AVRev.com's Top 100 Rock Albums of All Time Print E-mail
Written by Charles Andrews, Ted Cohen, Jerry Del Colliano Jr., David DelGrosso, Howard Schilling   
Monday, 28 July 2008

In a world where record companies seem happy to sell consumers songs by the single via a low-resolution, non-surround sound download - AVRev.com wanted to point out the importance of the album concept.

Inspired by the Sabermetric system used by Bill James in his baseball abstracts that attempt to make seemingly subjective elements more scientific in comparison - the AVRev.com staff compiled a set of categories to rate the Top 100 Rock Albums of all time. We offer a link below for readers to download the same sheet to see how your favorites do. You can even post them on our forum and discuss them with other music and audio fans.

The Judges
The team of judges include: AVRev.com publisher Jerry Del Colliano Jr., AVRev.com Music Editor Charles Andrews, 5.1 music executive David Delgrosso, Xhifi's President Howard Schilling, Definitive Audio's Eric Ward, Bel Canto's President John Stronczer and record industry veteran and high-resolution enthusiast, Ted Cohen.

The Categories
Performance: (100 Points) Simply put, how well did the band or artist play on the record? Technical ability, soul and beyond.

Songs and Songwriting: (100 Points) How good are the songs on the record? Were they great originals, killer covers, reinterpretations that were better than the original? All would spike the score in this category.

Sound: (50 Points) - How good does the record sound? Did it ever get released in a high-resolution or surround sound format? If so, that would get a few extra points. Was the record a breakthrough record for recording techniques or does it just plain sound good on a CD? These are all factors in a high score for sound.

Production: (50 Points) - Great sound doesn’t always match with great production (think Wall of Sound from Phil Spector). Slick production, unique instrumentation, development of important "sounds" all factor into a high score in this category.

Staying Power: (50 Points) - To be a truly great album, the record needs to be as relevant today as it when it came out.

Concept/Continuity: (50 Points) - This is the X Factor category where albums that are great from the first note to the last get the highest grades. Think of The Police's Synchronicity and the stiff song "Mother" as an example of a great record with one bad track. Records that are great from top to bottom receive the best grades here.

And with no more delay: Here is the AVRev.com list of the Top 100 Rock Albums of All Time

