Best Albums of the 1960s

« View best albums of the 1950sView best albums of the 1970s »

Listed below are the best albums of the 1960s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 51,000 greatest album charts.

Best albums by year or decade

Decade:

Year:

1960s 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.
1960	581	25,440	Giant Steps (457th)by John Coltrane
1961	545	23,409	My Favorite Things (578th)by John Coltrane
1962	613	20,997	Modern Sounds In Country And Wes... (1,131st)by Ray Charles
1963	624	50,912	The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady (95th)by Charles Mingus
1964	711	49,412	A Hard Day's Night (227th)by The Beatles
1965	849	153,463	Highway 61 Revisited (26th)by Bob Dylan
1966	917	199,268	Revolver (4th)by The Beatles
1967	1,157	319,716	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club... (6th)by The Beatles
1968	1,506	234,737	The Beatles (The White Album) (13th)by The Beatles
1969	1,882	361,756	Abbey Road (3rd)by The Beatles
Total	9,385	1,439,110

The best artists of the 1960s were The Beatles, The Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Velvet Underground & Nico, Led Zeppelin, The Doors and The Rolling Stones.

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

Abbey Road

The Beatles

Year of Release:

1969

Appears in:

3,582 charts

Rank Score:

68,751

Rank in 1969:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

92 (4,459 votes)

Comments:

463

Revolver

The Beatles

Year of Release:

1966

Appears in:

3,445 charts

Rank Score:

60,272

Rank in 1966:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

91 (4,428 votes)

Comments:

473

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Beatles

Year of Release:

1967

Appears in:

3,382 charts

Rank Score:

54,850

Rank in 1967:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

90 (4,441 votes)

Comments:

476

The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Velvet Underground & Nico

Year of Release:

1967

Appears in:

2,955 charts

Rank Score:

49,050

Rank in 1967:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1966

Appears in:

2,759 charts

Rank Score:

47,689

Rank in 1966:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

88 (3,158 votes)

Comments:

349

The Beatles (The White Album)

The Beatles

Year of Release:

1968

Appears in:

2,839 charts

Rank Score:

45,542

Rank in 1968:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

89 (3,690 votes)

Comments:

337

In The Court Of The Crimson King (An Observation By King Crimson)

King Crimson

Year of Release:

1969

Appears in:

1,963 charts

Rank Score:

33,373

Rank in 1969:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1965

Appears in:

2,289 charts

Rank Score:

32,814

Rank in 1965:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

Year of Release:

1965

Appears in:

2,263 charts

Rank Score:

32,019

Rank in 1965:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

88 (3,258 votes)

Comments:

254

10.

The Doors

Year of Release:

1967

Appears in:

2,316 charts

Rank Score:

30,579

Rank in 1967:

Rank in 1960s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

87 (2,738 votes)

Comments:

207

« prev
1
2
3
4
...
99
100
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 1,000. Page 1 of 100

Best Albums of the 1960s composition

Year	Albums	%

1960	53	5%
1961	64	6%
1962	47	5%
1963	52	5%
1964	67	7%
1965	94	9%
1966	100	10%
1967	139	14%
1968	192	19%
1969	192	19%

Artist	Albums	%

The Beatles	17	2%
The Rolling Stones	14	1%
The Beach Boys	14	1%
John Coltrane	13	1%
Miles Davis	11	1%
Nina Simone	10	1%
Bob Dylan	10	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	623	62%
	210	21%
	31	3%
	26	3%
	23	2%
	18	2%
	12	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	968	97%
Yes	32	3%

Live?	Albums	%
No	962	96%
Yes	38	4%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	983	98%
Yes	17	2%

« View best albums of the 1950sView best albums of the 1970s »

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.

Popular Charts
1. The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone (2020)
2. The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time by New Music Express (2013)
3. The Top 100 Albums by VH1 (2001)
4. 200 Greatest Albums of All Time by Uncut (2016)
5. Top 100 Albums by ABC (2006)
6. The Definitive 200 by National Association of Recording Merchandisers (2007)
7. Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums by Virgin (2000)
8. The Greatest Rock Albums by uDiscoverMusic (2015)
9. Greatest 100 Albums of All Time by The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums with NME (2006)
10. Die 100 Alben des Jahrhunderts by Spex (2000)
11. The 100 Greatest Albums Of All Time by Absolute Radio (2012)
12. Die 20 besten Alben der Geschichte by Musikexpress.de (2011)
13. 100 Greatest Albums Ever by Q (2006)
14. Mojo Readers: The 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made by Mojo (1996)
15. Die 100 besten Alben der Musikgeschichte by radioeins (2019)
16. Die 100 besten Platten des Jahrhunderts by Wiener (1999)
17. Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Melody Maker (2000)
18. The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time by Consequence of Sound (2022)
19. All Time Top 100 Albums by Sounds (UK) (1985)
20. Top 90.3 Listener Voted Albums by KEXP (2008)