. Top 8 Music Albums of 2002 by F1Aaron (2022)
19. Top 100 Music Albums of the 2020s by Purplepash (2022)
20. Top 35 Music Albums of 2022 by Purplepash (2022)