Top 89 Greatest Music Albums by 
Boltzmann 
I have a custom favorite albums chart too, which I might like a bit more, but since this thing is what counts, like with the points and such, I decided to switch them. So this one is a bit more serious and uncontroversial (but still controversial for the standards of this site, where every chart that isn't literally "Radiohead-Pink Floyd-Arcade Fire" is considered trash).
The first 17 are 10/10, the rest is 9/10.
My idea of art is a change in culture. Where culture is defined as whatever people do voluntarily. Things exist that human beings do today, and art is the origin of these things. Pin-pointing these things and tracing their origins back is my method of defining art.
Loosely speaking the ratings mean the following:
10: Added something to music that will simply never go away by itself.
9: Sparked a movement that lasted long enough for it to leave a clear mark on a generation.
8: A very good example of an already established movement that doesn't do too much at changing it besides of a personal stylistic differentiation.
7: A work that should not be forgotten even if it just rides a wave rather than doing much of innovation.
6: Congratulations, you made something that can be classified as an album.
5: Rather embarrassing as to how it is completely obvious what was tried here, even if it partly succeeds in copying what it draws influence from.
4: The music seems to be an afterthought.
3: The instruments and equipment handled aren't fully mastered by the performers.
2: Something that sounds like rehearsing rather than anything that can be taken seriously.
1: The people involved have no feeling for music whatsoever and insufficient skills to handle any of the instruments and equipment involved.
Needless to say, 1-3 you will never see commerically released to the public. 4 might only go to some comedy albums or film soundtracks where the music is genuinely a lesser part of the whole piece of art.
- Chart updated: 07/01/2025 23:45
- (Created: 03/16/2020 14:27).
- Chart size: 89 albums.
There are 6 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 89 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 87 out of 100 (from 20 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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It doesn't feel quite moral to put this one above the some of the picks in this top 5, but you gotta spice up your chart, y'know.
He did what makes an album perfect in the most clean way. He put out an idea and presented it in the simplest way, and it was immediately picked up by the culture and transformed it. On top of that there is something poetic about the way how he reconciled rock 'n' roll's backbeat with funk's one. Add the three to make a four-on-the-floor and you've cooked up yourself some house music. This album has its roots in the very beginnings of pop music (rock 'n' roll) and it reaches its leaves to the modern times. It therefore symbolizes this era of music best exactly because it stands in the middle of it. [First added to this chart: 03/16/2020]
He did what makes an album perfect in the most clean way. He put out an idea and presented it in the simplest way, and it was immediately picked up by the culture and transformed it. On top of that there is something poetic about the way how he reconciled rock 'n' roll's backbeat with funk's one. Add the three to make a four-on-the-floor and you've cooked up yourself some house music. This album has its roots in the very beginnings of pop music (rock 'n' roll) and it reaches its leaves to the modern times. It therefore symbolizes this era of music best exactly because it stands in the middle of it. [First added to this chart: 03/16/2020]
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,912
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
31
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The man who made music about music. He was born for music and it was the one thing that brought him ecstasy. Rock 'n' Roll was always about more than melodies, chord progressions and musical scales, that was already explored enough by classical and jazz musicians; it was about energy, it was about the emphasis on the backbeat, it was about the timbre of the vocals. Well, Jimi showed that his guitar could cry too.
[First added to this chart: 03/16/2020]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
18,024
Rank in 1968:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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The late '60s contained two geniuses who single-handedly created a new genre. One is Jimi, and James is the other.
Because of how accepted the sound of funk has become and its happy and dance-oriented nature, I think that people don't really recognize how absolutely crazy and experimental his music was. No one was doing what he was until the '70s hit, and then it was suddenly everyone. The very definition of art. [First added to this chart: 05/16/2024]
Because of how accepted the sound of funk has become and its happy and dance-oriented nature, I think that people don't really recognize how absolutely crazy and experimental his music was. No one was doing what he was until the '70s hit, and then it was suddenly everyone. The very definition of art. [First added to this chart: 05/16/2024]
Year of Release:
1970
Appears in:
Rank Score:
423
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Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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What was new about Ray Charles wasn't his song lyrics, or chord progressions, or melodies; his voice is what it did. His expressiveness hit infinity, and since then a new approach to making music was invented.
[First added to this chart: 03/16/2020]
Year of Release:
1957
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,105
Rank in 1957:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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One side of rock 'n' roll's coin was about simplicity and guitars, and lead to garage rock and all its offspring. This can probably be named pop music's first true masterpiece.
[First added to this chart: 03/16/2020]
Year of Release:
1959
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,523
Rank in 1959:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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Another side of rock 'n' roll's coin was about high energy and dancing, and lead to funk and all its offspring.
[First added to this chart: 03/16/2020]
Year of Release:
1957
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,239
Rank in 1957:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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Dr. Dre is bringing hip hop back to its funk roots, while Snoop Dogg invents the definition of flow.
Why this hip hop album out of all the ones on this list? This was the first album where the rapping and the beats seem to complement each other. Rappers before have had improved their flow from the awkward early '80s rhyming (flow I cannot call it), like Eric B. and Rakim, or De La Soul. But on this track it seems complete; the flows are adjusted to the beats, and play together.
