Best Albums of the 1970s

« View best albums of the 1960sView best albums of the 1980s »

Listed below are the best albums of the 1970s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 51,000 greatest album charts.

Best albums by year or decade

Decade:

Year:

1970s 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.
1970	1,945	265,375	Paranoid (56th)by Black Sabbath
1971	2,048	342,049	Untitled (Led Zeppelin IV) (12th)by Led Zeppelin
1972	2,073	269,878	The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stard... (9th)by David Bowie
1973	1,981	276,338	The Dark Side Of The Moon (2nd)by Pink Floyd
1974	1,844	142,096	Red (152nd)by King Crimson
1975	2,011	233,858	Wish You Were Here (8th)by Pink Floyd
1976	2,027	155,152	Songs In The Key Of Life (87th)by Stevie Wonder
1977	2,034	264,437	Rumours (23rd)by Fleetwood Mac
1978	2,061	147,147	Darkness On The Edge Of Town (202nd)by Bruce Springsteen
1979	2,009	220,027	London Calling (20th)by The Clash
Total	20,033	2,316,357

The best artists of the 1970s were Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, The Clash, Fleetwood Mac, The Who, Black Sabbath and Genesis (UK).

View chart at point in time

Share this chart

Share | |

Collector's summary (filtered)Log in or register to discover the great albums that are missing from your music collection!

This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from Germany. (Remove this filter)

Sort by

37.

Tago Mago

Can

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

891 charts

Rank Score:

10,863

Rank in 1971:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

145

Average Rating:

83 (1,006 votes)

Comments:

77.

Trans Europa Express

Kraftwerk

Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

689 charts

Rank Score:

6,139

Rank in 1977:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

300

Average Rating:

83 (878 votes)

Comments:

81.

Ege Bamyası

Can

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

588 charts

Rank Score:

5,775

Rank in 1972:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

318

Average Rating:

83 (687 votes)

Comments:

92.

Future Days

Can

Year of Release:

1973

Appears in:

486 charts

Rank Score:

5,175

Rank in 1973:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

357

Average Rating:

83 (555 votes)

Comments:

96.

Die Mensch·Maschine [The Man-Machine]

Kraftwerk

Year of Release:

1978

Appears in:

601 charts

Rank Score:

4,695

Rank in 1978:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

393

Average Rating:

83 (697 votes)

Comments:

185.

Neu!

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

383 charts

Rank Score:

2,138

Rank in 1972:

Rank in 1970s:

185

Overall Rank:

846

Average Rating:

80 (448 votes)

Comments:

189.

Faust IV

Faust

Year of Release:

1973

Appears in:

279 charts

Rank Score:

2,091

Rank in 1973:

Rank in 1970s:

189

Overall Rank:

867

Average Rating:

81 (331 votes)

Comments:

193.

Autobahn

Kraftwerk

Year of Release:

1974

Appears in:

351 charts

Rank Score:

2,060

Rank in 1974:

Rank in 1970s:

193

Overall Rank:

885

Average Rating:

78 (472 votes)

Comments:

196.

Desertshore

Nico

Year of Release:

1970

Appears in:

237 charts

Rank Score:

2,032

Rank in 1970:

Rank in 1970s:

196

Overall Rank:

897

Average Rating:

78 (273 votes)

Comments:

225.

Hosianna Mantra

Popol Vuh (DE)

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

193 charts

Rank Score:

1,740

Rank in 1972:

Rank in 1970s:

225

Overall Rank:

1,043

Average Rating:

80 (250 votes)

Comments:

« prev
1
2
3
4
next »

Total albums: 39. Page 1 of 4

Best Albums of the 1970s composition

Year	Albums	%

1970	106	11%
1971	102	10%
1972	105	11%
1973	108	11%
1974	97	10%
1975	96	10%
1976	88	9%
1977	93	9%
1978	108	11%
1979	98	10%

Artist	Albums	%

David Bowie	11	1%
Genesis (UK)	10	1%
Jethro Tull	9	1%
The Rolling Stones	8	1%
Electric Light Orchestra	8	1%
AC/DC	8	1%
Joni Mitchell	8	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	385	38%
	375	37%
	42	4%
	39	4%
	32	3%
	23	2%
	21	2%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	976	98%
Yes	25	2%

Live?	Albums	%
No	944	94%
Yes	57	6%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	989	99%
Yes	12	1%

« View best albums of the 1960sView best albums of the 1980s »

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 100 Greatest Albums Of All Time by Absolute Radio (2012)
9. 100 Greatest Albums Ever by Q (2006)
10. Mojo Readers: The 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made by Mojo (1996)
11. Die 100 besten Alben der Musikgeschichte by radioeins (2019)
12. Die 100 besten Platten des Jahrhunderts by Wiener (1999)
13. Die 20 besten Alben der Geschichte by Musikexpress.de (2011)
14. The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time by Consequence of Sound (2022)
15. The Greatest Rock Albums by uDiscoverMusic (2015)
16. Die 100 Alben des Jahrhunderts by Spex (2000)
17. Greatest 100 Albums of All Time by The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums with NME (2006)
18. Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Melody Maker (2000)
19. The Top 50 Albums of All Time by Sound & Vision Magazine (2010)
20. Top 90.3 Listener Voted Albums by KEXP (2008)