Best Albums of 1978
Explore the best albums of 1978, based on over 2 million album rankings across 60,000 charts.
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Last updated: 1 hour ago
Last updated: 1 hour ago
"Check out the ferocity of Bruce's guitar on "Adam Raised A Cain". The sheer power of Max Weinberg's drumming on "Candy's Room". The unsurpassed songwriting on "Somewhere In The Night", "Streets Of Fire", and the title track. I still believe that this is one of the most underrated albums of all ti..." [+] Reply
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Romanelli | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Year of Release:
1978
Appears in:
Rank Score:
7,090
Rank in 1978:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"However cheesy you might think some of the songs are (and some very well might be), frankly, this record is irresistible." Reply
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Norman Bates | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 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:
1978
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,198
Rank in 1978:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Just spun this again last week. Closing in on 40 years later, now. To my mind, what makes this great is the way those three opening hits are perfectly mirrored by those three closers, including that final double-shot: pure album tracks that were not at all radio-friendly, but totally timeless, no..." [+] Reply
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jhuik | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 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:
1978
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,551
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Average Rating:
Comments:
"The ENERGY, the WORDS, the DRUMS. Elvis Costello is my favourite kind of whacky-voiced Brit." Reply
Year of Release:
1978
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,072
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Comments:
"It's Trans-Europe-Express, but with a poppier vibe and more dance beats. How can you argue with that?" Reply
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DeusExMackia | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 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:
1978
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,354
Rank in 1978:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Van Halen's 1978 outstanding debut is a collection of some of the most energetic songs of their career. Eddie's outstanding blistering monster riffs are intermingled with the larger than life persona of gonzo frontman David Lee Roth's vocals. Veteran producer Ted Templeman capture their sound in ..." [+] Reply
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~SMiLE~ | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 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:
1978
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,353
Rank in 1978:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
""Minimalism" seems to be an unfortunate term to describe a piece of music, where so much is going on. The only gripe I have with this is that it could be easily cut by about 5-10 mins. Not that it isn't great throughout, but the ideas are the same, so I think the perfect length for this would be ..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1978
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,213
Rank in 1978:
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Average Rating:
Comments:
"Formulaic? The Kick Inside was an original pioneering debut and unlike anything else on the airwaves at the time. A brilliant album considering the context that it was first. It has somewhat less impact today because of 30 years of "borrowing and honouring" by artists such as Tori Amos." Reply
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Freddie55 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 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:
1978
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,140
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Average Rating:
Comments:
"Muscular and lean, this album packed a lot of punch in a short amount of time. The first Stones album that I loved at first listen. I still have the original vinyl cover with the celebrities photos before they had to redesign the cover." Reply
Year of Release:
1978
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,016
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"No other album has ever simultaneously made me think and made me wanna move as this one." Reply
Year of Release:
1978
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,741
Rank in 1978:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 1,000. Page 1 of 100
Best Albums of 1978 composition
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Various Artists | 14 | 1% | |
| Sun Ra | 4 | 0% | |
| Vangelis | 4 | 0% | |
| Elvis Presley | 3 | 0% | |
| Bob Dylan | 3 | 0% | |
| Culture | 3 | 0% | |
| Woody Shaw | 3 | 0% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
 |
379 | 38% | |
 |
201 | 20% | |
 |
43 | 4% | |
 |
43 | 4% | |
 |
40 | 4% | |
 |
30 | 3% | |
 |
29 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
Best Albums of 1978 chart changes
| Biggest climbers Biggest climbers in top 100 since last month |
|---|
Up 9 from 102nd to 93rd |
Up 7 from 50th to 43rd |
Up 3 from 78th to 75th |
| Biggest fallers Biggest fallers in top 100 since last month |
|---|
Down 6 from 72nd to 78th |
Down 3 from 27th to 30th |
Down 1 from 11th to 12th |
| New entries New entries in top 100 since last month |
|---|
Up 9 from 102nd to 93rd |
| Leavers Leavers from top 100 since last month |
|---|
Down 1 from 100th to 101st |
Best Ever
Artists
1.
The Beatles
2.
Radiohead
3.
Pink Floyd
4.
David Bowie
5.
Bob Dylan
6.
Led Zeppelin
8.
Arcade Fire
9.
Neil Young
10.
Nirvana
