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 55,000 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	130	5,300	Voice Of The Xtabay (2,164th)by Yma Sumac
1951	141	4,290	Genius Of Modern Music (2,759th)by Thelonious Monk
1952	156	6,564	Bird & Diz (1,966th)by Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie
1953	198	6,704	Black Coffee With Peggy Lee (1,820th)by Peggy Lee
1954	234	11,223	Chet Baker Sings (673rd)by Chet Baker
1955	343	15,209	In The Wee Small Hours (377th)by Frank Sinatra
1956	463	32,985	Elvis Presley (349th)by Elvis Presley
1957	587	39,851	Here's Little Richard (423rd)by Little Richard
1958	608	48,458	Blue Train (328th)by John Coltrane
1959	657	82,102	Kind Of Blue (37th)by Miles Davis
Total	3,517	252,687

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

991.

Six Montreal Poets

A.J.M. Smith / Leonard Cohen / Irving Layton / F.R. Scott / Louis Dudek / A.M. Klein

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

2 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1957:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

992.

Moby Dick (Music From The Sound Track)
Soundtrack

Philip Sainton

Year of Release:

1956

Appears in:

3 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1956:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

993.

Una Voz Y Una Guitarra

Atahualpa Yupanqui

Year of Release:

1953

Appears in:

2 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1953:

Rank in 1950s:

993

Overall Rank:

34,601

Average Rating:

70 (2 votes)

Comments:

994.

4, 5, And 6

Jackie McLean

Year of Release:

1956

Appears in:

7 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1956:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

995.

Newport 1958

The Dave Brubeck Quartet

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

6 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1958:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

996.

Miles Davis Quartet

Miles Davis

Year of Release:

1954

Appears in:

7 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1954:

Rank in 1950s:

996

Overall Rank:

34,717

Average Rating:

72 (10 votes)

Comments:

997.

The Jazz Giants '56

Lester Young

Year of Release:

1956

Appears in:

6 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1956:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

998.

In Concert
Live

The Jazz Couriers

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

2 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1958:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

999.

Gypsy

The Original Broadway Cast

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

9 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

1000.

Day By Night

Doris Day

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

12 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1957:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

« prev
1
2
3
...
98
99
100
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 1,000. Page 100 of 100

Best Albums of the 1950s composition

Year	Albums	%

1950	41	4%
1951	40	4%
1952	56	6%
1953	61	6%
1954	75	8%
1955	83	8%
1956	116	12%
1957	154	15%
1958	175	18%
1959	199	20%

Artist	Albums	%

Billie Holiday	18	2%
Miles Davis	16	2%
Sonny Rollins	15	2%
Frank Sinatra	15	2%
Various Artists	14	1%
Ella Fitzgerald	13	1%
Sarah Vaughan	11	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	782	78%
	35	4%
	32	3%
	27	3%
	18	2%
	12	1%
	11	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	944	94%
Yes	56	6%

Live?	Albums	%
No	962	96%
Yes	38	4%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	976	98%
Yes	24	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 the 2010s
1. To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar
2. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West
3. Good Kid, M.A.A.D City by Kendrick Lamar
4. The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
5. Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens
6. A Moon Shaped Pool by Radiohead
7. Lonerism by Tame Impala
8. Blond by Frank Ocean
9. ★ [Blackstar] by David Bowie
10. Modern Vampires Of The City by Vampire Weekend
11. High Violet by The National
12. Teen Dream by Beach House
13. Currents by Tame Impala
14. Channel Orange by Frank Ocean
15. Lost In The Dream by The War On Drugs
16. Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes
17. Bon Iver, Bon Iver by Bon Iver
18. AM by Arctic Monkeys
19. Bloom by Beach House
20. Yeezus by Kanye West