My Esteemed Albums Ranked

I have decided to do a different take on my traditional rankings.  In the past, I had ranked a band's discography against each other.  Then I got the wild idea to rank the best against the best, and see what mathematical shakes out as my number album of all-time. I didn't realize what a challenge awaited me.

Relatively speaking, ranking a band against itself is pretty easy.  When you compare ones of different eras and genres, it becomes extremely difficult (for me anyway).  I think I ended up tabulating and ranking these three different times. Each subsequent time I would eliminate an album entirely that was statistically well-below the others.  In the end, I settled on a nice list of 20.  (The albums that just missed the cut were: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles, Golden State and Razorblade Suitcase by Bush, Break the Cycle by Staind, Shaka Rock by Jet, The Beautiful Letdown by Switchfoot.)

You can click each album score for a detailed breakdown.

1. Nevermind 
Score: 155.58

2. Spiritual Machines
Score: 146.4

3. Gravity
Score: 142.9

4. Happiness... 
Score: 136.27

  5. Wasting Light

   Score: 131.91

6. Sixteen Stone
Score: 127.33

7. Get Born
Score: 125.69

  8. Collective Soul

   Score: 117.58

9. We Are Not Alone
Score: 117.18

       10. Dosage

    Score: 114.67

11. Dear Agony
Score: 111.55

12. Phobia
Score:109.27

13. Illusion of Progress
Score: 108.07

14. In Utero
Score: 106.42

15. Jar of Flies
Score: 100.86

16. Magical Mystery Tour

      Score: 97

17. Chapter V
Score: 95.75

   18. Abbey Road

   Score: 92.59


    19. One By One

     Score: 91.91

        20. Youth

   Score: 91.82

I came to the totals by assigning each song a value (231 for the best, 1 for the worst) then averaging the songs for each album.  On each revision, removing an album meant removing all those songs, which meant reassigning and re-figuring out the totals.  The finale tally left me with 231 songs to work with-hence the 231 points for the number one ranked song.   