  Album
 Band
1 to 100
1 to 50
1 to 400
 
Performance
Songs
Sound
Production
Staying
Power
Continuity/
Concept
Total
1. Dark Side Of The Moon Pink Floyd 98 99 50 49 49 49 394
2. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band The Beatles 98 98 48 49 50 49 392
3. Electric Ladyland The Jimi Hendrix Experience 99 98 48 48 49 49 391
4. Led Zeppelin II Led Zeppelin 98 98 48 46 49 49 388
5. The Wall Pink Floyd 97 97 48 49 49 47 387
6. Led Zeppelin I Led Zeppelin 97 98 47 46 48 49 385
7. Security Peter Gabriel 98 99 45 48 46 48 384
8. Are You Experienced? The Jimi Hendrix Experience 98 98 43 46 50 48 383
9. The Joshua Tree U2 96 97 46 47 48 48 382
10. Led Zeppelin III Led Zeppelin 94 99 46 46 48 47 380
11. Abbey Road The Beatles 97 98 44 47 48 45 379
12. Led Zeppelin IV Led Zeppelin 96 94 45 45 49 47 376
13. (MCMLXXXIV) 1984 Van Halen 96 95 44 47 47 46 375
14. Mothership Connection Parliament 96 97 41 44 49 47 374
15. Rubber Soul The Beatles 94 96 44 44 48 47 373
16. ABACAB Genesis 93 97 46 47 45 43 371
17. Aja Steely Dan 92 93 47 46 46 46 370
18. Unplugged Eric Clapton 96 96 45 42 46 44 369
19. Peter Gabriel III Peter Gabriel 95 95 43 43 43 48 367
20. Fragile Yes 98 95 45 42 42 45 367
21. Magical Mystery Tour The Beatles 93 95 42 42 47 46 365
22. Axis Bold As Love The Jimi Hendrix Experience 95 92 43 44 45 45 364
23. Thriller Michael Jackson 90 93 44 47 45 44 363
24. Hell Freezes Over The Eagles 89 94 48 43 44 44 362
25. Wish You Were Here Pink Floyd 91 90 45 44 45 47 362
26. BBC Sessions Led Zeppelin 94 97 37 39 48 46 361
27. Hotel California The Eagles 90 92 45 43 46 43 359
28. Appetite For Destruction Guns N' Roses 91 93 44 44 44 42 358
29. Van Halen Van Halen 94 94 40 42 45 43 358
30. Close To The Edge Yes 97 89 40 43 41 47 357
31.
In The Court Of The Crimson King King Crimson 94 92 39 43 41 47 356
32. Let It Be The Beatles 89 91 43 43 45 44 355
33. Synchroncity The Police 90 93 44 43 43 41 354
34. Revolver The Beatles 91 93 40 42 43 43 352
35.
The Doors The Doors 87 91 42 41 48 42 351
36. LA Woman The Doors 87 89 42 42 45 45 350
37. Graceland Paul Simon 89 85 45 44 42 42 347
38. Houses Of The Holy Led Zeppelin 89 87 44 43 42 41 346
39. Peter Gabriel I Peter Gabriel 90 92 38 40 41 44 345
40. Talking Book Stevie Wonder 86 87 42 43 44 40 342
41. Rio Duran Duran 84 87 40 44 45 41 341
42. Physical Graffiti Led Zeppelin 87 86 42 42 41 41 339
43.
Purple Rain Prince and the Revolution 86 85 40 42 43 42 338
44. Back In Black AC/DC 81 88 42 41 44 40 336
45. Brothers In Arms Dire Straits 83 85 46 43 39 39 335
46. Tattoo You The Rolling Stones 84 85 42 40 42 38 331
47. Joshua Judges Ruth Lyle Lovett 84 85 44 42 38 37 330
48.
Slowhand Eric Clapton 87 84 41 39 41 37 329
49. So Peter Gabriel 84 86 37 40 40 40 327
50. Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs Derek And The Dominos 83 85 36 37 43 40 324
51. Born To Run Bruce Springsteen 81 80 38 40 42 42 323
52.
Rumours Fleetwood Mac 83 84 39 39 39 38 322
53. Discipline King Crimson 90 79 39 38 34 39 319
54. Moving Pictures Rush 86 81 37 37 37 39 317
55. ...And Justice For All Metallica 89 85 26 35 40 41 316
56. Ride The Lightning Metallica 83 84 34 37 36 41 315
57. Learning To Crawl The Pretenders 84 82 34 36 40 36 312
58. Nothing Like The Sun Sting 83 83 38 37 34 36 311
59. Born In The USA Bruce Springsteen 78 79 37 38 39 38 309
60. Chicago Transit Authority Chicago 82 78 37 38 35 36 306
61. Tommy The Who 81 77 37 36 37 37 305
62. Quadrophenia The Who 80 75 37 38 35 39 304
63. Van Halen II Van Halen 83 78 35 36 35 36 303
64. The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars David Bowie 77 81 35 35 37 36 301
65. A Night At The Opera Queen 76 68 41 39 40 36 300
66. Blood Sugar Sex Magik Red Hot Chili Peppers 77 79 37 36 35 35 299
67.
Ten Pearl Jam 80 79 33 34 36 36 298
68. Zooropa U2 81 79 36 37 29 34 296
69.
Metallica (Black Album) Metallica 77 74 35 32 39 38 295
70. No Jacket Required Phil Collins 74 75 37 38 34 35 293
71. Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack Various Artists 76 79 33 35 38 31 292
72. Never Mind The Bollocks The Sex Pistols 82 77 27 31 40 34 291
73. That's The Way Of The World Earth, Wind & Fire 76 78 35 35 32 32 288
74. In Through The Out Door Led Zeppelin 71 72 36 36 36 35 286
75. This Is Spinal Tap Soundtrack Spinal Tap 71 77 30 37 37 33 285
76. Pet Sounds The Beach Boys 77 73 38 36 36 24 284
77. At Fillmore East The Allman Brothers 75 72 34 31 35 36 283
78. Master Of Puppets Metallica 75 70 31 33 36 36 281
79. Disraeli Gears Cream 74 71 33 33 33 36 280
80. Again Buffalo Springfield 73 72 33 32 34 35 279
81. Thick As A Brick Jethro Tull 69 73 32 32 33 37 276
82.
Music From Big Pink The Band 69 68 35 40 32 31 275
83. Slippery When Wet Bon Jovi 74 73 30 31 35 30 273
84. Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer 72 68 35 33 29 34 271
85. Blind Faith Blind Faith 73 72 32 31 31 31 270
86. The Yes Album Yes 75 69 31 31 30 33 269
87. Blood, Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears 71 70 31 32 32 30 266
88. Undertow Tool 73 65 36 33 27 31 265
89. Paul's Boutique The Beastie Boys 76 73 27 28 29 31 264
90. Déjà Vu Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 68 64 32 33 33 33 263
91. Pump Aerosmith 67 67 32 33 31 31 261
92. 1999 Prince 68 65 29 32 33 32 259
93. Abraxas Santana 70 64 30 30 34 29 257
94. Bad Michael Jackson 66 64 33 36 28 29 256
95. Like A Virgin Madonna 59 66 30 38 34 28 255
96. Supernatural Santana 72 59 33 31 30 26 251
97. The Long Run The Eagles 63 65 31 32 30 29 250
98. Toys In The Attic Aerosmith 64 66 30 30 31 27 248
99. Exodus Bob Marley & The Wailers 61 65 28 27 34 32 247
100. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway Genesis 68 61 29 30 25 31 244
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