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 54,000 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	2,075	257,091	Paranoid (52nd)by Black Sabbath
1971	2,174	325,183	Untitled (Led Zeppelin IV) (12th)by Led Zeppelin
1972	2,230	257,053	The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stard... (9th)by David Bowie
1973	2,114	263,022	The Dark Side Of The Moon (2nd)by Pink Floyd
1974	2,028	138,611	Red (140th)by King Crimson
1975	2,152	221,755	Wish You Were Here (7th)by Pink Floyd
1976	2,159	149,466	Songs In The Key Of Life (84th)by Stevie Wonder
1977	2,164	253,459	Rumours (21st)by Fleetwood Mac
1978	2,216	145,538	Darkness On The Edge Of Town (207th)by Bruce Springsteen
1979	2,148	210,205	London Calling (20th)by The Clash
Total	21,460	2,221,382

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

View chart at point in time

Share this chart

Collector's summary (top 1,000)Log in or register to discover the great albums that are missing from your music collection!

Sort by

11.

Blood On The Tracks

Bob Dylan

Year of Release:

1975

Appears in:

1,829 charts

Rank Score:

22,897

Rank in 1975:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

87 (2,150 votes)

Comments:

166

12.

Exile On Main St.

The Rolling Stones

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

1,930 charts

Rank Score:

21,805

Rank in 1972:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

13.

Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

1,748 charts

Rank Score:

21,516

Rank in 1977:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

14.

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,823 charts

Rank Score:

21,342

Rank in 1971:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

15.

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,586 charts

Rank Score:

19,731

Rank in 1971:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

16.

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

1,521 charts

Rank Score:

19,694

Rank in 1972:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

17.

Year of Release:

1970

Appears in:

1,674 charts

Rank Score:

19,676

Rank in 1970:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

18.

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,612 charts

Rank Score:

18,791

Rank in 1971:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

86 (1,877 votes)

Comments:

134

19.

Low

David Bowie

Year of Release:

1977

Appears in:

1,508 charts

Rank Score:

18,759

Rank in 1977:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

86 (2,042 votes)

Comments:

168

20.

Blue

Joni Mitchell

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,341 charts

Rank Score:

17,221

Rank in 1971:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

85 (1,467 votes)

Comments:

110

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

Total albums: 1,000. Page 2 of 100

Best Albums of the 1970s composition

Year	Albums	%

1970	108	11%
1971	97	10%
1972	101	10%
1973	108	11%
1974	99	10%
1975	99	10%
1976	89	9%
1977	91	9%
1978	109	11%
1979	99	10%

Artist	Albums	%

David Bowie	12	1%
Genesis	10	1%
Jethro Tull	9	1%
AC/DC	8	1%
Pink Floyd	8	1%
Yes	8	1%
Elton John	8	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	387	39%
	369	37%
	42	4%
	37	4%
	36	4%
	24	2%
	21	2%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	975	98%
Yes	25	3%

Live?	Albums	%
No	940	94%
Yes	60	6%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	988	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.

Email Address
Forgotten passwords and other site notifications are sent to the email address saved on your profile. If you've changed your email address recently, please remember to update it on your profile page. (If you can't remember your password, and your email address is out of date, please contact us for assistance getting back into your account).