Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by 
Tamthebam 
I love all types of music it doesn't matter to me if the artist is considered "cool" or not. I've been collecting music for over 50 years and these are the albums I've listened to the most. I love to try and listen to everything an artist has recorded. I love music to enhance my moods I like albums that give an atmosphere/a theme, whether that is in Soul/ R n B, country, folk, jazz, indie, rock or "easy listening" or pop music. My favourite decade is the 70's. Its 2024 and I just realised that the majority of my chart is female ! This was not a conscious decision it just happened
- Chart updated: 3 days ago
- (Created: 06/14/2012 18:49).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 60 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 87 out of 100 (from 108 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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Jill Scott's debut is a masterpiece of musicianship. Her lyrics about loves up's and down's really hit the mark with honesty and warmth. She has a beautiful soprano voice like Minnie Riperton or Deniece Williams but she also incorporates jazz and hip hop. This album takes a few listens but the middle part of the album is amazing (Tracks 4-11 could be a mini album)these tracks tell a story of what is like to fall in & out of love. Exclusively is hilarious and naughty. While Watching Me & Brotha are observations on society. She is a singer/songwriter and poet and along with Erykah Badu can claim to be the Queen of Neo Soul.
[First added to this chart: 06/14/2012]
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A road journey from place to place as well as through time is how I see this album. This is my favourite Joni album the atmosphere she creates with the tunings of her guitar throughout this album is masterful. Coyote, Amelia, Song For Sharon & Black Crow are some of her best ever compositions. The title track is Arabic for Travel. Joni herself has said " A lot of people could have written a lot of my other songs before Hejira but the songs on Hejira could only have come from me"
[First added to this chart: 07/26/2012]
Year of Release:
1976
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,734
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One of the greatest double albums of all time and along with Innervisions two of the greatest soul/RnB albums ever. I remember there was a lot of hype before the release of this album as it was delayed time and time again before finally being released at the end of 1976. It more than lived up to the hype. I remember when I finally got my copy on my 17th bday and I listened to it for 2 days solid. Its message is more relevant today than it was back in the 70's - Love's In Need Of Love Today, Village Ghetto Land, If It's Magic, Saturn. There are also some gorgeous love songs - Knocks Me Off My Feet, Isn't she Lovely, Ordinary Pain, As and Another Star. Two great instrumentals Contusion & Easy Goin' Evening and on top of all that is Sir Duke,I Wish & Pastime Paradise amazing.
[First added to this chart: 06/14/2012]
Year of Release:
1976
Appears in:
Rank Score:
15,857
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The trilogy of Berlin albums (Low Heroes & Lodger) are the best set of concept albums ever recorded, by anyone. Low & Heroes were released in 1977 within 8 months of each other. Heroes is my favourite of these three it is rougher round the edges than Low, Side 2 (tracks 6-10) create an atmosphere that could be the soundtrack of a horror movie an amazing sound that is deeper than anything on Low and on top of that there is the title track and the forgotten classic Beauty & The Beast.
[First added to this chart: 07/27/2012]
Year of Release:
1977
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,381
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The second R.L.J. album is as strong as her debut. This album contains 4 of her greatest songs ever Lucky Guy, Living It Up, We Belong Together & the sprawling Traces of the Western Slopes. The title track is also strong the tracks Woody & Dutch.......and The Returns although good songs don't quite measure up to the rest of the album. So for me its her 2nd best album.
[First added to this chart: 08/18/2013]
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If Billie Holiday was to come back & make a record this would be it. Erykah Badu has that special voice that leaves you wanting more. This again is a debut album that is ranked in my Top10 albums of all time. I never tire listening to this amazing album, On & On is one of the best tracks but my favourite track is Next Lifetime along with 4 Leaf Clover. But the whole album is full of great tracks with a Jazzy neo-soul feel and her amazing voice adds to the atmosphere.
[First added to this chart: 07/26/2012]
Year of Release:
1997
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,750
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The most together/cohesive Madonna album. Full of atmosphere and great songs courtesy of William Orbit. Frozen, Skin the title track and To Have & Not To Hold being my faves. A wonderful album that deserves more recognition.
[First added to this chart: 06/14/2012]
Year of Release:
1998
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,721
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A great album from Lucinda Williams she just gets better with age. Her southern drawl works on these sad melancholy songs. This album needs more than one or two listens before it sinks in and touches you. The standout tracks are Dust, Place In My Heart, Louisiana Story, the title track & If My Love Could Kill but the rest are all good. If you like to wallow in melancholy take a listen to this.
[First added to this chart: 10/16/2016]
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Linda Ronstadt's albums of the 70's are mostly full of great cover versions of country/rock/Motown songs. She makes each song her own It's So Easy, Tumbling Dice, Blue Bayou, Poor,Poor Pitiful Me and Old Paint are good examples of that. The whole album is great nothing weakens it, her voice also seems to be at its peak. She recorded 7 great albums in the 70's this is the best.