The album is very clearly a blueprint for many hip hop albums to come. [First added to this chart: 03/16/2020]
Why this hip hop album out of all the ones on this list? This was the first album where the rapping and the beats seem to complement each other. Rappers before have had improved their flow from the awkward early '80s rhyming (flow I cannot call it), like Eric B. and Rakim, or De La Soul. But on this track it seems complete; the flows are adjusted to the beats, and play together.
The album is very clearly a blueprint for many hip hop albums to come. [First added to this chart: 03/16/2020]
Year of Release:
1992
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,886
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Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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Jamaica was the second country in which its folk music transcended to the pop realms. And after a slowing down of ska, and even slower from rocksteady, something came out of it just as special as rock 'n' roll itself was.
[First added to this chart: 07/28/2023]
Year of Release:
1973
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,356
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Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
This group is the only group that went head-first into an unknown direction without making it sound like the "experimental" label is the only thing they got going for themselves. They strangely knew to catch a mood with their very scientific approach to making music. And surprisingly this mood was multi-interpretable: new wave - directly through Ian Curtis - that had a very static disposition and couldn't give a fuck to learn how to sing; hip hop - directly through Afrika Bambaataa - who loved the sheer futurism of it; and of course the whole genre of techno.
[First added to this chart: 03/16/2020]
Year of Release:
1977
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,687
Rank in 1977:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
With one foot in the folk rock craze of the '70s and another in '60s psychedelics, she layed the foundations for dream pop... somehow? I'm confused, that means bonus points.
[First added to this chart: 07/28/2023]
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,562
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Comments:
Total albums: 89. Page 1 of 9
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Top 89 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 8 | 9% | |
| 1960s | 16 | 18% | |
| 1970s | 16 | 18% | |
| 1980s | 17 | 19% | |
| 1990s | 15 | 17% | |
| 2000s | 7 | 8% | |
| 2010s | 8 | 9% | |
| 2020s | 2 | 2% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Elvis Presley | 2 | 2% | |
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 2 | 2% | |
| The Beach Boys | 2 | 2% | |
| M.I.A. | 2 | 2% | |
| Wizkid | 1 | 1% | |
| Travis Scott | 1 | 1% | |
| Chuck Berry | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
60 | 67% | |
 |
16 | 18% | |
 |
5 | 6% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 89 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 2 from 3rd to 1st Dirty Mind by Prince |
| Up 1 from 11th to 10th Never For Ever by Kate Bush |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 1st to 2nd Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience |
| Down 1 from 2nd to 3rd Sex Machine by James Brown |
| Down 1 from 10th to 11th It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back by Public Enemy |
| New entries |
|---|
 Catch A Fireby The Wailers |
| Leavers |
|---|
 Soul Rebelsby The Wailers |
Top 89 Greatest Music Albums similar charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 60 Music Albums of the 1980s | Boltzmann | 1980s decade chart | 2025 | |
| Top 83 Music Albums of the 1970s | Boltzmann | 1970s decade chart | 2025 | |
| Top 56 Music Albums of the 1960s | Boltzmann | 1960s decade chart | 2024 | |
| Top 61 Music Albums of the 1990s | Boltzmann | 1990s decade chart | 2025 | |
| Top 70 Greatest Music Albums | Emiliano | Overall chart | 2022 |  |
| My Ranking of the BEA Top 100 | wizardalien | Custom chart | 2025 | |
| Most Popular and Wanted of All Time | panapsal | Custom chart | 2025 |  |
| Top 89 Music Albums of the 1960s |  planetneutral | 1960s decade chart | 2021 |  |
| Top 78 Greatest Music Albums |  Jasonconfused | Overall chart | 2020 | |
| My Top Rated Artists |  RoundTheBend | Custom chart | 2016 | |
Top 89 Greatest Music Albums similarity to your chart(s)
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Top 89 Greatest Music Albums ratings
87/100 (from 20 votes)
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 20 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 90/100  | 06/06/2025 09:35 | SomethingSpecial | | 85/100 |
| 95/100 | 02/09/2025 20:00 |  ExTeaSea | | 89/100 |
| 80/100 | 01/24/2025 13:18 |  greatson | | 80/100 |
| 80/100 | 09/19/2024 13:03 |  LedZep | | 84/100 |
| 75/100 | 10/14/2023 12:26 | mianfei | | 62/100 |
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 87.1/100, a mean average of 87.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 87.8/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 12.2.
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Top 89 Greatest Music Albums comments
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95/100
From ExTeaSea 02/09/2025 20:02
ExTeaSea 02/09/2025 20:02
Really cool chart! Nice seeing a bunch of stuff I've never listened to.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
75/100
From mianfei 10/14/2023 12:28
Interesting chart with a number of surprising choices like Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Sonics and the Shirelles, and a blend of artists not that often seen here overall. The heading is useful, but could make the understanding of the choices better than it actually does.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From 
Larcx13 03/29/2022 15:52
Larcx13 03/29/2022 15:52
Very interesting mix of choices in here.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
80/100
From 
sssvnnn 11/21/2021 16:10
sssvnnn 11/21/2021 16:10
Very divers and open minded chart.
RESPECT:
...but to be honest: I don´t mind the typical "Radiohead-Pink Floyd-Arcade Fire" BEA charts.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (0 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
salahshoori 10/20/2020 05:28
salahshoori 10/20/2020 05:28
All albums here are added to my wish list. AWESOME CHART!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (2 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
90/100
From DillonVeart 10/15/2020 05:04
Great chart. Helped me find some new music due to having key albums in common
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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