Charmyte's Best Album List

What is this?

I have listened to a great number of albums and have a piss-poor memory unrelated. Thus, I find it helpful to keep a grouping of my absolute favorite albums, for both my sake and for making easy recommendations! Every album on this list is one I would whole-heartedly recommend.

What gets on the list?

To make this list, the album needs to stand out in some manner to me. Having a lot of very good songs is one way, of course, but not every album with a really impactful song makes it onto this list. Cohesiveness is awarded, and there are some albums that I recommend more as a whole experience than as a sum of their parts. Emotional attachment is also a factor on if an album makes it onto the list - thus there is some slight bias towards music I simply have listened to a lot. Lastly, I have a few trimming rules for what albums I want to include. Eligible for the list:

• Studio Albums / LPs
• EPs
• Live Albums
• Soundtrack albums (that AREN'T exclusively compilations)
• Package albums (for EPs meant to tie into a larger album, this lets me count both of them as one entry)

Ineligible for the list:

• Compilation albums (unless songs are re-recorded or modified somehow)
• Game OSTs (I would prefer to keep these on their own list!)
• Singles

One more note on the list: albums can move pretty fluidly in the rank! Every once in a while I tend to do a big scan of the order, and some albums go way down or up. The list begins more towards albums that are very solid but maybe I don't have a lot to say about. The top twenty are usually pretty rigid and hard to dislodge.

Albums are listed here in reverse-rank (further down means better!). Click the link at the end of the row for more details and thoughts on the album. For a list that includes just one album per artist, click here.

