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	113	4,474	The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Ja... (2,342nd)by Benny Goodman
1951	125	3,828	Genius Of Modern Music: Volume 1 (2,793rd)by Thelonious Monk
1952	147	6,956	Bird & Diz (2,021st)by Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie
1953	182	5,353	Black Coffee With Peggy Lee (2,003rd)by Peggy Lee
1954	211	9,480	Chet Baker Sings (905th)by Chet Baker
1955	292	13,787	In The Wee Small Hours (404th)by Frank Sinatra
1956	394	29,340	Elvis Presley (395th)by Elvis Presley
1957	511	44,019	Blue Train (339th)by John Coltrane
1958	503	38,715	Lady In Satin (615th)by Billie Holiday
1959	534	82,574	Kind Of Blue (40th)by Miles Davis
Total	3,012	238,525

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 John Coltrane.

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:

1,484 charts

Rank Score:

30,011

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

89 (2,032 votes)

Comments:

149

Mingus Ah Um

Charles Mingus

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

568 charts

Rank Score:

7,947

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

251

Average Rating:

85 (629 votes)

Comments:

Time Out

The Dave Brubeck Quartet

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

576 charts

Rank Score:

6,939

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

502 charts

Rank Score:

5,875

Rank in 1957:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

339

Average Rating:

84 (579 votes)

Comments:

Elvis Presley

Year of Release:

1956

Appears in:

510 charts

Rank Score:

5,018

Rank in 1956:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

394

Average Rating:

80 (683 votes)

Comments:

In The Wee Small Hours

Frank Sinatra

Year of Release:

1955

Appears in:

413 charts

Rank Score:

4,863

Rank in 1955:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

408

Average Rating:

80 (569 votes)

Comments:

The Shape Of Jazz To Come

Ornette Coleman

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

369 charts

Rank Score:

4,326

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

453

Average Rating:

82 (439 votes)

Comments:

Here's Little Richard

Little Richard

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

359 charts

Rank Score:

3,938

Rank in 1957:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

493

Average Rating:

79 (426 votes)

Comments:

Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

321 charts

Rank Score:

3,361

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

570

Average Rating:

83 (304 votes)

Comments:

10.

Lady In Satin

Billie Holiday

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

314 charts

Rank Score:

3,151

Rank in 1958:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

615

Average Rating:

80 (320 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	54	5%
1953	59	6%
1954	76	8%
1955	89	9%
1956	121	12%
1957	153	15%
1958	173	17%
1959	187	19%

Artist	Albums	%

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

Country	Albums	%

	771	77%
	38	4%
	31	3%
	28	3%
	28	3%
	12	1%
	9	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	946	95%
Yes	54	5%

Live?	Albums	%
No	967	97%
Yes	33	3%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	986	99%
Yes	14	1%

« 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.

Recognised Year Charts (2020)
1. The 50 Best Albums of 2020 by Rolling Stone (2020)
2. The 50 Best Albums of 2020 by Billboard (2020)
3. Best Albums of 2020 by Northern Transmissions (2020)
4. The Loud And Quiet best albums of 2020 by Loud And Quiet (2020)
5. The 75 Best Albums of 2020 by The Alternative (2020)
6. Top 55 Albums Of 2020 by BrooklynVegan (2020)
7. Exclaim!'s 50 Best Albums of 2020 by Exclaim! (2020)
8. The Top 50 Albums of 2020 by Crack Magazine (2020)
9. The Wire's Top 50 Releases of 2020 by The Wire (2020)
10. Top 30 Albums Of 2020 by The Wild Honey Pie (2020)
11. The 50 Best Albums of 2020 by Esquire (2020)
12. Albums of the Year 2020 by Rough Trade (2020)
13. The Best Albums of 2020 by FLOOD Magazine (2020)
14. Quietus Albums Of The Year 2020 by The Quietus (2020)
15. Gorilla vs. Bear's Albums of 2020 by Gorilla vs. Bear (2020)
16. Top 99 Music Albums of 2020 by Piccadilly Records (2020)
17. The Best Albums Of 2020 by Uproxx (2020)
18. 20 Best Albums of 2020 by Gaffa (2020)
19. 50 Best Albums of 2020 by The Needle Drop (2020)
20. Albums Of The Year 2020 – Top 50 by Louder Than War (2020)