Best Albums of the 1960s

Explore the best albums of the 1960s, based on over 2 million album rankings across 59,000 charts.
Last updated: 1 hour ago.
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1960s decade summaryThe best artists of the 1960s were The Beatles, The Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, John Coltrane and King Crimson.
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"Down by the River is one of the greatest guitar rock songs of all time. It's a classic example of understated yet skillful and soulful guitar work. Neil and Danny Whitten's point/counterpoint bits send chills every time I hear the song. Other highlights: The Losing End is one of those unsung Neil..."  [+]  Reply
- | 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:
1969
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Rank Score:
8,069
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"The voice of the generation has come with his army of lyrical poetry and sparse-yet-brilliant guitar picking. Sprinkled with more classics in one album than most musicians can produce in their entire careers, Dylan shows himself the rightful heir to the people's voice. He will go on to lead the w..."  [+]  Reply
- alexandermause | 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:
1963
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Rank Score:
7,810
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"A beautiful album and one of the best albums ever. It marked the beginning of a new, more electric era for Miles (that would lead to other masterpieces like Bitches Brew and On the Corner). It's got a calm, relaxed atmosphere that few other albums can produce. It also paved the way for the ambien..."  [+]  Reply
- | 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:
1969
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Rank Score:
7,456
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Top rated album (86/100 - 909 votes)  86 (909 votes)
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Year of Release:
1967
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Rank Score:
7,204
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"great album!! maybe less masterpieces with respect to "The Doors" but I think "Strange Days" is more complete and all the songs are very good. When the music's over is something fantastic!"  Reply
- Gionzi | 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:
1967
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Rank Score:
6,975
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"Pure joy. Don't overlook their early work and paint it all as silly pop-music. These boys knew how to construct melody, and we're always adding in beautiful and perfect musical touches. Little riffs, added harmonies, runs of notes, harmonica here, Rickenbacker there. These guys were geniuses, but..."  [+]  Reply
- junodog4 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +7 votes (7 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:
1964
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Rank Score:
6,951
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"Here, Mr. Zappa proves his worth as a guitarist. 'Willie the Pimp' with its vocals from Captain Beefheart has one of the most amazing guitar solos ever. Throw a bit of jazz into a rock line up and you have a recipe for Hot Rats."  Reply
- Petey1234 | 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:
1969
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Rank Score:
6,751
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38.
Help! 
Soundtrack
"Even though it's very chaotic and not really cohesive, I find this album a bit underrated. Sure, Rubber Soul is the first absolute classic Beatles album, but the artistic leap from Beatles for Sale to Help! is even greater than the one from Help! to Rubber Soul. Sure it has a lot of filler or ave..."  [+]  Reply
- Daydreamer | 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:
1965
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Rank Score:
6,721
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"The opera-rock label has made this album huge in the past but makes people lift up an eyebrow today. It was ambitious and stepforward when it came out but to judge it for what it was THEN is just as unfair as judge it from the POV of "hey other people made more coherent rock opera after that" as ..."  [+]  Reply
- | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 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:
1969
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,605
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"The Band were one of the most creative and influential acts of roots-rock. The group reinstated self respect, dignity and humility within a revisited fusion of gospel, blues and country music. It was an ethical approach that was to be adopted by their generation and subsequent generations. Their ..."  [+]  Reply
- hairymarx1 | 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:
1969
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Rank Score:
6,236
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Total albums: 1,000. Page 4 of 100

Best Albums of the 1960s composition