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	5,248	Voice Of The Xtabay (2,138th)by Yma Sumac
1951	142	4,226	Genius Of Modern Music (2,780th)by Thelonious Monk
1952	153	7,017	Bird & Diz (1,950th)by Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie
1953	197	6,738	Black Coffee With Peggy Lee (1,812th)by Peggy Lee
1954	232	11,100	Chet Baker Sings (682nd)by Chet Baker
1955	342	14,925	In The Wee Small Hours (380th)by Frank Sinatra
1956	454	32,513	Elvis Presley (352nd)by Elvis Presley
1957	583	45,569	Blue Train (294th)by John Coltrane
1958	601	41,579	Lady In Satin (558th)by Billie Holiday
1959	644	81,515	Kind Of Blue (37th)by Miles Davis
Total	3,473	250,431

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

711.

Hank Mobley Quintet

Hank Mobley

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

16 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1957:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

712.

Vince Guaraldi Trio

Year of Release:

1956

Appears in:

11 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1956:

Rank in 1950s:

712

Overall Rank:

25,366

Average Rating:

69 (12 votes)

Comments:

713.

This Modern World

Stan Kenton

Year of Release:

1953

Appears in:

13 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1953:

Rank in 1950s:

713

Overall Rank:

25,424

Average Rating:

72 (12 votes)

Comments:

714.

Songs To Grow On For Mother And Child

Woody Guthrie

Year of Release:

1953

Appears in:

12 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1953:

Rank in 1950s:

714

Overall Rank:

25,449

Average Rating:

66 (18 votes)

Comments:

715.

Bahaman Folk Guitar: Music Of The Bahamas, Volume One

Joseph Spence

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

6 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

716.

Country Pickin' And Singin'

The Stanley Brothers

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

4 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1958:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

717.

Overture To Dawn Vol. 1

Erroll Garner

Year of Release:

1952

Appears in:

8 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1952:

Rank in 1950s:

717

Overall Rank:

25,605

Average Rating:

71 (8 votes)

Comments:

718.

Canta A Discépolo

Edmundo Rivero

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

2 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

719.

Legend Of The Jivaro

Yma Sumac

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

2 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1957:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

720.

No Count Sarah

Sarah Vaughan

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

15 charts

Rank Score:

Rank in 1958:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

« prev
1
...
71
72
73
...
100
next »
Goto Page:

Total albums: 1,000. Page 72 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%
Sarah Vaughan	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 Ever Artists
1. The Beatles
2. Radiohead
3. Pink Floyd
4. David Bowie
5. Bob Dylan
6. Led Zeppelin
7. The Rolling Stones
8. Arcade Fire
9. The Velvet Underground
10. Nirvana
11. Kendrick Lamar
12. Neil Young
13. The Smiths
14. Miles Davis
15. The Beach Boys
16. Kanye West
17. R.E.M.
18. Pixies
19. Jimi Hendrix
20. Bruce Springsteen