Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by 
Arthurknight 
This chart has evolved a lot over the decade its existed. I think in the past I used to try a lot harder at curating what was more a "recommendations" list, where I'd show off my esoteric finds and scatter in my favourite underrated greats . Other times I told myself the function of a good list was to be in contention with the Overall chart on this site; to be anti conventional music journalism and resist milquetoast taste. Nowadays I'm less ideological about it. To me, this chart is my music-hobbyist refuge where I delight in organising my own personal world of sounds. In short, it may well be the 100 greatest albums of all time (I certainly think so), but that's secondary to it being an outlet for creative expression. I've curated a display that says more about me than the music, to be glanced over by the few fellow BEA users who peruse it and friends at a bar who don't know what they're getting into when they ask me what I listen to.
~~ One Album per Artist. ~~
Notes:
Should you consider it a great injustice that there is very little emphasis on more recent music here, feel free to check out my 21st century decade charts. I'm also very active in making end of year charts which is really where all my heart and soul is poured into with BEA these days.
No Jazz, Hip-Hop, or Electronic albums feature in this chart simply because if they did 100 albums would barely suffice. I find it particularly difficult to compare these genres with other forms of popular music broadly or with each-other (I've similarly exempted classical recordings I especially enjoy for the same reason, but am too lazy to make a classical chart, for now...). In the past I have included these genres, but I've come to dislike it because the limits of 100 albums begins to feel too claustrophobic (Consequently, it'd be better to adjust your thinking of this chart as rather the Top 100 Greatest Rock and Pop Albums). Instead, I have made each their own respective custom chart, which you can find here:
Greatest 100 Jazz Albums: https://www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?c=32925
Greatest 100 Hip-Hop Albums: https://www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?c=32704
Greatest 100 Electronic/IDM Albums: https://www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?c=42751
- Chart updated: 01/24/2025 01:15
- (Created: 07/26/2014 08:45).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 69 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 93 out of 100 (from 125 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from Broken Social Scene. (Remove this filter)
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Now you're all gone, got your make-up on and you're not coming back."
_ [First added to this chart: 02/09/2016]
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
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| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 13 | 13% | |
| 1970s | 28 | 28% | |
| 1980s | 18 | 18% | |
| 1990s | 29 | 29% | |
| 2000s | 10 | 10% | |
| 2010s | 2 | 2% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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|
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|
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| Television | 1 | 1% | |
| Sparks | 1 | 1% | |
| Nico | 1 | 1% | |
| Minutemen | 1 | 1% | |
| Lisa Germano | 1 | 1% | |
| Tortoise | 1 | 1% | |
| Patti Smith | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
47 | 47% | |
 |
24 | 24% | |
 |
6 | 6% | |
 |
5 | 5% | |
 |
4 | 4% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
| |
3 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 1 from 42nd to 41st In Rainbows by Radiohead |
| Up 1 from 41st to 40th Closer by Joy Division |
| Up 1 from 40th to 39th Super Æ by ボアダムス [Boredoms] |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 6 from 36th to 42nd Court And Spark by Joni Mitchell |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similar charts
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Driving Albums | Arthurknight | custom chart | 2022 | |
| The BEA Friendly Chart |  alelsupreme | custom chart | 2015 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums |  paologabriel | 2023 |  | |
| PPV Overall Ranking | bea | custom chart | 2021 |  |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | Arthurknight | 1970s decade chart | 2022 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | josh333 | 2016 | | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums |  The Gollux | 2024 | | |
| BEA Forum Regulars' Top 100 (2015) |  HigherThanTheSun | custom chart | 2015 | |
| Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | Arthurknight | 1990s decade chart | 2022 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | newbands1 | 2015 | |
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Other overall charts by Arthurknight
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | Arthurknight | 2025 | |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
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 125 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
85/100  | 01/28/2025 11:30 | SomethingSpecial | | 85/100 |
 100/100 | 01/24/2025 00:51 | ThuramThugood | | 89/100 |
| 100/100 | 12/24/2024 21:42 | Exist-en-ciel | | 99/100 |
| 95/100 | 06/06/2024 02:35 | areminder | | 79/100 |
| 100/100 | 05/04/2024 20:36 |  Wasinski | | 89/100 |
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 is rated in the top 1% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 93.3/100, a mean average of 93.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 93.9/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 8.1.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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Love the Murmur- R.E.M. placement here! Have always felt that was my favourite record of theirs, so it's nice to see my opinion validated with your chart. “La Máquina De Hacer Pájaros” is fantastic to see here as well. Massively underrated on this site in my opinion. Love the multicultural feel of the list as well. Have recently been trying to get into more international music so your chart may be a great help to do that.
cartoken 11/10/2022 09:53
Thanks for the comment and the rating.
Great tastes as well, very heavy on classical rock but still very sold chart
Kudos for including Youth of America 👌
Fabulous chart. One of the best on the site
Was really hoping to see a few more exceptional Australian albums in the chart. Otherwise, cool chart and appreciate the effort in putting together your comments.
flamingyesdept 10/05/2022 08:04
Still my favourite chart! SMiLE Sessions really is the greatest thing in popular music ♥
Nice.
peate754 12/21/2021 00:48
Wow Great job and very good list
seb7 12/07/2020 19:34
one of the best lists on the site. Creative, methodical, and just overall cool
EyeKanFly 09/11/2020 16:18
I'll definitely use this for recs!
DommeDamian 09/11/2020 08:48
Brrrrrrravo!
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| Best Artists of the 1970s | |
|---|---|
| 1. Pink Floyd | |
| 2. David Bowie | |
| 3. Led Zeppelin | |
| 4. Neil Young | |
| 5. The Rolling Stones | |
| 6. The Clash | |
| 7. Fleetwood Mac | |
| 8. Black Sabbath | |
| 9. The Who | |
| 10. Stevie Wonder | |
| 11. Genesis | |
| 12. Paul McCartney | |
| 13. Joni Mitchell | |
| 14. Bob Dylan | |
| 15. Yes | |
| 16. Bob Marley | |
| 17. Bruce Springsteen | |
| 18. Brian Eno | |
| 19. Nick Drake | |
| 20. Marvin Gaye |