Best Albums of the 1950s
Explore the best albums of the 1950s, based on over 2 million album rankings across 59,000 charts.
Last updated: 4 hours ago.
Last updated: 4 hours ago.
"Lady's voice is shot to pieces by the time she records Lady in Satin, but her ability to spin a song and make it her own is still unobscured." Reply
Year of Release:
1958
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,248
Rank in 1958:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Basically, this is a Miles album--he takes the first solo on most of the tracks, wrote the title track, and the arrangements of the standards on side one especially just sound like your typical mid-50s Miles Davis thing. Cannonball does take the lead on the last couple of tracks. Not that it matt..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1958
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,928
Rank in 1958:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"The core melodies of each song are great, but the solos go a little too much off track, in my opinion, to the point where you just want the solo to stop so the main melody can play again. That being said, it was still a fun listen and Monk is definitely a very talented musician." Reply
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Space-Dementia | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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:
2,905
Rank in 1957:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Songs for swingin' lovers, is quite possibly Frank Sinatra's most enjoyable album. It's a giddy hoot of a record with Sinatra and arranger Nelson Riddle combining to produce one of their best collobarations. There are fantastic versions of, you make me feel so young, you brought a new kind of lov..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1956
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,877
Rank in 1956:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"The Pet Sounds before Pet Sounds." Reply
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kinglyostrich | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (7 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
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:
2,768
Rank in 1957:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Rollins is an exceptional blower and this is his most outstanding outing. Challenging yet melodic in composition, full of excellent improvisation, and while Sonny is the star, all members of the ensemble contribute to make this whole greater than the sum of its parts and cement this as one of the..." [+] Reply
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Fischman | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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:
2,695
Rank in 1957:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Pretty good for an album from the 1950's, and for one that's barely 30 minutes long." Reply
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Romanelli | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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:
2,631
Rank in 1958:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"I enjoy the soft sounds of his voice and trumpet. Would be nice to spin during the evening and just contemplate life." Reply
Year of Release:
1954
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,565
Rank in 1954:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"When I was a budding Sax player in High School, I was handed sheet music to Boplicity and it opened my world musically to so many things I wasn't ready for at the time. Not Miles' best work, by a mile, but still a necessary listen when following the history of Jazz." Reply
Year of Release:
1957
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,519
Rank in 1957:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"I find the only compilations to be allowed on top charts are records made from collections of songs recorded during the singles era like this one. Howlin' Wolf is a harmonica playing legend of the blues and these low quality recordings only add to this album's charm. My favorite blues record from..." [+] Reply
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Larcx13 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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:
2,445
Rank in 1959:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 1,000. Page 2 of 100
Best Albums of the 1950s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 47 | 5% | |
| 1951 | 42 | 4% | |
| 1952 | 57 | 6% | |
| 1953 | 59 | 6% | |
| 1954 | 73 | 7% | |
| 1955 | 92 | 9% | |
| 1956 | 117 | 12% | |
| 1957 | 154 | 15% | |
| 1958 | 170 | 17% | |
| 1959 | 189 | 19% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Miles Davis | 22 | 2% | |
| Billie Holiday | 18 | 2% | |
| Frank Sinatra | 16 | 2% | |
| Sonny Rollins | 16 | 2% | |
| Various Artists | 15 | 2% | |
| Thelonious Monk | 14 | 1% | |
| Ella Fitzgerald | 13 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
 |
788 | 79% | |
 |
33 | 3% | |
 |
33 | 3% | |
 |
23 | 2% | |
 |
17 | 2% | |
 |
13 | 1% | |
 |
10 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
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