1. Not Enough (Gravity)
2. Where the River Flows (Collective Soul)
3. Comedown (Sixteen Stone)
4. Walk (Wasting Light)
5. Thief (Happiness...)
6. In Repair (Spiritual Machines)
7. Nutshell (Jar of Flies)
8. The World I Know (Collective Soul)
9. Alien (Sixteen Stone)
10. The Diary of Jane (Phobia)
11. Halo (One by One)
12. Glycerine (Sixteen Stone)
13. Arlandria (Wasting Light)
14. Here Comes the Sun (Abbey Road)
15. Breath (Phobia)
16. Come As You Are (Nevermind)
17. In Bloom (Nevermind)
18. Run (Dosage)
19. Forget It (We Are Not Alone)
20. Middle of Yesterday (Spiritual Machines)
21. Is Anybody Home? (Happiness...)
22. Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nevermind)
23. These Days (Wasting Light)
24. So Cold (We Are Not Alone)
25. Satellite (Youth)
26. Pennyroyal Tea (In Utero)
27. Come Together (Abbey Road)
28. Compliment (Dosage)
29. Made to Heal (Spiritual Machines)
30. Everything Zen (Sixteen Stone)
31. What Lies Beneath (Dear Agony
32. Come Around Again (Get Born)
33. Times Like These (One by One)
34. Right Behind You (Mafia) (Spiritual Machines)
35. Bring Back the Sun (Gravity)
36. Innocent (Gravity)
37. Crown (Dosage)
38. Lost Along the Way (The Illusion of Progress)
39. Something in the Way (Nevermind)
40. Move On (Get Born)
41. Machinehead (Sixteen Stone)
42. Little Things (Sixteen Stone)
43. Give Me a Sign (Dear Agony)
44. Somewhere Out There (Gravity)
45. Are You Sad? (Spiritual Machines)
46. Consequences of Laughing (Happiness...)
47. Everything Changes (Chapter V)
48. Lounge Act (Nevermind)
49. Sooner or Later (We Are Not Alone)
50. Dumb (In Utero)
51. Reply (Chapter V)
52. Bleed (Collective Soul)
53. Raining Again (The Illusion of Progress)
54. Tangled Up in You (The Illusion of Progress)
55. Without You (Dear Agony)
56. No Excuses (Jar of Flies)
57. Away (We Are Not Alone)
58. Rope (Wasting Light)
59. December (Collective Soul)
60. Dear Rosemary (Wasting Light)
61. The Corner (The Illusion of Progress)
62. No More, No Less (Dosage)
63. Life (Spiritual Machines)
64. All For You (Gravity)
65. Look What You've Done (Get Born)
66. Lazy Gun (Get Born)
67. Bridge Burning (Wasting Light)
68. Here We Are (Phobia)
69. Heavy (Dosage)
70. The End (Abbey Road)
71. Something (Abbey Road)
72. Golden Slumbers (Abbey Road)
73. Better Now (Youth)
74. Carry That Weight (Abbey Road)
75. How Do You Love? (Youth)
76. She Said (Dosage)
77. Sell My Soul (Gravity)
78. Breed (Nevermind)
79. Cold Hard Bitch (Get Born)
80. Polly (Nevermind)
81. Serve the Servants (In Utero)
82. Testosterone (Sixteen Stone)
83. Lithium (Nevermind)
84. Right Here (Chapter V)
85. I Will Not Bow (Dear Agony)
86. All My Life (One by One)
87. Penny Lane (Magical Mystery Tour)
88. I Am the Walrus (Magical Mystery Tour)
89. One Man Army (Happiness...)
90. On a Plain (Nevermind)
91. All Apologies (In Utero)
92. Hello, Goodbye (Magical Mystery Tour)
93. Rape Me (In Utero)
94. Schizophrenic Conversations (Chapter V)
95. Believe (The Illusion of Progress)
96. Polythene Pam (Abbey Road)
97. Drain You (Nevermind)
98. [Untitled Track] (Collective Soul)
99. Magical Mystery Tour (Magical Mystery Tour)
100. Baby You're a Rich Man (Magical Mystery Tour)
101. Flying (Magical Mystery Tour)
102. Waited (Happiness...)
103. Nothing Left to Say (The Illusion of Progress)
104. Under Heaven's Skies (Youth)
105. Gel (Collective Soul)
106. Simple (Collective Soul)
107. Heart-Shaped Box (In Utero)
108. Very Ape (In Utero)
109. Him (Youth)
110. Happiness & the Fish (Happiness...)
111. Are You Gonna be My Girl (Get Born)
112. Falling (Chapter V)
113. Stealing Babies (Happiness...)
114. The Fool on the Hill (Magical Mystery Tour)
115. Devil (Chapter V)
116. Get What You Need (Get Born)
117. Dandy Life (Dosage)
118. Annie (Happiness...)
119. A Story About a Girl (Gravity)
120. Perfect to Stay (Youth)
121. Smashing Young Man (Collective Soul)
122. All I Want (The Illusion of Progress)
123. Last Chance (Get Born)
124. Needs (Dosage)
125. The Way I Am (The Illusion of Progress)
126. You Fight Me (Phobia)
127. Rainy Day Parade (The Illusion of Progress)
128. Tired of You (One by One)
129. Dance with the Devil (Phobia)
130. I Stay Away (Jar of Flies)
131. Break My Fall (We Are Not Alone)
132. Counting the Days (Youth)
133. If You Believe (Spiritual Machines)
134. Don't Follow (Jar of Flies)
135. Radio Song (Get Born)
136. Timothy (Get Born)
137. Until the End (Phobia)
138. Breakdown (We Are Not Alone)
139. Stay Away (Jar of Flies)
140. Lying Awake (Happiness...)
141. You (Phobia)
142. Crawl (Dear Agony)
143. Into the Nothing (Dear Agony)
144. Topless (Phobia)
145. Come Back (One by One)
146. Follow (We Are Not Alone)
147. Rain (We Are Not Alone)
148. Fade Away (Dear Agony)
149. Do You Like It (Gravity)
150. The Truth (The Illusion of Progress)
151. Dear Agony (Dear Agony)
152. Take This (Chapter V)
153. Rotten Apple (Jar of Flies)
154. Potato Girl (Happiness...)
155. Blister (Happiness...)
156. Get Me Outta Here (Get Born)
157. Rollover DJ (Get Born)
158. King of all Excuses (Chapter V)
159. Low (One by One)
160. White Limo (Wasting Light)
161. You Never Give Me Your Money (Abbey Road)
162. The Wonderful Future (Spiritual Machines)
163. All My Friends (Spiritual Machines)
164. Monkey (Sixteen Stone)
165. Hopeless (Dear Agony)
166. Take it or Leave It (Get Born)
167. Firefly (We Are Not Alone)
168. Overdrive (One by One)
169. I Should Have Known (Wasting Light)
170. Back & Forth (Wasting Light)
171. Break Away (The Illusion of Progress)
172. Made of Steel (Gravity)
173. Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle (In Utero)
174. Run Away (Chapter V)
175. Scentless Apprentice (In Utero)
176. There's a Way (Youth)
177. Because (Abbey Road)
178. Anthem of the Angels (Dear Agony)
179. Strawberry Fields Forever (Magical Mystery Tour)
180. Burn Away (One by One)
181. Maxwell's Silver Hammer (Abbey Road)
182. Simple Design (We Are Not Alone)
183. Had Enough (Phobia)
184. Lights Out (Dear Agony)
185. Unknown Soldier (Phobia)
186. Radio Friendly Unit Shifter (In Utero)
187. She Gathers Rain (Collective Soul)
188. Miss the Misery (Wasting Light)
189. A Matter of Time (Wasting Light)
190. Have it All (One by One)
191. Your Mother Should Know (Magical Mystery Tour)
192. Please (Chapter V)
193. She Came in Through the Bathroom Window (Abbey Road)
194. Sorry (Gravity)
195. General Attitude (Youth)
196. Mean Mr. Mustard (Abbey Road)
197. Reunion (Collective Soul)
198. Octopus's Garden (Abbey Road)
199. Oh! Darling (Abbey Road)
200. Save Me (The Illusion of Progress)
201. Everyone's a Junkie (Spiritual Machines)
202. Sun King (Abbey Road)
203. Believe (We Are Not Alone)
204. Milk It (In Utero)
205. Generate (Dosage)
206. Body (Sixteen Stone)
207. Feels Like (It Feels Alright) (Youth)
208. Territorial Pissings (Nevermind)
209. Whale & Wasp (Jar of Flies)
210. Disenchanted Lullaby (One by One)
211. When the Water Falls (Collective Soul)
212. Evil Angel (Phobia)
213. Tourette's (In Utero)
214. Home (Youth)
215. All You Need is Love (Magical Mystery Tour)
216. This is It (The Illusion of Progress)
217. Her Majesty (Abbey Road)
218. X-Girlfriend (Sixteen Stone)
219. Blue Jay Way (Magical Mystery Tour)
220. Pardon Me (The Illusion of Progress)
221. Swim (Sixteen Stone)
222. I Want You (She's So Heavy) (Abbey Road)
223. Tremble for My Beloved (Dosage)
224. Slow (Dosage)
225. Not the One (Dosage)
226. Cross to Bear (Chapter V)
227. Collection of Goods (Collective Soul)
228. Bomb (Sixteen Stone)
229. Swing on This (Jar of Flies)
230. Paper Jesus (Chapter V)
231. Lonely As You (One by One)