Best Albums of the 1970s

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Explore the best albums of the 1970s, based on over 2 million album rankings across 59,000 charts.
Last updated: 4 hours ago.

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1970s decade summaryThe best artists of the 1970s were Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, The Clash, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder and The Who.

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11.

Blood On The Tracks

Bob Dylan

"I don’t feel like typing too much so I’ll just make it short and sweet. This is without a doubt my favorite Dylan album and I think it’s his best. It is without a doubt his most focused album. I think he was trying to prove something considering this came out during a crucial time in his career" [+] Reply

- DoctorBob | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1975

Appears in:

1,880 charts

Rank Score:

19,946

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12.

"The Jazz album of punk" Reply

peate754 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +14 votes (14 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

1,812 charts

Rank Score:

18,857

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13.

"For a bunch of white British guys they really nailed the dirty, gritty sound of American southern blues and rock and roll. This is a masterpiece." Reply

- somefatguy157 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +9 votes (9 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

1,974 charts

Rank Score:

18,599

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14.

"Hunky Dory is an astonishing, career defining piece from Bowie. Its semi-autobiographical lyrics, varied and developed use of both acoustic and electric guitars, its near perfect structure and its countless allusions to Bowie's past, his inspirations and even the future. I've often come to think ..." [+] Reply

DeusExMackia | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,879 charts

Rank Score:

18,562

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15.

"“In the morning, I’ll be alright my friend, but soon the night will bring the pain. Flying high in the friendly sky” What do you get when you combine the smoothest voice in the history of music with the greatest bass lines in the history of music, and hotbox a Motown studio full of marijuana? An ...""“In the morning, I’ll be alright my friend, but soon the night will bring the pain. Flying high in the friendly sky” What do you get when you combine the smoothest voice in the history of music with the greatest bass lines in the history of music, and hotbox a Motown studio full of marijuana? An album that is better than anything in its genre and in its decade - which is saying a lot when you consider all that happened in the 1970’s. If heroin could sing, it still wouldn’t sound as good as Marvin Gaye. I stand very firmly behind my opinion that Marvin Gaye possessed the greatest voice of all time. There are countless things to love about this album musically, the tight bass lines, the smooth aesthetic, the jazz feel, liberal use of assorted wind and stringed instruments, and the variety of percussion the crystal clear production that sounds as incredible in 2015 as it did in 1971. However, it’s Marvin’s show, and it’s his voice that carries the listener through the album. The man clearly had enormous talent, and it is displayed in its entirety on “What’s Going On”. Listening to Marvin Gaye perform live was akin to watching Michael Jordan make the final shot of the 1998 NBA finals, except better by several orders of magnitude because music is clearly a domain of excellence far superior to sports. One of his studio assistants was questioned at one point what the most difficult thing was when working with Marvin Gaye. The response was that it was so difficult to select which takes of his voice to keep and which to discard, because they were all so beautiful that it felt wrong to delete anything that he recorded. “What’s Going On” is about discontent - with culture, with politics, with discrimination, with the imperfect self. It came at a time when the Barry Gordy’s Motown record label was interested only in pumping out radio hits for profit and wasn’t interested in any of this introspective, challenging music. Gaye demanded it be released as he envisioned it and was nearly close to breaking ties with the record label. Marvin Gaye had a wild and remarkable career, plagued by the internal conflict which is was clear from his art, as well as his ongoing struggle with depression and multiple suicide attempts and drug addiction. It’s this struggle that fuels the beauty that is his music. His angelic voice carries just enough of a painful undertone to send shivers down the listener’s spine. That’s “What’s Going On”" [+] Reply

corenfro | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +10 votes (10 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,669 charts

Rank Score:

18,503

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16.

"I'm not a huge fan of heavy metal, but this album is just plain great music irrelevant of genre. Black Sabbath's second album (the first was also released in 1970) features one of the best side's of music ever, featuring "War Pigs", "Iron Man", and the stellar title track, along with "Planet Cara..." [+] Reply

souplipton | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1970

Appears in:

1,751 charts

Rank Score:

18,315

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17.

"Food, Water, Oxygen, & Pink Moon." Reply

Hayden | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +15 votes (16 helpful | 1 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

1,566 charts

Rank Score:

16,850

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18.

"An excellent record, easily up there with the Stones’ best work. Brown Sugar was the big hit, Can’t You Hear Me Knocking is very highly rated, Wild Horses is just sublime, and I’m really loving Sway at the moment too. The last 3 tracks are also quite fascinating - Sister Morphine is wonderfully d..." [+] Reply

- TheSmiths82-87 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,653 charts

Rank Score:

16,280

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Average Rating:

86 (1,940 votes)

Comments:

139

19.

Low

David Bowie

"This is a true experiential album -- one that seeps into your consciousness rather than feeding your ears with sugary pop tunes. When the song writing does get taut and somewhat conventional (as in "Be My Wife"), the impact triples because of the surrounding mood pieces around it. Simply exquisite." [+] Reply

- JustinPLee | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

1,542 charts

Rank Score:

16,113

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Average Rating:

86 (2,098 votes)

Comments:

169

20.

Songs In The Key Of Life

Stevie Wonder

"One of the greatest double albums of all time and along with Innervisions two of the greatest soul/RnB albums ever. I remember there was a lot of hype before the release of this album as it was delayed time and time again before finally being released at the end of 1976. It more than lived up to ..." [+] Reply