Just click on the link and discover the best albums of the last 70 years! Do you see a favorite?
33 thoughts on “BEST ALBUMS 1950 TO 2020”
Byron
I know I’m very much in the minority here but I’ve never personally found a correlation between quality and popularity and this list just bears that out. The 50s, the heyday for the popularity of jazz, is interesting, but after 1961 it’s all downhill in my book and I’d be hard pressed to say which decade is worse. The 60’s list is especially depressing as I’ve always felt The Beatles were ridiculously overrated (and there’s a lot of pop music from the 60s that I think was just fine).
Byron, I had the same reaction to this Dislogs album list as you did. Yes, record sales is one factor, but quality, innovation, and longevity are other important factors. I posted about this list because I was interested in commenter reactions. Thank you for yours!
Really, really, really lame list. I like The Beatles but that was a bit too much. No Rolling Stones. No Springsteen. No The Who. And wouldn’t Dylan be better served by Highway 61 Revisted or Blonde On Blonde? On the plus side no Kanye West.
1950s – I like the Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall Concert. Otherwise, you know I hate Bing Crosby.
1960s – of the choices give, I’d go with Rubber Soul and Revolver, but where is PET SOUNDS? No one bought albums in the early ’60s.
1970s – not a Led Zeppelin fan. I guess RUMOURS or HOTEL CALIFORNIA
Jeff, my album buying behavior changed in the 1990s when I started buying more classical and smooth jazz CDs and less Rock & Roll. I own very little rap music and most of that is on my many compilation CDs.
It’s a pretty weird list, and the weirdness starts with the stated criterion for the choices. “The most collected album across all formats”? “How many Discogs users have added have added the Master release to their collections?” I’m not even sure what that means, much less what it says about the selections. Hell, I like the Beatles but there’s no way they made 8 of the ten best albums of the 60s, and I still prefer the unlisted Rolling Stones. The 70s list is a bit better except that I never liked Dire Straits and absolutely hated Supertramp. My memory of what I heard everywhere in the 70s would indicate that Eagles and Fleetwood Mac ruled the decade, and I loved them both. But in terms of sheer greatness, Neil Young made more great music in the 70s than both of them combined, but I understand that he wasn’t commercial enough for a list like this. My two favorite bands of the 80s and 90s were Nirvana and REM, with Nirvana getting maybe one selection too many and REM shamefully neglected. And I’m gonna stop right there.
Michael, when I saw this Discogs list and decided to turn it into the basis for a blog post, I knew it would be controversial. I agree with many of your criticisms. No Rolling Stones, no REM, and too many Beetles!
Yes, but unless you wanna be K-Tel, this post should be called Discogs’ Most Registered By Collectors Records from These Decades/Years.
And, of course, the commercial heyday of jazz would probably have been the late ’30s/’early ’40s, but Discogs folks will collected 78 multidisc albums, but not so many as love their LPs…
I would like a world in which any Monk album outsold everything else that year.
Not enough 78 album collectors willing to put up with Discog’s intrusiveness, perhaps! The latter-day collections from 78s are a lot less likely to take the same tracklists as LPs…
Todd, true. I used to have a hundred 78 albums, but I traded them away to a record collector years ago.
wolf
I have to agree with all of you – most albums here are “too simple”, just easy listening.
When I was a student in the 60s we wouldn’t go to or take part at a party where Beatles records were played – Rolling Stones, ok. But mainly it was Blues-Rock, Clapton, Traffic etc.
A bit OT:
My wife as a young woman in communist Hungary had almost no chance to get to listen to “pop” records, but somehow she managed to get records or tapes by her favourites Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong – even went to Satchmo’s concert in Budapest in 1965. He also did a concert in East Berlin in that year.
And when more than 40 years later we went on holiday to New York City we somehow found that his house had been turned into a museum. Wonderful memories when we went there! She had tears in her eyes …
Right now we’re enjoying Blues-Rock ny Warren Hayes …
Everyone has different tastes. A lot of people love Stevie Winwood but I hate his voice and only like him as a part of Traffic. And don’t get me started on Queen. The most overrated band ever. And Steeley Dan I find too cold and only like a few tings by them. And tho I love Clapton I feel Jeff Beck is the better guitarist.
This list is clearly marked “most popular,” not “best” — and just among Discogs users, over time. So something someone bought eight times, whenever a new version came out, scores eight points. (My most-collected album is Relayer by Yes, which I have bought at least 7 times, possibly more.) It’s not really a surprise that the Beatles dominate the 60s — people still buy their albums all the time. (Beatles albums will sell a lot more again this Christmas, after Peter Jackson’s film comes out.) (Hey, any Beatles fan who hasn’t seen Good Ol’ Freda — put this on your list, and at the top. It’s the story of Freda Kelly, who ran the Beatles fan club back in the day, and it’s wonderful.)
Anyway, while “best of” lists are designed to be argued over, that’s not what this is. This is a “huh, that’s mildly interesting” list — the only value judgment it demonstrates is whatever it means that these are the albums that the members of this group bought the most.
