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 54,000 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	125	5,249	Voice Of The Xtabay (2,137th)by Yma Sumac
1951	142	4,226	Genius Of Modern Music (2,781st)by Thelonious Monk
1952	153	6,991	Bird & Diz (1,949th)by Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie
1953	197	6,738	Black Coffee With Peggy Lee (1,812th)by Peggy Lee
1954	232	11,105	Chet Baker Sings (681st)by Chet Baker
1955	342	14,924	In The Wee Small Hours (380th)by Frank Sinatra
1956	454	32,516	Elvis Presley (352nd)by Elvis Presley
1957	583	45,600	Blue Train (294th)by John Coltrane
1958	599	41,452	Lady In Satin (558th)by Billie Holiday
1959	644	81,519	Kind Of Blue (37th)by Miles Davis
Total	3,471	250,320

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

261.

Sarah Vaughan In Hi-Fi
Compilation

Sarah Vaughan

Year of Release:

1955

Appears in:

34 charts

Rank Score:

134

Rank in 1955:

Rank in 1950s:

261

Overall Rank:

9,006

Average Rating:

74 (33 votes)

Comments:

262.

The Buddy Holly Story
Compilation

Buddy Holly

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

25 charts

Rank Score:

133

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

262

Overall Rank:

9,062

Average Rating:

73 (23 votes)

Comments:

263.

Six Pieces Of Silver

Horace Silver

Year of Release:

1956

Appears in:

23 charts

Rank Score:

133

Rank in 1956:

Rank in 1950s:

263

Overall Rank:

9,064

Average Rating:

74 (17 votes)

Comments:

264.

The President Plays With The Oscar Peterson Trio

Lester Young With The Oscar Peterson Trio

Year of Release:

1956

Appears in:

40 charts

Rank Score:

132

Rank in 1956:

Rank in 1950s:

264

Overall Rank:

9,110

Average Rating:

74 (44 votes)

Comments:

265.

Blues From The Gutter

Champion Jack Dupree

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

24 charts

Rank Score:

132

Rank in 1958:

Rank in 1950s:

265

Overall Rank:

9,112

Average Rating:

73 (18 votes)

Comments:

266.

Puccini: Tosca

Maria Callas / Victor De Sabata

Year of Release:

1953

Appears in:

17 charts

Rank Score:

132

Rank in 1953:

Rank in 1950s:

266

Overall Rank:

9,126

Average Rating:

73 (11 votes)

Comments:

267.

Lotte Lenya Singt Kurt Weill

Lotte Lenya

Year of Release:

1955

Appears in:

16 charts

Rank Score:

132

Rank in 1955:

Rank in 1950s:

267

Overall Rank:

9,129

Average Rating:

74 (14 votes)

Comments:

268.

Fontessa

The Modern Jazz Quartet

Year of Release:

1956

Appears in:

32 charts

Rank Score:

131

Rank in 1956:

Rank in 1950s:

268

Overall Rank:

9,169

Average Rating:

74 (50 votes)

Comments:

269.

The Cooker

Lee Morgan

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

29 charts

Rank Score:

130

Rank in 1958:

Rank in 1950s:

269

Overall Rank:

9,226

Average Rating:

77 (24 votes)

Comments:

270.

Caymmi E O Mar

Dorival Caymmi

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

6 charts

Rank Score:

130

Rank in 1957:

Rank in 1950s:

270

Overall Rank:

9,262

Average Rating:

76 (8 votes)

Comments:

« prev
1
...
26
27
28
...
100
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 1,000. Page 27 of 100

Best Albums of the 1950s composition

Year	Albums	%

1950	40	4%
1951	40	4%
1952	59	6%
1953	63	6%
1954	76	8%
1955	82	8%
1956	116	12%
1957	154	15%
1958	172	17%
1959	198	20%

Artist	Albums	%

Billie Holiday	18	2%
Various Artists	17	2%
Miles Davis	16	2%
Sonny Rollins	15	2%
Frank Sinatra	15	2%
Ella Fitzgerald	13	1%
Elvis Presley	11	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	777	78%
	36	4%
	34	3%
	27	3%
	19	2%
	13	1%
	11	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	943	94%
Yes	57	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 »

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 Artists of the 1990s
1. Radiohead
2. Nirvana
3. The Smashing Pumpkins
4. Neutral Milk Hotel
5. Oasis
6. My Bloody Valentine
7. Pearl Jam
8. R.E.M.
9. Weezer
10. Nick Cave
11. Björk
12. Richard David James
13. Pavement
14. Portishead
15. Jeff Buckley
16. Blur
17. Elliott Smith
18. Nas
19. Massive Attack
20. Red Hot Chili Peppers