Best Albums of the 1940s

« View best albums of the 1930sView best albums of the 1950s »

Listed below are the best albums of the 1940s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 53,000 greatest album charts.

Best albums by year or decade

Decade:

Year:

1940s decade summary

Year	Albums The number of albums from each year featuring in the greatest album charts.	Score Total rank score for each year (made up of the total rank score from all albums in that year)	Top Ranked Album The top ranked album from each year and where it ranks in the overall chart.
1940	69	1,776	Dust Bowl Ballads - Volume 1 (3,759th)by Woody Guthrie
1941	75	1,347	The Midnight Special (And Other ... (4,437th)by Lead Belly
1942	75	756	Her Second Album Of Piano Solos ... (8,698th)by Hazel Scott
1943	77	601	Songs By Lead Belly: Accompanied... (8,835th)by Lead Belly
1944	76	1,294	An Album Of Outstanding Arrangem... (4,992nd)by Glenn Miller
1945	79	1,092	Merry Christmas (5,397th)by Bing Crosby
1946	102	1,816	The Voice Of Frank Sinatra (6,393rd)by Frank Sinatra
1947	105	1,753	Teddy Wilson - Billie Holiday (5,218th)by Teddy Wilson And His Orchestra F...
1948	104	1,464	Chansons Des Cafés De Paris (5,928th)by Édith Piaf
1949	106	1,988	Bird Blows The Blues (6,207th)by Charlie Parker
Total	868	13,888

The best artists of the 1940s were Woody Guthrie, Nat King Cole, Lead Belly, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Josh White, Louis Jordan, The King Cole Trio, Bing Crosby and The Original Broadway Cast.

View chart at point in time

Share this chart

Collector's summary (top 321)Log in or register to discover the great albums that are missing from your music collection!

Sort by

31.

Folk Songs Of The Hills

Merle Travis

Year of Release:

1947

Appears in:

17 charts

Rank Score:

108

Rank in 1947:

Rank in 1940s:

Overall Rank:

10,782

Average Rating:

71 (20 votes)

Comments:

32.

Schubert: Symphony No. 9 In C Major (The Great)

Bruno Walter / New York Philharmonic

Year of Release:

1946

Appears in:

10 charts

Rank Score:

106

Rank in 1946:

Rank in 1940s:

Overall Rank:

10,987

Average Rating:

71 (7 votes)

Comments:

33.

Crosscurrents

Lennie Tristano

Year of Release:

1949

Appears in:

12 charts

Rank Score:

104

Rank in 1949:

Rank in 1940s:

Overall Rank:

11,187

Average Rating:

73 (6 votes)

Comments:

34.

Charlie Parker No. 1

Charlie Parker

Year of Release:

1948

Appears in:

14 charts

Rank Score:

103

Rank in 1948:

Rank in 1940s:

Overall Rank:

11,211

Average Rating:

72 (8 votes)

Comments:

35.

Strange Fruit

Josh White

Year of Release:

1945

Appears in:

9 charts

Rank Score:

103

Rank in 1945:

Rank in 1940s:

Overall Rank:

11,282

Average Rating:

70 (9 votes)

Comments:

36.

La Guitarra
Compilation

Pepe Badajoz

Year of Release:

1949

Appears in:

12 charts

Rank Score:

101

Rank in 1949:

Rank in 1940s:

Overall Rank:

11,451

Average Rating:

75 (5 votes)

Comments:

37.

Woody Guthrie

Year of Release:

1944

Appears in:

13 charts

Rank Score:

101

Rank in 1944:

Rank in 1940s:

Overall Rank:

11,496

Average Rating:

72 (8 votes)

Comments:

38.

Jazz Classics

Louis Armstrong

Year of Release:

1944

Appears in:

9 charts

Rank Score:

100

Rank in 1944:

Rank in 1940s:

Overall Rank:

11,521

Average Rating:

69 (8 votes)

Comments:

39.

A Presentation Of Progressive Jazz

Stan Kenton And His Orchestra

Year of Release:

1948

Appears in:

13 charts

Rank Score:

100

Rank in 1948:

Rank in 1940s:

Overall Rank:

11,586

Average Rating:

73 (6 votes)

Comments:

40.

Spirituals

Paul Robeson

Year of Release:

1946

Appears in:

13 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1946:

Rank in 1940s:

Overall Rank:

11,610

Average Rating:

72 (12 votes)

Comments:

« prev
1
...
3
4
5
...
33
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 321. Page 4 of 33

Best Albums of the 1940s composition

Year	Albums	%

1940	29	3%
1941	29	3%
1942	24	2%
1943	24	2%
1944	25	3%
1945	26	3%
1946	38	4%
1947	40	4%
1948	40	4%
1949	45	5%

Artist	Albums	%

Various Artists	11	3%
Josh White	7	2%
The Original Broadway Cast	6	2%
Sir Thomas Beecham / The London Philharmonic Orchestra	6	2%
Bing Crosby	6	2%
Almanac Singers	5	2%
Frank Sinatra	5	2%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	249	78%
	20	6%
	14	4%
	7	2%
	6	2%
	5	2%
	2	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	302	94%
Yes	18	6%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	314	98%
Yes	6	2%

« View best albums of the 1930sView best albums of the 1950s »

If you enjoy our site, please consider supporting us by sparing a few seconds to disable your ad blocker.

A lot of hard work happens in the background to keep BEA running, and it's especially difficult to do this when we can't pay our hosting fees :(

We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.

Recognised Decade Charts (2020s)
1. 100 Best Albums of the 2010s: Staff Picks by Billboard (2019)
2. The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s by Pitchfork (2019)
3. BrooklynVegan's Top Albums of 2010s by BrooklynVegan (2020)
4. The A.V. Club's 50 best albums of the 2010s by The A.V. Club (2019)
5. All The Best Albums Of The 2010s, Ranked by Uproxx (2019)
6. Gorilla vs. Bear Albums of the 2010s by Gorilla vs. Bear (2019)
7. Top 100 Albums of the Decade by Crack Magazine (2019)
8. NME's Greatest Albums of The Decade: The 2010s by New Music Express (2019)
9. Top 50 Albums of the 2010s by The Wild Honey Pie (2019)
10. 100 Best Albums of the 2010s by Rolling Stone (2019)
11. The 50 best albums of the decade – 2010 to 2019 by Independent (2019)
12. The Needle Drop's Top Albums Of The 2010s by The Needle Drop (2019)
13. The 50 Best Albums of the Decade by Deep Cuts (2019)
14. The 100 Best Albums Of The 2010s by Stereogum (2019)
15. The 101 Best Albums of the 2010s by Spin (2020)
16. Top 100 Albums of the 2010s by Consequence of Sound (2019)
17. Die 100 besten Alben der 10er Jahre by Musikexpress.de (2020)
18. The 100 Best Albums of the 2010s by Paste (2019)
19. Die besten Platten 2010-2019 by Spex (2019)
20. BEST OF 2011 - 2020: Die besten Alben des Jahrzehnts by laut (2020)