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	127	5,250	Voice Of The Xtabay (2,158th)by Yma Sumac
1951	142	4,285	Genius Of Modern Music (2,752nd)by Thelonious Monk
1952	155	6,513	Bird & Diz (1,970th)by Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie
1953	198	6,705	Black Coffee With Peggy Lee (1,822nd)by Peggy Lee
1954	232	11,091	Chet Baker Sings (666th)by Chet Baker
1955	342	15,028	In The Wee Small Hours (378th)by Frank Sinatra
1956	456	32,677	Elvis Presley (350th)by Elvis Presley
1957	586	46,105	Blue Train (291st)by John Coltrane
1958	603	42,124	Lady In Satin (547th)by Billie Holiday
1959	650	81,927	Kind Of Blue (37th)by Miles Davis
Total	3,491	251,705

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.

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991.

Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite; Waldteufel: The Skaters Waltz; Rossini: William Tell

Arturo Toscanini / NBC Symphony Orchestra

Year of Release:

1956

Appears in:

7 charts

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992.

Cab Calloway

Year of Release:

1956

Appears in:

6 charts

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993.

Day By Night

Doris Day

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

12 charts

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994.

Tanganyika Strut

Wilbur Harden

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

4 charts

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995.

The Stylings Of Silver

Horace Silver

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

11 charts

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996.

Blues And Haikus

Jack Kerouac Featuring Al Cohn And Zoot Sims

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

4 charts

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996.

Sing A Song Of Basie

Lambert, Hendricks & Ross

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

3 charts

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998.

Gerry Mulligan Quartet (1953)

Gerry Mulligan Quartet

Year of Release:

1953

Appears in:

4 charts

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998

Overall Rank:

35,214

Average Rating:

72 (4 votes)

Comments:

999.

Plays Pretty

Oscar Peterson

Year of Release:

1952

Appears in:

9 charts

Rank Score:

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Rank in 1950s:

999

Overall Rank:

35,215

Average Rating:

69 (8 votes)

Comments:

1000.

Canto De Amor À Bahia E Quatro Acalantos De "Grabriela, Cravo E Canela"

Dorival Caymmi & Jorge Amado

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

2 charts

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Total albums: 1,000. Page 100 of 100

Best Albums of the 1950s composition

Year	Albums	%

1950	40	4%
1951	40	4%
1952	57	6%
1953	62	6%
1954	75	8%
1955	82	8%
1956	117	12%
1957	155	16%
1958	173	17%
1959	199	20%

Artist	Albums	%

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

Country	Albums	%

	781	78%
	34	3%
	32	3%
	27	3%
	19	2%
	13	1%
	11	1%
Show all

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

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

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

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

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Best Artists of 1963
1. Charles Mingus
2. Bob Dylan
3. The Beatles
4. James Brown
5. Sam Cooke
6. Thelonious Monk
7. The Thelonious Monk Quartet
8. The Beach Boys
9. Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
10. Duke Ellington / Charlie Mingus / Max Roach
11. John Coltrane
12. Jorge Ben
13. Kenny Burrell
14. The Oscar Peterson Trio
15. Oscar Peterson
16. Roy Orbison
17. John Coltrane Quartet
18. Herbert von Karajan / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
19. Herbert Von Karajan / Berliner Philharmoniker
20. John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman