Best Albums of 1971

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Explore the best albums of 1971, based on over 2 million album rankings across 60,000 charts.
Last updated: 5 hours ago

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1971 year summaryThe best artists of 1971 were Led Zeppelin, The Who, David Bowie, Marvin Gaye, The Rolling Stones, Joni Mitchell, Yes, Can, Pink Floyd and The Doors.

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Untitled (Led Zeppelin IV)

Led Zeppelin

"6 of the 8 songs on this album - "Black Dog", "Rock and Roll", "Going to California", "The Battle of Evermore", "Stairway to Heaven" and "When the Levee Breaks" are rock masterpieces. Those tracks alone are enough to warrant this album an exceptional score, but "Misty Mountain Hop", a slightly sa..." [+] Reply

- rockingbyrd456 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

3,182 charts

Rank Score:

36,583

Rank in 1971:

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Average Rating:

90 (4,034 votes)

Comments:

307

Who's Next

The Who

"If you look up the definition of the words "Classic Rock" in a dictionary, you'll see three songs. Baba O'Riley, Behind Blue Eyes, and Won't Get Fooled Again." Reply

- CelticBird23 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +9 votes (9 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

2,216 charts

Rank Score:

20,411

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"Brilliant. This is the beginning of the greatest solo artist in modern music. Where to start? Changes announces the, er, changes in the style. Life on Mars is quite simply one of the greatest songs ever written, takes the structure of the dire My Way and turns it into something magical. Then what..." [+] Reply

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

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,878 charts

Rank Score:

18,449

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Comments:

"“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:

1,667 charts

Rank Score:

18,310

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Comments:

"Whereas Exile is chaotic and unrestrained, Sticky Fingers is remarkably disciplined for an album this raunchy and soaked in sin." Reply

- yonstein414 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +9 votes (9 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,653 charts

Rank Score:

16,162

Rank in 1971:

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Average Rating:

86 (1,940 votes)

Comments:

139

Blue

Joni Mitchell

""The Blue album, there's hardly a dishonest note in the vocals," Joni Mitchell told Rolling Stone in 1979. "At that period of my life, I had no persona defenses. I felt like a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes. I felt like I had absolutely no secrets from the world, and I couldn't preten..." [+] Reply

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

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,391 charts

Rank Score:

15,490

Rank in 1971:

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Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

84 (1,530 votes)

Comments:

114

Tago Mago

Can

"The first half of the album draws you in with catchy studio jamming, cradling your brain in its fun and cerebral jam-oriented accessibility, just in time for the second half to take your now cradled brain and clamp down on it with a cestus filled with 24-karrot gold dust. It returns to recognizab..." [+] Reply

- | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +8 votes (8 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

950 charts

Rank Score:

8,829

Rank in 1971:

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Overall Rank:

156

Average Rating:

83 (1,058 votes)

Comments:

Meddle

Pink Floyd

"The most underrated album I know. Meddle is an absolutely amazing album that is sadly overshadowed by TDSOTM. One Of These Days still remains as one of my most favorite opening tracks to an album ever. Fearless and San Tropez are very simple and pretty tracks that are a nice break from Pink Floyd..." [+] Reply

- ihn | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,128 charts

Rank Score:

8,395

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Comments:

"There's athin line between theatricality and pretentiousness. After their first album, which some would say was pretentious (though not I!), they began to cross that line with increasing frequency. So this album feels like a bit of a back to basics for them... and it is a great album as a result." Reply

badfaith | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

1,047 charts

Rank Score:

7,746

Rank in 1971:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

193

Average Rating:

83 (1,437 votes)

Comments:

10.

Tapestry

Carole King

"Wow, where did this come from? Before listening to it, I was somehow pretty sure I wouldn't be able to connect with this. Totally unexpected, it blew me away. This is what pop heaven sounds like, so many catchy tunes. This kind of albums are usually based on two or three hits and the rest is the ..." [+] Reply

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

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

858 charts

Rank Score:

6,516

Rank in 1971:

Rank in 1970s:

Overall Rank:

244

Average Rating:

82 (963 votes)

Comments:

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Total albums: 1,000. Page 1 of 100

Best Albums of 1971 composition

Artist	Albums	%

Various Artists	11	1%
The Rolling Stones	4	0%
Elvis Presley	4	0%
Grant Green	3	0%
Fela Kuti	3	0%
Jimi Hendrix	3	0%
Elton John	3	0%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	390	39%
	245	25%
	52	5%
	43	4%
	29	3%
	25	3%
	21	2%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	956	96%
Yes	44	4%

Live?	Albums	%
No	956	96%
Yes	44	4%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	984	98%
Yes	16	2%

Best Albums of 1971 chart changes

Biggest climbers Biggest climbers in top 100 since last month
Up 3 from 74th to 71st Just As I Am by Bill Withers
Up 3 from 49th to 46th Love It To Death by Alice Cooper
Up 2 from 93rd to 91st For Alto by Anthony Braxton

Biggest fallers Biggest fallers in top 100 since last month
Down 4 from 84th to 88th A Space In Time by Ten Years After
Down 2 from 29th to 31st Madman Across The Water by Elton John
Down 2 from 47th to 49th Naturally by J.J. Cale

« View best albums of 1970View best albums of 1972 »

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