The Beatles' Albums Ranked (for the 227,832nd time)
6 min read
Why now?
I listened to a bit of the Beatle’s when I was younger with the release of the 1 album but never really got in to them past their most famous hits.
One summer afternoon back in 2019 (feels so long ago with how 2020’s going) I was listening to some 70’s music radio and the song “My Sweet Lord” by George Harrison queued up. It was such a strange gateway song to The Beatles in retrospect but boy was I glad it came on.
I was deep into learning piano and music theory at the time and music in the 60’s, especially The Beatles, were a perfect complement.
Needless to say I’ve grown to love The Beatles in the past year, and I love to rank things, so here goes my official ranking of every Beatles album.
Methodology
After working as an SDE in a such a data-driven company for 3 years now, I really do wonder if I can make spontaneous decisions anymore. Anyways.. here is the composition/weights of attributes (1-10 unless noted) I used for my totally arbitrary ranking:
- Listenability End to End: 50%
- Number of Great Songs: 20% (Score = # Great Songs + 3, so a little more weighted than 20%)
- Innovation/Cultural Impact: 15%
- Lyrics: 10%
- Album Art: 5%
I like to listen to albums from cover to cover and I really like putting songs on repeat (‘great songs’ are the ones I can put on repeat for hours and not be tired of it).
Innovation and cultural impact get some points because I love the “Seinfeld” is unfunny trope. Lyrics are important, but not very significant to me - I definitely admire the music more.
Finally, a little love for album art is always nice.
The Rankings
13) Yellow Submarine
Hey Bulldog. That is all
| Listenability: 5 | Great Songs: 4 | Innovation: 7 | Lyrics: 5 | Album Art: 7 | Total: 5.2 |
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12) Beatles For Sale
The most forgettable album in my opinion. The Delaware of Beatles albums.
| Listenability: 6 | Great Songs: 5 | Innovation: 6 | Lyrics: 5 | Album Art: 5 | Total: 5.7 |
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11) With The Beatles
Honestly should be higher tbh. Am I debating myself now?
| Listenability: 7 | Great Songs: 5 | Innovation: 5 | Lyrics: 5 | Album Art: 6.5 | Total: 6.1 |
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10) Let It Be
People trash it, but it's got some of the highest highs in the Beatles discography
| Listenability: 6 | Great Songs: 6 | Innovation: 7 | Lyrics: 9 | Album Art: 7 | Total: 6.5 |
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9) Help!
Paul still having sleepless nights for why 'Yesterday' wasn't the album closer
| Listenability: 7.5 | Great Songs: 6 | Innovation: 5 | Lyrics: 6 | Album Art: 6 | Total: 6.6 |
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8) Please Please Me
End to end the album is a fantastic listen. B boys entered the scence with a bang
| Listenability: 8 | Great Songs: 5 | Innovation: 5 | Lyrics: 6 | Album Art: 8 | Total: 6.8 |
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7) A Hard Day's Night
Breakout album number 1. John in first column really nails my expression listening to this
| Listenability: 9 | Great Songs: 7 | Innovation: 8 | Lyrics: 7 | Album Art: 9 | Total: 8.3 |
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6) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Probably my most controversial pick. Love the album, but the next 5 are pretty solid for me
| Listenability: 8.5 | Great Songs: 7 | Innovation: 9.5 | Lyrics: 8 | Album Art: 10 | Total: 8.4 |
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5) Rubber Soul
Breakout album 2. My first listen of a Beatles album from cover to cover and quite a darn good one at that
| Listenability: 9 | Great Songs: 8 | Innovation: 9 | Lyrics: 8 | Album Art: 9 | Total: 8.7 |
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4) Magical Mystery Tour
Haters will say this isn't even an album 😤
| Listenability: 9 | Great Songs: 9 | Innovation: 9 | Lyrics: 9 | Album Art: 7 | Total: 8.8 |
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3) Revolver
Underrated in its innovation, better than Sgt P tbh. Best album closer in the history of albums too
| Listenability: 9 | Great Songs: 9 | Innovation: 10 | Lyrics: 9 | Album Art: 10 | Total: 9.2 |
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2) The Beatles (The White Album)
Yeah, that's right, a 12 as a score. Sue me.
| Listenability: 8.5 | Great Songs: 12 | Innovation: 9 | Lyrics: 10 | Album Art: 8 | Total: 9.4 |
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1) Abbey Road
Did I purposefully make a really arbitrary methodology to put Abbey Road first? 🤭
| Listenability: 10 | Great Songs: 10 | Innovation: 9 | Lyrics: 9 | Album Art: 9 | Total: 9.7 |
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After over a cumulative 10,000 listens of songs in the Beatles discography, this was the final result.
Sgt. Pepper stans don’t @ me.