Best Albums of the 1950s : Best Ever Albums

Best Albums of the 1950s

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Listed below are the greatest albums of the 1950s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 37,000 greatest album charts.

Best albums by year or decade

View by decade:	1940s	1950s	1960s	1970s	1980s	1990s	2000s	2010s
View by year:	1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

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	68	3,636	The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Ja... (2,541st) by Benny Goodman
1951	99	3,255	Hank Williams Sings (3,358th) by Hank Williams With His Drifting ...
1952	114	6,803	Anthology Of American Folk Music (2,449th) by Various Artists
1953	131	4,727	Black Coffee (2,485th) by Peggy Lee
1954	153	9,557	Chet Baker Sings (1,242nd) by Chet Baker
1955	223	13,061	In The Wee Small Hours (436th) by Frank Sinatra
1956	315	34,418	Elvis Presley (430th) by Elvis Presley
1957	406	40,404	Blue Train (413th) by John Coltrane
1958	424	34,794	Lady In Satin (697th) by Billie Holiday
1959	424	101,604	Kind Of Blue (38th) by Miles Davis
Total	2,357	252,260

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

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Rank

Album

Artist

Kind Of Blue

Miles Davis

Year of Release:	1959	Appears in:	1,302 charts
Rank in 1959:	1	Rank Score:	48,236
Rank in 1950s	1	Overall Rank:	38
Average Rating: 89/100 (1,792 votes)
Comments: 131 comments

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Mingus Ah Um

Charles Mingus

Year of Release:	1959	Appears in:	471 charts
Rank in 1959:	2	Rank Score:	9,464
Rank in 1950s	2	Overall Rank:	302
Average Rating: 84/100 (524 votes)
Comments: 27 comments

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Time Out

The Dave Brubeck Quartet

Year of Release:	1959	Appears in:	484 charts
Rank in 1959:	3	Rank Score:	8,139
Rank in 1950s	3	Overall Rank:	345
Average Rating: 84/100 (526 votes)
Comments: 23 comments

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Blue Train

John Coltrane

Year of Release:	1957	Appears in:	395 charts
Rank in 1957:	1	Rank Score:	6,420
Rank in 1950s	4	Overall Rank:	413
Average Rating: 84/100 (480 votes)
Comments: 17 comments

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Elvis Presley

Year of Release:	1956	Appears in:	409 charts
Rank in 1956:	1	Rank Score:	6,197
Rank in 1950s	5	Overall Rank:	430
Average Rating: 80/100 (588 votes)
Comments: 24 comments

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In The Wee Small Hours

Frank Sinatra

Year of Release:	1955	Appears in:	347 charts
Rank in 1955:	1	Rank Score:	6,179
Rank in 1950s	6	Overall Rank:	436
Average Rating: 80/100 (488 votes)
Comments: 28 comments

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The Shape Of Jazz To Come

Ornette Coleman

Year of Release:	1959	Appears in:	337 charts
Rank in 1959:	4	Rank Score:	5,638
Rank in 1950s	7	Overall Rank:	472
Average Rating: 81/100 (380 votes)
Comments: 19 comments

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Here's Little Richard

Little Richard

Year of Release:	1957	Appears in:	277 charts
Rank in 1957:	2	Rank Score:	4,060
Rank in 1950s	8	Overall Rank:	635
Average Rating: 79/100 (351 votes)
Comments: 27 comments

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Saxophone Colossus

Sonny Rollins

Year of Release:	1956	Appears in:	269 charts
Rank in 1956:	2	Rank Score:	3,677
Rank in 1950s	9	Overall Rank:	692
Average Rating: 81/100 (276 votes)
Comments: 8 comments

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10.

Lady In Satin

Billie Holiday

Year of Release:	1958	Appears in:	258 charts
Rank in 1958:	1	Rank Score:	3,635
Rank in 1950s	10	Overall Rank:	697
Average Rating: 80/100 (273 votes)
Comments: 13 comments

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Best Albums of the 1950s composition

Year	Albums	%

1950	32	3%
1951	39	4%
1952	48	5%
1953	52	5%
1954	74	7%
1955	89	9%
1956	124	12%
1957	168	17%
1958	181	18%
1959	193	19%

Artist	Albums	%

Various Artists	20	2%
Miles Davis	16	2%
Frank Sinatra	16	2%
Sonny Rollins	15	2%
Billie Holiday	14	1%
Ella Fitzgerald	11	1%
Sarah Vaughan	11	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	740	74%
	59	6%
	38	4%
	37	4%
	26	3%
	13	1%
	8	1%
Show all

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