Best Albums of the 1970s
Explore the best albums of the 1970s, based on over 2 million album rankings across 60,000 charts.
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Last updated: 4 hours ago
Last updated: 4 hours ago
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"A top 5 record of mine! Brilliant conceptual masterpiece with soaring symphonic arrangements and sleazy glam rock seamlessly integrated." Reply
Year of Release:
1972
Appears in:
Rank Score:
40,936
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"Brilliant. This is the beginning of the greatest solo artist in modern music. Where to start? Changes announces the, er, changes in the style. Life on Mars is quite simply one of the greatest songs ever written, takes the structure of the dire My Way and turns it into something magical. Then what..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
18,423
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"I like this album a lot. But the best part of it was Nick Lowe responding to Bowie putting out an album called Low by releasing an EP called Bowi." Reply
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Romanelli | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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:
1977
Appears in:
Rank Score:
16,060
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"Bowie's best. Station To Station has a unique place in Bowie discography – it’s the transition between the soul sound of Young Americans and the electronic experiments of Low, but the odd mixture of styles gives it a singular identity. Jerky rhythms and a disquieting atmosphere are achieved, even..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1976
Appears in:
Rank Score:
11,494
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"I'm not a Bowie person, but it's albums like this, Station to Station, and Ziggy Stardust that give me reasons to admire the hell out of the guy." Reply
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HoldenM | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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:
1977
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,805
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"Ziggy in America! As Bowie himself told us. Bowie very influenced on this album by The Stones. Lady Grinning Soul is an underrated classic. Deserves more attention. Drive in Saturday and Jean Genie are great singles. Again Mick Ronson deserves a lot of credit for his contributions. A hugely enjoy..." [+] Reply
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Nowhereman1965 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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:
1973
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,330
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"Diamond dogs, was originally meant to be a musical version of 1984, but due to publishing rights not being available to him Bowie had to knock it on the head. In it's place is, diamond dogs. Is it a musical concept? I have no idea. It makes no sense to me. Still, it's a good record, although pers..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1974
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,704
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"Bowie dips into heavy rock. I love this album. Width of a Circle blows me away every time. All the Madmen and After All give us a little glimpse into Bowie’s mindset. With mental illness sadly stalking his family history. A lot of credit goes to Mick Ronson and Tony Visconti who arranged and prod..." [+] Reply
- Nowhereman1965 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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:
1970
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,657
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"David Bowie's 'plastic soul' record. Young Americans was Bowie's most commercial sounding to date, but the songs were still as interesting as ever. The title track is superb, one of Bowie's all time greatest songs, but I would say that is the only truly great song here. Still, there are other goo..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1975
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,651
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"The songs sound a little complicated and oblique but catchy at the same time. As avant as bowie is on this album, it's a pretty catchy album throughout, from the distorted guitar tempo of "red sails" to the "afro-pop-thru-devo" beat of "african night flight". A fair amount of credit goes to Brian..." [+] Reply
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paladisiac | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,204
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Total albums: 11. Page 1 of 2
Best Albums of the 1970s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 111 | 11% | |
| 1971 | 101 | 10% | |
| 1972 | 96 | 10% | |
| 1973 | 112 | 11% | |
| 1974 | 94 | 9% | |
| 1975 | 97 | 10% | |
| 1976 | 90 | 9% | |
| 1977 | 91 | 9% | |
| 1978 | 105 | 11% | |
| 1979 | 103 | 10% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Neil Young | 11 | 1% | |
| David Bowie | 11 | 1% | |
| Frank Zappa | 11 | 1% | |
| Bob Marley | 9 | 1% | |
| Paul McCartney | 9 | 1% | |
| Yes | 9 | 1% | |
| Genesis | 9 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
 |
385 | 39% | |
 |
375 | 38% | |
 |
42 | 4% | |
 |
38 | 4% | |
 |
38 | 4% | |
 |
21 | 2% | |
 |
20 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Best Albums of the 1970s chart changes
| Biggest climbers Biggest climbers in top 100 since last month |
|---|
Up 2 from 89th to 87th |
Up 1 from 100th to 99th |
Up 1 from 91st to 90th |
| Biggest fallers Biggest fallers in top 100 since last month |
|---|
Down 2 from 87th to 89th |
Down 1 from 20th to 21st |
Down 1 from 37th to 38th |
