Best Albums of the 1950s

Listed below are the best albums of the 1950s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 59,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 4 hours ago).
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1950s decade summaryThe best artists of the 1950s were Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Frank Sinatra, Charles Mingus, Elvis Presley, Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, The Dave Brubeck Quartet and Duke Ellington.
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Collector's summary (top 1,000) (filtered) 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!
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"So, this album. I have a bit of a strange relationship with this album, I first listened to it a year or so ago, and it was my first jazz album ever. Needless to say, I was a bit confused. Not because of the music, since that isn't really that abstract or anything, no, I was confused about why th..."  [+]  Reply
- goeie-oko | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +13 votes (13 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:
1959
Appears in:
Rank Score:
21,484
Rank in 1959:
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Top rated album (89/100 - 2292 votes)  89 (2,292 votes)
Comments:
"Miles changed the face of music many times, the first of which was Birth of the Cool. This album is cool as can be, featuring unusual arrangements for jazz music at the time. The album didn't come out for many years after it was recorded, but the music from these recordings had already spread thr..."  [+]  Reply
- souplipton | 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:
1957
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,491
Rank in 1957:
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"'Round About Midnight was the first album by Davis on Columbia, where he would stay for 30 years. It features saxophonist John Coltrane, who had not yet become an icon. The interplay between the two here is great, with Davis' melodies being answered by Coltrane's energetic solos. The rhythm secti..."  [+]  Reply
- Romanelli | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +9 votes (9 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:
1957
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,867
Rank in 1957:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Still getting my feet wet with jazz albums, so this is an inexperienced question, but why is this not as well regarded as Davis' other albums? You can definitely tell it served as a canvas for Kind of Blue and that's regarded as the best jazz album of all time."  Reply
- BrandonC375 | 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:
1958
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,510
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Average Rating:
Comments:
"This just oozes 1950s French art film, in the best way possible. It feels a bit disjointed in places, but the music is so good, I'm willing to forgo that complaint completely."  Reply
- teague | 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:
1958
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,405
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Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Gershwin’s music proves perfect for Miles Davis the balladeer, and he really owns it. The result is some of the most lovely moments in jazz. “Prayer,” especially, is emotional, powerful and absolutely beautiful."  Reply
- subtleman22 | 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:
1959
Appears in:
Rank Score:
782
Rank in 1959:
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Average Rating:
Comments:
170.
Bags' Groove 
Compilation
Year of Release:
1957
Appears in:
Rank Score:
235
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Year of Release:
1955
Appears in:
Rank Score:
208
Rank in 1955:
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Average Rating:
Comments:
237.
Blue Haze 
Compilation
Year of Release:
1954
Appears in:
Rank Score:
161
Rank in 1954:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Year of Release:
1959
Appears in:
Rank Score:
98
Rank in 1959:
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 16. Page 1 of 2

Best Albums of the 1950s composition

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