One album that’s not surprising to see here is Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, which was on the Billboard Top 200 forever. Just last week I bought a copy — amazingly, the first time I have ever owned a copy of this album. In 2021, most people have either had one or multiple copies for years, or will never buy one. But I just bought my first one.
Jeff, yes, I’ve owned DARK SIDE OF THE MOON in vinyl format, cassettes, and CD. “Huh, that’s mildly interesting” is petty much my reaction to the Discog’s lists, too.
Since I gather this list is based on unit sales, I guess the plethora of Beatles albums makes sense, but I’d have expected a lot of things that aren’t there. Stones. Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, especially their first album. Blind Faith, Traffic, etc. also, where’s disco? It was hugely popular. This list seems oriented toward a certain kind of music buyer, almost as if you could peg which FM station they listened to in which city at the time.
As far as jazz is concerned, it’s all Monk, Coltrane and Davis. That barely scratches the surface!
Most of y’all keep missing this is Discogs list…a certain kind of obsessive, not Too likely to delve too deeply (hence the relative lack of even the Zombies or Byrds or Fairport as well as the Stones), but also not as casual as to rack up a lot of Carole King or Pink Floyd. The endless repackaging of the Rehabbed Four has surely helped…also the slim jazz pickings, the lack of classical or bluegrass that my lazy scroll came up with…
It’s not. It’s the album each year that Discog members have sourced. You could hate their number one but love their 2-9 (if you knew them) and it wouldn’t matter. It is just a list of the most albums Discog members have from each year, nothing more. Why should there be diversity? If they bought the Beatles most one year, why wouldn’t they buy the Beatles the most next year? People are trying to complicate a very simple list. Saying “who cares” is fair. Saying other things should be on there, you’re saying that in this year, more of them should have bought The Rolling Stones. I’m sure a lot of them bought The Rolling Stones — they just didn’t buy them the MOST. There’s nothing more to it.
I know I’m very much in the minority here but I’ve never personally found a correlation between quality and popularity and this list just bears that out. The 50s, the heyday for the popularity of jazz, is interesting, but after 1961 it’s all downhill in my book and I’d be hard pressed to say which decade is worse. The 60’s list is especially depressing as I’ve always felt The Beatles were ridiculously overrated (and there’s a lot of pop music from the 60s that I think was just fine).
Byron, I had the same reaction to this Dislogs album list as you did. Yes, record sales is one factor, but quality, innovation, and longevity are other important factors. I posted about this list because I was interested in commenter reactions. Thank you for yours!
Really, really, really lame list. I like The Beatles but that was a bit too much. No Rolling Stones. No Springsteen. No The Who. And wouldn’t Dylan be better served by Highway 61 Revisted or Blonde On Blonde? On the plus side no Kanye West.
Steve, I thought the same thing you did when I saw that Dylan album. HIGHWAY 61 or BLONDE ON BLONDE would have been way better choices.
Yes, Dylan would be much better served by those albums! Just because the Beatles outsold the Stones doesn’t mean the Stones aren’t great.
1950s – I like the Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall Concert. Otherwise, you know I hate Bing Crosby.
1960s – of the choices give, I’d go with Rubber Soul and Revolver, but where is PET SOUNDS? No one bought albums in the early ’60s.
1970s – not a Led Zeppelin fan. I guess RUMOURS or HOTEL CALIFORNIA
Beyond that, just shoot me in the head.
Jeff, my album buying behavior changed in the 1990s when I started buying more classical and smooth jazz CDs and less Rock & Roll. I own very little rap music and most of that is on my many compilation CDs.
It’s a pretty weird list, and the weirdness starts with the stated criterion for the choices. “The most collected album across all formats”? “How many Discogs users have added have added the Master release to their collections?” I’m not even sure what that means, much less what it says about the selections. Hell, I like the Beatles but there’s no way they made 8 of the ten best albums of the 60s, and I still prefer the unlisted Rolling Stones. The 70s list is a bit better except that I never liked Dire Straits and absolutely hated Supertramp. My memory of what I heard everywhere in the 70s would indicate that Eagles and Fleetwood Mac ruled the decade, and I loved them both. But in terms of sheer greatness, Neil Young made more great music in the 70s than both of them combined, but I understand that he wasn’t commercial enough for a list like this. My two favorite bands of the 80s and 90s were Nirvana and REM, with Nirvana getting maybe one selection too many and REM shamefully neglected. And I’m gonna stop right there.
Michael, when I saw this Discogs list and decided to turn it into the basis for a blog post, I knew it would be controversial. I agree with many of your criticisms. No Rolling Stones, no REM, and too many Beetles!
Yes, but unless you wanna be K-Tel, this post should be called Discogs’ Most Registered By Collectors Records from These Decades/Years.
And, of course, the commercial heyday of jazz would probably have been the late ’30s/’early ’40s, but Discogs folks will collected 78 multidisc albums, but not so many as love their LPs…
I would like a world in which any Monk album outsold everything else that year.
Todd, you’re right about Discog’s focus on more current albums and not especially interested in 78s.
