Best Albums of 1996

Explore the best albums of 1996, based on over 2 million album rankings across 59,000 charts.
Last updated: 2 hours ago.
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1996 year summaryThe best artists of 1996 were Belle And Sebastian, Weezer, DJ Shadow, Tool, Beck, フィッシュマンズ [Fishmans], Swans, Manic Street Preachers, OutKast and 2Pac.
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"While Belle & Sebastian have always been a band I enjoy, until the last few months I never realized how much I love them. With this album especially, Murdoch's songwriting is unassuming yet relentless in it's ability to get in your head and stay there."  Reply
- pearljammer13 | 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:
1996
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Rank Score:
9,685
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"If you think "The Good Life" is scandolous or filthy somehow, you've obviously never heard a rap song. Or anything released after 1967 really. And you probably don't understand anything about Rivers Cuomo's songwriting during this period either. Pinkerton was mostly written during River..."  [+]  Reply
- HyperBully | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +11 votes (11 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:
1996
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Rank Score:
9,373
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"One of the definitive albums of the 90's, a genius work of hip hop/electronic music. It samples jazz,hip hop,electronic,funk, etc and sounds like all of them and nothing like those genres. One of those records that sounds like nothing before it and nothing since. "Midnight in a Perfect World" is ..."  [+]  Reply
- | 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:
1996
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Rank Score:
8,922
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"So excited to see this featured as "album of the day." One of my all-time favorites. What makes this album great is that it is a grand artistic statement -- an album, not just a collection of songs -- yet every song is a standout with its own unique personality."  Reply
- btener11 | 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:
1996
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Rank Score:
6,569
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"If Mellow Gold was the sound of Beck opening a spring-loaded can of worms, then this is the sound of those worms taking up arms against their oppressors... and having immense fun into the bargain!"  Reply
- ButterThumbz | 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:
1996
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Rank Score:
6,092
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Year of Release:
1996
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Rank Score:
5,296
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Top rated album (85/100 - 519 votes)  85 (519 votes)
Comments:
"Some albums are like being hit in the chest with a sledgehammer. This album is like being crushed by a mountain. Post-rock albums often give a sense of vast empty space and natural beauty. This album smothers you in scalding, acrid feculence until your sinuses congest and your lungs fill with bli..."  [+]  Reply
- SquishypuffDave | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +24 votes (24 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:
1996
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Rank Score:
3,612
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"The big hits make the weaker tracks bearable on this album with the majority of the record being pretty average. There is so much repetitiveness on here that I almost feel like I'm losing my mind with the amount of times they repeat choruses. This leads to the songs being stuck in my head but not..."  [+]  Reply
- Untitled | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 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:
1996
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Rank Score:
2,676
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Year of Release:
1996
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Rank Score:
2,568
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"Very nearly as good as If You're Feeling Sinister, and much more eclectic. The guitar on I Could Be Dreaming is crazy, and a few other tracks have a special feel too (Electronic Renaissance is the most out of place song on any album I've heard, but I love it all the more for that). But in the end..."  [+]  Reply
- babyBlueSedan | 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:
1996
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Rank Score:
2,457
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Total albums: 1,000. Page 1 of 100

Best Albums of 1996 composition