Classic Rock · ranked by score

Best Classic Rock Albums, Ranked

18 albums reviewed

The guitar-driven mainstream of the 1960s and 1970s. Classic rock grew from rock and roll and the blues and came into its own with The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac and Bruce Springsteen, in a period when the album became the main artistic unit.

We have reviewed 18 Classic Rock albums released between 1965 and 1991, averaging 8.6 out of 10. The highest score so far goes to Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited (9.3). AC/DC (2), Bruce Springsteen (2), Led Zeppelin (2) appear more than once.

9.3

The top of the pile

Highest-rated Classic Rock albums

1
Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited (1965, 9.3)
9.3
2
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland (1968, 9.1)
9.1
3
Led Zeppelin – [Led Zeppelin IV] (1971, 9.0)
9.0
4
The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers (1971, 9.0)
9.0
5
Steely Dan – Aja (1977, 8.9)
8.9

Through the years

By decade

1960s3 albums, best rated Highway 61 Revisited (9.3)
1970s12 albums, best rated [Led Zeppelin IV] (9.0)
1980s2 albums, best rated Back in Black (8.8)
1990s1 album, best rated Ten (7.6)

What defines Classic Rock

Classic rock is built on guitar, bass and drums with a vocalist out front, and often keyboards for color. The sound ranges from blues-based grit to polished arena production, and the album as a statement is central to the genre.

How we score it

Our scores weight songwriting and production most heavily, at 25% each, because a rock record lives or dies on its songs and on whether the recording captures the band. Albums with two huge singles and little else land in the middle bands; albums with great songs and a flat mix do too. See the scoring methodology.

Every record, best first