Best Albums of 1966

Explore the best albums of 1966, based on over 2 million album rankings across 60,000 charts.
Last updated: 5 hours ago.
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1966 year summaryThe best artists of 1966 were The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, The Rolling Stones, Frank Zappa, Nina Simone, The Kinks, John Coltrane and 13th Floor Elevators.
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"As great as this album is, it would have been even greater if they had included "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" (and taken off "Dr. Robert" and "Got to get you into my life")...which were released as "single" only in May, 1966...terrible decision. I hated when they released "single only" records."  Reply
- ffudnebbuh | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +8 votes (11 helpful | 3 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:
1966
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Rank Score:
47,036
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Top rated album (91/100 - 4626 votes)  91 (4,626 votes)
Comments:
"This album is an absolute masterpiece. It deserves any praise that it has ever gotten. From the colorful arrangements to the catchy pop tunes, this album just never disappoints. Although I do have certain favorites from this record, every one of the tracks (even the instrumentals) get stuck in my..."  [+]  Reply
- | 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:
1966
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Rank Score:
36,695
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Top rated album (88/100 - 3317 votes)  88 (3,317 votes)
Comments:
"The way I feel about this album is best represented by the scene in High Fidelity in which Jack Black's character, Barry, describes not owning it as "perverse." That about sums it up. Song for song, this is finest folk rock album ever made. "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" is probably the highligh..."  [+]  Reply
- buzzdainer | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +8 votes (8 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:
1966
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Rank Score:
23,874
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Top rated album (88/100 - 2427 votes)  88 (2,427 votes)
Comments:
"I have the US version and tried adding it but I guess it was rejected. I like that it contains Paint it Black but this version doesn't. I find it odd that both versions are not on this site."  Reply
- ExTeaSea | 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:
1966
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Rank Score:
4,318
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"Fantastic album. Paul Simon truly seems to have been a tortured soul at the time of this album's creation. "A Most Peculiar Man" is an amazingly simple but dark song and the highlight of the album."  Reply
- sszwalbenest | 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:
1966
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Rank Score:
4,155
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"Zappa's debut is the first of his early-period classic trilogy. The first-ever double/concept album, Zappa's critique of mass consumption and satirical dissection of US society, is pionering and was a major influence on Sgt Peppers."  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:
1966
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,472
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"Great album. A very close second to “Bridge” on my S&G list. Wonderful, calm, soaring harmonies. Detailed, rich, timeless production and songwriting. This is much better and more consistent than Sounds Of Silence to me. 4th favorite record of 1966 behind Revolver, Pet Sounds, and Blonde On Blonde."  [+]  Reply
- musicman4 | 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:
1966
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Rank Score:
3,412
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Year of Release:
1966
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Rank Score:
2,366
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"Finally after a run of excellent singles, The Kinks at last release an album that is up to the standard of those 45's. Face to face features some of Ray's best writing with songs such as, party line, dandy, and, fancy. Sunny afternoon, is an out and out Kinks classic, but as on earlier albums whe..."  [+]  Reply
- garycottier | 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:
1966
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Rank Score:
2,213
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"Really solid album. "You're Gonna Miss Me" would be the choice cut on the album, but there is not bad track here. The production isn't that great, but for psychedelic garage music, it's suits the murkiness. Listening to this album for the first time, I was startled by just how many psych rock and..."  [+]  Reply
- rockingbyrd456 | 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:
1966
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Rank Score:
2,003
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Total albums: 749. Page 1 of 75

Best Albums of 1966 composition