Not enough 78 album collectors willing to put up with Discog’s intrusiveness, perhaps! The latter-day collections from 78s are a lot less likely to take the same tracklists as LPs…
Todd, true. I used to have a hundred 78 albums, but I traded them away to a record collector years ago.
I have to agree with all of you – most albums here are “too simple”, just easy listening.
When I was a student in the 60s we wouldn’t go to or take part at a party where Beatles records were played – Rolling Stones, ok. But mainly it was Blues-Rock, Clapton, Traffic etc.
A bit OT:
My wife as a young woman in communist Hungary had almost no chance to get to listen to “pop” records, but somehow she managed to get records or tapes by her favourites Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong – even went to Satchmo’s concert in Budapest in 1965. He also did a concert in East Berlin in that year.
And when more than 40 years later we went on holiday to New York City we somehow found that his house had been turned into a museum. Wonderful memories when we went there! She had tears in her eyes …
Right now we’re enjoying Blues-Rock ny Warren Hayes …
Wolf, my personal “Best” albums would include Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, and Steely Dan.
Everyone has different tastes. A lot of people love Stevie Winwood but I hate his voice and only like him as a part of Traffic. And don’t get me started on Queen. The most overrated band ever. And Steeley Dan I find too cold and only like a few tings by them. And tho I love Clapton I feel Jeff Beck is the better guitarist.
Steve, I’ll have to locate my Jeff Beck CDs and listen to them again. I just listened to Clapton’s MTV UNPLUGGED CD the other day.
Didn’t know you were a Beatles-hater, Wolf. I’m surprised.
This list is clearly marked “most popular,” not “best” — and just among Discogs users, over time. So something someone bought eight times, whenever a new version came out, scores eight points. (My most-collected album is Relayer by Yes, which I have bought at least 7 times, possibly more.) It’s not really a surprise that the Beatles dominate the 60s — people still buy their albums all the time. (Beatles albums will sell a lot more again this Christmas, after Peter Jackson’s film comes out.) (Hey, any Beatles fan who hasn’t seen Good Ol’ Freda — put this on your list, and at the top. It’s the story of Freda Kelly, who ran the Beatles fan club back in the day, and it’s wonderful.)
Anyway, while “best of” lists are designed to be argued over, that’s not what this is. This is a “huh, that’s mildly interesting” list — the only value judgment it demonstrates is whatever it means that these are the albums that the members of this group bought the most.
One album that’s not surprising to see here is Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, which was on the Billboard Top 200 forever. Just last week I bought a copy — amazingly, the first time I have ever owned a copy of this album. In 2021, most people have either had one or multiple copies for years, or will never buy one. But I just bought my first one.
I second Jeff’s recommendation of Good Ol’ Freda – it was charming and delightful.
Hey, if they’re going by longevity, wasn’t JOHNNY MATHIS’S GREATEST HITS on the Billboard list about 10 years straight?
Right. JOHNNYS GREATESST HITS was on the Billboard chart for 490 weeks.
Jeff, Diane’s favorite Christmas album is one of JOHNNY MATHIS’s.
Jeff, I also noticed Discogs didn’t include any Christmas albums which generally sell well.
Jeff, yes, I’ve owned DARK SIDE OF THE MOON in vinyl format, cassettes, and CD. “Huh, that’s mildly interesting” is petty much my reaction to the Discog’s lists, too.
Since I gather this list is based on unit sales, I guess the plethora of Beatles albums makes sense, but I’d have expected a lot of things that aren’t there. Stones. Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, especially their first album. Blind Faith, Traffic, etc. also, where’s disco? It was hugely popular. This list seems oriented toward a certain kind of music buyer, almost as if you could peg which FM station they listened to in which city at the time.
As far as jazz is concerned, it’s all Monk, Coltrane and Davis. That barely scratches the surface!
Where is TAPESTRY then?
Rick, there are a lot of artists who are not represented on the Discogs’ lists. I suspect it’s all about generating some controversy.
2 jazz, 0 classical. My ~7600 albums across all formats seem to be way out of sync with the Discogs folk. So be it.
Art
Art, Discogs’ website provides interesting information. But their lists are suspect.
Most of y’all keep missing this is Discogs list…a certain kind of obsessive, not Too likely to delve too deeply (hence the relative lack of even the Zombies or Byrds or Fairport as well as the Stones), but also not as casual as to rack up a lot of Carole King or Pink Floyd. The endless repackaging of the Rehabbed Four has surely helped…also the slim jazz pickings, the lack of classical or bluegrass that my lazy scroll came up with…
Todd, the lack of female artists is also disturbing.
It’s not. It’s the album each year that Discog members have sourced. You could hate their number one but love their 2-9 (if you knew them) and it wouldn’t matter. It is just a list of the most albums Discog members have from each year, nothing more. Why should there be diversity? If they bought the Beatles most one year, why wouldn’t they buy the Beatles the most next year? People are trying to complicate a very simple list. Saying “who cares” is fair. Saying other things should be on there, you’re saying that in this year, more of them should have bought The Rolling Stones. I’m sure a lot of them bought The Rolling Stones — they just didn’t buy them the MOST. There’s nothing more to it.
Sheesh.
Jeff, you make some good points about Discogs’ methodology.