Best Albums of the 1950s

« View best albums of the 1940sView best albums of the 1960s »

Listed below are the best albums of the 1950s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 53,000 greatest album charts.

Best albums by year or decade

Decade:

Year:

1950s 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.
1950	122	5,226	Voice Of The Xtabay (2,068th)by Yma Sumac
1951	141	4,238	Genius Of Modern Music (2,772nd)by Thelonious Monk
1952	150	6,935	Bird & Diz (1,990th)by Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie
1953	194	6,690	Black Coffee With Peggy Lee (1,841st)by Peggy Lee
1954	230	11,095	Chet Baker Sings (680th)by Chet Baker
1955	325	14,935	In The Wee Small Hours (381st)by Frank Sinatra
1956	433	32,487	Elvis Presley (364th)by Elvis Presley
1957	565	45,546	Blue Train (303rd)by John Coltrane
1958	568	41,508	Lady In Satin (564th)by Billie Holiday
1959	611	82,071	Kind Of Blue (38th)by Miles Davis
Total	3,339	250,730

The best artists of the 1950s were Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Frank Sinatra, Charles Mingus, Elvis Presley, Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk, The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Billie Holiday and John Coltrane.

View chart at point in time

Share this chart

Collector's summary (top 1,000)Log in or register to discover the great albums that are missing from your music collection!

Sort by

11.

Lady In Satin

Billie Holiday

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

350 charts

Rank Score:

3,171

Rank in 1958:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

564

Average Rating:

79 (360 votes)

Comments:

12.

Songs For Swingin' Lovers!

Frank Sinatra

Year of Release:

1956

Appears in:

307 charts

Rank Score:

2,957

Rank in 1956:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

600

Average Rating:

79 (364 votes)

Comments:

13.

Brilliant Corners

Thelonious Monk

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

361 charts

Rank Score:

2,915

Rank in 1957:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

610

Average Rating:

81 (368 votes)

Comments:

14.

Somethin' Else

Cannonball Adderley

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

328 charts

Rank Score:

2,853

Rank in 1958:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

622

Average Rating:

82 (301 votes)

Comments:

15.

Saxophone Colossus

Sonny Rollins

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

355 charts

Rank Score:

2,723

Rank in 1957:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

661

Average Rating:

81 (371 votes)

Comments:

16.

Chet Baker Sings

Chet Baker

Year of Release:

1954

Appears in:

252 charts

Rank Score:

2,651

Rank in 1954:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

680

Average Rating:

79 (241 votes)

Comments:

17.

The "Chirping" Crickets

The Crickets

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

302 charts

Rank Score:

2,647

Rank in 1957:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

682

Average Rating:

78 (315 votes)

Comments:

18.

Buddy Holly

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

292 charts

Rank Score:

2,484

Rank in 1958:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

725

Average Rating:

79 (260 votes)

Comments:

19.

Birth Of The Cool
Compilation

Miles Davis

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

352 charts

Rank Score:

2,453

Rank in 1957:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

731

Average Rating:

80 (453 votes)

Comments:

20.

Moanin' In The Moonlight
Compilation

Howlin' Wolf

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

293 charts

Rank Score:

2,400

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

745

Average Rating:

80 (290 votes)

Comments:

« prev
1
2
3
4
...
99
100
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 1,000. Page 2 of 100

Best Albums of the 1950s composition

Year	Albums	%

1950	39	4%
1951	40	4%
1952	58	6%
1953	62	6%
1954	77	8%
1955	87	9%
1956	116	12%
1957	152	15%
1958	173	17%
1959	196	20%

Artist	Albums	%

Various Artists	19	2%
Billie Holiday	18	2%
Miles Davis	16	2%
Frank Sinatra	15	2%
Sonny Rollins	15	2%
Ella Fitzgerald	13	1%
Elvis Presley	11	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	781	78%
	39	4%
	32	3%
	26	3%
	20	2%
	12	1%
	11	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	942	94%
Yes	58	6%

Live?	Albums	%
No	963	96%
Yes	37	4%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	977	98%
Yes	23	2%

« View best albums of the 1940sView best albums of the 1960s »

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