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	124	5,304	Voice Of The Xtabay (2,066th)by Yma Sumac
1951	141	4,237	Genius Of Modern Music (2,768th)by Thelonious Monk
1952	150	6,942	Bird & Diz (1,980th)by Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie
1953	194	6,724	Black Coffee With Peggy Lee (1,824th)by Peggy Lee
1954	230	11,153	Chet Baker Sings (671st)by Chet Baker
1955	326	14,928	In The Wee Small Hours (382nd)by Frank Sinatra
1956	435	32,545	Elvis Presley (365th)by Elvis Presley
1957	567	45,617	Blue Train (303rd)by John Coltrane
1958	570	41,510	Lady In Satin (563rd)by Billie Holiday
1959	613	81,807	Kind Of Blue (37th)by Miles Davis
Total	3,350	250,766

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

981.

Wagner: Die Walküre

Wilhelm Furtwängler / Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Year of Release:

1955

Appears in:

6 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1955:

Rank in 1950s:

981

Overall Rank:

34,631

Average Rating:

74 (6 votes)

Comments:

982.

Jazz Giant

Bud Powell

Year of Release:

1956

Appears in:

7 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1956:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

983.

Sing A Song Of Basie

Lambert, Hendricks & Ross

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

3 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1957:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

984.

Gerry Mulligan Quartet (1953)

Gerry Mulligan Quartet

Year of Release:

1953

Appears in:

4 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1953:

Rank in 1950s:

984

Overall Rank:

34,683

Average Rating:

72 (4 votes)

Comments:

985.

Pretty Moods

Buddy DeFranco

Year of Release:

1954

Appears in:

5 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1954:

Rank in 1950s:

985

Overall Rank:

34,723

Average Rating:

73 (4 votes)

Comments:

986.

Carmen Jones (From The Original Sound Track)
Soundtrack

Various Artists

Year of Release:

1954

Appears in:

6 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1954:

Rank in 1950s:

986

Overall Rank:

34,763

Average Rating:

72 (6 votes)

Comments:

987.

Cowboy Ballads

Cisco Houston

Year of Release:

1952

Appears in:

8 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1952:

Rank in 1950s:

987

Overall Rank:

34,784

Average Rating:

74 (3 votes)

Comments:

988.

Plays Pretty

Oscar Peterson

Year of Release:

1952

Appears in:

9 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1952:

Rank in 1950s:

988

Overall Rank:

34,792

Average Rating:

70 (7 votes)

Comments:

989.

All Mornin' Long

The Red Garland Quintet

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

11 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1958:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

990.

New Orleans Street Singer

Snooks Eaglin

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

7 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

« prev
1
2
...
97
98
99
100
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 1,000. Page 99 of 100

Best Albums of the 1950s composition

Year	Albums	%

1950	40	4%
1951	40	4%
1952	58	6%
1953	62	6%
1954	77	8%
1955	86	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%
Sonny Rollins	15	2%
Frank Sinatra	15	2%
Ella Fitzgerald	13	1%
Sarah Vaughan	11	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	780	78%
	40	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.

Best Albums of 2002
1. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco
2. Turn On The Bright Lights by Interpol
3. A Rush Of Blood To The Head by Coldplay
4. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips
5. Songs For The Deaf by Queens Of The Stone Age
6. You Forgot It In People by Broken Social Scene
7. Sea Change by Beck
8. ( ) by Sigur Rós
9. By The Way by Red Hot Chili Peppers
10. In Absentia by Porcupine Tree
11. Geogaddi by Boards Of Canada
12. Up The Bracket by The Libertines
13. The Eminem Show by Eminem
14. American IV: The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash
15. Original Pirate Material by The Streets
16. O by Damien Rice
17. Audioslave by Audioslave
18. The Rising by Bruce Springsteen
19. Come Away With Me by Norah Jones
20. The Mantle by Agalloch