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	1,988	262,895	Paranoid (58th)by Black Sabbath
1971	2,080	337,419	Untitled (Led Zeppelin IV) (12th)by Led Zeppelin
1972	2,103	265,906	The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stard... (9th)by David Bowie
1973	2,026	272,851	The Dark Side Of The Moon (2nd)by Pink Floyd
1974	1,895	141,056	Red (149th)by King Crimson
1975	2,060	231,297	Wish You Were Here (8th)by Pink Floyd
1976	2,056	153,132	Songs In The Key Of Life (87th)by Stevie Wonder
1977	2,068	261,475	Rumours (23rd)by Fleetwood Mac
1978	2,094	146,558	Darkness On The Edge Of Town (199th)by Bruce Springsteen
1979	2,028	217,548	London Calling (20th)by The Clash
Total	20,398	2,290,138

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

Sort by

21.

Blue

Joni Mitchell

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,323 charts

Rank Score:

17,710

Rank in 1971:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

85 (1,439 votes)

Comments:

108

22.

After The Gold Rush

Neil Young

Year of Release:

1970

Appears in:

1,507 charts

Rank Score:

16,696

Rank in 1970:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

86 (1,725 votes)

Comments:

129

23.

Songs In The Key Of Life

Stevie Wonder

Year of Release:

1976

Appears in:

1,208 charts

Rank Score:

15,725

Rank in 1976:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

85 (1,288 votes)

Comments:

24.

Close To The Edge

Yes

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

1,131 charts

Rank Score:

14,713

Rank in 1972:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

85 (1,409 votes)

Comments:

114

25.

A Night At The Opera

Queen

Year of Release:

1975

Appears in:

1,378 charts

Rank Score:

13,619

Rank in 1975:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

26.

Year of Release:

1976

Appears in:

1,049 charts

Rank Score:

13,598

Rank in 1976:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

101

Average Rating:

85 (1,489 votes)

Comments:

27.

Harvest

Neil Young

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

1,315 charts

Rank Score:

13,562

Rank in 1972:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

103

Average Rating:

84 (1,650 votes)

Comments:

28.

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Simon & Garfunkel

Year of Release:

1970

Appears in:

1,232 charts

Rank Score:

13,560

Rank in 1970:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

104

Average Rating:

84 (1,478 votes)

Comments:

29.

All Things Must Pass

George Harrison

Year of Release:

1970

Appears in:

1,154 charts

Rank Score:

13,550

Rank in 1970:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

30.

Year of Release:

1975

Appears in:

1,302 charts

Rank Score:

13,492

Rank in 1975:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

107

Average Rating:

85 (1,989 votes)

Comments:

135

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

Total albums: 1,000. Page 3 of 100

Best Albums of the 1970s composition

Year	Albums	%

1970	106	11%
1971	102	10%
1972	103	10%
1973	108	11%
1974	97	10%
1975	97	10%
1976	89	9%
1977	92	9%
1978	107	11%
1979	99	10%

Artist	Albums	%

David Bowie	12	1%
Genesis (UK)	10	1%
Jethro Tull	9	1%
Joni Mitchell	8	1%
Pink Floyd	8	1%
Yes	8	1%
Electric Light Orchestra	8	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	387	39%
	373	37%
	42	4%
	39	4%
	32	3%
	24	2%
	21	2%
Show all

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

Live?	Albums	%
No	943	94%
Yes	57	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.

Recent Member Charts
1. Robert Christgau: Dean's List 2007 by cicadelic (2023)
2. Top 100 Music Albums of 2023 by Arthurknight (2023)
3. Top 29 Music Albums of 2023 by mjp11 (2023)
4. Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by mlgprounicorn (2023)
5. Top 52 Music Albums of 1983 by shanelovesyou1111 (2023)
6. choiceless (obligatory) yet another pointless effort by neilgee (2023)
7. Top 20 Music Albums of 1987 by craola (2023)
8. Top 10 Music Albums of 1956 by matterhornrider (2023)
9. 2023 101-200 by mlgprounicorn (2023)
10. Top 100 Music Albums of 2023 by mlgprounicorn (2023)
11. Under The Radar: Australia Pt2 by Moondance (2023)
12. Dylan covers 10a: Complete Albums by Individual Artists by Moondance (2023)
13. Top 100 Music Albums of 2019 by Moondance (2023)
14. Top 55 Greatest Music Albums by BQ731980 (2023)
15. Top 87 Music Albums of 2004 by Skerns (2023)
16. Top 28 Music Albums of 1977 by xhitmanx (2023)
17. Dylan covers 8: International Artists by Moondance (2023)
18. Dylan covers 5c: UK (Lesser/Unknown Artists) by Moondance (2023)
19. Top 100 Music Albums of 2023 by dougcummings (2023)
20. Top 16 Music Albums of 1976 by xhitmanx (2023)