Best Albums of the 1970s

Listed below are the best albums of the 1970s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 58,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 3 hours ago).
Best albums by year or decade
Decade:
Year:
1970s decade summaryThe best artists of the 1970s were Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, The Clash, Black Sabbath, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder and The Who.
View chart at point in time
 Show this chart as it was on the following date
Share this chart
Collector's summary (top 1,000) Help The maximum rank used by the Collector's Summary is configurable from your profile (top 1,000 is currently selected). Log in or register to discover the great albums that are missing from your music collection!
Sort Sort by
"I had the immense pleasure of seeing Springsteen live in Toronto in 1978 and 1981. They were the best concerts I've ever been to and I've been to a lot. Having been to the live show gives all of his early albums very special meaning to me. I should also mention that it wasn't all about Bruce. Eve..."  [More]  Reply  
- Freddie55 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +7 votes (7 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
1978
Appears in:
Rank Score:
7,278
Rank in 1978:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Year of Release:
1970
Appears in:
Rank Score:
7,254
Rank in 1970:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"I am biased! I was a mod in the 60s and The Who were my favourite band....by some distance. Seeing them live was a life changing experience. I think this is Pete's master work, the essence of who he was and how he felt growing up too. It is the epitome of the "the whole is greater that the sum of..."  [More]  Reply  
- TadtheMod | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
7,045
Rank in 1973:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Not everything that's influential has to be respected. Did it bring rock music back to its basics? Yes. Do I want to go back to "ga ga goo goo" and diapers? No."  Reply  
- Deckiller | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +8 votes (11 helpful | 3 unhelpful) Help 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:
1976
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,904
Rank in 1976:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"This album is SHOCKINGLY underrated in the overall score. Jesus christ people, look at the average ratings for the songs and compare it to others who score around 80-82 overall. I mean, I let a lot of stuff go on here, but COME ONNN"  Reply  
- Medelsvensson | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +10 votes (10 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
6,853
Rank in 1977:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,693
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Certainly one of the best albums ever made, as others have said every song is good, and there are some funny stories as well as heart felt reflections in there. A good selection of instruments as well. Its the sort of album you can listen to multiple times over and over."  Reply  
- HenryVIII | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,558
Rank in 1971:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"The Lamb just keeps getting better and more relevant with age. The most Peter Gabriel driven of any Genesis album, and the last before he left the band because of creative differences. Gabriel’s amazing voice and lyrics work perfectly with the highly melodic and sometimes very heavy progressive r..."  [More]  Reply  
- brent13 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +9 votes (9 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
1974
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,355
Rank in 1974:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Band on the run, is quite rightly regarded as Paul McCartney's best album. You may prefer other records but, band on the run, has got to be the best. It's a thoroughly consistent album from start to finish, every song is potentially a highlight. The title track and, jet, are two of McCartney's be..."  [More]  Reply  
- garycottier | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +9 votes (9 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
6,331
Rank in 1973:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"I'm not really a fan of Deep Purple, but this is undeniably one of the greatest hard rock records ever. That opening riff on Smoke on the Water is one of the most instantly memorable riffs of all time and Highway Star is the ultimate fast car/hot chicks anthem. Throw in a beauty like Space Trucki..."  [More]  Reply  
- Decurso | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful) Help 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:
1972
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,317
Rank in 1972:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 1,000. Page 6 of 100

Best Albums of the 1970s composition

Recognised  Year Charts (2025)
1. Top 40 Albums of 2025 by Decibel (2025)
2. Albums of the year 2025 by Crack Magazine (2025)
3. Best Albums of 2025 by Double J (2025)
4. Albums of the year 2025 by No Ripcord (2025)
5. Albums of the year 2025 by Rough Trade (2025)
6. Albums of the Year 2025 by Les Inrocks (2025)
7. Albums of the year 2025 by The Line Of Best Fit (2025)
8. The 20 best albums of 2025 by Independent (2025)
9. 50 Best Albums of 2025 by The Alternative (2025)
10. Albums of the year 2025 by Uncut (2025)
11. BrooklynVegan's Top 58 Albums of 2025 by BrooklynVegan (2025)
12. Albums of the year 2025 by Piccadilly Records (2025)
13. Albums of the year 2025 by Pitchfork (2025)
14. Top 100 Albums of 2025 by Louder Than War (2025)
15. Best Albums of 2025 by The New Yorker (2025)
16. Top 50 Albums of 2025 by The Needle Drop (2025)
17. Albums of the Year 2025 by Loud And Quiet (2025)
18. Albums of the year 2025 by Stereogum (2025)
19. The 50 best albums of 2025 by The Fader (2025)
20. The 20 Best Records of 2025 by Deep Cuts (2025)