List Last Updated: 08/01/2023

The List

Rank	Art	Album	Artist	Year	Genre	Favorite Song	More
80		Garbage	Garbage	1995	Alternative Rock	Only Happy When It Rains	[TBA]
79		Get Nervous	Pat Benatar	1982	Hard Rock	Fight It Out	[TBA]
78		Does This Look Infected?	Sum 41	2002	Punk	Over My Head (Better Off Dead)	[TBA]
77		American Capitalist	Five Finger Death Punch	2011	Groove Metal	American Capitalist	[TBA]
76		Rage Against the Machine	Rage Against the Machine	1992	Rap Metal	Killing in the Name	[TBA]
75		Painkiller	Judas Priest	1990	Heavy Metal	One Shot at Glory	[TBA]
74		7 Wishes	Night Ranger	1985	Hard Rock	Faces	[TBA]
73		Pure Heroine	Lorde	2013	Electronica	Royals	[TBA]
72		A Sailor's Guide to Earth	Sturgill Simpson	2016	Country	Brace for Impact (Live a Little)	[TBA]
71		Black Celebration	Depeche Mode	1986	Synth-Pop	Stripped	[TBA]
70		Tubthumper	Chumbawamba	1997	Pop Rock	Amnesia	[TBA]
69		WYSIWYG	Chumbawamba	2000	Pop Rock	Pass It Along	[TBA]
68		25	Adele	2015	Pop Soul	Water Under the Bridge	[TBA]
67		21	Adele	2011	Pop Soul	Rolling in the Deep	[TBA]
66		Blackbird	Alter Bridge	2007	Alternative Metal	Blackbird	[TBA]
65		Throwing Copper	Live	1994	Alternative Rock	I Alone	[TBA]
64		Flood	They Might Be Giants	1990	Alternative Rock	Road Movie to Berlin	[TBA]
63		John Henry	They Might Be Giants	1994	Alternative Rock	A Self Called Nowhere	[TBA]
62		Pyromania	Def Leppard	1983	Glam Metal	Foolin'	[TBA]
61		Animal + Cannibal	Kesha	2010	Electropop	Cannibal	[TBA]
60		Random Access Memories	Daft Punk	2013	Disco	Giorgio by Moroder	[TBA]
59		Ceremonials	Florence + the Machine	2011	Baroque Pop	What the Water Gave Me	[TBA]
58		And All That Could Have Been	Nine Inch Nails	2002	Industrial	March of the Pigs	[TBA]
57		Demon Days	Gorillaz	2005	Alternative Rock	Dare	[TBA]
56		S&M	Metallica	1999	Symphonic Metal	No Leaf Clover	[TBA]
55		7800° Fahrenheit	Bon Jovi	1985	Hard Rock	(I Don't Wanna Fall) To the Fire	[TBA]
54		Ride the Lightning	Metallica	1984	Thrash Metal	For Whom the Bell Tolls	[TBA]
53		Absolution	Muse	2003	Alternative Rock	Hysteria	[TBA]
52		La Roux	La Roux	2009	Synth Pop	Tigerlily	[TBA]
51		Dark Side of the Moon	Pink Floyd	1973	Progressive Rock	Us and Them	[TBA]
50		Beauty Behind the Madness	The Weeknd	2014	Alternative R&B	The Hills	[TBA]
49		High Road	Kesha	2020	Electropop	Resentment	[TBA]
48		Warrior	Kesha	2012	Electropop	Dirty Love	[TBA]
47		There Existed an Addiction to Blood	Clipping.	2019	Experimental Hip-Hop	Nothing is Safe	[TBA]
46		Visions of Bodies Being Burned	Clipping.	2020	Experimental Hip-Hop	Enlacing	[TBA]
45		Lungs	Florence + The Machine	2009	Baroque Pop	Howl	[TBA]
44		Green	R.E.M.	1998	Alternative Rock	I Remember California	[TBA]
43		Civilisation	Kero Kero Bonito	2021	Electropop	When the Fires Come	[TBA]
42		The Downward Spiral	Nine Inch Nails	1994	Industrial	Hurt	[TBA]
41		Riot!	Paramore	2005	Pop Punk	Fences	[TBA]
40		Happier Than Ever	Billie Eilish	2021	Electropop	Happier Than Ever	[TBA]
39		Fear Inoculum	Tool	2019	Alternative Metal	Invincible	[TBA]
38		Dirty Computer	Janelle Monáe	2018	Pop Funk	Americans	[TBA]
37		American Idiot	Green Day	2004	Pop Punk	Wake Me Up When September Ends	[TBA]
36		The Fragile	Nine Inch Nails	1999	Industrial	The Great Below	[TBA]
35		Meliora	Ghost	2015	Heavy Metal	Cirice	[TBA]
34		Songs for the Deaf	Queens of the Stone Age	2002	Stoner Rock	Mosquito Song	[TBA]
33		Amputechture	The Mars Volta	2006	Progressive Rock	Day of the Baphomets	[TBA]
32		Meteora	Linkin Park	2003	Nu Metal	Breaking the Habit	[TBA]
31		Black Holes and Revelations	Muse	2006	Alternative Rock	City of Delusion	[TBA]
30		Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell	Meat Loaf	1993	Hard Rock	Life Is a Lemon (And I Want My Money Back)	[TBA]
29		Footloose (soundtrack)	Various Artists	1984	Pop Rock	Holding Out for a Hero	[TBA]
28		Terraformer	Thank You Scientist	2019	Progressive Rock	FXMLDR	[TBA]
27		The Wall	Pink Floyd	1979	Progressive Rock	Another Brick in the Wall Part II	[TBA]
26		Speak for Yourself	Imogen Heap	2005	Electropop	Hide and Seek	[TBA]
25		2.0	Big Data	2013	Electropop	Automatic	[TBA]
24		The Fame Monster	Lady Gaga	2009	Electropop	Monster	[TBA]
23		Emotion	Carly Rae Jepsen	2015	Dance pop	Run Away With Me	[TBA]
22		Master of Puppets	Metallica	1986	Thrash Metal	Master of Puppets	[TBA]
21		A Thousand Suns	Linkin Park	2010	Alternative Rock	The Catalyst	[TBA]
20		Hybrid Theory	Linkin Park	2000	Nu Metal	Papercut	[TBA]
19		Carousel (An Examination of The Shadow, Creekflow, and its Life as an Afterthought)	Vylet Pony	2023	Hyperpop	Flair for the Dramatic	[TBA]
18		CUTIE MARKS (AND THE THINGS THAT BIND US)	Vylet Pony	2021	Hyperpop	I DON'T NEED TO BE FIXED	[TBA]
17		Death of a Bachelor	Panic! at the Disco	2016	Pop Rock	LA Devotee	[TBA]
16		Ænima	Tool	1996	Alternative Metal	Pushit	[TBA]
15		Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory	Dream Theater	1999	Progressive Metal	Scene Eight: The Spirit Carries On	[TBA]
14		Infinity on High	Fall Out Boy	2007	Pop Punk	Hum Hallelujah	[TBA]
13		Folie à Deux	Fall Out Boy	2008	Pop Punk	Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes	[TBA]
12		Stop Making Sense	Talking Heads	1984	New Wave	Life During Wartime	[TBA]
11		Visions	Haken	2011	Progressive Metal	Nocturnal Conspiracy	[TBA]
10		Stranger Heads Prevail	Thank You Scientist	2016	Progressive Rock	A Wolf in Cheap Clothing	[TBA]
9		WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?	Billie Eilish	2019	Electropop	bury a friend	[TBA]
8		Octavarium	Dream Theater	2005	Progressive Metal	Octavarium	[TBA]
7		The Black Parade	My Chemical Romance	2006	Pop Punk	Sleep	[TBA]
6		Frances the Mute	The Mars Volta	2005	Progressive Rock	L'via L'Viaquez	[TBA]
5		Lateralus	Tool	2001	Alternative Metal	Schism	[TBA]
4		10,000 Days	Tool	2006	Alternative Metal	10,000 Days (Wings Pt. 2)	[TBA]
3		Affinity	Haken	2016	Progressive Metal	The Architect	[TBA]
2		Vector	Haken	2018	Progressive Metal	Host	[TBA]
1		Aquarius	Haken	2010	Progressive Metal	The Point of No Return	Link