Jump to content

User:Lugnuts/List of albums considered the best

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
< User:Lugnuts

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 165.228.82.175 (talk) at 21:22, 19 January 2011 (→2000s). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For albums that had the highest sales, see List of best-selling albums worldwide.

Many publications and organizations have tried to determine the album considered the greatest ever. Those listed in this article have all been cited in a notable survey — be it a popular poll or critics' poll.

None of these citations should be viewed as scientific. By default, surveys are a scientific study of statistical probability and prediction. All the surveys are biased in one way or another. Many of these sources focus on American albums or were polls of English-speaking listeners. Most implicitly consider only currently popular genres, with classical music, opera, jazz, and other categories given short shrift. USA Today noted that Rolling Stone magazine's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "is weighted toward testosterone-fueled vintage rock", with only a "smattering of country (Johnny Cash), jazz (Miles Davis) and seminal blues (Howlin' Wolf)."[1] There are often problems with vote stacking or skewed demographics; Internet-based surveys have a self-selecting audience. The methodology of some surveys may be questionable. Sometimes voters were asked to select albums from a limited list of entries.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) by The Beatles is the canonical example of what is typically cited as the best album of all time. It was ranked number one by Rolling Stone,[2] The Definitive 200 by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers,[3] and others.

Greatest Overall

Album Performer Year Rolling Stone 500 (2003)[4] The Guardian 100 (1997)[5]
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band The Beatles 1967 1 19
Pet Sounds The Beach Boys 1966 2 6
Revolver The Beatles 1966 3 2
Highway 61 Revisited Bob Dylan 1965 4 11
Rubber Soul The Beatles 1965 5 -
What's Going On Marvin Gaye 1971 6 1
Exile on Main St. The Rolling Stones 1972 7 25
London Calling The Clash 1979 8 17
Blonde on Blonde Bob Dylan 1966 9 24
The Beatles (aka The White Album) The Beatles 1968 10 9

All albums listed above were also included in Time magazine's 2006 list of All-TIME 100 Albums,[6] though they were split up by decade and it is unclear if they were ranked.

The Beatles had the most albums of any group or individual performer on both the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (11) and The Guardian's 100 Best Albums Ever (5).

Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon was voted best album by a poll conducted by the ABC television program My Favourite Album in 2006.[7] It was ranked 37th by The Guardian and 43rd by Rolling Stone. On the other hand, Time noted of its list, "... everyone complained because there was no Pink Floyd on it. And that's exactly how it should be."[6]

In 2006, NME selected The Stone Roses as the best British album of all time.[8]

By decade

1970s

1980s

1990s

  • Pitchfork Media chose Radiohead's OK Computer (1997) as the best album of the 1990s.[13]
  • Spin magazine chose OK Computer as the best album of 1985–2005.[14]
  • BestEverAlbums.com chose OK Computer as the best album of the 1990s[15] (it is also their choice as the best album of all time).[16]

2000s

  • According to Metacritic, Kid A by Radiohead and Funeral by Arcade Fire appeared on more best albums of the 2000s lists than any other album from that decade.[17]
  • Metacritic's compilations of rankings from critical reviews, which date back to 2000, give the highest ranking of 100 out of 100 to three albums:

Pinkerton by Weezer, London Calling by The Clash and Exile On Main Street by The Rolling Stones.[18]

  • Pitchfork Media and BestEverAlbums.com chose Radiohead's Kid A (2000) as the best album of the 2000s.[19][20]
  • The Guardian chose The Streets' Original Pirate Material as the best album released from 2000 to 2009. [1]

Notes

  1. ^ Edna Gundersen (November 17, 2003). "It's certainly a thrill: 'Sgt. Pepper' is best album". USA Today.
  2. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938174/the_rs_500_greatest_albums_of_all_time/print
  3. ^ http://www.rockhall.com/pressroom/definitive-200
  4. ^ "The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. November 18, 2003. Retrieved April 6, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ "The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever by The Guardian (1997)". The Guardian. Retrieved April 3, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ a b Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light (November 13, 2006). "The All-TIME 100 Albums". Time magazine. Retrieved April 3, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/myfavouritealbum/
  8. ^ "NME's best British album of all time revealed". January 26, 2006.
  9. ^ http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/5932-top-100-albums-of-the-1970s/10/
  10. ^ http://www.besteveralbums.com/yearstats.php?y=197
  11. ^ http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/5882-top-100-albums-of-the-1980s/10/
  12. ^ http://www.besteveralbums.com/yearstats.php?y=198
  13. ^ http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/5923-top-100-albums-of-the-1990s/10/
  14. ^ http://www.spin.com/articles/100-greatest-albums-1985-2005
  15. ^ http://www.besteveralbums.com/yearstats.php?y=199
  16. ^ http://www.besteveralbums.com/overall.php
  17. ^ http://features.metacritic.com/features/2009/best-albums-of-the-decade-a-roundup-of-critic-lists/
  18. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/music/bests/
  19. ^ http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7710-the-top-200-albums-of-the-2000s-20-1/2/
  20. ^ http://www.besteveralbums.com.com/yearstats.php?y=200
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=User:Lugnuts/List_of_albums_considered_the_best&oldid=408852148"