Best Albums of the 1950s
Explore the best albums of the 1950s, based on over 2 million album rankings across 60,000 charts
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Last updated: 3 hours ago
"This record has Downbound Train on it, one of Chuck's coolest pieces of work. Roly Poly and Deep Feeling are two more favourites. The hits you can get anywhere but it's good to hear them more or less in context." Reply
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ticharu | 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:
1,476
Rank in 1957:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Just beautiful. An amazing album with three fucking perfect songs as the title track, god bless the child, and strange fruit." Reply
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seb7 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Year of Release:
1956
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,453
Rank in 1956:
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"You can really hear the early energy of a young Elvis. This explains why he remains a cultural icon." Reply
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junodog4 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 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:
1956
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,418
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Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"The ultimate cool of any soundtracks, used while Jeanne Moreau is walking on the night streets of Paris" Reply
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Jboy56 | 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:
1,400
Rank in 1958:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"The basis upon which all of modern Brazilian music was built. Gamechanger." Reply
Year of Release:
1959
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,357
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Frankie's most introspective mood with Ava in the heart and soul. Painful, autumnal, sad, nocturnal, is the photography of a man alone. Nobody sing these feeling with more knowledge, dignity, self-respect. And at last..... one for my baby and one more for the road (Bill Millar's piano is a miracle)." Reply
Year of Release:
1958
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,265
Rank in 1958:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Her best and one of the best vocal jazz records of all time, just perfect" Reply
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jnfbn | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Year of Release:
1956
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,257
Rank in 1956:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Here it started: where the whole band moves as one, where short licks make all the difference, where voices explore their own limits, where it wasn't about what but about how. It's soul. It sparked the "I'm so sad" soul of James Brown (before he invented funk) and the "life is so hard" soul of Ot..." Reply
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Boltzmann | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Year of Release:
1957
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,217
Rank in 1957:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"A worthy follow-up to his brilliant debut record, this one's also filled with the same amount of vigour and unabashed fun. Excellent!" Reply
Year of Release:
1958
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,179
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Her voice was so beautiful at this point in her career, I loved the way it changed and became darker over the years." Reply
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ffudnebbuh | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 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:
1955
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,160
Rank in 1955:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 1,000. Page 4 of 100
Best Albums of the 1950s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 48 | 5% | |
| 1951 | 44 | 4% | |
| 1952 | 57 | 6% | |
| 1953 | 60 | 6% | |
| 1954 | 71 | 7% | |
| 1955 | 92 | 9% | |
| 1956 | 117 | 12% | |
| 1957 | 152 | 15% | |
| 1958 | 169 | 17% | |
| 1959 | 190 | 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 | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
 |
789 | 79% | |
 |
33 | 3% | |
 |
33 | 3% | |
 |
24 | 2% | |
 |
16 | 2% | |
 |
13 | 1% | |
 |
10 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
Best Albums of the 1950s chart changes
| Biggest climbers Biggest climbers in top 100 since last month |
|---|
Up 4 from 61st to 57th |
Up 2 from 81st to 79th |
Up 2 from 79th to 77th |
| Biggest fallers Biggest fallers in top 100 since last month |
|---|
Down 4 from 59th to 63rd |
Down 2 from 62nd to 64th |
Down 2 from 66th to 68th |
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