Top 500 Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone (2005) United States

Rolling Stone is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California. These are their best albums of all time. Rolling Stone is an American magazine devoted to music and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco in 1967. In 2003, Rolling Stone published an article describing what it considered to be the top 500 music albums of all time. In 2005, this list was updated and released as a book.
(Official website: https://www.rollingstone.com)

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There is a more recent chart by Rolling Stone in which rank scores have been awarded - The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone (2020) United States.

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Buy album United States
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Year of Release:
1973
Appears in:
Rank Score:
7,947
Rank in 1973:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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Year of Release:
1978
Appears in:
Rank Score:
99
Rank in 1978:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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Year of Release:
1987
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,261
Rank in 1987:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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Year of Release:
1978
Appears in:
Rank Score:
338
Rank in 1978:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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Year of Release:
1970
Appears in:
Rank Score:
10,202
Rank in 1970:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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Year of Release:
1969
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,121
Rank in 1969:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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Year of Release:
1969
Appears in:
Rank Score:
7,232
Rank in 1969:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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Year of Release:
1963
Appears in:
Rank Score:
8,528
Rank in 1963:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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Year of Release:
1978
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,819
Rank in 1978:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album United States
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Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,343
Rank in 1971:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 100. Page 10 of 10

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Top 500 Albums of All Time composition

Decade Albums %


1930s 0 0%
1940s 0 0%
1950s 3 3%
1960s 36 36%
1970s 43 43%
1980s 11 11%
1990s 6 6%
2000s 1 1%
2010s 0 0%
2020s 0 0%
Country Albums %


United States 57 57%
United Kingdom 32 32%
Canada 5 5%
Ireland 2 2%
Mixed Nationality 2 2%
Australia 1 1%
Jamaica 1 1%
Compilation? Albums %
No 88 88%
Yes 12 12%
Live? Albums %
No 97 97%
Yes 3 3%
Soundtrack? Albums %
No 98 98%
Yes 2 2%

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Year charts

TitleSourceTypePublishedCountry
The 100 Best Albums of 2023Rolling Stone2023 year chart2023United States
Top 100 Music Albums of 2022Rolling Stone2022 year chart2022United States
The 50 Best Albums of 2021Rolling Stone2021 year chart2021United States
The 50 Best Albums of 2020Rolling Stone2020 year chart2020United States
50 Best Albums of 2019Rolling Stone2019 year chart2019United States
50 Best Albums of 2018Rolling Stone2018 year chart2018United States
50 Best Albums of 2017Rolling Stone2017 year chart2017United States
50 Best Albums of 2016Rolling Stone2016 year chart2016United States
50 Best Albums of 2015Rolling Stone2015 year chart2015United States
50 Best Albums of 2014Rolling Stone2014 year chart2014United States
50 Best Albums of 2013Rolling Stone2013 year chart2013United States
Best Albums of 2006Rolling Stone2006 year chart2006United States
Best Albums of 2005Rolling Stone2005 year chart2005United States

Decade charts

TitleSourceTypePublishedCountry
100 Best Albums of the 2010sRolling Stone2010s decade chart2019United States
100 Best Albums of the 2000sRolling Stone2000s decade chart2011United States
100 Best Albums of the NinetiesRolling Stone1990s decade chart2010United States
100 Best Albums of the EightiesRolling Stone1980s decade chart1989United States

Overall charts

TitleSourceTypePublishedCountry
Top 500 Albums of All TimeRolling Stone2003United States
Top 500 Albums of All TimeRolling Stone2005United States
Top 500 Albums of All TimeRolling Stone2012United States
The 500 Greatest Albums of All TimeRolling Stone2020United States

[Rolling Stone was founded in 1967.]

Top 500 Albums of All Time ratings

Average Rating: 
65/100 (from 62 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 chart. | Show all 62 ratings for this chart.

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RatingDate updatedMemberChart ratingsAvg. chart rating
 
90/100
 Report rating
06/04/2021 01:49 Skroskznik  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 9492/100
 
50/100
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04/20/2021 12:55 Guigou  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 4476/100
 
75/100
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12/11/2020 07:55 pjohnsongolf  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 27389/100
 
85/100
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11/24/2020 21:53 sampins  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 1784/100
 
90/100
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09/30/2020 02:16 wordnat  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 1093/100

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 charts can have several thousand ratings)

This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 64.9/100, a mean average of 61.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 61.7/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 24.1.

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Top 500 Albums of All Time comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 12 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Maximum Rated First | Longest Comments First
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Rating:  
50/100
From 04/20/2021 12:55
Similaire au 2003
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
60/100
From 06/30/2020 15:58
Too many compilations, as well as a strong focus on 60s and 70s. Otherwise, these are all excellent choices.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 08/10/2015 20:51
Jackwx you are the ofensive one, your chart is offensilevy trash.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 02/11/2014 17:16
Pretty nice overview of music even though it's perhaps to focused on 60's and 70's music.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 06/10/2013 22:05
Slight improvement over the other one.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
65/100
From 10/16/2012 18:51
list is ok, nothing spectacular
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 05/15/2012 00:16
The List was a little bet better this time around, but still too narrow in it's focus. And still too many greatest hits and compilation albums, although a few of the most un-necessary we're removed. Still, it's a very dissapointing list, especially given the hype.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 04/23/2012 01:28
A little better than the 2003 list.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
10/100
From 04/19/2012 11:22
RS have definitely got a hard on for the Beatles.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
55/100
From 03/23/2012 18:58
A little better than their previous greatest album list but this one is still bad. How can anyone truly believe that the 60s and 70s had all of the good music. That is ignorance at its finest. What about bands like Nirvana, Radiohead, Kraftwerk, Blur, The Arcade Fire, Animal Collective, Beach House, Beastie boys, Beck, Outkast, the Black Keys, Bjork, Bloc Party, Built to spill, Daft Punk, Kanye West, Jay-Z, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Elliott Smith, The Flaming Lips, Pavement, Fugazi, Black Flag, Joy Division, Meat Puppets, Gorillaz, Grizzly Bear, Interpol, The Strokes, LCD Soundsystem, M83, Public Enemy, Nas, N.W.A., A Tribe Called Quest, Modest Mouse and many many many many many many more. I'm just tired of typing now but I could go on forever with great 80s 90s and 2000s artists.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (4 helpful | 2 unhelpful)

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Best Artists of the 1980s
1. The Smiths
2. Prince
3. Pixies
4. The Cure
5. Talking Heads
6. U2
7. Metallica
8. Kate Bush
9. R.E.M.
10. The Stone Roses
11. Sonic Youth
12. Michael Jackson
13. Bruce Springsteen
14. Tom Waits
15. Iron Maiden
16. Prince And The Revolution
17. Joy Division
18. New Order
19. Talk Talk
20. Rush
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