[First added to this chart: 07/27/2012]
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George Michaels most moving & sad album beautifully written & sung with great emotion. The songs Jesus To A Child, You Have Been Loved & To Be Forgiven were influenced by the recent death of his lover. There are also some mid tempo songs such as Fastlove & Star People both hit singles and the title track, The Strangest Thing & Spin The Wheel are also 3 of the best songs he has written. Again Gone Too Soon.
[First added to this chart: 06/14/2012]
Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10
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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 | 8 | 8% | |
| 1970s | 34 | 34% | |
| 1980s | 14 | 14% | |
| 1990s | 25 | 25% | |
| 2000s | 10 | 10% | |
| 2010s | 8 | 8% | |
| 2020s | 1 | 1% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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| David Bowie | 8 | 8% | |
| Stevie Wonder | 4 | 4% | |
| Rickie Lee Jones | 4 | 4% | |
| Björk | 4 | 4% | |
| The Rolling Stones | 3 | 3% | |
| R.E.M. | 3 | 3% | |
| Kate Bush | 3 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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48 | 48% | |
| |
34 | 34% | |
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7 | 7% | |
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4 | 4% | |
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3 | 3% | |
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2 | 2% | |
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1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 13 from 61st to 48th Unbreakable by Janet |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 48th to 49th Flying Cowboys by Rickie Lee Jones |
| Down 1 from 49th to 50th Hunky Dory by David Bowie |
| Down 1 from 50th to 51st I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You by Aretha Franklin |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similar charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | Source Tamthebam | Type 1970s decade chart | Published 2025 | Country |
| Title Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | Source SD100852 | Type Overall chart | Published 2024 | Country |
| Title Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | Source Tamthebam | Type 1990s decade chart | Published 2025 | Country |
| Title Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums | Source Virgin | Type Overall chart | Published 2000 | Country |
| Title Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | Source tim0505 | Type Overall chart | Published 2025 | Country |
| Title Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | Source iannicolson | Type Overall chart | Published 2025 | Country  |
| Title Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums | Source Virgin | Type Overall chart | Published 1998 | Country |
| Title Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | Source TinyBlueMusic | Type Overall chart | Published 2021 | Country  |
| Title OVERALL CHART | Source pentapolin | Type Custom chart | Published 2014 | Country  |
| Title BEA Top 100 Reorganized According To My Taste | Source bonnequestion | Type Custom chart | Published 2025 | Country |
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
87/100 (from 108 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 108 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Rating  85/100  | Date updated 04/05/2025 00:57 | Member  slatsheit | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating 88/100 |
| Rating 75/100 | Date updated 03/27/2025 15:42 | Member DrewHamster | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating 79/100 |
| Rating 85/100 | Date updated 03/14/2025 12:18 | Member SomethingSpecial | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating 85/100 |
| Rating 85/100 | Date updated 12/07/2024 23:15 | Member Moondance | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating 85/100 |
| Rating 80/100 | Date updated 09/19/2024 12:39 | Member  LedZep | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating 84/100 |
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 17% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 87.2/100, a mean average of 86.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 87.3/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 10.1.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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85/100
From slatsheit 04/05/2025 01:01
slatsheit 04/05/2025 01:01
Love the variety and many of your choices. Don't love the take on R.E.M. (to me their string of releases from '82-'86 comprise the masterpiece period, whereas '87-'11 is the "good-to-great" period), nor Bowie (to me side two of Low is far better than side two of "Heroes"), nor The Beatles (to me A Hard Day's Night is their second-best album after Revolver - their initial '63-'64 is grossly underrated). But if we agreed on everything we'd be the same person. Cheers!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
85/100
From Moondance 12/07/2024 23:20
We both favour the 70's - however, if we were Venn diagrams, then we would barely intersect. That is what I love about the diversity of music and personal taste. I appreciate the comments on your favourite albums - they do require effort.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From WeWereInLove 08/27/2024 17:30
Lovely list with some unique picks. Baduizm top 10 is a pleasure to see. I'll definitely need to check out some Jill Scott and Rickie Lee Jones!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
80/100
From 
Larcx13 11/23/2023 11:42
Larcx13 11/23/2023 11:42
Madonna...?
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
CharlieBarley 06/17/2023 13:53
CharlieBarley 06/17/2023 13:53
Great chart Tam! I rated it before years ago and it's still top Mark's from me. Great taste in music.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
melisandre 04/16/2023 09:12
melisandre 04/16/2023 09:12
Nice chart Tam!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
85/100
From Johnnyo 02/04/2023 16:25
Very personal chart. I like it
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
95/100
From leniad 07/31/2022 05:35
great seeing your chart and re rating it, i agree bowie is the best artist ever solo
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
85/100
From RioBravo 06/18/2021 06:26
Seems like a good list to explore when I want to find some new R&B artists and albums. And I too love Stevie Wonder.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
95/100
From BraddlesHendo 09/02/2020 02:02
This is the coolest great albums. Some I don’t have mostly the R & B music
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
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