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: 7 hours ago
Last updated: 7 hours ago
"I once stated that I thought that this is the only album that really has a claim to the title 'greatest album ever.' I am not really sure that I would phrase that statement with such tenacity and chutzpah now, but I do feel that my point remains viable: There are no other albums out there that ar..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1973
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Rank Score:
56,734
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"The first time I heard this album was a bootleged copy off cassete when I was 14, laying on a hillside at night beside the girl who I thought at the time was the most beautiful and sexy in the world. You may like to add your own imagery to the setting, but it left a permanant mark on my psychie t..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1975
Appears in:
Rank Score:
42,193
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"This album has never gotten old for me. Everything fits together well. Suffragette City and Ziggy Stardust just rip. Lady Stardust is a hidden gem." Reply
Year of Release:
1972
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Rank Score:
41,024
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"One of the few albums I will proudly say is perfect. A monolith of an album. Amazes me that any band could make an album as good. Every song is fantastic but my personal favourites include "Black Dog", "Rock and Roll", "Going to California", "When the Levee Breaks", "The Battle of Evermore", "Fou..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1971
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Rank Score:
36,628
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"This is my favorite pop/rock album with its bohemian flair that never skirts patronizing. Her voice is the siren song which holds the listener captivated from start to finish. The contents of this are sounds and magic, I think. Seriously though, this is one of the best road trip albums I've incor..." [+] Reply
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ptaylor1989 | 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
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Rank Score:
29,590
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"This record is pretty much as close to perfect as I've personally heard. It just rolls. Every track has its own unique identity but at the same time adds to the completeness of the whole. The wild diversity of the songs and styles and sounds on this record never seem forced or half-baked. And has..." [+] Reply
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Mercury | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +19 votes (19 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Year of Release:
1979
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Rank Score:
29,136
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"A lot of people complain about its "pretentiousness", and its pompous nature, but quite frankly I don't see it working without these traits. All the emotions and the rage towards the world of one person packaged in an incredibly expressive piece of work. It ranges from melancholic to angry to apa..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1979
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Rank Score:
23,650
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"Water's Orwellian critique of society with the population represented as dogs, pigs and sheep. Of course the Pink Floyd of 1977 has nothing in common with the punk movement happening at the time as we are lead to believe the Floyd were one of the main targets for the punks, but here Water's does ..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1977
Appears in:
Rank Score:
21,386
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"I love to play (or Sing?) those opening beats of disorder in the shower like...ta da da....and then dug dug dug uuuuu...and then the bass....dan dand and dan dan, dun dun dun dun, dan dan dan, and then the voice gets deep and I sing like Ian Curtis, and then I realize I'm singing disorder at 5:50..." [+] Reply
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Antonio-Pedro | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +8 votes (8 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:
20,684
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"Amazing, birthed from Townsend's obtuse and failed lifehouse project. Yet The Who's finest collection of individual original songs. Doesn't have the conceptual grandiosity of Quadrophenia and Tommy, but great deep tracks as well as the classics that I long ago burned out on from overlistening." Reply
Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
20,432
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Total albums: 1,000. Page 1 of 100
Best Albums of the 1970s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 111 | 11% | |
| 1971 | 101 | 10% | |
| 1972 | 96 | 10% | |
| 1973 | 112 | 11% | |
| 1974 | 95 | 10% | |
| 1975 | 97 | 10% | |
| 1976 | 89 | 9% | |
| 1977 | 91 | 9% | |
| 1978 | 105 | 11% | |
| 1979 | 103 | 10% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Frank Zappa | 11 | 1% | |
| Neil Young | 11 | 1% | |
| David Bowie | 11 | 1% | |
| Genesis | 9 | 1% | |
| Bob Marley | 9 | 1% | |
| Paul McCartney | 9 | 1% | |
| Yes | 9 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
 |
385 | 39% | |
 |
376 | 38% | |
 |
42 | 4% | |
 |
38 | 4% | |
 |
38 | 4% | |
 |
20 | 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 2 from 65th to 63rd |
Up 1 from 100th to 99th |
| Biggest fallers Biggest fallers in top 100 since last month |
|---|
Down 2 from 64th to 66th |
Down 2 from 87th to 89th |
Down 1 from 13th to 14th |
