Hail To The Thief (studio album)
by Radiohead

Hail To The Thief by Radiohead
Year: 2003
Overall rank: 182nd   Overall chart historyOverall chart history
Average Rating: 
81/100 (from 2,364 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution   Average rating historyAverage rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 5 albums of 2003 (2nd)
Award Top 50 albums of the 2000s (30th)
Award Top 200 albums of all time (182nd)

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Radiohead - Hail To The Thief (Live Recordings 2003-2009) [New Vinyl LP]
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Radiohead bestography

Hail To The Thief is ranked 7th best out of 25 albums by Radiohead on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Radiohead is OK Computer which is ranked number 1 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 65,088.

Radiohead album bestography « Higher ranked (134th)
Amnesiac
This album (182nd)
Hail To The Thief
Lower ranked (363rd) »
The King Of Limbs

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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Oct
31
Fri
21:00
Radiohead Trip - Laser Spectacular
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07
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19:00
Lavola - Radiohead Tribute with Special Guests This Is Goodbye and Idle Moves
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Nov
08
Sat
20:00
Lavola - Radiohead Tribute with Special Guests Plazas
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Hail To The Thief rankings

Hail To The Thief collection

Hail To The Thief ratings

Average Rating: 
81/100 (from 2,364 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 2,364 ratings for this album.

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85/100
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10/27/2025 02:10 stareaterogni0n  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 21474/100
 
80/100
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10/25/2025 10:32 ParanoidTourist  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 1389/100
 
70/100
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10/24/2025 16:18 seb7  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 1,51680/100
 
75/100
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10/21/2025 19:36 TSIGMONSTER  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 2982/100
 
70/100
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10/12/2025 20:47 Superunknown  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 27570/100

Rating metrics: Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 81.3/100, a mean average of 79.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 81.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.9.

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Hail To The Thief comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 164 comments |
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Rating:  
60/100
From 06/14/2025 12:18
It's an impressively good album! And what II personally like about it the most is the band's more personal approach of making the songs for it, which overall feels more raw, flowing and comfort-zoned, and as a result feels like a very emotional album.

There are a bit too many tracks and some of them span a bit too long, so it took quite a while for me to listen to the album as a whole instead of making different tracklists and omitting tracks off them. After a while when the struggle of listening to the whole album wears off, the listening experience is going to feel very nice and interesting.

II feel like this album is one of Radiohead's best and is up close there with OK Computer in my opinion.
It might not be critically considered Radiohead's best, but it feels to me like a pinnacle in the ridge of alternative rock music among Radiohead's other albums. A great achievement! And as far as II know; yet no alternative rock album have sounded closer to "Hail to the Thief" just like their other albums too!
This album feels like going through a trip in the woods and reflecting about life, and as you keep walking, you face very wise animals who challege you with riddles.
If you haven't listened to it yet, II really recommend you to, since it might shine a light upon you on some spots, as the album contains quite a lot of Radiohead's most emotional music! And some tracks' lyrics and mainly their instrumentals feel very melancholic.
Thus, it is one of the most emotional albums II've ever listened to!
#309531 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 04/19/2023 14:03
While I do believe other Radiohead projects are better then this album, I did really enjoy it. Hail to the Thief captures the essence of Kid A’s Electronic and Ambient music, as well as The Bends’s rock music. Where I End and You Begin is a perfect example of combining Radiohead’s old, and new. Very Cool
#296213 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 03/27/2023 03:44
My second least favorite Radiohead album...

One that has many great songs, but as a whole just doesn't feel as compact as other releases. I even prefer "The King of Limbs" because it is a more cohesive listening experience. I'm not the only one with this opinion, but yes, "Hail to the Thief" would be a much better record if it had like 3-4 songs cut from it (personally I would remove "Backdrifts", "We Suck Young Blood" and "The Gloaming" (I do like these songs, but I think taking them out would make the album as a whole flow much much better) and would include "Gagging Order" from their 2+2=5 EP).

Anyways, it's still an enjoyable music album. The first 3 songs are an amazing way to open up. After that, "Where I End and You Begin" and "There, There" are definitely two of their best songs ever, with a dark atmosphere that calls back immediately to "Amnesiac" or "Kid A" while reincorporating more rock sounds that were somewhat absent from their two earlier releases. "A Wolf At The Door" on another hand is a fabulous cut that doesn't really resemble any other of their songs.

Some people were wondering if this would get a re-release as their previous 3 records. I doubt it a lot. I think even the band knows it didn't get as much recognition as earlier or later material, but it's still interesting revisiting it.
#295502 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 09/21/2022 16:55
Scatterbrain, A Wolf At The Door, There There, Sail To The Moon, I Will, 2+2=5, Go To Sleep..
#289851 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 07/18/2022 15:00
Good music but somehow gets boring after a few listens.
#287586 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (2 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 03/28/2022 06:04
Scatterbrain, A Punch at the Wedding and There, There. That's it.
#283490 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From 02/28/2022 23:56
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
#282025 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -3 votes (4 helpful | 7 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 02/04/2022 15:40
As someone who stopped listening to Radiohead after OK Computer, this album was a great surprise.

Excellent mix of traditional and modern instrumentation…and more importantly, a return of the dramatic shifts in dynamics that attracted me to the band in the first place.
#280716 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (3 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
60/100
From 01/14/2022 11:50
A little bit bloated which is the only reason I have it so low in Radiohead's bestography. But it's still a great album. There There is one of their best and has really grown on me over the years. Other highlights are A Wolf At The Door, Go To Sleep and A Punchup At The Wedding. Weak tracks are I Will and The Gloaming.
#279324 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From 01/02/2022 19:43
Buen discográfica, pero lejos de sus mejores momentos. Mezcla de sus dos épocas bien diferenciadas.
Mejor canción There there
#278423 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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Best Albums of 2003
1. Elephant by The White Stripes
2. Hail To The Thief by Radiohead
3. Absolution by Muse
4. Room On Fire by The Strokes
5. Chutes Too Narrow by The Shins
6. Give Up by The Postal Service
7. Transatlanticism by Death Cab For Cutie
8. The Magnolia Electric Co. by Songs: Ohia
9. De-Loused In The Comatorium by The Mars Volta
10. The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place by Explosions In The Sky
11. Fever To Tell by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
12. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below by OutKast
13. Meteora by Linkin Park
14. Michigan by Sufjan Stevens
15. Ghosts Of The Great Highway by Sun Kil Moon
16. Quebec by Ween
17. Velocity : Design : Comfort by Sweet Trip
18. The Black Album by Jay-Z
19. Fallen by Evanescence
20. Deja Entendu by Brand New
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